Say Hello to the Stars

Chapter Four

Okay, scratch that. What I said about joining theatre earlier? Forget it.

I saw a sign up sheet for the play. As I approached the paper, one of the popular girls signed up for the main role.

Her name is Julie, but everyone calls her Jules. She's the lead role in everything. Not to mention that she's a snob and is absolutely atrocious to work with.
If she's in the play, and you are as well, she'll make you her servant. I bet you that if she gets any part of this play, it will turn into a show all about her. Even if she's the teacup. I've never had any personal encounters with her, but I have seen her bully some kids. It just made me sick to my stomach.

I forget about signing up and continue on with my day, since there's no point in doing it right now.

I haven't told Johnathan or Andy that I'm not doing it, because knowing them, they will be beyond disappointed. If they bring it up, I'll change the subject completely or ignore it until sign ups are officially over.

I try to steer my mind away from my problems. Right now I'm power reading through one of my personal favourites: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Right when I get to the part where Neville breaks his wrist trying to learn the art of flying a broom, I hear someone running down the hallway. Actually, 'running' is an understatement. It sounds like elephants stampeding to eat the last peanut in the jar. Johnathan bursts through the door; his hair soaking wet, and still half asleep.

Mr. Fark slams down his newspaper and frantically stands up. "Mr. Conners, you're late again," he glances at the clock, "24 minutes late, to be exact."

Johnathan has that signature goofy smile playing off his face as he stops to catch his breath. "S-Sorry sir, I may have overslept a little because I uh.... was up all night doing homework." He stumbles to his seat, knocking down a lamp and some textbooks in the process. As he plops down next to me, I can't help but take note on how terrible he smells. It's so bad I'm forced to plug my nose; I swear a whale threw up on him because he reeks!

Mr. Fart marks Johnathan off for what I'm assuming is a detention, and along with that, mutters something that probably shouldn't be repeated. After he cools down he goes back to reading the sports section in the newspaper. I wait until he's deep down in the baseball section to confront Johnathan of his foul odors.

"Did you accidentally trip and fall into the sewer on the way here?" I whisper, careful not to catch the attention of Mr. Fart, (Or Fark, whichever one you prefer. I prefer fart because let's face it, Mr. Fark is always letting one rip. It's disgusting.)

"I may have went surfing at 12AM this morning? Then I went back to bed, overslept, the usual."

"Ah... well you do realize that normal people have a midnight snack, not a midnight surf."

His goofy grin reappears, causing me to smile. "Sweetheart, you should know by now that I am anything but normal." He winks slyly at me and then goes on to add, "And as I was running to class, I saw the sign up sheet for the play. What I didn't see, was your name. Care to explain?"

My stomach drops as my mood shifts from happy, to terrified. "I was going to sign up but, Julie kinda signed up for the main role and you know how I feel about her. I didn't sign up because, I was scared."

His voice hitches, ".....That's it?"

"Well, what was I supposed to do, sign up and then end up hating it?"

"You're supposed to sign up because it's something your interested in doing, you shouldn't hold it off because someone you don't like signed up for it as well!"

I look around: People are starting to stare. Even Mr. Fart stopped reading his newspaper; he now has his undivided attention on the two of us. My head begins to spin; can't they just mind their own business?

My voice simmers down to a whisper, "It's not that easy for me to do that."

I hear him sigh as he wraps an arm around me. The anger in his voice subsides. "I know, I know, but that doesn't mean you can't try. Give it a shot. Sign up, and you never know, maybe Jules won't even get a part in the play."

I'm in such a daze, it didn't even bother me when Johnathan wrapped an arm around me. Most of the time I tell him to stop, because it draws attention to both him and I and he knows that. Plus, he has a crush on a different girl, not me. So, it obviously won't look good for him.

"But what if it turns into a play all about her?"

"Then you show her what a real play is supposed to be about. Show her what real theatre is."

After a few minutes of silence, I tell him that I'll do it. After class I walk back up to the sign ups, and in big bold letters, I write:

ANNABEL FAREWELL

And that's that. No going back now.

Despite all the doubts and "what if's" running through my mind, I'm actually excited. I want to be up there on stage, preforming for others. I want to be reciting lines and painting sets and acting out parts. I want to be someone else for a day, but what if I can't?

What if this whole fairytale isn't meant for me?