(Chapter 31)

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╣Daniel╠

Did Scott like Eric? I watched Eric say something and Scott laugh, while watching Eric with a dreamy look on his face. I narrowed my eyes. It was suddenly like my blood was boiling over, and I couldn’t breathe – I wanted to run into there, and crush Scott’s stupid smiling face.

I turned back, forcing myself to go back to my dressing room. Why did I care? It was really nothing to do with me. Nothing at all.

I made to open my door but before I could, a hand slammed against it.

“Hello, Daniel,” the owner of the hand. It was our dance instructor. He smiled. “Show time, honey.”

***

♫Erica♫

My heart thudded, as we stood on the side of the stage. I could hear the audience on the other side of the thin curtain, chattering and laughing. How many of them had come? I tried not to think about it, but it was hard…the seating could fit five thousand. I breathed in and out, slightly light-headed. I haven’t done theatre work in front of such a big audience for a long time.

I tried to go through the script in my mind, running through the lines. I was mostly worried about the last scene, when Romeo kisses dead Juliet, and then commits suicide, before Juliet wakes up and then kills herself – we’d never rehearsed it, because Scott said that it would be better spontaneous, or something.

The butterflies in my stomach fluttered, as I tried to breathe regularly. Oh, God…this wasn’t a good idea, was it? I was so used to movie sets, with make-up artists and auto-cue and retakes, I’d never…

Daniel came up behind me, just as the principal boomed to the crowd, “Welcome! Welcome to L.A. Performing Art’s School…”

“Are you okay?” he asked in a whisper, causing me to jump, nervously. He smiled, and I smiled back, cautiously. He’d been avoiding me all week, so this was…different. “You seem nervous.”

He’d noticed. A real smile spread over my face. I’d missed this Daniel, the real Daniel, the one who cared about me.

“Well, I’m just nervous about going on stage,” I confessed. “I haven’t done anything theatrical in front of an audience–” There was a loud cheer from the crowd, as the principal finished his speech. “– since theatre club in my last school.”

“So you’re nervous about the crowd? I would’ve thought an amazing actor like you wouldn’t get afraid.”

I blushed, even though I knew the compliment was fake. “Right, says Daniel Smith, the most amazing actor in Hollywood.”

“No, Eric,” he whispered – the curtains had just been opened. A spotlight lit up the centre of the stage, as the first scene had started. The audience went immediately silent. “That’s not true. You’re a hundred million times better than me. You have passion, and dedication, and –”

I looked away. He was lying. Of course he was lying. Those were the reasons why I was fired in the first place…

“No, I mean it,” Daniel said, turning my head to face his. His blue eyes were undeniably sincere. “Eric, you can do this. You really can.”

I shook my head, wordless. He was lying. I couldn’t do this.

Daniel stared at me for a couple moments, then he turned and fumbled in his pockets. He found what he was looking for, and held up the quarter.

“If you really need help, Eric, take this,” he whispered, quickly. His cue was coming up. “Take this, and channel all your negative energy into the coin. It’ll take every negative feeling away. It’ll be your savior.”

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