Dance floor

Chapter 31

Rehearsals for the school musical were well underway. We were all excited for opening night.
On opening night,I showed up at the school at 5:50, 5 minutes before I was required to be there. I peeked into the makeup room aka Mr.Store(one of the teachers at my school)'s room. I saw Mackenzie in the corner, doing her makeup. She was having fun with Tara, the other Belle. I let them be.
5 minutes later, the full cast and crew gathered in the cafatorium for physical warm up. Since we had already had 4 dress rehearsals , two of which had been in front of elementary school, we knew the drill. As we predicted, we warmed up to cheerleader.
Then Jennie gave us her theatre "thing" for the night.
Afterwards, the villagers and dancers went to costume and the leads went to hair and makeup.
Then we switched .
Later, we went to do our vocal warm up in the poorly lit gym. Mackenzie stood beside me. It's those last few seconds of vocal warm up when the nerves hit you.
"Break a leg," Mackenzie tells me before I go backstage.
"You too," I tell her.

While I'm onstage, in a freeze, a thought crosses my mind. She's amazing, I think to myself as Mackenzie sings the beginning of the song Belle.
Later, in scene five, Mackenzie sings Home. As I watch from the entrance to the cafatorium(where I'm waiting for an entrance), I almost end up crying . She's amazing. Many of the students that I'm waiting to go on with remark that too.
The rest of that nights show goes as planned.
The following day, after school, I receive a text.
It says:I'm sick. I want to rest up for tomorrow.-Mackenzie.
Okay, I reply
That nights show also goes as planned.

When I check my text the following morning, I smile. Mackenzie has texted me a picture of all of the grade 8s and 9s from musical at her house.
The text read:They cured me😄 No seriously, I'm feeling better. See you tonight.
I reply:See you tonight. 5:55pm.

We had to be at the school at 5:55pm for physical warm up.

Later, at 5:55 pm, I notice that Mackenzie is taking it easy. That doesn't bother me. As long as she doesn't take it easy in the show. I know I sound mean when I say that, but that's not how I mean it. We go through our pre show schedule. The beginning of the show goes great.

The gym is attached to the stage.

As I'm standing in the gym, listening to the leads sing Something There, I notice that Mackenzie seems to be struggling to get her words and song out right. And not in that 'girl in love' way. In a worse way. Mlle Madison and Mme. Matthieu seem to notice this as well. They creep backstage,and wait for Mackenzie's exit. I see her collapse into there arms. I'm a little scared.
"Tara," Mme. Mathieu hissed to her" Take this (while she holds out Mackenzie's dress) and put it on. Put on a little make up,too. You are going to have to go on,".
"WHAT?" Hissed Tara.
"There is no choice," Mme. Matthieu tells her while she gives Mackenzie her water bottle.
Tara and a make up woman (whom Mlle. Madison had gone to get) put make up on Tara.

A couple scene later, Jennie comes running into the gym.
" Why isn't Mackenzie on stage?" She asked.
Mme. Matthieu explains the situation to her.
"Emma," she says, a bit alarmed" You have an entrance soon, don't you?".
Mlle. Madison explains to her that they are letting me miss my entrance. I'll sneak on after. I'm one of Mackenzie's closest friends. They want me with her for as long as possible. Just in case.

Later, Mlle motioned for me to go get ready. Relenctently, I went.
The rest of the show was brilliant , not to toot my horn or anything, just referring to the rest of the cast.
After the show, Mackenzie and I find each other, then we go find Olivia. She and Aiden had been in the front row. I had seen them. We we found her in the cafatorium, she hugged us.She congratulated us. We thanked her back. She was smiling. I think she was proud of us, especially Mackenzie.

We changed out of our costumes,then Olivia drove us home. It was a great night.

One Saturday morning, at the dance studio, I was greeted by a cardboard box. Well, if you want to be specific, it was Olivia behind a giant cardboard box.
"Costumes?" I asked.
"You know it," she replied.
"They are going to freak," I told her, referring to the class.
"I know," she replied.
I helped Olivia manage the crazy class and get the costumes. But let's face it, I had to yell at them a few times. But overall, I had fun.