Chim- Sweet sixteen

Chapter 3

The auditorium was alive with the buzz of singing, shouting, actors rehearsing lines and groups of friends taking the opportunity to gossip. It was large, with extraordinarily good acoustics for a school facility and a large wooden stage that loomed over the red velvet seats which were set out in a semi-circle formation throughout the auditorium.

Cheryl and the girls were seated towards the front, laughing as usual, as Sarah was talking about the date she had with Mark the previous night. Cheryl however was barely engaged in the conversation, consumed in the mountain of thoughts that had accumulated over the past few days. It had been a week since Kimberley and Cheryl had first “bumped into” each other, and Cheryl’s feelings had done nothing but grow deeper and her urge to express them was starting to become overwhelming. Every lunch period Kimberley sat with the girls and she was starting to become one of them, walking to classes with them, telling them her deepest darkest secrets and establishing new inside jokes.

Not only was Kimberley growing closer to the group but Cheryl and Kimberley were constantly talking and even more so subtly touching. However Cheryl was still utterly convinced that Kimberley didn’t return her feelings of burning passion.

“Hey Cheryl are you ok?” asked Nadine, her voice displaying general concern.

“Oh yeah I'm fine...just a bit nervous.” Muttered Cheryl, still slightly captivated by her thoughts.

“Don’t worry Chez; you’re great at this kind of stuff. I'm beyond nervous though!” Nicola proclaimed, trying to read the scrawled script in front of her.

“But I haven’t even gone over the song yet! Or warmed up... and come on look at everyone else here! I have no chance, I'm going to have to fail history because I didn’t...”

“Cheryl!”

“Yeah?”

“JUST SHUTUP!”

The girls laughed and Cheryl mock cried, releasing some of the nervous tension her body contained, allowing her to become calm and comfortable for the first time in days. The door slammed, immediately causing the room to fall quiet as Mr Lockington entered, with Kimberley following behind him, bent over her camera. Cheryl’s stomach sank. She had totally forgotten about Kimberley taking photos of the rehearsals and the nerves which had settled where now rushing through her body like a wave to the beach shore. Kimberley set up near the stage, glancing over at the seats and waving happily to the girls.

“Harding...Sarah! Your up” shouted Mr Lockington, who was beginning to etch various words onto his clipboard. “Wish me luck” said Sarah as she approached the stage. Audition after audition came and went, with Cheryl watching half-heartedly, cheering in the appropriate places. She watched Kimberley run across the front of the stage, eagerly snapping pictures. “Tweedy...Cheryl. Your turn!” “Oh my gosh” thought Cheryl as she slowly edged her way to the stage, suddenly aware of the hundreds of pairs of eyes peering at her from the red abyss below. She stood in the centre of the wooden stage, beginning to shake with anxiety when she daringly looked at Kimberley, who smiled and gave two thumbs up. Suddenly Cheryl felt like she could take on the world and win. Without a second thought the words escaped her mouth and turned into a pitch perfect tune.

“That was brilliant!” shrieked Nadine who embraced Cheryl in a hug. The auditions were over and the various artists were starting to file out of the auditorium. The girls were about to leave when a “beep-beep” sounded from Cheryl’s pocket. “What’s up Hun?” asked Sarah. “Turns out mum is being held up at work, I'm going to have to stay here for a while.” They all hugged and said their goodbyes, with Sarah running towards Mark who was waiting at the door and Nadine and Nicola laughing after her.

Cheryl was watching them leave when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. “Hey” said a pair of red luscious lips which curved into a grin. “Oh hey” Cheryl said as she span around to see Kimberley. “I overheard you say that you had to stay here for a while...do you want to come help me develop the photo’s?” “Yeah sounds great.”

Kimberley took Cheryl by the hand and led her out of the auditorium, towards the dark room where the school photographers developed their stunning pictures. “Alone, in a dark room with a girl who I can’t get off my mind....this should be interesting,” thought Cheryl.