CHAPTER FIVE
written by janie and ashe
the auditions
The clock ticked in a miserably slow manner as Mr. Potter read a page of their book, The Scarlet Letter, aloud to the class. He was well aware of his students' lack of attention, and made up for it by slamming the book shut, setting it onto his desk with a broad grin. "Mrs. Armisted." He called out, watching as the brunette's head shot up from where it was laying on the desk. "What does the rose bush mean?"
"The rose bush?" Cora asked, her eyes blinking towards him as she fought to remember what the rose bush even was. She had done the reading the night before, carefully analyzing every detail as she always did the first week of school, before theatre gets ahead of her, because then she will turn to spark notes.
"In chapter one." He hinted, leaning against his chair. As though he could sense the panic settling into his brain, he clasped his hands together. "Does anyone know what the rose bush means?"
The class sat silently, each student choosing to glance in any other direction than at their teacher.
"Hope." Mr. Potter finally explained, sitting up. "It's a symbol of hope. And speaking of hope—" His eyes met the eyes of Cora, "Good luck on your auditions today." He shot her a smile and went back to his book.
Wade glanced over at the brunette sitting next to him who had a smile plastered across her face, taking note of the anxiety that had appeared in her eyes. He bumped his shoulder against hers. "You're gonna do great." He smiled.
She let her head slump back onto the desk. "No I'm not." She whispered, mainly to herself. Cora spent all weekend trying her best to memorize her audition monologue, while also spending her entire Saturday with a massive hangover.
"Cora," Her brunette friend sighed, nudging her again until she finally looked back up at him. Wade's eyes were filled with sympathy and it only made Cora feel worse about herself, "You're a great actress. I always go to your guys' shows, so I would know."
A small smile spread across the girl's features. "Really?" The boy chuckled slightly and nodded, "Of course."
"Cora. Wade." Mr Potter slammed his book shut again. "Do I need to separate you?" He stood up and walked towards them, setting the book down in front of Wade. "How about you do the reading for the class."
Wade nervously smiled and nodded, a bit embarrassed at getting called out by his favorite teacher. He slowly began to read from the top of the page, stammering over a few words. His eyes squinted slightly to read through his teacher's numerous annotations, and even found himself getting slightly annoyed when a side conversation made him lose his spot. Nevertheless, he finished the rest of the page and quickly handed the book back to his teacher.
"Now you see how hard it is to teach a classroom full of you guys." He remarked to his class, before walking back to his seat. "Chapters three and four are homework, we will have a quiz on them on thursday. Have a great day." Mr. Potter leaned back in his seat as the loud school bell rang, propping his feet onto his desk.
The two seniors quickly grabbed their bags and made their way out into the hallway. Wade led the way, effortlessly pushing his way through the crowd of students. Cora trailed behind him like a lost puppy, her mind too preoccupied with her audition to recognize what was going around her. They finally made it to their destination: the theatre classroom, where Oliver was already waiting for them. Next to Oliver stood a blonde, with her back turned to Cora and Wade. It didn't take a genius for them to figure out who it was.
"Layla!" Cora bounded over to her friend, flinging her arms around her neck before the blonde could have time to react.
"Hey Cors," Layla smiled, placing her hands gently onto the brunette's hands as a way to somehow return the hug. She finally turned around and embraced her fully. "Oli and I were just talking about you."
"Really?" Cora drew back. "What about?"
"About how you're totally gonna get one of the leads." Oliver piped in with a proud smile. "Cora, this show was made for you."
Cora blushed but didn't respond, nodding in appreciation to her friends. To be honest, she didn't really believe them. She knew she wasn't the best actress in the class and it was foolish to pretend like she was gonna get a lead role anytime soon.
— — —
Oliver and Cora walked into the lobby of the theatre, filling in their names and numbers they were given. Cora smiled, closing her eyes and thanking the lord she was given number thirteen. Oliver was happy with number fourteen, it being his lucky number divided in half.
The two of them parted ways into the separate dressing rooms, Cora closing the door behind her slowly. "Cora!" Evelyn squealed, running up to her. "Oh, hey, Eve!" She smiled, slightly more comforted.
Evelyn dragged her over to an empty spot of the mirror while Cora looked around at the other girls in the dressing room. There was none she knew, but recognized a few faces from the hallways. She faced herself in the mirror, taking a deep breath as Evelyn squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.
"We've got this, okay? Don't you even worry. I can already tell this is gonna be your show." Cora nodded, only partially believing her. "Okay," she said.
