When the Lights Go Out

~ii.

"Sadie, c'mon! The cast list comes soon! We need to get to the announcement board, now!" Livvy shouted, bursting into Sadie's AP History class moments before the bell rang, startling the teacher. "Sorry, Mr. J," Livvy offered a sort of apology to the teacher, who gave the girls a stern look. Anyone else might have thought that the two were in trouble, but there was a glimmer in his eyes that only a few people could recognize as endearment.

Sadie quickly packed her things, smiled in apology at her favorite teacher, and hurried out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang to meet her best friend.

"You really annoy your dad when you do that, you know?" Sadie said to Livvy, once she was out of the room.

"That's why I do it. How was his reaction this time?"

Sadie chuckled. "The best one yet. He knew you were going to bust into his class, so he was trying to prepare himself for it, but you still managed to get him!" The two girls stopped at their lockers to put up a few books and grab the ones they needed for homework.

Shaking her head, Livvy said, "You'd think he'd get used to me barging into the class when you're in there, but still here we are." The best friends continued on and as the two girls rounded the corner into the fine arts wing of the building, they were met with the large crowd that had already gathered around the bulletin board that held the cast list. "Damnit," Livvy muttered.

The two girls pushed to the front of the crowd, trying to get a glimpse of the cast list. Sadie started from the bottom of the list. It was easier to get your hopes up than slowly get more and more crushed until you got to the bottom of the list. Her name wasn't among the cuts or the ensemble, and neither was Livvy's. She knew that meant they were two of the thirteen leads. She was one of the leads! Sadie took a deep breath, You could still be an understudy, she reminded herself. She continued up the list. Livvy was cast principal as Ali, one of Sophie's best friends. Good for her! Sadie thought. Four more names up the list and there were only two female leads left. Out of pure impatience, she skipped to the top of the list and over the boys, and there her name was. She dragged her eyes across the page, and sure enough, was the name SOPHIE SHERIDAN. Sadie turned to Livvy, who had just gotten to her name on the list.

Oh. My. God. Sadie mouthed to her. Livvy could only nod her head, reassuring that what Sadie was seeing was, in fact, real. Livvy grabbed Sadie, dragging her away from the crowd. They started to walk toward the parking lot, ready to leave school after the long, but extremely exciting day.

"There's no way. There's actually no way I just saw what I saw," Sadie said, shocked.

"Girl, that was your name up there. No doubt about it," Livvy said.

"Holy crap. Holy crap! I got the lead in Mamma Mia!" exclaimed Sadie, the news finally sinking in.

"Damn straight you did!"

"I'm so excited! This is, like, my dream role! And you, you got a lead too! You're going to get to play my best friend onstage!"

"Darn, that's going to be a real hard role to fill," Livvy said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, but there was still the spark of a joke in her eyes. 

"Shut up, Liv," Sadie laughed, shoving her best friend playfully. 

Sadie and Livvy kept walking down the hallway, reaching the front of the school. Exiting the building, they were greeted the briefest bit of warmth in the air, hinting at the coming spring. Sadie was excited for the warmer weather, because while she loved the winter, being trapped inside during the cold months made her antsy and itching for the warmth. 

They continued to chat about random things, annoying classmates, frustraing teachers, and upcoming assignments as they walked towards Livvy's grey Jeep. It was her turn to drive to school; the two girls took turns driving to school each day. 

"I think we need celebratory milkshakes, how 'bout you?" Livvy asked, as they climbed into the vehicle and she started it. 

"Coffee?" Sadie asked instead. She knew she had an addiction, but hey, it wasn't a celebration for nothing.

"I knew you'd say that. Fine. We'll run by Dutch Bros," Livvy huffed in mock annoyance. 

"Yes!"

Livvy pulled the car out of the parking lot as Sadie plugged her phone into the aux, and began to ask Livvy what songs she wanted. 

"The Schuyler Sisters or Alexander Hamilton?" Sadie asked, adding songs to the queue.

"Easy, The Schuyler Sisters," Livvy answered. "Add Dancing Through Life, too," she added after a moment. 

They drove just down the road to the drive-thru coffee shop, and ordered. Despite it being the afternoon, Sadie still got an iced coffee. She offered to pay for Livvy's lemonade, feeling bad for dragging her to the place for the fifth time this week. Sadie really was going to be broke if she kept up the habit. 

"You really have a problem, Sade," Livvy said, referring to her coffee addiction.

"Yep," she said. "And it's about to get a lot worse." 

Sadie practically lived off of coffee, Red Bull, saltine crackers and Sour Patch Kids during musical season. She knew it was bad, but she'd survived five musical seasons in high school on the diet, and she wasn't dead yet, so she counted it as a win.

The girls got their orders after a short wait and began to head home. 

"Did we think to take a picture of the cast list?" Sadie asked. 

"Damnit, no. We do this every time, too," Livvy said. 

"It's fine, we'll see everyone at the read through tomorrow," Sadie answered.  

Ten minutes later, the girls pulled up to Livvy's house, just across the street from Sadie's. They had always lived across the street from each other, and were pretty much bound to be best friends. Sadie spent more time at Livvy's house than her own. 

By the time they were fourth grade, the two girls were inseperable, and Sadie was almost always at Livvy's house. In sixth grade, she had stopped knocking on door, instead just walking right in. In seventh grade, Sadie started using the spare key in the flower pot when the Jameses weren't home yet. In eighth grade, Livvy's parents gave up trying to make Sadie go home at a reasonable hour. That summer was also the year they gave Sadie a key to their house. 

Grabbing their bags from the back seat, they headed inside.