THIRD PERSON'S POV.
Miss Jenn had everyone lined up onstage so that she could give them the role they'd be auditioning for. A weird process Bless had to admit, because she thought people would just audition for the part they wanted to audition for, but maybe Miss Jenn was onto something. Or maybe she was just another odd Drama teacher. Nonetheless, she waited patiently as she stood at the end of the line beside a blonde boy with glasses.
After giving three students their audition roles, Miss Jenn stopped by Ashlyn. "You. You're giving me uncommon depth. Miss Darbus."
"I'm dying, I'm deceased, yes," Ashlyn replied with a nod.
"Oh, your application says you play piano?"
"I dabble."
"You ever written a song?"
"I mean, nothing I've ever shared with anyone."
"I always thought the Drama teacher should have an Act: II power ballad. We'll sidebar." Miss Jenn stepped forward to the next person, being Gina. "Gabriella."
"You got it," Gina replied. Miss Jenn stepped toward EJ, while Carlos began looking for another Gabriella file but he was stopped by Gina. "Oh, I'm good. I'm already off the book."
Bless restrained from rolling her eyes. There was no need to put drama in the Drama club, especially when it came to Gina Porter.
After taking one look at EJ, who was practically dressed like Troy, Miss Jenn looked to Carlos. "Give him the Troy stuff. Who are we kidding?" Miss Jenn then arrived at Nini. "And, uh, how about we have you read for... Kelsi?"
Bless looked down to Nini, who made eye contact with her. She sent her older sister a nod; it was finally time for Nini to end whatever nightmare she was having.
After a moment, Nini finally let her voice be heard. "Gabriella. I wanna audition for Gabriella."
"Okay." Miss Jenn stepped toward a blonde boy Bless recognized from one of her classes - Seb. "You're reading for Ryan, right?"
"I think he'd rather play Sharpay," Carlos said.
"I love that. That is so fresh," Miss Jenn stated before she finally stood before Bless. "I want you to read for Kelsi." As Miss Jenn began to step away, Bless couldn't help but scoff in disbelief. Hearing this, Miss Jenn stepped back, a curious look playing on her face. "Is there a problem...?"
"Blessica," the brunette girl finished the woman's sentence before she shrugged. "No problem, I just expected something... out of the ordinary from someone like you."
"And what would that be?"
Bless pondered on that for a second before a thought crossed her mind. "Auditioning for Ryan."
"I like you," Miss Jenn said to her with a smile before looking toward Carlos. "Give her the Ryan stuff."
. . .
The auditions were in full swing. Those who had already audition for their roles or for wanting to dance in the production or who were just watching were sitting on the edge of the stage. While the rest who were waiting to audition were standing by the wings. The first batch to audition was the faculty roles, then the Chads, then the Sharpays, then the Taylors, then finally, the Ryans.
It was weird. As she watched the boys who were auditioning for Ryan from the wings, Bless didn't feel nervous. She had never auditioned for a production before, so she assumed she'd get jitters before she actually had to do the real thing. But she was calm.
"You nervous?" Nini asked as the boy before Bless was performing onstage.
"Strangely, no," Bless answered, "which is worrying me a little."
"Well, you are pretty confident."
"So are you, like the way you stood your ground. I was actually proud to be related to you," Bless said, earning a nudge from Nini as the sisters fell in light giggles. "Seriously, Neens, stop doubting yourself. You're stronger than you look."
"And our last Ryan," Miss Jenn's voice caught Bless attention, seeing that the boy before her just went to sit down.
"Wish me luck," Bless muttered to Nini as she strapped her guitar on her before making her way onstage. From the small audience, she spotted Kourtney, who gave her a short wave. Bless assumed she was here to support Nini, but it was nice seeing Kourtney support her too. The three of them were like sisters.
"Any intel on this one?" Miss Jenn asked Carlos.
"Blessica Salazar-Roberts," Carlos began. "Sophomore and every teachers most wanted student. She was suspended from here during the first semester of freshman year, then expelled from her old school. She's never been interested in any of our productions."
"Interesting," Miss Jenn said before looking back to Bless. "Blessica, whenever you're ready."
Seb, who sat by the piano, began playing the tune of Start of Something New, but Bless quickly stopped him. "Oh, uhm, I'm actually gonna perform something of my own. Hence why I brought my guitar."
"Sure. Go for it, kiddo."
