𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟺𝙴𝟷𝟷: 𝙽𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝

Snap!

"Sorry," Will says, holding up his pencil. The tip is broken off. He's usually so gentle with his things.

Nico lowers his voice and says, "It's okay to be a little nervous. That's normal." That's probably normal. He's never auditioned for anything before. He used to do stage crew in high school for volunteer hours. Plus, he sort of lives for that drama you can only get from a high school theater production.

"I know," Will says. "I just heard the director is a little harsh."

"It's just a play at a community college no one's ever heard of," Nico says. "How bad can he possibly be?"

✎✎✎

It is bad, actually. Dean D is directing the play.

At first, he's a little thrown off; since when did Dean D become interested in theater, and how does he have the credentials to direct an actual play? There are actual acting majors here who'll need to reference this show on their resumes for whatever they're auditioning for in the real world.

"Alright, brats," he says from atop the stage. "I am Director D. Auditions for this play are going to go exactly how you think they are. You'll come up to the stage and read with a partner of your choice..."

"Who's your partner?" Nico whispers to Will.

He smiles sheepishly.

"No. Not a chance."

Director D continues, "I'll ask you what character you're auditioning for and maybe I'll make a note of that if I care enough. I might also ask you to read another character, so hopefully, you've printed out all the audition materials. Any questions?"

Valentina Diaz raises her hand. "I thought we only had to prepare one character."

"Yes. Next."

"Do you know the name of the play?" Cecil Markowitz asks.

"No. No more questions." He steps off the raised platform that dares to serve as a stage and takes a seat at a folding table. He pulls out a sheet of paper and puts on his reading glasses, which like most of his outfits, are leopard print. "Veronica Dobbs and Chelsea Barrera?"

"Uh, Valentina Diaz, Director, sir." Valentina smooths her maxi skirt and takes the stage with Chiara Benvenuti, who Nico can only assume is her scene partner.

"Veronica," Director D says. "How many times has your father attempted to transfer you out of New Rome's theater program?"

"How can you remember that but not my name?" Valentina asks.

"Just do the goddamn scene."

Chiara waves to the director because that feels appropriate. "Hi, I'm Chiara Benvenuti and I'm auditioning for the role of Athena."

"I'm Valentina Diaz and I'm auditioning for the role of Aphrodite."

They give the scene, and Nico suddenly understands why Valentina's father does not want her to pursue a career in acting.

Chiara's alright as Athena, although something about it just seems off. It's the MythoMagic nerd in him that tells him this. Maybe he should cast this show. Then again, he's not enough degrees away from Hazel's study group to avoid casting all of them in this show, so it's better this way.

"Could you ladies read the scene on page thirteen?" Director D asks, circling something with a massive red Sharpie pen.

Valentina stammers, "But Aphrodite isn't in that scene."