The WRA Draft

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The First Stage

(one day later)

The bell rang, and I walked out of band at a slower pace, letting Toby and Taylor go ahead in front of me. I had my mind on the script. I was working on it after band class. Looking at it over and over again, I started getting sick of it. Come on, I couldn't come up with anything better than the Women's Right Act?

"Olivia!" someone called behind me. I turned around to see Claudia weaving her way through the other students. I stepped to the side so I wasn't pushed around. She reached me and smiled. "I finished."

"The costumes?" She nodded excitedly. "Already?"

"Yes! Oh my god, they were so much fun to draw! Why didn't I draw these earlier? The dresses were so simple and elegant and the suits were strong and intimidating and I just had no idea I could draw so cool, like, I was working and I thought to myself, Okay, Claudia, how do you draw stuff from the 1920's? The dresses on the PowerPoint are gorgeous, but we can't copy those because that's a no-no in my book. And before I knew it, I was on the ensemble's costumes!"

I laughed. "You sure are excited, aren't you?"

"Yes! I've never felt so alive!" She waved her hands around. She almost hit a junior in the face.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Can I see them?"

"Oh!" She opened the sketchbook to reveal a beautiful drawing of a dress. It was a short-sleeve, pale pink from the chest and a black skirt the rest of the way down. A small, brown belt divided the colors. At the top, in scribbles, it read Gloria's Night on the Town.

"Wow," I gasped. I flipped the page. It was another dress like the previous, but instead the pink was a pale jade green and the black was a pale blue. The heels were black and elegant. At the top, it read, Amelia's Sea Star Dress.

I smiled at the title and flipped the page again. It was a man's outfit this time. A simple white dress shirt with the black tie undone and with the sleeves rolled up and black dress pants and polished black shoes. A cigarette hung out of the man's mouth. At the top, it read, Sebastian's "A Drink With the Boys."

Another page showed a man in a black suit. The dress shirt was white and the suit jacket was black and perfectly straight. The black dress pants matched the polished black shoes. The man had a black top hat on his head and brown suitcase in his hand. A cigar hung out of his mouth. It was titled William's Funeral Clothes.

I laughed at the name. "Nice title."

"I ran out of black because of this one! What's with rich men and the color black? He literally looks like he's going to a funeral. I mean, it's actually just work clothes, but the same thing, right? It seemed appropriate."

"These are great, Claudia, really. I don't know what we'd do without you," I told her. Her cheeks turned a slight pink.

"Just doing my civic duty," she joked. I laughed.

"Do you want me to hold to this or do you want it?"

"You keep it. Save it to show everyone at the meeting tomorrow," she insisted.

"Got it. Thank you!" I put it on top of my books as I walked away.

"My pleasure!" She called going to her locker.

I was at my locker when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I jumped and flipped around. Denver stood there grinning with Kasey. They both had their backpacks on their shoulders. "Can I help you?"

"We're going home with you today!" Kasey announced.

"Dude, quiet down! That sounded terrible!"

Denver looked confused for a minute then started cracking up. He was bent over, wiping tears from his eyes. I rolled my eyes and put the rest of my things away, careful not to damage Claudia's art. That book contained the first impression the audience will get of our production and I was not about to lose it. I would make to find a company to make the costumes later tonight. Maria and Brian were planned to come over for dinner and make calls. It shocked me how much I had worked with Maria lately. We had made a silent agreement that we were to only speak to each other in a working a manner rather than causally.