As was tradition, the rest of us went to the auditorium and took our seats to watch the performance. And boy, was it a good show.
First, they got the friendly remainder.
"Born to Hand Jive almost broke out into a fight," Mike said, giving Ryder a look.
"And High School Musical ended with a fight," said Finn as he walked in.
"Finn!" exclaimed pretty much everyone except Alex and Shana.
"Guess who's directing this show?" he asked. We chattered excitedly.
After that, the point of the assignment.
"Show us your dance moves," said Mike. "We know you all can sing but we want to see the theatricality that you can put into your moves. So show us 60s. And show us Link and Motormouth Maybelle."
"So we aren't going to sing for this?" asked a worried Unique. That was her advantage.
"Nope," said Puck. "I'm singing the song. You guys are dancing to it."
"Projected behind you will be the scene in the 2007 movie," said Mike. "Look back if you need guidance. Otherwise, please the crowd. Ready Puck?"
"To be the Ladies' Choice?" he asked. "Born ready." Finn and Mike smiled at him as Finn headed down to join us and Mike got ready to dance with them. The music began and Puck started singing.
Puck: Hey little girl with the cash to burn. Well, I'm selling something you won't return.
Immediately, Mike started dancing and Ryder joined in. Shana didn't wait too long before joining but the others took a little longer to get a sense of the moves.
Puck: Hey little girl, take me off the shelf. 'Cause it's hard having fun playing with yourself.
Bree joined in and did a much better job up there than Shana was doing.
"Someone should remind Bree she's auditioning for Maybelle," Kitty said, "she's not supposed to move around like a skinny little girl."
Puck started the chorus when everybody else finally joined in. They kept on dancing and when Puck was singing, "Hey little girl on a spending spree. I don't come cheap but the kisses come free." Ryder ran into Shana. She smiled at him but he just got right back to the dancing.
They were doing fine after that, especially Bree and John, who looked great up there. I think Bree realized this because she grabbed him during the instrumental break and danced with him.
Jake stood up and said, "Let's go dance on stage with them." Not everybody agreed, so he dragged me along with him and Kitty and Sugar came, too. We made it on stage before the break could end. And saw as Bree and John dominated the stage.
We danced behind them, copying the choreography. Puck seemed to really be enjoying himself and he sounded great. When the song was about to end, Shana pulled Unique to her and started dancing with her. This caught Unique off-guard so she stopped for a second. But then the song was over so not very many people seemed to notice.
"That was awesome!" said everyone as Kitty and I smiled at each other. Bree had done an awesome job and we were happy for her. Hopefully, the results would be good.
***
The following morning, we woke up early again but evidently not early enough. Everyone got to the bulletin board early, too early for there to even be a list posted. But then, before we knew it, Mr. Schue and Puck were there with a list in hand.
Mr. Schue held out the list and a few hands reached for it but he pulled it away. He slowly pinned it to the bulletin board and turned around. Then he and Puck moved away. We all stood still for two seconds and then everyone rushed to the list. But it was Sugar who made it there first and ripped it off. We all watched as she read through it and then looked up happily.
"You guys want to know who got what role?" she asked. We all nodded. She was enjoying making everyone squirm. "Okay," she said. "As the Dynamics... Shana, Danika, and Lesley... Don't know who any of you are..." I saw Shana defeatedly back away from the crowd that had formed around Sugar. "As Penny, Marley." Marley frowned. What was wrong with that role? "As Penny's mom, Amity." Amity smiled. Why would she want that role? "As Corny Collins, Dan." He nearly jumped in place from his excitement. "As Amber, Julie." Perfect! "As Amber's mom, Velma, Sugar, that's me, yay!" Haha, even more perfect. "As Amber's dad, Alex." Amber's dad comes out in Hairspray? Hmm. Alex didn't seem to like the results very much, considering he just walked away.
"Wait..." Marley called out, following after him and not waiting to hear the rest of the results.
"As Seaweed, Jake," Sugar was saying. Oh, that's why Marley didn't like the role of Penny. "As Little Inez, Bree."
"What?" said Bree. Unique became really anxious.
"As Motormouth Maybelle, Unique," Sugar said, looking up at her and smiling. "As Link, John."
"Yay," said Kitty as she kissed him on the cheek.
"As the star, Miss Tracy, we have Kitty," said Sugar.
"I'm going to rock that fat suit like nobody's business," Kitty said, returning the high-five that John was holding up.
"And as Tracy's dad, Wilbur, it's Joe-Joe!" Sugar said. "Congrats everyone!"
"Wait, I didn't get a role," said Ryder as everyone turned to leave.
