"Cut!" the director shouted.
Mary-Ann frowned. I loved to see her frown. The director marched over to her. "Come on Annie, you got to convey your emotion better. Make it believable, you know. I know you have it in you. Remember, this is all gonna be live, I won't be there to help you if you mess up on the big day okay?"
The thought of her messing up on stage and everyone laughing at her was extremely amusing. I had to hide my smile. "Don't be sad. You can do it! You wanna know why? Because of your talent! That's why your my leading lady!" he added.
She chimed in at the end of his sentence. He said it so often. Even I mouthed his words in annoyance. My audition was better than hers. I deserved to be his leading lady. I wanted to be Dorothy so badly. I would kill to be Dorothy.
But no... I wasn't good enough. The director's niece was the one with all the talent. No coincidence or bias there. Like I was going to believe that crap. So what if she was recommended by over 40 different agents. Wasn't it time to give someone else a chance?
Like me. I had talent. I had been acting since I was four! But I never got any big roles. I had worked so hard. This was supposed to be my big break. I was finally gonna be the star and get the attention I deserved. But no... the new comer beat me. I got the role of The Good Witch. Who even remembered The Good Witch. The only thing I remembered from The Wizard Of Oz was Dorothy. I'd be happier if they gave me the role of he dog. At least I'd have more screen time.
The only good thing about it was that I was her stand in. If she had an 'accident' I would get her part. It would be perfect. I could go from having only 12 lines to 80% of every line spoken in the plane. I have to admit, I spent more time memorizing her lines then mine, but I knew all of them like the back of my hand. I could say them better than her. If they gave me a chance....
"Action!" The director boomed. We were doing the scene where Dorothy met the Scarecrow. "Oh my look a scarecrow!" Mary-Ann boomed. She sounded soooooo fake. She wasn't doing it right. I just wanted to scream and curse at her but I knew the director wouldn't have it.
This had to work.
She walked over to the designated area where the Scarecrow was supposed to pop out and 'scare' her.
Just a few more steps and she would be there, the broken floor board. It's always been broken, no one would know the difference. It would just be faulty construction. No one would suspect anything.
But someone did. There was just one extra crack in it... Maybe it was out of place I don't know. But, Matthew, the kid who plays the Scarecrow saw it. "Annie watch out!" He yelled as he ran out from his hiding place behind some prop bushes. The fool. He fell right into my trap. As soon as his foot touched the broken plank, the floor collapsed leaving a big hole and he fell to the ground.
Under the stage was the old basement. It would be perfect. Mary-Ann was supposed to fall down and get hurt... Die for all I care. Then I would take her place. Some other snotty-nosed actress would take my place as The Good Witch... Or if I was lucky, Mary-Ann. I wouldn't waste a minute of my time rubbing it in how much of a better job I was doing than her.
Then I would become the star, whether my crew members liked it or not. This play wouldn't be the last of it. I would be rocketed to fame. I would become a movie star just like I always wanted! I'd work with the best, not with this lousy team. And the best part was that I would get away with it all! No one would every suspect me. I would get off Scott-free... And I did. Just not the way I expected.
Medical personnel ran to help Matthew. I too faked being concerned for him. He had just ruined my plans..... just because he wanted to be the hero. In the end he ended up hurting his leg some how. I don't know I wasn't paying attention. I just remember he got a limp but said he was okay with it as the Scarecrow character was supposed to have a limp anyway.
The director then told us that practice would be held off for a while and they would tell us when we needed to come back to practice again.
**********************************
After practice I immediately headed home, but of course she had to stop me. Misses perfect Mary-Ann Shiley. So perfect was she. Oh how I hated her.
"Hey, Susan you wanna come with us? A lot of us are going out for lunch and I was wondering if you-"
I stopped her there, I didn't want to be associated with a posh little brat like her. Always with the small talk, always with the invitations... Always trying to rub in the fact that she was better than me. "I'm good, I've got to practice my lines,"
"But you're really good. I mean really good. Sometimes I wish I could be as good as you, I mean you just get everything so naturally... You've been in the business much longer then me,"
I know was what I wanted to say but my conscience kept me quiet a bit longer through her degrading rant.
