Adopted by Mean Girls

Wanna Bet it? (Part 1)

**Comet's POV**

I'd come out of my shell a bit at school and started doing theatre. Of course, none of them knew that Erika Henningsen was my adoptive mom and that every day after school I went to the August Wilson Theatre. My first show was the fall play and Ms. Kerr, the drama teacher, found me one morning on the subway and started talking to me about the spring musical. She said that she was already looking had hadn't been able to find any show that looked interesting. I was so tired that morning and wasn't in any mood to be talking about things that actually required a functioning brain, so I said,

"Why don't I write a show?"

Of course, I was just trying to get Ms. Kerr to stop talking and leave me alone and wasn't actually serious, but she took me up on that and the next day I got a message from her to go to the drama room after school so that she could give me the restrictions. It actually turned out to be pretty fun. 

I wrote the outline over the course of the next month and got it approved, then I started working with the Rothchild twins - Joseph and Joanna - who wrote the music and lyrics. Joseph was in choir and Joanna was in orchestra. The two of them sketched out multiple songs and drafts of lyrics before we settled on ten and began integrating them into what I'd put together as a script. Some of my words turned out to fit better in a song, so we changed those and some of the original lyrics actually worked better spoken, so we changed that. 

I kept Erika in the dark about my little "extra-curricular" because I wanted to surprise her. One problem I did have was that Joseph was a HUGE Mean Girls fan and major gossip, so I kept them from meeting Erika or any of the others. On Mondays, we worked separately or over the phone. Other times, we met at the library or I went over to their place in Morris Park. However, when Erika was at the theatre, we worked at our apartment.

By the start of the second semester, the twins and I had gone through fifteen songs, forty lyric versions, and six drafts of the script, only to settle on some of the variations from earlier on in our editing process. All things considered, we had a full musical ready by the time Ms. Kerr approached us. The Rothchilds and I were at every rehearsal and I was literally stumbling home half asleep by the time Hell Week rolled around.

"In times like these, I like to rely on inspirational quotes to get me through the day," Jackie Oscars, a sound tech, said on Wednesday before we open.

"'Find your light' is NOT an 'inspirational quote'!" Kennedy Baker, the House Right Spot Op, shouted at her, turning the spotlight and flicking it on - right in Jackie's eyes.

"You're going to pay for that!" Jackie yelled, jumping up from her desk and running toward Kennedy.

I watched with amusement as Kennedy hid behind her spotlight and shrieked, "Thousand-dollar spotlight - don't attack!"

Jackie didn't get a chance to continue because Ms. Kerr came back into the auditorium and we were supervised again.

"That's a wrap!" Ms. Kerr shouted after the cast had run curtain call and mostly understood it.

I gave Joanna a fist-bump and high-fived Joseph.

"Guys," Joanna jumped a little, "We wrote a musical!"

It was about maybe 7:20 when I got to leave school. I pulled on my hoodie, shrugged on my bag, and headed for the subway. Erika had told me to never listen to music when I'm on the subway without a buddy and to keep alert and that's what I do. I was buzzed into the August Wilson Theatre and fell asleep on the stairs between Erika's dressing room floor and the women's dressing room floor.

I woke up the next morning with my alarm clock and found myself in my bed and in pajamas.

"Morning, Sleepy," Erika laughed when I stumbled into the kitchen.

"Is that my new nickname?" I asked, laying on my arms on the counter. 

"Probably," Erika nodded, setting a pancake in front of me, "Eat up, kiddo. You've got a big day today."

"Opening night..." I mumble, picking up my fork.

Erika knew I was apart of the show, she just didn't know I wrote the show.

Casper greeted me when I got to school looking equally as exhausted. We didn't talk - we just locked eyes and gave each other a nod. The same thing happened with the rest of the cast and crew. My teachers seemed to take pity on me and the cast and crew because they didn't make us talk in class and Mr. Ross and Ms. Anders, the librarian, let me go to the library and sleep during Creative Writing, which also happened to be the last class of my day. 

When the final bell rang, I went back to Erika and my apartment and listened to soft jazz while laying on the couch with my face in the pillows. Erika had told me that she might not make it to the show tonight because of work and I was okay with that. Her job didn't demand much during the day, but her nights are full.

I was sitting in the school theatre green room when one of the actors ran in.

"THE MEAN GIRLS CAST IS HERE!" he exclaimed.

I covered my ears as the entire room erupted in exclamation and commotion as people started running for the stage to see past the curtain.

"Hey!" Leslie, the stage left stage manager, whisper-yelled at them, "Get back in the green room. Come on - go!"

"I'm glad they listen to you," I laughed, stepping up beside Leslie as he flipped through his script and ran his fingers over his belt pack.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's even true," Leslie laughed, "Do you know what's going on out there?"

I paled slightly, "Apparently the cast of Mean Girls is in the audience."

"No kidding, really!" Leslie's eyes widened, "Wow. I know we live in New York, but this is something I would've never expected."

"Yeah," I nodded, hoping he didn't catch my bluff, "It's crazy."

"Comet, Joseph, Joanna," Ms. Kerr waved us over to her, "It's time - you ready?"