Code: 16B

Chapter Four

Four

    I arrived in the girl’s dressing room to find that it’s crowded, and I find Missy in her usual spot, already dressed in her Lady Montague suit, which almost makes her look like Sarah Palin. I had to squeeze through the closely-knit bodies to get through in order to set my stuff down and grab my Queen costume.

    “What’s up?” Missy asked as she ties her hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

    “You know, the usual.” I said nonchalantly as I begin the process of changing out of my blue jeans, red and black plaid shirt, and jacket and into my costume. “What about you?”

    “Same here…” she trails off, which causes me to look at her as she applies her make up, making herself appear like a woman who’s in her forties. “Except I saw a certain individual staring at you during our performance.” She added with a giggle.

    I look up to see my reflection in the mirror gaping at her. “How in the hell did you manage to see that?” I balked. I mean, how could she know?

    “While you were starting off the scene as I waited for my cue to enter, I saw him eyeing you…well…like a hawk. I mean, don’t get me wrong, but he looked like he was about to take a bullet for you or something.” she said before applying lipstick. “There. What do you think?” she added as she spins around and I graze her appearance thoughtfully.

    “You look old.” I said, but when she begins to show the signs of outrage, I quickly added, “I mean that in a good way.”

    “Thanks.” She said calmly as I finish touching up my costume, my make up already on, and I’m ready to get this over with. Hopefully without wanting to go off on an angry rampage at an annoying freshman.

    We walk into the Performing Arts Center (the acronym being the PAC) ready to go, ready for warm ups, and I found myself stopped in my tracks.

    I was shocked to see Cyrus, standing in the house, near the edge of the stage, right next to Tatiana, one of the techies. I don’t know why he’s even here, but all I know is that at the sight of him, I could feel my heart race, and my breath coming out in shallow not so deep breaths. And when his dark eyes met mine, my heart was pumping twice the speed, and my breath turned into gasps. It was much different as it was when I saw him, but I couldn’t feel my legs, they felt numb to me.

    “Amanda, are you coming?” I hear Missy said, and after tugging on my arm, I’m immediately pulled out of my reverie, and I begin to follow her towards the line at the proscenium.

    As we—the entire cast—warmed up, I couldn’t help but sneaking quick glances at Cyrus right before he followed Tatiana, and Wendy (another techie) up into the light and sound booth.  Part of me was aching to follow him, to be near him, but I stay, knowing that I won’t get in trouble if I don’t move. My big mouth always got me into trouble, even when I don’t plan to get myself in trouble unintentionally, and I don’t want to get into trouble just by not speaking.

    “Very good. Get into places, we’re going through the whole thing without stopping.” Mr. Alexander said.

    Before I knew it, I walked as fast as I can towards my beginning position in center stage in between Barry and Damien (our Mercutio and Tybalt) with my arms spread as if I’m about to push them apart before they begin to fight. I remained in my position for a while, waiting for the music to begin, and for the red curtain to open. All the while, my mind was on other things, things that don’t involve keeping the peace between the two feuding families of Verona.

    I tried to keep my mind off of the fact that Cyrus is less than half a mile away from where I’m standing, but no matter how hard I try; he keeps coming into my unconscious thoughts. When the curtain finally opens, and I hear the love theme from Titanic playing, I immediately took a deep breath, and did my best to stay still until Leon (Abraham), Chynna (Balthazar, another girl playing a guy role), and Amina (Nurse) finish the chorus’ lines.

    My hopes were crushed when I quickly looked up at the light and sound booth, and I only see Tatiana and Wendy through the window, but not Cyrus. I could immediately feel as if I’m about to cry, but I control it, and stayed in the scene.

    I was at my last scene in the entire show, at the Capulet’s tomb where the two feuding families, after discovering how the fight between them caused their children’s death, made a truce. I closed the show, as the Queen, with the short monologue, and when I finally finished I did one quick glance up at the booth. The sight of seeing only Tatiana and Wendy still up in the booth, again, the feeling I felt before the show started was back with the sight of Cyrus is still not the booth.

    I just couldn’t believe that someone as good looking as Cyrus would come to a rehearsal, and then leave without even catching a sneak peak. Or better yet, he didn’t even see if any of the backstage crew could use any help during the actual show time.

    I controlled my emotions long enough just to make it through the curtain call practice, Mr. Alexander’s notes, and changing out of my costume, and back into my regular clothes.

    When I saw Wendy outside the dressing room, talking to Damien about something I probably had no interest in, I knew that I had to ask, and fast.

    “Hey Wendy,” I said. When she finally focused her almond shaped brown eyes on me, I added, “What was Cyrus doing here?”

    “He wanted to get some history notes from Tatiana, and he knew that she had to come to tech rehearsals today.” Wendy said with a shrug. She didn’t sound like she’s interested in him.

    “When did he leave?” I asked after taking a big gulp of air to calm myself, and not have a mental breakdown.

    “He took the booth’s elevator out of here right before I began playing the music.” She said. “Why?”

    “No reason.” I quickly lied before I quickly made my kind of awkward dramatic exit.

     It wasn’t until when I finally got home, went up into my room—again with the pretense of doing my homework so I won’t be disturbed by anyone—and let the tears escape from my eyes.