Suddenly, over the intercom of the dressing room, Ms. Amy's voice called out. "Auditions will begin shortly, everyone in the auditorium in five."
There was a collective mumble of "thank you, five," as everyone began to mentally prepare themselves. Evelyn smiled. "Tongue twisters?" Cora nodded. The two girls quickly chose the one that they would do, making sure their words were clear and annunciated. "The big black bug bit the big black bear, and the big black bear bled blood bled blood—"
The girls exited the dressing room, taking the backstage route to the auditorium and sitting at the front of the house. Soon enough, Oliver and Jae found the duo and sat next to them. "Jae!" Evelyn smiled. "Are you auditioning?" He shook his head. "Tech."
Just then, Ms. Amy cleared her throat and stood in front of the apron. "Welcome, everyone, to auditions. I hope each and every one of you break legs today. I would like to discuss one thing, however." The group exchanged looks of confusion and slight worry.
"I know I said that the play would be Over the River and Through the Woods," she began. "But after examining everyone auditioning, I've decided to change it." The students began to murmur amongst themselves, and Cora grabbed Oli's hand for comfort.
"The play we will be doing instead is..." She paused for dramatic effect, naturally. "The Cover of Life." Oliver's mouth dropped open. "Great, my odds went from three male roles to one." Evelyn reassured him softly, Cora gulping nervously. While both plays were serious and very moving if done right, she wasn't as familiar with The Cover of Life after spending all that time studying the script of Over the River.
"Do not be alarmed," Ms. Amy said. "I have faith in each and every one of you." Cora tried not to believe she was too delusional, but she swore Ms. Amy looked directly at her when she said it. "Without further ado, let's start with warmups, shall we?"
— — —
"Oliver and...Evelyn. Why don't you read this scene together? Then we can have..." Cora glanced around at the people being called and assigned together, her heart sinking further each time her name wasn't called. It never was, and she sat in her chair trying to control her breathing.
She watched intently as Oliver and Evelyn performed the scene, portraying the emotional tension of it damn near perfect for an audition. Their stage chemistry worked wonderfully, and Cora smiled to try and show support for her friends. From what she could tell from the script, the two of them were a couple and were speaking to each other through letters sent back and forth. Physically, they stood close, but Cora couldn't help but smile at how they seemed disconnected from one another. As the scene came to an end, the next group went up to do the same.
Finally, after what felt like forever, everyone was done with the partner scenes. Ms. Amy wrote a few things down on her clipboard. "Now, for the Sibyl monologue...Cora. Let's have you read it." She stiffened, glancing around awkwardly before standing from her chair and moving to the front of the stage. She grabbed the script, flipping to the page assigned, and took a deep breath.
The words flooded out for her, time becoming a bit of a blur as she read the lines. She tried her hardest to portray the emotions Sibyl was going through, tears pricking her eyes softly. "I thought— I thought that was one of the reasons you liked me," she read, voice quivering slightly but still projecting out into the house. As the monologue came to an end, Ms. Amy was trying to hide a grin. "Thank you, Cora. Now, let's have..."
Cora returned to her seat, letting out a shaky breath as watched two more girls perform the same monologue, Ms. Amy nodding along and writing down a few things. "Alright, if everyone can come to the front of the stage."
Everyone rose from their chairs, standing at the edge of the apron. "Thank you all for today's auditions, they were truly wonderful. The cast list should be posted Friday night around seven, but I'll email you all if anything changes. Have a great evening," she smiled.
Oliver quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her away. "Cora, you did freaking incredible! You were by far the best at the monologue," he grinned. She blushed, thanking him as Evelyn ran up to them. "Oh my god, we all ate that," she laughed. "I have to get my stuff, I'll drop you guys off?" The two of them nodded, walking back to the dressing rooms to get their belongings.
— — —
The sun shone harshly upon the blue and green tennis courts, which were already swarmed with high school girls who couldn't help but join the tennis team, mostly just for their cute uniform. It was mainly full of freshmen, eager to land themselves on some sort of varsity team, while there were also a few of the upperclassmen, returners from the previous years.
Stella crouched down onto the familiar pavement, tying her tennis shoes as she eyed the new girls, trying to make guesses on who would actually make the team.
A faint voice drew her from her thoughts and her head shot up, meeting the eyes of Ilana. As a freshman last year, Ilana never really got the opportunity to bond with her other teammates. Instead, she hid towards the shadows and always volunteered to take the bench when one of her teammates wanted to step in.
