I was extremely nervous as it was opening night tonight. My mum was coming to support me and I couldn't believe that I would be telling everyone that she is my mum tonight. She was driving me there already as she knew that I wanted to be there before everyone else so I could get rid of my nerves. Before I got out of the car she turned to me and asked "Are you sure that you want to tell everyone tonight?"
"Yes. They deserve to know. I have kept it a secret for so long but could you help someone out first. His name is Sebastian but we all call him Seb," I said.
"Why do you want me to help him out?" Mum askes.
"Because he is nervous as he is playing Sharpay," I said.
"Oh. So a boy is playing Sharpay. That is new and different," Mum said.
"I know but he is nervous to be playing the role," I said. "So when I text you that he is in can you come into the corridor to where the dressing room is and calm him down and talk to him."
"Yeah, I can do that," Mum said.
"I'll see you in a bit then," I said. I then got out of the car and walked into the school. I knew that I should get my nerves out in the gym so I could take in the set and everything.
I walked into the gym expecting it to be empty but when I walked in I saw Ricky and Ms Jenn already in there. "Oh! Uh...I didn't know anyone would be in here," I said.
"Let me guess, jitters?" Rick asked me.
"Little bit. I just realised this morning this is the first time I don't have to deal with the pressure of everyone around me and my mom is coming tonight so I want it to be perfect," I said.
"Your mom is coming! Wow! I forgot she was coming," Ricky said. He then whispered in my ear "Are you sure you want to tell everyone else?"
"Yes," I whispered back. "They deserve to know."
"So we finally get to know what your last name is?" Ms Jenn asked.
"Yep. I can't believe that Ricky or Big Red haven't said the secret yet," I said.
"Tell her the muffin story!" Ms Jenn said to Ricky.
"Do I have to?" Ricky said to Ms Jenn.
"Listen, I'm gonna run. I'll see you in a couple of hours for pre-game," Ms Jenn said. "Just take a second, both of you, and soak in the stillness." Ms Jenn then walked out of the gym.
Out of nowhere, a bag fell and Ricky and I both jumped. We then heard someone say "Sorry!" and then someone else saying, "I think that was me."
"Okay, how many people are in here?" Ricky shouted.
"Do you wanna..." I asked Ricky while pointing out the door.
"Yeah," Ricky said. We then walked out of the gym. "Can't believe we made it here," Ricky said when we left the gym.
"Yeah. Against all odds, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing," Ricky said.
"Hey, that other night, in the theatre, in that room, I, um..." I started to say.
"Oh! Uh... Listen, that... No worries. I get it. It was a tough day. We're all in a weird place," Ricky said.
"Yeah. Yeah, totally weird" I said.
"It's cool. We're cool, right?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah, Yeah, totally cool," I responded.
"Cool," Ricky said.
"So, um... Uh... So I'll see you before the show," I said to Ricky before walking away from him.
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It was now 35 minutes before the show starts and I was freaking out a little bit. I was already in costume but internally I was panicking a bit. Carlos suddenly walked into the bomb shelter with a large basket of flowers. He then walked out of the bomb shelter again and walked in with a bigger basket of flowers said "We've got mystery flowers, people!"
"Wow, they're both massive," EJ said.
"Why the mystery?" Red asked.
"There was no card, so I'm guessing it's the dealer's choice. But if I had to bet, I'd say it's for our leading lady," Carlos said.
I then put my hand on my chest in awe and turned to look at Ricky. He then said "Not from me. Sorry."
"It's okay," I whispered to him. I then walked up to the flowers and looked through them to see if I could see a card and I manage to find one in the larger set of flowers. I opened the card up and saw that it said:
To Allie,
Congrats on your role. I know you will do amazing as you are. You're probably freaking out by now but don't. Just relax and stay calm. Take deep breaths to help. I know you will do amazing and our advice for you is just to be yourself. Have an amazing opening night. We're sorry that we couldn't make it.
Lucas, Vanessa, Zac, Monique, Olesya, Kaycee and Bart
I then started tearing up as they sent me flowers so I picked them up and brought them over to my area which has my stuff in. All of a sudden Natalie shouts "Half hour!"
"Okay, last touches, anyone? Speak now, or forever hold your face!" Kourtney said.
Ms Jenn then walked into the bomb shelter and said "My beautiful babies, let's gather around for some housekeeping!" We all then get into a circle and then Ms Jenn continued "First of all, who brought Versailles?"
"No one knows," Carlos said. "Wait. Where did the other flowers go?"
"Oh. There over with my stuff. I found a card with the flowers and they were for me," I said.
"Well, I suppose we'll just have to share, then," Ms Jenn said. "Oh, and speaking of sharing, most of you know what our dazzling Taylor had to leave under family circumstances. Gina sends her love and support to all of you, but unfortunately, she's on the East Coast and won't be able to make it to tonight's performance. And so, I have asked Kourtney to fill in, in her stead." We all then begin clapping and cheering for her. "So now, what I would like to do is, please think of a word or phrase from the show that expresses where your head is, or your goals for tonight. If anyone wants to share?"
There was a moment of awkward silence before Big Red spoke up and said "You're my guys and this is our team."
"What if you wanna try something really new, and it's a total disaster and all your friends laugh at you?" Ricky said.
"Oh, um... Do you ever feel like there's this whole other person inside of you just looking for a way to come out?" I said.
"Do the romp and strut your stuff!" Carlos exclaimed. We all then chuckled at that.
"My shower head is very impressed with me," Kourtney said.
We all then laugh and EJ then said "I'm proud to call you my sister."
"Aw. It's close enough," Ashlyn said. "My nail beds are history."
"Sharpay's kinda cute, too," Seb starts.
We then all start saying the rest of the quote together "So is a mountain lion, but you don't pet it!"
"And I'll just say, no matter what happens tonight, we're all in this together," Ms Jenn said. I then noticed that Ricky was looking at me. "Okay, Wildcats, take a moment to settle your nerves. If we had a curtain, it would be up in 20 minutes!" We all then start clapping a cheering.
I looked over at Seb and saw him freaking out a little so I walked up to him and said "Hey, Seb are you alright?"
"No. I'm freaking out slightly. What if people don't like that a boy is playing Sharpay," Seb said.
"They'll love you. Hold on, give me a minute," I said. I then whipped out my phone and texted my mum to come to the bomb shelter.
A few minutes later she texted me back saying that she was here so I turned to Seb and said "Hey, I have someone I want you to meet. She's outside waiting for us." I then led Seb out of the bomb shelter and when he got outside he saw my mum standing there and I then said "So I'll leave you two to talk." I then walked back into the room.
Around 5 minutes later Seb walked back into the bomb shelter and when he saw me he walked up to me and said "Thanks for that. She helped a lot."
Before I could say anything he walked off and started talking to Carlos. All of a sudden I hear Carlos stream in joy and when he realised that we were all looking at him he shouted "Ashley Tisdale is here."
I didn't know when Ms Jenn walked in but she suddenly said "Seriously? She's here. We have to be on our A-game then people." I knew that I shouldn't listen to her as my mum told me to act like she wasn't even here.
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I only have 4 more chapters to write. Hopefully, I can write all 4 before tomorrow night. I have my induction for Sixth Form tomorrow morning before I start on Thursday. Hope you have enjoyed this chapter.