Bless adjusted her fingers on the neck of her six-string before playing the tune of the song she wrote. No one had heard this song, so it was the first time Bless was playing it in front of people. She wrote it right after she and Gina ended things, so it was kind of risky playing it with said ex in the room. It was something Bless was proud of. She poured her heart into it and tilted the song I'm Yours.
"Why you talk about me like I'm not there? Why you talk about me like I can't hear? You act so different around your friends," Bless sang boldly, her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear. "Why you talk about me like I'm not there? Why you talk about me like I can't hear? I know you know I'm more than skin." Seeing the many stunned looks on her peers' faces, stunned by the fact that the troublemaker of East High had a beautiful voice projecting an equally beautiful song, only gave Bless the power to continue. And the fact that she could feel Gina's hard stare in her only boosted her confidence. "'Cause I'm not a high score, I'm not a trophy. I'm not a girl in those high school movies, and I'm not down for manipulation. Not here to be your validation, no," Bless belted out the words. The melody transitioned into a gentle one as Bless ended the song. Her soft, yet powerful voice, sang the last words, "So if you need me I'll be at the piano, love. 'Cause I'm yours, but not like that."
"Wow, Blessica, that was amazing," Miss Jenn remarked. "This is your first time auditioning for a production, right?"
"Yeah, it is," Bless confirmed before Miss Jenn gave her a nod that she could leave.
Bless put her guitar in its case before heading to where everyone sat. She sat down in the space between Ashlyn and Chase and watched the rest of the auditions carry on. So far, it looked like EJ and Gina were getting the lead roles. Bless wasn't shocked by Gina's performance - it was perfect and she nailed every note. But Bless still had hope in her sister, who was called onstage.
"Okay, Nini," Miss Jenn spoke after her and Carlos's conversation, "whenever you're ready."
Nini opened her mouth, but something else beat her to it - the sound of the auditorium doors flying open.
"Am I too late?" A voice yelled. Bless furrowed her eyebrows; she recognized that voice. She looked back to see Ricky Bowen running frantically toward the stage with a guitar case in his hand. "Am I too late?"
Bless looked back to Nini, seeing that her sister looked a bit nervous. Of all the times Ricky had to barge in, it had to be right when Nini was about to perform.
"We're all set on Troys; we're low on Chads," Miss Jenn informed him. "You can read after the Gabriellas."
"I... I-I only studied the Troy scenes."
"Troy would've arrived on time," Carlos stated.
"Wasn't he late to pretty much everything?" Chase mused aloud, earning a nudge in the stomach from Bless. He clutched it and groaned. "Uhm, ow!"
"Sorry," Bless apologized with a fake smile.
"Thanks, let me do the talking," Miss Jenn said to Carlos before turning back to Nini. "Okay, Nini, let's try this again."
"You got this, babe!" EJ suddenly yelled, quite obnoxiously, which Bless flinched at. "Woo!"
Suddenly, the lights flickered out and the whole area became dark. This was why Bless stayed away from the theatre - weird things happened.
"Nobody panic! Nini, let's... let's wait for the lights to come back on. I don't want this to throw you."
"I'm not thrown," Nini replied. Although her voice wasn't loud, she sure sounded confident to Bless, who smiled proudly at her sister.
The girl began singing timidly, but she was loud enough for Bless to hear. Nini had an amazing voice, one of the things Bless envied about her, but she was glad everyone else got to hear it. After Nini sang the first verse, a flashlight from someone's phone came on and Bless saw Ricky stepping closer to the girl. She hoped that this wouldn't throw Nini off, since she knew all there was to know about Ricky and Nini's breakup.
However, Nini sang louder now, but EJ, who was enraged with jealousy, mimicked Ricky's actions. Tensions were high between the two - the ex and the current boyfriend - and it sure was awkward as hell to watch, but it didn't throw Nini off. The lights came back on as Nini finished and the boys went back to where everyone else was.
"Okay. Thank you, Nini," Miss Jenn said. "I only needed 32 bars, but I appreciate your commitment." Miss Jenn glanced behind her, specifically at Ricky. "You, late boy, let's do the Chad sides."
Ricky stood in the middle of the stage, after an awkward encounter with Nini and after receiving a script from Carlos. From what Bless remembered, she and Ricky (sadly) had one thing in common - they both hated musicals. This audition could be interesting.