"Oh hey, Ilana!" Stella smiled and stood up, dusting herself off. She took a moment to assess Ilana's outfit, which mainly consisted of a tennis skirt and a tank, the same as what she was wearing. "Ready for tryouts?"
"Yeah," Ilana began, nervously playing with her hands. "I really hope Coach Jones puts me in singles this year, I've practiced so much this summer."
"I'm sure he will." She agreed. Stella wasn't completely lying to her friend, two of the starting singles players graduated, leaving two opening spots for any doubles players who wanted to move up.
The two started walking to where a circle of girls were already warming up. "You're gonna be a captain, right?" Ilana questioned Stella as they got closer. "You're the only singles starter left."
"Maybe." Stella shrugged, not really thinking much of it. "That's kinda a senior job, but it's up to Coach to decide. Right now I just gotta make the team again."
Once the two girls made it to the front of the circle, the warmups began. Coach Jones walked around the girls, checking off the names on his sheet. He waited a few minutes to finally walk towards the middle of their circle. In an automatic response, each of the girls stood up and waited for their instructions.
"Good Afternoon, ladies. I'm Coach Jones, as many of you know." He tucked his clipboard under his arm and clasped his hands together to continue. "Those two over there—" He nodded his head towards two boys who were too busy discussing something to even bother glancing at the girls, "Are your team managers. They're here to help."
"Anyways, let's do some warmups." Coach Jones began walking through the girls, separating them into groups before he sent them off to their own courts. He finally landed on Stella and Ilana, "Estella, take these and play a few points against Ilana." He didn't explain anymore, but dropped three tennis balls into the brunette's hands and walked away.
Stella shoved two of the balls under the spandex of her skirt and followed Ilana off to the furthest court. The two girls walked in silence until they reached the court. As though they were following the basic tennis etiquette, they turned to face each other. "M or W?" She asked, holding out the tip of her racket.
"M." Ilana replied, holding her own racket in between her hands. Stella bent over to spin her racket on the floor and the two watched in anticipation as it finally tumbled to the floor, the tip of the racket spelling 'W'.
"Okay, I'll serve first. What side do you want?" Stella asked, picking up her racket.
"I'll take that side." Ilana nodded towards the side facing away from the sun and glanced back towards all the other girls, who were either playing in little matches or hitting with the team managers.
The match started and took over an hour to finish. The two were very close in skill, the only difference being Stella's experience in singles from her previous sophomore year, which led her to take the win against Ilana. The two walked back to their coach side by side, "Ilana, you're seriously good. How come you never played last year?"
"Oh, you know. I was a freshman, and there were all those upperclassmen that Coach was benching, it just wasn't fair to watch that happen." Ilana responded with a shrug. She fumbled with her hands again.
"You're way too humble for this sport." Stella joked as they finally reached Coach Jones. His eyes scanned the two girls up and down, which caused Ilana to take a smaller subconscious step behind Stella.
It wasn't a secret to the team that Coach Jones was a little... questionable. Ever since his introduction to the school as a biology teacher, he had always rubbed his female students the wrong way. And the school just had to make it worse by making him the tennis coach two years later.
"Stella? Do you see that boy over there?" Their coach nodded towards one of the courts where Mateo was trying his best to hit the ball towards a line of girls. Each time he fed a ball, it landed in the completely opposite direction of the girl. "Can you go help him?"
Mateo stood desperately trying to hit the balls to the center of the courts, knowing that the girls who were trying out were getting fed up with his inability to hit in a straight line. He cowered slightly, dodging down every time a ball came near him (it was three feet away).
"You need some help?" Stella came up behind him, grabbing one of the tennis balls from the basket. She recognized a few of the girls in the line— which was mostly full of freshmen. Few returners showed up for tryouts this year, mainly because Coach Jones scared them off.
"Yes. Please." He nodded hurriedly, pushing the basket towards her. Mateo took a step back so that she could start feeding the balls in a faster manner.
"So, tennis manager, huh?" The brunette teased, standing idle as a ball flew in between them. She laughed slightly as Mateo tried to catch it, failing miserably.
Mateo shrugged and tossed her another ball to hit. "I needed community service hours." He refused to let his ego get too damaged by missing that ball, so he made up for it by catching the next one.
The two stood in silence, in a comforting rhythm of Mateo tossing the ball to Stella and her hitting it to the girls, who Ilana had joined by now. "How's your eye doing?" She asked finally, gesturing to where Damien had punched Mateo.
"Not bad, could be better though." He joked, tossing her another ball. "They just really get on my nerves and they know it too."
