Perhaps (Book 1) | ✔

ACT I - Scene 4

Accent Academy — a recording studio

    It was the Friday when main auditions were set to take place, and I stood inside one of the recording studios in the building next to the auditorium, listening to the song I had chosen for my audition on repeat. I had practically lived in this room more than I lived in my dance studio since receiving the script last week; I had to have recorded at least five hundred different versions of myself singing Gloria's solo from Act I ("To Go Away With You"), and I was still not satisfied. Surely, somewhere, I was off-key. Surely, somewhere, I had missed or failed to hit an important note.

    My audition was in four hours, and I was starting to freak out.

    I had picked Gloria's solo because I thought it would be prudent to showcase my vocal capabilities to the production staff. Performing on a stage was second nature to me; dancing was second nature to me. I wasn't worried about either of those aspects at all; I was worried about my singing since I knew I was still fairly green to it. The lyrics and the notes of the song were not difficult; but I was still convinced that I was going to royally screw up my audition and make a complete fool of myself.

    I had also spied the audition list a few days ago, and I was up against some of the best theatre majors in the program for this role. My insecurities had doubled when I spied Layla's name among them. Layla was a year ahead of me, and she was well-known in the program as being exceptionally talented. She had landed every female leading role since she was a freshman (she had also been the only freshman to ever obtain a leading role in an Accent Academy production), and she had also starred in a PAC production this past summer. PAC—or Performing Arts Community—was a committee of producers that scouted students of theatre and performing arts, and cast them in various productions held throughout the year. It was an aspiration of every student at this university to be cast in one of those productions, because most of those who were picked for one later went on to star in Broadway or West End productions.

    Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.

    And I had already convinced myself that there was no way I could compete with someone like Layla. But I had to try. Even if I ended up looking like a complete moron, I still had to try.

    It was around this time that my brain reminded me of the fact that Professor Lee would be on the panel of judges; and that he would be one of the instructors I would likely look like a complete moron in front of.

    Stop thinking about him! You've got to focus! You need to do well on this! You've been practicing so hard! You've memorized most of your lines already! Your parents spent several grand on vocal lessons for you! You cannot be obsessing over Professor Lee and blow this!

    I continued to give myself pep talks and banish intrusive thoughts of him between each recording of "To Go Away With You". That part would be mine; it had to be. I would not fail. Even if I was going up against Layla, I would not fail. I had not felt this determined since my junior year of high school, when I had practiced intensely for the ballet competition that had gotten me scouted by Accent Academy.

    As the hour of my audition approached, I left the recording studio and walked with as much confidence as I could to the auditorium.

    It was time to prove to this school that I could do more than just dance.

*

Accent Academy — outside the Auditorium

    I was next.

    A lot of students had turned out to audition for the role of 'Gloria'; though, as I watched one girl from my History of Theatre class exit the auditorium in a fit of giggles, I suspected that several of the female students weren't here to audition seriously. They had probably only showed up to try and impress Professor Lee; and to find a reason to have five minutes of his undivided attention. It annoyed me how frivolous they were. This was an audition! It was a serious thing! What were they even thinking?! Signing up for an audition they weren't the least bit serious about just to feel his eyes on them!