"Hey there, uhm, I'm Ricky Bowen. I'm a junior and... here it goes," Ricky nervously spoke before looking down at the script. "I don't get it, Troy. What kind of spell has this elevated, IQ, temptress girl casts that suddenly makes you want to be in a musical?" Bless grimaced at his performance, suffering from secondhand embarrassment. She watched him crumble up the paper as he continued, totally going out of character. "I don't know. Maybe it's the way Gabriella always had your back." Okay, Bless knew she didn't know the HSM movies that well, but she definitely didn't remember Troy being this emotional. Following Ricky's gaze, Bless's eyes landed on her teary-eyed sister, which caused her to roll her eyes. Ricky Bowen was playing a dangerous game. "And maybe you can't stop beating yourself up for totally blowing it with her. Look, Troy, even if you never said the l-word to Gabriella, because it's, like, not even a word your parents say to each other anymore... that doesn't mean that you don't. Maybe it just means that you're waiting for the right time to say it. So that everyone can hear it. So that she could."
"Okay, kiddo," Miss Jenn uttered after a short silence, "time to sing."
"Oh, no, actually," Ricky was quick to stop Seb, "if you don't mind, I kind of prepared my song."
"Sure."
Ricky grabbed his guitar from Big Red, one of his friends, and stood back in his previous position. Bless didn't even think Ricky had a musical bone in his body, so she was curious to hear whatever he was going to play.
Ricky played the first set of notes and Bless quickly lost interest. She recognized that song, I Think I Kinda, You Know. Nini played that song for her a thousand times before she posted it on her Instagram. She glanced to Nini, seeing that she was infuriated with Ricky's actions. As the boy carried in playing, Bless grew quite annoyed, while those around her were enjoying Ricky's performance.
Though when his song came to an end, Bless noticed that her sister was now smiling a bit. However, she nor anyone else didn't have any time to react, as Miss Jenn and Carlos sent everyone out to decided on the final cast list.
. . .
The students left the auditorium and waited outside of it since Miss Jenn and Carlos needed a few minutes to finalize the list. Bless's first instinct was to go after Nini and check on her, but she knew her sister could fight her own battles. Instead, she waited with the rest of her anxious peers. It wasn't long until the auditorium doors pushed open and Carlos exited with a piece of paper in his hand.
"Follow me!" The boy yelled, gaining everyone's attention as they all followed him through the empty hallway.
Bless was tugged along by an excited Ashlyn as Carlos finally stopped by a glass frame and stuck the cast list up. Bless's eyes scanned the green list, first seeing that Ashlyn got Mrs. Darbus. She heard Ashlyn gasp and pull her into a hug.
"You got Ryan!" Ashlyn squealed during their hug.
"I did?" Bless asked in shock. She scanned the list again, seeing that her name was right by Ryan Evans. "Awesome!" Bless noticed who got the lead. She excused herself from Ashlyn and went toward her sister. "You got Gabriella!"
"You know her name!" Nini replied in the same tone before the sisters shared a hug. As they let go, Bless saw Gina pushing past everyone and rushing to the front, only to find out that she was cast as Gabriella's understudy and as Taylor Mckessie.
"Congrats," Gina said to Nini, although Bless knew she didn't mean it.
"Chad?" EJ uttered with a frown. "She thinks I'm a Chad."
Bless rolled her eyes at his dramatics, while Nini comforted her boyfriend. Wait... if EJ didn't get Troy, aka the male lead, then who did? That answer came quickly for Bless when she saw heads turning a specific way. Following everyone's gaze, Bless saw Ricky slowly stepping forward.
"Holy crap, dude," Big Red voiced from where he stood by the cast list.
CAST LIST
Troy Bolton... Ricky Bowen
Troy Understudy... EJ Caswell
Gabriella Montez... Nini Salazar-Roberts
Gabriella Understudy... Gina Porter
Chad Danforth... EJ Caswell
Sharpay Evans... Seb Matthew-Smith
Ryan Evans... Blessica Salazar-Roberts
Taylor Mckessie... Gina Porter
✧ ✵ ⁂ ✧ ✵ ⁂
BLESS
SOPHOMORE
❝ I can't believe I'm about to stay this, ❞ Bless let out a chuckle, ❝ but joining the theatre could be an interesting ride. ❞
✧ ✵ ⁂ ✧ ✵ ⁂
. . .
DISCLAIMER: i do not own the rights to i'm yours. all rights go to the songwriter of i'm yours, olivia rodrigo.
ew there was so much dialogue but we finally met chase and he will have his own storyline !!!
please don't be a ghost reader :(
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