"Well that's because you let them get to you." Stella advised him, hitting another ball down the middle of the court. "If you show them that it's bothering you then they're gonna keep it up. Hell, you know they do it on purpose."
"And how could you be so sure?" Mateo took his brief opportunity to glance over at her, watching as her face scrunched up in concentration while she hit the ball down the middle again.
"Oh, I'm not." Stella beamed, "But it doesn't hurt to try, you know."
The two finished the entire basket before Coach Jones finally called the group over. He held his clipboard tightly in his hands with a satisfied smile on his face. "Well thank you ladies for trying out. The list will be posted on Friday along with the other fall sports. I hope you all have a splendid week."
Out of the corner of her eye, Stella spotted a few girls nervously clutching each other's hands as she packed up her bag. She slung it over her shoulder and began making her way out of the courts.
"Hey, where'd you park?" Mateo jogged up to her, slinging his own bag over his shoulder. "I'm in the junior lot."
"I am too." She smiled sheepishly, fixing her hair slightly as the two began to walk side by side to the junior parking lot— which was conveniently on the other side of the school. They reached Stella's car first, and Mateo waited as she put her bag into the passenger side. "Well thanks for walking me here." She smiled.
"No problem. It worked out for me too." He nodded towards his black truck that was parked only a few spaces behind her. "Well, I'll cya tomorrow?"
"Cya tomorrow."
— — —
Oliver stepped through the door, closing it behind him after waving goodbye to Cora and Evelyn. "Hey, Mom," he called out. "I'm home." He walked into the kitchen where she smiled from the counter, flipping through the mail. "Hey, sweetie. How were auditions?"
"Good," he said with a small smile. "You might want to get changed, maybe a different shirt?" She suggested. Oliver frowned. "What for?"
"Blake and Stella are coming over for dinner." Janet responded bluntly. She pulled an envelope out and set it on the counter, ignoring the rest. She didn't say who it was from, but Oliver knew: Mrs. Carter. He didn't even try to act surprised when his mom shoved it into the trash can without a second glance.
Oliver groaned to himself, "But mom, it's Monday." He crossed his arms. "Can't we wait—"
"Don't give me your attitude." His mom glanced back up at him. "You know how hard it was for us when I left your father. Now, I'm going to make sure that the Carters get at least one home cooked meal this week. Go change your shirt."
He trudged back up the stairs grumpily. Oliver hadn't spoken to Stella since the party, and he was rather happy with giving her the silent treatment until she apologized. Unfortunately, he knew he would have to speak to her at some point.
The doorbell rang as Oliver put on one of his nicer shirts. The faint voices of the two greeting his mom were enough to quicken his speed and he walked out of his room quickly, stopping at the top of the stairs.
Stella looked up at him, waving. From their distance, she couldn't even see the annoyed expression on his face as he walked over and slumped towards the table.
"I'm sorry, Oliver didn't know you two were coming over. He's rather tired from his auditions." Janet explained as she guided the two over to the dining table. They both sat on the other side of Janet and Oliver, who tried to avoid further eye contact with Stella.
"That's alright," Blake smiled. "How were auditions, by the way, Oliver?" The boy glanced up at him, shrugging. "They were fine, I guess." His mother gave him a look. "What play are you doing again?" Oli sighed. "It was going to be Over the River and Through the Woods, but Ms. Amy changed it to The Cover of Life last minute," he explained briefly, taking a bite of his dinner.
Janet looked over at Stella. "You had tennis tryouts today, correct?" The girl nodded awkwardly. "I did. They went well, I think." She looked at Oliver, who refused to meet her eyes. She frowned as he picked at his food with a fork.
As though picking up on the awkward tension between their children, Blake spoke up again. "This food is really good, Janet. I mean it." He grabbed his cup of water and took a large sip of it. "I really appreciate it, too."
"Anytime." Janet smiled, glancing down at her son. The second Blake glanced away, she drove her elbow directly into his side. She didn't need to speak, the look on her face told Oliver that he needed to behave.
Oliver glared at his mom and stood up, "I'll be back." He said over his shoulder as he made his way up the stairs, stomping aggressively on each step. Stella's head shot back up and she looked at Janet, go for it, her eyes said, and Stella bolted up too, following her best friend up the stairs.
"Go away." Oli grumbled, storming into his room. He sat on his bed, arms crossed out of frustration as Stella stood near the door.
