Troublemakers • Weasley & Jordan

The Things We Hear

"I'm bein' hassled by the man." – Man (Opposable Thumb) by the Presidents of the United States of America

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Lee sat back in a creaky wooden chair, glancing around the circle of his fellow students– all of them with a sort of eager-yet-uneasy look on their face... including him.

The first rehearsal of Mamma Mia! was in motion, and what was in motion could not be stopped. So, he was bracing himself for whatever came next, especially when he had some time in the past few days to come to terms with the fact that he was cast as a lead.

Professor Sprout sat beside Alice, Freya, and Evie, who all looked eager, minus the uneasiness. They seemed confident. This offered a bit of relief to Lee.

"Well, alright then!" Sprout chirped. "Thank you all for going out for this wonderful show... how excited we are! We're excited, yes?"

The students exchanged looks, unsure of how to respond. Seamus let out a whoop. Lee scoffed. 

"Good enough!" Sprout said with no less enthusiasm. "Now, I'm merely here to supervise and provide assistance when needed. This is all in the hands of these three girls. Please, can we give a hand to Freya, Alice, and Evie for putting this production into motion?"

The cast offered a soft clap, at which the girls beamed. Alice, in the center of the trio, opened up a binder in her lap.

"So, we'd like to start by just getting to know each other better," she announced.

"We already know each other," fifth-year Henry Simmons said plainly.

"Yeah, the show's only fifth to seventh-years," Katie pointed out.

"Well, yes, but still," Evie said. "Not all of you constantly hang out or anything. Some bonding could do you some good."

"Speak for yourself," Lee shrugged, then nodded to a few girls in the ensemble seated to his right– "I have dinner with the gals here every Sunday."

They giggled, along with the rest of the cast, and Lee grinned.

"There's that Sky charm," Freya gave him an amused look, then clapped her hands once. "Alright! Let's start with our names, our roles, and one thing we're looking forward to in the show!"

As they went around, Lee listened and tried to remember everyones' names, along with his first impression of them. Luckily, everyone seemed to know a good time. He was counting his blessings that Caroline wasn't casted. He hid a small grin at the thought of how angry she must be– throwing a tantrum to her friends, probably telling them all it was "rigged".

When it finally got to his turn, he remained a little slouched in his chair, arms crossed rather casually.

"Lee," he recited, "uh, Jordan... playing Sky... looking forward to, uh... how was it phrased again? Ah, yes. 'Lady-killing'."

Another round of snickers, especially from the girls. They all stared at him giddily and certainly didn't do much to hide it.

And once the "bonding" activities had been completed, they moved onto familiarizing themselves with the songs. Lee flicked through his booklet as the ensemble was splitting into their vocal parts, nervously eyeing Sky and Sophie's song.

"Lay All Your Love On Me".

The lyrics weren't really that bad maturity-wise, nothing very raunchy, but he could only imaging what the staging was going to look like– and as a boy who had only just recently snogged a girl and freaked out, his whole alluring-persona the girls made out of him was certainly not what was underneath.