Off to Neverland

Off to Neverland (24)

“This isn’t fair,” Chloe grumbled as we stepped out of our last class together. “They give me my own dorm for freshman year, and then they stick me with someone new. And just when I was starting to get used to it and I started to really like you, they take you away from me.”

I rolled my eyes at Chloe’s childishness as we continued to make our way to the dining hall. Today was our first day back, and it was also our first play practice. They had put up a list that morning of who got in, but they didn’t say what parts we were all assigned.

“I don’t like that I have to live at home again either,” I sighed as we both entered the dining hall. ‘But I had absolutely no say in it. It just costs too much money and money isn’t something that my family has right now.”

Chloe continued to pout. “Still isn’t fair.”

“Hello, everyone,” Candace smiled at everyone once we all took our seats. “Everyone here today has made it into the play. I’m going to tell you what parts you’ve all gotten and then May will be handing out your scripts with your lines already highlighted for you. Once you get your script, go off somewhere in the dining hall and rehearse until I call you all back.”

Wow, how fancy. I remembered how when I was in a play at our old school, the teachers wouldn’t even give you highlighters to highlight your own lines. Some of the students just underlined their lines with pencil. That just showed what school I used to go to and what school I went to now.

“I’ll first be announcing the role of Belle, of course,” Candace informed us, flashing a bright smile in her daughter’s direction. I really did have a chance at this role… “The role of Belle goes to my beautiful and talented daughter, Courtney McGuire.”

And there went my chance. 

“Oh, my gosh!” Courtney blushed while pretty much everyone else looked completely shocked or outraged. “I can’t believe this! This is the role I always wanted!”

Chloe rolled her eyes from beside me. “She said that last year, too. And the year before that when we were in middle school.”

“And now the role of the Beast,” Candace continued, peering down at her clipboard before smiling back up at the rest of us. “The role of the Beast goes to Eli Hunter.”

Everyone around us looked shocked, and I couldn’t even help but have a surprised look on my face as well. Didn’t Jack always get the leads? That’s what Chloe told me… And she looked just as shocked as everyone else.

“Oh, it looks like we’ll be spending a lot of time together,” Courtney giggled, clutching onto Eli’s arm tightly. “I’m so excited to rehearse even more now!”

Chloe glanced over at me flatly. “Like they don’t spend enough time together already.”

Alright. How many major spots were there left? I couldn’t really think of very many. I’d be fine even if I didn’t get a female role, but I was sure that that wasn’t about to happen. Belle was the part that I really wanted…

“The role of Gaston goes to Jack Ricketts,” Candace finally said after the rest of us had calmed down.

Oh, no. That meant Eli and Jack were going to be fighting over Courtney’s love. This was just too sickening for words. I didn’t even want to think about what that would look like…

“The role of Lumiere goes to Simon Reynolds,” Candace continued on, going through her clipboard for the rest of the roles. So even Simon got a good role and he decided he was going to audition at the last minute! What was up with this? “And the role of Cogsworth goes to Tyler Jones.”