"Oli. Come on." She sighed, walking towards the bed. She sat down next to him, huffing in annoyance when he turned his back to her. "Why are you so pissed at me?"
"The hell do you think?" He said. "You promised you'd break off and hang out with us, and instead you spent the whole night with your new fake ass friends." Oliver didn't bother hiding his distaste for the group.
"You don't know them! They're not fake." Stella ran a hand through her brunette hair in an agitated manner. "Listen, I'm sorry for bailing on you last night but you ignored me too! You didn't come up to me once— hell— you left!"
Oliver rolled his eyes. "We left because Cora got lost and had a panic attack. Parties aren't her setting, and I wanted to be there for her. After that stupid ass fight, we figured it was time to go."
"So don't put me entirely at fault then! We both fucked up. Can we just act like grown adults and forgive each other?" She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around slightly so that he could make eye contact with her.
He looked up at her, resisting the urge to avert his gaze. "Fine," he sighed. "I'm sorry, Stell. That doesn't mean I have to like your new friends, though."
Stella breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her best friend tightly. "You don't have to— but please just talk to me. Don't isolate yourself just because you think I'm avoiding you. I can't lose you right now."
Oliver hugged her back, squeezing her tightly as he tried to fight back the tears pricking at his eyes. "I know. I'm sorry," he whispered. He pulled away slightly with a sniffle.
"No," She began, a small smile forming on her face even though her eyes were welling with tears as well, "Don't you get emotional on me. I'm not leaving anytime soon."
He nodded, laughing as he wiped at his eyes. "We've gotta stop letting stupid shit affect us," he shook his head softly. "I love you too much for that."
"I love you too." Stella hugged him again. She didn't care. She just wanted to hug her best friend like their little fight never happened. "You're the best thing in my life right now."
He rested his chest on her shoulder, a soft smile on his face. "You too. I genuinely don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'd probably die." She joked. As the laughter from their parents arose from downstairs, she decided to add, "besides, I think I'm gonna be over here a lot more now."
He nodded, pulling away. "We should probably get back down there before they start to think we killed each other," he laughed softly.
"Probably." Stella laughed with him. She stood up from his bed and dusted herself off, before extending a hand out to him. "Let's go."
Oliver grabbed her hand, letting her drag him up as they exited his room and made their way back downstairs.
"Look who's back." Blake exclaimed, leaning back in his seat. "We were wondering what was happening upstairs, it was awfully quiet."
Oliver shrugged. "Oh, the usual. We had a WWE style fight. I won." He smiled, sitting back down at the table as Stella returned to her seat.
Janet smiled, laughing softly to herself and exchanging a look with Blake. Soon enough, they were all back to laughing and eating their food with smiles on their faces.
— — —
As the clock slowly ticked toward midnight, students began to find themselves closed into their bedrooms, on their phones or even asleep. In a small bedroom on Willow Street, six houses down from the end, a blonde girl was resting peacefully on her bed, holding a brown blanket over her body as she stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought.
Her door creaked softly, and the girl sat up. A familiar face peeked into her room, slipping through the door and closing it carefully behind him. She smiled sadly at him, moving her blanket and giving him space to crawl into bed next to her. Interactions like this weren't unusual for either of them, often wordless understanding. Not this time, however.
"Cam?" Her voice was quiet in the atmosphere of their home, cracking and fragile. She spared a glance over at her brother, whose blue eyes were burning into her own. She didn't say anything else, just waited for him to respond.
It took a moment, but he finally spoke up, his voice matching hers — if not quieter. "I'm scared." He glanced away from her, up at the ceiling where she was staring at. Above them stood a small little drawing, something the two of them drew when they were kids. Even though it looked stupid, it resembled something for them: hope.
Brushing the hair out of his eyes with a gentle hand, she pulled her brother closer to her. "We'll be alright."
Cameron tried to let himself believe it, letting his tired eyes close as the noises of the night lulled him to sleep in his sister's arms.
For the first time in a long time, the night was peaceful — quiet, even — in the Bennett household. There was usually some sort of noise, whether it be the neighborhood kids or their sound of their own parents. Except for this night, where Cameron slept peacefully in the protective arms of his twin sister.
THE AUTHORS NOTE
hi ashe here hope you pookies enjoyed because me and janie have been working on this literally all day!! go read the next chapter too bc we fed y'all fr
DEDICATIONS
chaerryblsm rysunno sainteile -lovelypctter erytophobia sinfuIkisses liana98769 -----selene koogrlf taylorsera mylittle_island boyproblems_ riotsuns kidskrxw