My Personal Cinderella

As a child I'd always wanted to be an actress and a singer but every time I got on stage I'd get too nervous to even perform. Last year I had wanted to try out for the talent show but once I got up there in front of the people, I choked.

But I was sitting in class one day when the announcements came on. After doing the pledge of allegiance, the person started blabbing on about useless information and I zoned out. The next thing I heard though got my attention.

"The theatre's spring production of Rodger and Hammerstein's musical Cinderella is coming up. Auditions will be held from Monday to Thursday of next week. If you're interested, contact Mr. Douglas," the voice said.

Now was my chance to prove myself. I was a senior and I had to show the world what I loved to do. Well, not the world but the school. I couldn't just sit in my room all day and wonder what it would like to be up on stage acting. I needed to crack my shell wide open and be myself. I anxiously waited for the passing bell to ring for the next 50 minutes. And when it did, I headed upstairs to human bio. I was pretty sure I passed Mr. Douglas on the way. I spotted the teacher who I thought was him and put on a smile.

"Are you Mr. Douglas?" I asked him.

"That's what they call me I believe," he replied with a smirk on his face.

I laughed. "I was thinking about trying out for the play. Can I have a packet with everything in it?"

"Sure, come on in," he said and ushered me into the classroom.

He went to his desk and started shuffling through a pile of papers. He pulled out a bright orange slip of paper and a packet.

"Here you go. You have to get your parents to sign this one," he said handing me the orange one. "And you have to go over this packet for your auditions. And this clipboard right here is to sign up for time slots."

I looked at it and saw that the slot for Monday right after school was open. The earlier I go, the earlier I get it over with, I thought to myself. I signed up for that time slot, thanked him and went to my class. I was late and had to explain why, but my teacher was cool with it.

When I got home later, I basically tackled my mother.

"Whoa, somebody's hyper today!" she laughed at me.

"I need to talk to you. I signed up for auditions for the school musical and I need you to sign this," I explained.

She put her hands on her hips and looked at me. "Are you really going to audition this time or chicken out like you did with the talent show?" she questioned.

"I'm really going to do it. I need to. Please?"

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine with you trying out. Good for you," she said and grabbed the slip from my hand. She took a pen out of the drawer and signed it. She handed it to me and I retreated to my room to practice.

*Monday after school*

I sat in the black box theatre at my school looking over my lines and singing the songs to myself. I could feel my nervousness throughout my whole body. I can do this, I can do this.

"Alyssa Brown, it's your turn to audition," a member of the stage crew said. I heard her say another name also, but I didn't pay attention.

I went backstage and listened to the group of people who were up there auditioning at the moment. I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to come face to face with one of the cutest guys in my chorus class and the whole school; Asher Book. Great, I had to audition with him? Why do I always get stuck with the hottest guys? That just makes my nerves worse.