popularity || sanders sides [DISCONTINUED]

8 | Virgil

Chapter 8: I Hate Play Rehearsal
Virgil Jensen

Drama tryouts sometimes were just the worst. You had to sing in front of people who would judge you for said singing, and you also had so announce your name, telling them which kids were failures and which weren't.

They didn't make you try out for specific characters; if they liked you, they'd give you a random role whether you liked it or not. Like me, I didn't care if I made it in, but I would prefer, if I did make it, to play John or maybe even King George the Third. And I know that this kid who was in my science class, Danny Gonzalez, I think it was, wanted to play Hercules Mulligan and James Madison, but he probably wasn't going to get that, even if he did make it in.

I almost lost it when I saw Roman Castillo and Patton Valentine walk into the waiting room. Did they know that I would be here? To be honest, probably. I sunk deeper down into the soft couch that they had in the waiting room, hoping that if I did so they wouldn't see me. But I was out of luck. Patton smiled and walked over to me, sitting in the spot next to mine.

I groaned. I already had to deal with these guys at lunch, I really did not want to deal with them anymore. What if we all made it in? Would that mean that I was stuck practicing lines and such with them? I did not want that. Suddenly, I found myself wishing that I hadn't signed up.

"Alright, everybody!" one of the teachers who were supervising tryouts--I think her name was Miss Morris or something like that--said. She clapped twice to get our attention, as if her level 100--in terms of sound--voice didn't have our attention already. She continued talking, "Welcome to drama tryouts! As you know, we are doing a production of Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical Hamilton. But we're going to do something a bit different. As you might also know, Mr. Thomas Sanders, the founder of our school, is all for gay rights. With that being said, we have decided to take the two lead female roles, Angelica and Eliza, and make their actors male. So look out, boys, cause I can see some lovely dresses in your future!"

That is the single most dumb thing I have ever heard, I thought. But hey, at least there's almost no chance of me being cast as Angelica or Eliza, right? Right?

—————

They cast me as Eliza. Maybe I shouldn't have been so sure that that wouldn't happen, because I ended up jinxing myself. I got the attention of Miss Morris and pointed at the sheet, "Um, excuse me, but this can't be right. I did not perform well enough to be cast as Eliza, I know that." She looked at the sheet with a frown, "The only mistake I see on this sheet is that Mr. Brown forgot to capitalize the "B" in Burr. You earned that role, hun." And then she walked away.

I looked over the results again and my heart stopped beating. At least, that's what it felt like. On the paper, just above where it said I was Eliza, were the words "Alexander Hamilton: Roman Castillo." No. They couldn't have chosen him for Alexander. They couldn't do that! I decided to take my mind off of that for now by taking a drink of my water and looking at the rest of the cast.

"Alexander Hamilton: Roman Castillo."
"Elizabeth Schuyler-Hamilton: Virgil Jensen."
"Aaron Burr: Danny Gonzalez."
"John Laurens/Philip Hamilton: Zyler Hecksburgh."
"Marquis de Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson: Drew Gooden."
"Hercules Mulligan/James Madison: John "Jack" Douglass."
"Angelica Schuyler-Church: Patton Valentine."

Wait. I reread the last name and almost gagged. Patton was Angelica? As in the girl who will be my older sister Angelica? I couldn't believe this. Not only had it cast Roman as Alexander, my love interest, but it cast Patton as my sister. I was about to get angry, but then I took another drink of my water and walked away from the sheet to prevent myself from doing something extreme.

I walked to class. English, which, I noted, I shared with Logan and Patton. Great, just fabulous. When I walked into the room, Patton waved me over to where he and Logan were sitting. I groaned and sat down, deciding that it would be better to not ignore them. They knew that I saw them. Patton was smiling, as usual, "We're gonna be sisters in Hamilton!" he told me, excited. I nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

"I was able to receive a part in the crew. We work on the lights, the costumes, excetera." Logan added. Patton looked at him proudly, "Yep! He gets to help professionals make our costumes! He's gonna make sure that ours are extra comfortable! Right, Logie Bear?"

Logan seemed flustered. I knew he wasn't one for feelings. Besides that, he nodded, "Of course I will. I'll just have to add "make the costumes more comfortable than on average" to the top of my to-do list. I already have to attend all of the extracurriculars too while I'm on costume duty, but it'll be worth it for you."

"Aw, thank you!" Was Patton's response. Uh-oh, feelings...I thought, turning away from the two, who were now just giving each other compliments. Well, it was more like Patton was giving Logan compliments and Logan was trying his best to do the same. Like me, he wasn't the best with emotions and such. It happens to a lot of us.

I tried to pay attention to the class, but it was hard with all the thoughts on my mind. I would have to be Eliza in Hamilton with Patton as Angelica, which is the most backwards thing ever. He'd be the one being overly emotional about a small thing. I'd be the one yelling at someone for something like that. To be honest, if someone cheated on me, I'd just tell them to f off and leave it at that. People are so emotional sometimes.

It was also on my mind that it was Friday, which meant that I would be going over to Roman's house for our sleepover. He was the last person I'd want to see tonight, if I'm honest.

"We have practice today, don't forget!" Patton said loudly. I nodded, getting slightly annoyed with him already. I wasn't as worried about going to rehearsal to practice being Roman's "wife" as much as I was about what my mothers would say when I came home late--again, the first being for tryouts--without telling them where I was. I would have to tell them about Hamilton soon. I knew that much.

—————

Rehearsal wasn't that bad, I suppose. It was just us introducing ourselves and such. The worst part, though, was this: Roman decided that, since I was coming over anyways, we would go over the songs together while I was there. Great! Amazing! Fabulous! Yay! Sarcasm.