She is Not Made of Roses

nine: he claims that she's "stalin with a pixie cut"

NINE: HE CLAIMS THAT SHE'S "STALIN WITH A PIXIE CUT"

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“TAKE IT FROM the top!”

Morning rehearsals are always hard on the entire cast and crew, but Aurora feels strongly that no one’s pain and agony can quite compare to the anguish she knows she’s feeling the whole way through. Mrs. Monson is on her back precisely ninety-nine percent of the time, insisting that she’s off key, or that her posture is bad, or that she’s a bit sharp this morning. It seems that no matter what form of her best Aurora’s giving today, Mrs. M’s always got to have it better.

And it’s not working for her, especially on a morning like this.

“I just want to know when we’re going to go over the munchkin scene,” Nicole Eller pipes up, looking out from her spot in the audience. She won’t be needed on stage for some few more scenes, but she’s still found a way to insert herself in every miniscule detail of the play. “I believe that they still need some work.”

“We’ll go over all of that soon enough, Nicole,” Mrs. M insists, frowning at the interruption.

Elijah Hollis, starring as the Tinman, seizes the opportunity to speak, raising the hand currently not holding a stick of celery with peanut butter on it. Still chewing, he can hardly make out the words. “Yeah! Also…the scene on the yellow brick road…I keep forgetting my lines at that one point—”

“Well, maybe if you spent more time rehearsing and less time licking peanut butter off your fingers, you’d know it,” Charlie Decker grumbles from behind him, eliciting a laugh from Tessa Van Ness, who’s only a few spots away.

Elijah turns around and frowns at him, irate, “I have a protein deficiency, you know—”

“—You’re all a bit deficient in some way or another; I can see that!” Mrs. M shouts loudly, her voice booming enough to be heard over all of the bickering. “Now, would you mind being quiet? Aurora has to get this right. It’s one of the most important musical numbers in the entire show.”

Elijah frowns, scoffing under his breath, “I think ‘If I Only Had a Heart’ is pretty damn important.”

But no one’s listening, and Mrs. M’s already pressed the button on the stereo, the instrumental flowing from the speakers. And the moment Aurora opens her mouth, the room goes quiet – because it doesn’t quite matter what’s happening; when she begins to sing, every other sound becomes meaningless.

And it’s when she’s singing that Raj first enters the auditorium, quietly as his feet will allow. He’s immediately struck by Aurora’s voice – he’s obviously heard it before, but not like this – not this sincere. And for a moment, he forgets where he is, and what he’s doing here, because he, like everyone else, has, for a moment, fallen in love with Aurora Bethany Cooper.

“Aurora!” Mrs. Monson shouts, suddenly snapping everyone’s attention away from the lead. “You’re going flat.”

Raj walks into the auditorium, halfway down the aisle when he speaks aloud. “I thought she sounded great.”

Immediately, all eyes turn around to him. And Aurora’s are piercing.

“Excuse me, but who are you?” Mrs. Monson snaps, irritated, crossing her arms. “This is a closed rehearsal. Get to class.”

“I needed to talk to Dorothy,” he says smugly, gesturing to Aurora, who’s on stage, looking at him with her eyes narrowed.

“I have nothing to say to you,” she insists.