In Another Universe

Thrusday 18:26 Defying Gravity

The rehearsals for the school play had started now that they had cast the roles. A rendition of the Broadway musical Wicked was what they landed on in the end. Since no one had really saw the musical beforehand, Charlotte had made a point of going to London and buy herself a ticket, to which most agreed it was unnecessary.

Charlie had little to no idea what the play was about, but he saw Isaac helping with the music part and got to hear some of the songs. Also, Isaac posted a cover of "Defying Gravity", which Charlie listened to several times. He helped a little with the music, wanting to be with Isaac, well until last week, but they didn't need that many hands so he switched to the decor team, who were a little overwhelmed. In the play, Charlotte actually seeing the play had been the worst idea since she now had high expectations for what the play would look like, and the teacher put her in charge of the organisation.

This was the fourth rehearsal and Charlie was painting a landscape of Oz, standing on a chair, a bucket of paint on a stool next to him and a paintbrush in his hand. The whole singing and music part was going on behind him. This included Isaac, who Charlie had been quite obviously avoiding as much as possible. Yet, he knew he was sitting at the piano, just being casually beautiful, and he refused to look. Categorically.

The band started playing "Defying Gravity", to which Charlie started to rock slightly, at last a song he knew by heart. But the song had barely started that the girl playing Elphaba seemingly got a phone call and left, ignoring Charlotte's protestations about how they didn't have that much time to rehearse and that they couldn't just stop whenever. That was when it took a worse turn for Charlie. Since he was the only one actually on stage, outside of Frances who played Glinda, Charlotte grabbed him by the arm and forced him down.

"Do you know the song?" She asked.

"Well, yeah..."

Charlie frowned, concerned about what she had in mind. She nodded, put a witch hat on his head.

"Okay. You're Elphaba now. Sing."

He flushed quickly, looking at Glinda with wide eyes. He was about to run a hand through his hair but remembered the hat. He crossed eyes with Isaac, which both made him more stressed, but also feel empowered. Isaac seemed to be sensible to the messages in music, maybe more than silent looks. Knowing the lyrics, it was the perfect occasion to tell him. Oh but also Charlie didn't really know how to sing, the only times he sang was in the shower. Not exactly a performer. Charlotte gave the order to start again, from where they left off. So Glinda repeated her verse and Charlie... well Elphaba had to continue. He knew it didn't matter how much how well he performed, he was just acting as a short-lived understudy to allow Glinda to rehearse.

So he sang, shyly at first but he continued with more confidence, looking at Isaac both for courage and as a way to tell him maybe you should listen. There was something quite powerful in entering Isaac's passion and territory to show him the mistake he made, to show how he hurt Charlie. Chin up, fist clenched, he didn't break eye contact with him.

"Too long I've been afraid of

Losing love I guess I've lost

Well, if that's love

It comes at much too high a cost"

Half way through the song, when he had to start singing to Glinda, he became painfully aware of all the eyes looking at him, and he lost all the previously accumulated confidence. Ripping the hat off his head, he stopped singing and got off stage. The hat ended up on a chair and Charlie started leaving the room.

"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked, a little panicked.

"I'm not a singer!"

He was about to leave the room when he heard steps in the stairs behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know it was Isaac as Charlotte yelled "Even the piano! Guys, c'mon!"

Pushing the door, he only turned around in the corridor when he heard Isaac's precipitated steps catch up to him. The concern in Isaac's eyes was striking but Charlie clenched his jaw. He didn't have the right to be concerned after what he did. Charlie made a few steps towards him and pointed his index at him.

"Leave me alone," he said on the coldest tone he could pull off right now, as he was on the verge of tearing up.

Isaac frowned and looked down, avoiding his eyes. Maybe he understood why Charlie was like this, Charlie hoped he did, but he didn't want to stay and find out.