Alex
It was the night before the opening night of Dear Edwina, and Alex was sitting in the auditorium, freaking out. But it’s not like anyone noticed. Streamers were up, confeffit had been thrown, and a party playlist was playing overheard through the auditorium speakers. The cast party had started 30 minutes ago, but all Alex felt was nervous.
She looked around for Taysha and Bethany, hoping they could calm her nerves. She knew at the very least that she could trust them, tell them about how the idea of everyone looking at her face for 2 hours made the blood train from her face, and they would listen with open ears. But as Alex took another pass of the room, she didn’t see either of them. She guessed their parents were dropping them off soon, but Alex just wished they were here right now.
Alex guessed she should do something though, so no one tried to approach her while she was like this. She knew she would snap at someone if they tried to amp her up for tomorrow night. Alex headed to the snacks area, where she picked up some carrots along with her doritos, trying to balance it out.
As she went back to her seat, Ms. Cortez approached her. After the girls’ bonding night, Ms. Cortez didn’t bother them anymore, giving a more off-hands approach throughout all of rehearsals. So Ms. Cortez wasn’t an unwelcome sight anymore, but she wouldn’t say she was close with the teacher either. But it turned out that Ms. Cortez was the perfect person to talk to.
“Nervous, huh? Well, I am too.” Ms. Cortez glanced at Alex, who didn’t respond, just nodded as she chewed on her carrots.
“Think about it this way though: all the people in the audience won’t know if you mess up, or if the lighting is off, or if the someone in the band misses their cue. They’ve never seen the musical before, so they’re not going to be nit-picky. Not like me during rehearsals, or you on yourself. You’re your own worst critic. I’ve been there, believe me. But you’ll feel so accomplished standing up there on the stage, knowing that you made this happen. You go this.” Sensing that Alex needed time to process all the information Ms. Cortez just threw at her, Ms. Cortez simply laid a reassuring hand on Alex’s shoulder and then went up to some arriving parents, dropping their kids off.
Alex turned to where Ms. Cortez walked off, and saw Bethany with her dad. She wasn’t gonna lie, Bethany’s dad intimidated her. He was so tall and burly! But then she saw Bethany’s dad pat his daughter on the head, messing up her hair, and laughing at something Ms. Cortez said, and the facade faded away. Alex’s eyes met with Bethany’s, and they both rolled their eyes at the imposing figure who defied everyone’s expectations. Bethany called him a gentle giant, and she now saw why.
As Bethany approached her, she thought about what Ms. Cortez said, and figured she was probably right. It’s not like she could drop out of the musical the night before, and she knew she would be disappointed in herself if she did that. But looking at Bethany, she wondered if she couldn’t also give that sense of accomplishment to Bethany. Alex knew Bethany had put in so much work into Edwina, and she didn’t want that hard work to go unnoticed. Alex noticed Mr. Roberts talking to some of the other teachers who came to the auditorium for some free food and decided to talk to him before he left.
Bethany
Bethany was feeling so conflicted. Everyone was having fun, but she felt pretty down, knowing that she would still be on the sidelines tomorrow night and every night the next two weeks until the last night. She wanted to be supportive of Taylor, Alex, and everyone else in the cast and crew, but she was frustrated that another girl who looked like her wasn’t getting the spotlight. Not for the first time, Bethany wondered what would have happened if she had auditioned before or right after Alex, and not just hummed the songs as she was leaving the room. She figured she’d just have to wait until the spring for the next musical. But even if she did get a part in next time, no one would even know she could be Edwina.
Taysha
Taysha saw Bethany sitting in her usual auditorium seat, looking despondent. She wondered what had happened, since Bethany had been in a good mood throughout final rehearsals. Taysha finished her conversation with the chorus of girls and slowly made her way through the auditorium, full of mingling 13 year olds and adults alike, and sat beside Bethany. She didn’t say anything, but waited until Bethany would say something first, just like that night at her house.
Like last time, Bethany slowly opened up. “Hey Tashya,” she said, in a gloomy tone Taysha had never heard before. She figured it wouldn’t be too pushy to ask, “What’s up?”
And honestly, she wasn’t that surprised when Bethany told Taysha about she wished she could perform in front of everybody, just once, so they could know all the hard work she put in. Taysha had been keeping everyone on track these past couple weeks, and she saw how dedicated Bethany was, always memorizing the lines and coreo even though there was a next-to-nothing chance of actually performing. And whenever Taysha saw Bethany walkin the halls now, it was always with a little swing in her step, as if the soundtrack of Dear Edwina was constantly playing in her head.
