just write it all out

20

The Understudy - 01/20/16

"And Mitch, you'll sing the solo if Adam, for some reason, cannot."

I nodded and smiled as my classmates clapped around me, yelling words of encouragement.

In my head, I stood up and scolded them. Encouragement? Encouragement for what? For Adam to get sick so I, the second-best choice, get to sing the solo?

I could hear Adam clapping and whooping a couple seats over. Why are you cheering me on? Do you want to be incapacitated or what?

The class quieted again, and the director gestured for us to stand up so we could warm up and sing the show music for the rest of the period.

And of course we went through the song Adam's solo is in. Of course he sounded great. Why wouldn't he?

Time to break out my knives, I joked in my head as the bell rang. The only way I'd get that solo is if he died.

On the way home, I sang along to the playlist I'd made of the show, singing my tenor parts without missing a note. I had a habit of taking my music home as soon as I got it and working through it at home on my mother's piano, so I had it memorized much earlier than my classmates. When it got to the solo, I did the backing parts. No use practicing it.

The car's wheels slowed to a stop on my icy driveway, and my phone pinged from my pocket. I pulled it out of my pocket to read a reminder message from my director.

Rehearsal tomorrow after school, 3-6! Be there so we can reblock for the solos and run the show.

I signed and turned off the engine, grabbing my stuff and heaving it out of the car and into the cold. I trudged through the light snow to my door and threw it open to announce my arrival.

"Mitch! You're home!" My mother's voice floated through the walls. "How was school?"

I brought everything into the living room and placed it on the couch before looking at her in her favorite armchair. "Um, it was okay. I didn't get any solos."

"Really?!" She seemed shocked, like parents always do when their little baby sons or daughters don't win something they supposedly deserve. "Who did?"

"Chris got the opener, Kirst got the girls' number, and Adam got the closer." I sat down and shrugged off my coat. "I'm going to sing Adam's solo if he can't perform."

She smiled. "Oh, that's good!"

Do you not understand? My one and only goal throughout high school was to get a solo, all four years, and I've gotten zero. Now everything is basically over. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm still disappointed."

"That's understandable, honey. Will brownies make it better at all?"

My stomach grumbled, and I nodded. Surely it wouldn't hurt too much to eat away some of the feelings.

Hopefully I'll be able to make up for not posting a chapter a couple days ago. This is my first post for today and I have homework tonight but I'll try to write a part two to this. Okay. Cool.

The drawing is a random Avi doodle :)