"I bet your lines don't need any work, just come with us. Maybe we could exchange acting tips?"
Tips? With you a loser? I've got better things to do.. I thought but instead I asked, "Tips?".
By my harsh tone her expression dropped. She wasn't good at acting like she wasn't offended. She wasn't good at acting in general. She was too sensitive. In the acting world, you'd have to get use being shut down and not accepted. If you got that upset by someone talking down to you, you'd never make it.
"Uh... yeah you know... We could help each other,"
" I don't need your help," I snapped, making her jump. "What I need, is to get to my house and study my lines and for you to stop bothering me and get lost!" I shouted at her. Tears formed in her eyes. I could see her trying to hold them back but it was quite obvious. No one had really talked down to her before. Damn! I let my temper get ahead of me again! I silently cursed myself. I had to think of an excuse to get out of this before heat started between us.
There were several other cast members beside her, mainly The Cowardly Lion and The Tin Man. "Come on she's just jealous," one of them whispered as they put their hand on her shoulder.
Jealous! Of her!
The anger boomed inside of me, but instead of a frown, a smile took over my face. "Hey Annie," God I hated calling her that. To me she was nothing but dirty ol' Mary-Ann. She turned and looked at me, sadness in her eyes. "I got you good didn't I. First tip to becoming a better actress is always practice even when your not on stage. Learn to convey your emotions so you can always be angry or sad or whatever. I really can't come today. I'm sorry, maybe next time,"
She smiled, the sadness disappearing from her eyes and filling with joy. "T-thank you so much! I'll take it straight to heart! Umm.. Here's some advice for you.." Ohhhh Godddd. I could tell that she was scanning her tiny brain and struggling to find something to tell me. I just had to sit there through it. "Always try and do your best! Aim for the highest spot you can get!" She beamed. Ughh, just shut up already, I thought but instead I found myself smiling and walking away from her. I had to go home. I had to get started again.
I rushed home and immediately began practicing my lines for a minutes before going into full on rehearsal with Mary-Ann's lines. I practiced for hours. Late until the night. That's when I started plotting. Plotting my next trap. This one would have to be perfect! It would have to be extremely precise this time. No someone else accidentally falling in the trap and ruining everything. I got an idea all I had to do was wait. Wait until they gave me the new location. And wait I did.
Eventually they gave us the new location and told us we would be starting practice there a week later. I got there bright and early and scouted the place. I set up my trap, tested it out, and set it up again. I thought of every possible scenario. Where was I going to stand? Which scene should I do it in?
When would I do it?
By the time practice started all those questions were answered. The first she said to me was how she had taken my advice and she was doing and blah blah blah. I easily hid my hate with fake smiles and a nod here and there. Then we started practice. I waited quietly until the scene where Dorothy first accidentally killed the Wicked Witch of the East. I knew I was supposed to come out soon but I had rehearsed all of it. It would be beautiful and majestic. It had to be perfect. It was going to be perfect.
Mary-Ann danced on the stage and spat out her lines with all the grace of a bloated turkey. Surprisingly my advice had actually made her a tiny bit better. Not better than me of course. I knew I shouldn't of shared my genius with her. God how I hated her. Revenge would be sweet.
She stepped right into the spot. The spot I had marked with a faded out brown marker. Undetectable, unless you were looking for it. I stood at the edge of the stage. It had taken forever to haul the several bags of stones to the stage. I had to get more than one or it wouldn't be convincing enough. They all just thought they were there to keep the curtains up, or whatever they were used for. I had one positioned right above her head. All I had to do was untie it from the post I had tied it to.
I untied it from the post. It was heavy in my hands and I had to grab it. She would only be there for a few more minutes. This stage was smaller leaving only small sides at the stage and the backstage under the stage. So no one was beside me looking. No witnesses. But guilt washed over me. Could I really do this? I'd done it before but it was going to work this time. No doubt about it. I thought about tying it back. I really did. Until I heard the words ringing through my head. Her words.
"Always try and do your best! Aim for the highest spot you can get!"
That little devil. She was patronizing me. She thought I couldn't do any better, that this was the highest I could get. I would show her. I let go of the rope... And let the sound of her screams fill my ears. Now I knew, I had gotten the part.