Taysha knew how much Bethany loved the musical. Unlike the movie night, Taysha had no clue how to respond. Taysha had fun during rehearsals, but she didn’t think she’d do theater again. But it seemed like Bethany wanted to do this in the future. Like Bethany loved singing and performing just as much as Taysha loved running. It’s not like Taysha ever wanted to go up on the stage and sing in front of everyone, but maybe Bethany did. The thought of Taysha standing in front of everyone and singing, all attention on her, made Taysha involuntary shudder. If she had been giving a cast part, she knew she’d be having one of those “I’m in my underwear at school and everyone is judging me but for some reason I can’t find any pants” nightmares. For what was probably the millionth time, Taysha thanked the lucky stars that Ms. Cortez was so understanding when she told the teacher that she one, had a horrible singing voice and wasn’t prepared, but that the idea of performing in front of everyone kinda made her want to puke.
Taysha simply responded, “I’m really sorry Bethany. I, don’t know what to say. But I think you should talk to Mrs. Cortez and see if there’s a way you could perform in front of a crowd. Does that sound fun to you?” As if performing in front of a stage was anything fun and nothing nerve wracking. Taysha couldn’t imagine it.
Bethany still looked dejected, so Taysha decided to give her a little silver lining. She looked around, spotting the karaoke machine set up stage right on the opposite side of the stage from all the food.
Taysha jumped up, grabbing Bethany’s hand. She didn’t ask permission, but instead dragged Bethany to the karaoke machine and said, “Let’s sing!”
Bethany
One second Bethany was sitting in her chair, and now all of a sudden she was being dragged to the karaoke station. Damn, she thought, Alex sure could run when she wanted. The karaoke machine was all empty and abandoned, like all the musical kids only had the courage to sing in front of someone else when they were playing a character. The idea of singing as yourself? Terrifying.
And Bethany felt her nerves skyrocket. But she also thought that if no one could see her perform as Edwina, they might as well see her rock out to the old 90s and early 00’s songs that filled up the karaoke machine.
Bethany didn’t get a chance to choose the song, Taysha already running over and picking a song within seconds. Bethany breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized the song in the opening bars. She made eye contact with Alex across the stage who was talking to...Mr. Roberts? Ugh, math class. Alex’s help was starting to make a difference in Bethany’s grade for math, but she still felt that little twinge of dread when she got a grade back. What was Alex doing talking to the math teacher, of all people, at a cast party?
Bethany waved Alex over, and in a couple seconds, Alex joined the girls just in time for the first lyric, which Taysha sang in a undoubtedly horrible voice.
Taysha
“Yo I’ll tell you what I want what I really really want!” Taysha screeched, earning many heard turns and screeching.
Yeah, she was about to pee her pants. Her hands were sweating and she could feel all the eyes on her. But at least she knew they weren’t looking at her gangly limbs or her knobby knees. They were looking at her mouth, and the objectively horrible noises that were coming out of her mouth.
And she went all out. It was only one night, she reasoned, and then she could go back to being a team player - on her track team, as a stage manager, as a friend.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t relieved when Bethany, with Alex in tow, responded with, “So tell me what you want what you really really want?”
Alex
Alex and the girls finished up another one of their karaoke songs, all of them laughing with tears in their eyes. Bethany started busting out her dance moves three songs in, singing and performing without a care. For the first time, Alex saw a version of Bethany that wasn’t thinking constantly about how others were judging her. And once Alex started laughing, with Bethany and her off-beat chicken dance or Taysha’s best efforts at singing, Alex also stopped thinking about what other people were thinking of her. So she had a pimple here and there. So what? For the first time in weeks, Alex was having fun without a care in the world.
And even though a little part of her hurt that Maddie completely dumped her, she also knew she could never have jumped around and joined in on a chicken dance in front of a crowd full of people if it wasn’t for Bethany and Taysha by her side.
Bethany
Bethany ended the night with a smile on her face and a stitch in her side. Who knew she could get so tired from all that disjointed body movements she was doing while dancing. Bethany wasn’t going to call whatever she did on the stage dancing - she knew her off-beat movements couldn’t be called dancing. But she had fun, and was still giggling as her father reenacted a particularly bad electric slide on the way to the car.
She stopped when she heard Alex calling her name, jogging toward her with a bright smile on her face.
“Hey!” Bethany said, “What’s up! I thought you already left with your mom!” Bethany looked a bit closer at Alex. Was she nervous?
“Well, yeah! I was actually on the way to the parking lot when Mr. Roberts came up and said he wanted to talk to my mom..”
Bethany was confused. Why did this matter to her? She didn’t know what to say, so she just stared at Alex, waiting for her to continue.
“And um, a couple weeks ago Mr. Roberts talked to me after class and talked to me about Mathletes. I didn’t say yes at first, but when I saw him at the cast party tonight I asked if I could join. The thing is, one of the competitions is on the last day of the musical. Mr. Roberts just asked my mom to fill out some paperwork so I could travel around to other schools, and I talked to Ms. Cortez, and well.” Alex took a deep breath, but Bethany knew what was coming.
“I’m on the mathletes team. And you’re going to be Edwina on closing night.”
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