Writing Challenges

It's Not Midnight

This is for a taygetsthegay Valentine's Day one-shot contest. The title is a reference to the song on the side. This story is in two POVs. The italics is the female character, and the non-italics is the male character. Enjoy.

'Auditions today', I thought, mentally preparing myself for the tidal wave of lovey-dovey couples who would show up to try out for the role of Cinderella and Prince Charming. I knew that more than half of them would leave when they realized that I would be playing Cinderella.

'Auditions today', I thought grimly, gripping the edge of my bed as I willed myself to stand up and walk to the bathroom without flipping through old facebook photos first. I wanted today to be the first day I was strong since Ryan left. 

I walked into the bathroom, showering quickly, before spending five minutes lining my eyes with dark makeup and making sure my long, wild blonde hair was well hidden under the hood of my jacket.

I walked into the bathroom, and a cursory glance into the mirror showed me that even though there was a hint of sadness in my eyes, something had changed. I had been successful. Even though his eyes were all I saw in the silvery gray folds of the shower curtains, I didn't cave. His eyes were cold the last time I saw them in person.

I roughly shoved my glasses onto my face while running down the stairs. Late again. Not that it mattered to me, though. My habitual tardiness and my dark makeup made people think I was some sort of voodoo-evil-genius-ice-queen, rather than just shy, so I didn't have anybody waiting for me to show up anyway. 

I walked slowly into the school's auditorium, early as usual. Six months earlier, I would have been laughing with Ryan, sitting in the parking lot and sipping a blue slushie. For the twentieth time that day, I told myself that I was supposed to be over him. 

'One last high school production, and if it's a hit, Mr.Wallas promised you a big role in the Broadway revival of Footloose. You can do this, Camille.' I scoffed at my pathetic attempt to calm my own nerves and felt my heart sink slightly when I saw the school decorated with streamers and cheap confetti and red heart-shaped posters everywhere. Sighing, I thought, 'One day, my prince will come.'

The auditorium, unlike the rest of the school, wasn't filled with paper hearts. I smiled and sat down in the back row, waiting for the head of the drama club to walk in and announce that auditions would begin soon. 

I walked into the auditorium, which was slowly filling up with people. As I had predicted, there were at least seven couples who had previously shown no interest in theater. Stupid Valentine's Day made me lonely and insecure, and made my job much more difficult than it needed to be.

The corners of my mouth went up slightly when the quiet girl whose appearance contradicted what I knew of her personality walked onto the stage with her hands balled into fists. She said in a shaky but loud voice, "Alright, those of you who are here just because it's Valentine's Day and you think that Cinderella is 'so romantic' and an opportunity for you to make out on stage with your boyfriend, please leave."

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and continued, "Cinderella is more than just a love story. In fact, it's only just barely a love story. It's about abuse, and jealously, and a woman finding her freedom. Besides, Mr. Wallas has already cast me as Cinderella. So if you're serious about this, then please stay. If you're not, and you're here only because it's Valentine's Day, well, you know where the exit is." Talking to people from the stage was so much easier than talking to them in person. That was the only reason I'd agreed to direct the play as  well as star in it. It was good practice for talking to strangers, which I would have to do if I ever was in a Broadway show.