A Shot in the Shadows

It's My Turn!

Ever since he left the theater on Wednesday, Sawyer's been really excited for the next read through.

Thursday seemed to crawl by for Sawyer. He'd had soccer practice after school, and then Teddy's mom had invited him to Chuck E Cheese's, where Sawyer hadn't had half the good time he normally did.

On Friday morning, in Music, he was asked to sing something. He did, singing his teacher one of Alex's solos from the show.

He then proceeded to act through the next six lines after the song and was sent to the office.

<::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>

Sawyer practically bounces up the stairs to the rehearsal rooms, slipping through the door.

"Hey, Mr. Harding," he says happily, waving to the man at the other side of the room.

Mr. Harding says something to one of the parents and starts to head in Sawyer's direction.

Still bouncing, Sawyer watches him approach quietly until Lara passes directly through his field of vision.

"Hi, Lara!" Sawyer says loudly.

Lara jumps, clearly startled. She turns to face him, and Sawyer can clearly see that her mind is somewhere else.

Maybe it's on Mars, Sawyer thinks.

Lara sends a forced smiled down in his direction. "What's up, Sawyer?"

"Nothing," Sawyer says, biting his tongue. "I like your sweater."

Lara looks down at herself, confused: she's wearing one of the old, ratty sweaters she always wears, and one that Sawyer has seen thousands of times without commenting on it.

"...thanks?"

"Are you okay?"

Sawyer watches Lara blink in surprise, then her face softens slightly. "I'm fine, Sawyer," she says gently. "Really, nothing's wrong."

Sawyer watches Lara rub her hand up and down one arm, and he's not quite sure whether to believe her.

"Sawyer?"

"Okay," Sawyer says simply.

Lara smiles, for real this time. That makes Sawyer happy. "Are you excited to be Alex today?"

Sawyer nods. "Yeah! I've got all the lines down and mommy played the piano for me so I know all the songs too!"

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Lara says. "Looking forward to seeing how you do."

Lara walks away before Sawyer can say goodbye.

He frowns slightly, but that train of thought is derailed by Mr. Harding kneeling in front of him.

"What's up, buddy?" he says, ruffling Sawyer's hair.

Sawyer ducks out of his reach, laughing. "I'm really, really excited to be Alex today," he says quickly.

Mr. Harding laughs. "Well, I'm excited to have you as Alex," he replies. "You ready?"

Sawyer nods. "I know all my lines!" he promises.

"Great," Mr. Harding says. "We'll wait for everyone else to get here, and then you can say all your lines for me, okay?"

Sawyer nods. His mom comes by, passing him his water bottle and his script. Then Alice runs past, grabbing his arms and leading him to a seat next to hers at the table.

Sawyer really likes Alice's voice. He remembers her singing part of the opening number with Annabell on Wednesday, but he thinks her voice goes better with Paige, the understudy for Nikki. Almost all of Sawyer's lines are directed at Alice, and they have to stand up, so Sawyer's pleased to discover that even though they're the same age, Sawyer is still slightly taller than Alice.

One of Sawyer's favorite bits is when he dies. He knows that shouldn't be a good thing, but here in their rehearsal room, surrounded by people he's getting to know and who he knows will be family by the end of the show, it's great fun to dramatically slump over the table, knocking his own water bottle and highlighter off the table. Alice is shaking him, saying her lines, and even without seeing her he knows she's trying hard not to laugh.

When they're done, Sawyer runs through some of his lines with Hayley instead of Alice, and then Mr. Harding decides to start over. He manages to get to play Alex for the whole session, even though almost everyone else gets switched around, and Sawyer finds himself talking to Alice one second and then Hayley at the other end of the table the next.

It's fun, but tiring. When they're really done for the day Sawyer wrestles around the floor Teddy while their mom talks. And then, even though Sawyer's eleven and really starting to get heavy, his mom ends up picking him up while they're going down the stairs, and Sawyer's fast asleep long before they hit the parking lot.

This chapter and the chapter that's supposed to after this... they were supposed to be one chapter. But I'm kinda sick, injured and tired and I don't really feel children's enthusiasm right now, and I don't want to change the character of focus in the middle of the chapter sooooooo.....

Again, thanks for the reads and votes. I appreciate it and I love all of you :):):)