unconventional | Sky Flaherty

Orlando County High School's Theatre Department

HEY PEOPLES!

i'm honestly really nervous to see if you guys will like this, but I hope you enjoy!

low key nervous that people won't read it since there's just not a lot of newsies content/hype right now, but it's alright. like i said, quarantine's got me watching newsies too much on disney plus sooo.

but as long as one person likes it, i'll be glad :)

Love you, and happy reading <3

———

"ELLIE" Her theatre teacher called as she sat on the apron of the stage with a laptop in front of her.

"YES?" Ellie yells back, not putting much effort into looking for her.

Mrs. Ivy followed the sound of her student's voice as she walked over to where Ellie was sitting. "Don't yell, you need to be saving your voice" she half-heartedly scolded her, but Ellie just ignored her and asked her what she wanted.

"Have you booked your tickets yet?"

She sighed and went back to inspecting the 3D model of the set on her device. "No"

"Evangeline Rea Jordan, you could book this, so don't make me ship you out to New York myself"

"Who told you my middle name?" She beat around the bush, and stood up to help unload the disassembled walls from Don's truck.

Mrs. Ivy glared at her disapprovingly. "I'm booking the tickets, i'm just waiting for a better deal" Ellie lies.

"Ellie hunny, really, just let me know if you need any help, alright?"

"Thank you Mrs. Ivy, but I think my cousin has some airline points she's gonna let me have. I'm fine" she smiled, but rested her face immediately after turning, and strolled off to get Ivy off from breathing down her neck about her final Toursies audition.

The Florida heat heat and humidity hit her as she approached the garage door to see her friends carrying off pieces of set.

"Ivy harassing you again?" Diego chuckled.

"She just wants me to get off my ass, but I'm trying not to think about it right now" Ellie told him as they unloaded large panels and parcels from the back of Mr. Ivy's truck.

He nodded as the last piece was passed to others who were stacking them against the walls of the wing. "Alright, hop in" Mr. Ivy told the students as he climbed back into the drivers seat, and a few others joined them in the empty truck bed.

They were on the way to the workshop on campus, that happens to be all the way on the other side. You can imagine what it's like when the truck isn't there.

As their teacher backed into the open area, they slid out of the back and began filling it up with the next load.

"Rowan! Can you get me a ting?" Ellie shouted across the sawdust filled space.

He opened the fridge and slid her a coke. "Thank you" She told him, followed by the sound of released pressure from the can.

"Can I have one?" Her friend Margo asked.

"I don't remember the last time you donated to the cause. Besides, your on thin ice since your on props" Ellie said matter of factly.

"The cause?" she questioned.

"Yes, were we financially contribute to solve the issue of our thirst" Ellie explains. Margo rolls her eyes.

"I thought you were my mother, why don't you care about me" she joked, and Ellie then rolled her eyes. "I bet you care about your other daughters more. I guess i'm not the favorite"

Ellie sighs and got up from the stool to grab her a Dr. Pepper.

She is one of the people Ellie had "adopted" during her sophomore year of high school, when Margo was a freshman. She's 4'11, the props master, and threatens to quit theatre just about every show.

"You really don't need anymore sugar, your already bouncing off the walls as it is. Have you even eaten today?" Ellie questions her and looks at her face to see her reaction.

"Yes, I had an apple earlier" she states but, Ellie knows that's probably all she's eaten today.

She gets up from the stool once again to grab her bag and tosses it on the table "here"

Ellie hands her a container of carrots that she takes and begins to snack on. "Margo, if you pass out again, i'm gonna kill you"

"What? It's not my fault, I just don't have time" She laughs. Ellie decides to throw the bag of chips at her as well.

"El, come on, we need help on this one" She heard Ezra call out, and looks over to see 3 of the panels sticking about 5 feet out of the back.

"Do we have bungies or pullies to hold it?" Ellie got up to observe the scene.

"That's too much work" He said, and she sighed and realized what was to come.

"Have fun with that" Margo called out while returning to her project.

And that is how 4 students could be seen holding the end of the walls, hanging out of the truck, while jogging on the road and taking up 2 lanes.

"I really regret wearing jeans today" Ellie muttered as the sweat beaded down her temple.

"You mean overalls" Diego commented. She gave him a deadpan look.

———

"Psst. Ellie, it's here"

She snapped her head around to see Ally's head peaking out from the exterior door. Ellie grabbed her radio and asked one of her friends on stage management to contact her if Mrs. Ivy was looking for her, and practically leaped outside.

Ellie's nose became filled with the beautiful smell of pizza and crazy bread. She smiled and lead herself down the ramp, to join the rest of stage crew munching down on the food.

"Thank you, I'm literally starving" She sat down on the floor and grabbed a slice of cheese pizza. They often ate here during work days. One, so others wouldn't steal the food, and two, so Mrs. Ivy wouldn't complain about food in the theatre.

"How late is today gonna be?" one of them ask.

Ellie huffs and goes through the checklist in her head and turns to Rowan.

"Ivy wants to be out of here by 10, but i don't see how that's gonna happen if she wants it all done by tonight" She tells him.

He repositions his hat and sighs. "Late. If y'all could stay 'til 10, that'd be great, but we get it if you can't. Just letting you know now, the last of us probably won't get out until 12:30 or something"

Ellie laughed mostly out of pain and the feeling of sanity leaving her body. She set her head against the wall behind, as it set in how much longer she'd be there.

"The good news is, after this upcoming week, we will primarily only need Diego, Zoe, Ally, Ezra, Dominic, Norah, and then Myself. Y'know, cause tech week will start. Chris, Aden, Leo, Anna, and Sam, we might need a few of you guys occasionally after school, but I doubt it. Enjoy your freedom. And then Ellie, well, you dance around figuratively and literally" Rowan told them while everyone chowed down on their pizza.