A Shot in the Shadows

Pulling Together

They finish fixing the set and making sure nothing else is set up to break on Tuesday.

Hayley gets to the theater half an hour after school ends that day, rushing up to the rehearsal room and running straight into Mr. Harding.

"Hayley!" he cries. "Just the little star I was hoping to see. They need you downstairs to check your measurements one last time."

"But they took my measurements at the start of rehearsal," Hayley reminds him.

Mr. Harding waves his hands wildly. "Irrelevant! Down you go! Try not to get killed backstage, and we'll see you in the theatre once you're done."

"Aren't we having rehearsal in-"

"The safety checks cleared!" Mr. Harding sings. "I had a friend, he's a safety manager in his company, come by and take a look. We're all good! Now, shoo!"

Hayley does, trudging back down the stairs and finding her way to the dressing rooms and the Wardrobe. When Hayley was a lot younger, they'd done a show that turned the whole costume area and anything around it into a marvelous play area for the kids between shows, with all the costumes and accessories that they'd kept back there. Someone had cracked a Narnia joke, and now every time someone went to get a measurement done, or get into their costume or get it fixed, they went to the Wardrobe.

The door was closed firmly when Hayley finally picked her way through the mess backstage and in the hallways near the stage. Annie, a few kids and all of the other teenagers where slumped in various places against the walls or on the floor.

Hayley waves to Annie before going up to Morgan. "What's going on?" she asks, dropping her school bag at her feet.

"The adults all have their measurements done already," Morgan says. "You know, cause they don't grow? So they don't need to check them again, really. But they called Chris in to test out some color schemes for Alex and he's grown an inch since they took his measurements a few weeks ago."

"So we all have to get remeasured," Hayley concludes.

"Yep," Morgan says. "Well, Mr. Harding already sent some of the boys down yesterday, but..."

"Who's in there now?" Hayley asks.

Morgan glances up at the door. "Adrianna, I think," she says, thoughtfully. "Someone told me that Mr. Harding has her covering for Ella, Kayla and some of the teenage ensemble roles now too, so she needs a whole bunch of clothes."

"Wow," Hayley says. "How many roles is that?"

Morgan shrugs.

It takes a while for Adrianna to leave, emerging from the Wardrobe with her shirt hanging sideways off her shoulder.

"Never sign up for a swing, kiddos," she jokes, waving as she passed them on her way back to rehearsal.

After that it's just a matter of Hayley trying on all her costumes to make sure that they still fit. They're all ordinary clothes, but there are some really cool ones: Hayley and Annie have almost matching outfits and hairstyles in one scene (they've both been pulled down to hair and makeup several times so that they could decide what they could do in the time of a quick change) and Hayley has this simple white dress that she loves. It's made even cooler by the fact that Hayley can turn her back on the audience for a few seconds, undo a small snap and rearrange the layers in the front, and turn back around to show the audience a blood-stained dress.

Hayley almost feels like asking if she can borrow it for Halloween.

She and Annie are the last ones to finish up, probably because they're both sent to hair and makeup twice wearing their outfits so that the hair and makeup crews can make sure their hairdos match with the concept of the outfit. Hayley's hair is done up and down in sideways in a bun, three ponytails, and some elaborate braid that she's never heard of but looks awesome. She finishes quickly, but has to wait around for them to finish applying Annie's makeup several times. Hayley thinks she's done but ends up being chased into a chair to be worked on, again for the scene when she matches with Annie.