"Yeah, you did," said Sugar, looking back at the list. "Oh, my bad, I skipped over it when I read them out loud. Congrats, Ryder, you're playing Tracy's mom, Edna!"
Everyone laughed as Ryder took the list and read it over multiple times.
"It's a lead role," I told him as I walked away from him. He stood there for who-knows how long.
***
Monday, we got straight to work. We'd be spending the first few days doing acting, singing, and dancing exercises as a group and then we'd be focusing on the roles. We had three weeks until showtime, but we got a few days off of school for Halloween and Day of the Dead, so it was really less time than that. And then we had two weeks to rehearse for Sectionals, plus with my birthday somewhere in between, it would just be getting busier and busier.
The first thing we did was have a dance boot camp with Mike. We spent all of Monday afternoon with it. Practice started at 2 and ended at 7. Yikes.
It was around 5 that we were exhausted from doing the same thing over and over and over. So we decided to change things up a bit.
"You guys ever see A Chorus Line?" asked Shana during one of our breaks. She slumped down on the piano and began playing "I Hope I Get It" but we were too tired to play along. I felt kind of bad, that everyone was just ignoring her attempt at making rehearsals fun, so I sat between Dan and Amity and nudged them.
["I Hope I Get It" from A Chorus Line (the glee project version).]
Julie: Again! Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch! Again!
Julie, Dan and Amity: Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch! Again!
Julie: Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch! Again!
Julie, Dan, and Amity: Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch! Again!
I got up and they laughed. Shana smiled at me and I started dancing around, encouraging my tired castmates to join in.
Julie: Right, that connects with turn, turn out in touche step. Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch! Got it? Going on and turn, turn, touch down, back step, pivot, step, walk, walk, walk!
I had some of them laughing and others pretty annoyed, so I focused on the ones that looked annoyed first.
Julie: Right, let's do the whole combination, facing away from the mirror, from the top! A-5-6-7-8!
I danced around for a minute, doing all sorts of fancy stuff that I knew half of them couldn't do and I was not energized enough for. Then I slumped down next to Kitty and Bree and they both rolled their eyes.
Julie: God I hope I get it! I hope I get it! How many people does he need?
Shana, Amity, Kitty, and Bree: How many people does he need?
Dan stood up and danced towards the center of the stage. I stood up and skipped around the room some more.
Dan: God, I hope I get it. I hope I get it! How many boys, how many girls?
I stopped in front of Jake.
Julie, Shana, Amity, Kitty, and Bree: How many boys, how many..?
Jake rolled his eyes as he joined in.
Jake: Look at all the people! At all the people! How many people does he need?
Julie, Shana, Amity, Kitty, Bree, Jake and Dan: How many boys, how many girls? How many people does he...?
We were dancing around and at this point I stopped and held an invisible microphone in front of Unique's face. She smiled as she stood up.
Unique: I really need this job! Please, God, I need this job! I've got to get... this... job!
I smiled at her as Ryder joined in, forcing a smile as he walked around me.
Ryder: God, I really blew it... I really blew it. How could I do a thing like that?
I nodded at him as the chorus sang and Marley stood up.
Julie, Shana, Amity, Kitty, Bree, Jake and Dan: How could I do a thing like--
Marley: Now I'll never make it. I'll never make it. He doesn't like the way I look.
Everyone except Alex and John: He doesn't like the way I dance, he doesn't like the way I--
We danced around for a little bit, but I'm pretty sure that nobody had as much energy as Dan, Jake, and me. When the instrumental break was ending, Bree and Kitty took the center with flair.
Bree: God, I think I got it. I think I've got it! I knew he liked me all the time!
Kitty: Still isn't over, it isn't over! I can't imagine what he wants!
Bree: I can't imagine what he--
Everyone except Alex and John: God I hope I get it! I hope I get it! I've come this far, but even so. It could be yes, it could be no. How many people does he...?
I took the center once again.
Julie: I really need this job...
Shana, Amity, Kitty, Dan and Bree: My unemployment is gone!
Joe: Please, God, I need this job!
Marley, Jake, Ryder, Unique, and Julie: I knew I had it from the start!
Everyone except Alex and John: I've got to get this... job!
Shana played the last few piano keys as the rest of us held out that last note and then finally the song was over. We were met with applause as Finn, Mike, and Puck returned.
"That was awesome guys," said Finn.
"But a terrible way to rest during your break," said Mike. "Let's get back to work."
There were a few moans and some groans, but I didn't mind. We had fu and we had been spontaneous. Nobody could take that away from us. We finally starting to feel like a team, you know, if you pretended John and Alex hadn't been there just sitting and staring at us as if we were idiots.