When it came to acting it always made Michelle nervous. Sure, she was only a teenager and it was only a high school musical, but that didn't mean she wanted to be bad at it. She wanted to be good enough to prove she could be cool and for the audition to be fun. But for Mr. Neal, the auditions were anything but fun. Nothing but bad actors after bad actors but he knew what he was in for as he had directed a lot of high school musicals before. So when Michelle turned up for her audition two days later she had her perspective and Mr. Neal had his.
"Next," he said as patiently as he could.
Michelle entered the classroom with Natalie and Rick and the three of them were carrying scene pages. Mr. Neal was relieved to see Michelle as he had a little confidence in her abilities.
"Oh, hello Michelle," Mr. Neal said. "Which role are you auditioning for today?"
"I'm auditioning for the role of 'Rhonda'," Michelle replied. "Do you mind if Rick reads with me?"
"Not at all,"
"Thank you,"
Mr. Neal directed Michelle and Rick to the front of the classroom while Natalie just stood on the left-hand side. As she read her lines with Rick she felt nervous at first but then felt her confidence begin to grow. Once the scene was finished she looked at Mr. Neal.
"So what do you think?" Michelle asked.
The second Michelle asked that question she regretted it because she really wasn't sure if she wanted to hear his answer.
"We'll let you know," Mr. Neal said.
To Michelle hearing him say "We'll let you know," was him saying "I'm telling you no,". In spite of her anxiety, she wanted an answer immediately because she didn't know if she could stand the wait.
"Can't you tell me now if I've got the role, or if I'm in with a shot?" she asked.
Mr. Neal was about to make some notes but instead had been caught off guard as he couldn't believe how demanding she was being.
"Michelle, either you can wait in due time or I can cross your name off the list right now," he replied annoyed. "Now what choice do you want to make?"
Michelle had rarely seen Mr. Neal annoyed like that and always hated it when he was as it always made her nervous.
"I'll just wait," she said.
"Thank you, and you'll find out in due course," he said. "Now report down to the music room for your singing audition,"
Now Michelle really started to feel nervous because she really had doubts about her abilities.
*****
When it came to praising Michelle loved it when it was genuine but hated it when it was false and really hated it when it was delusional. And that's what she was getting from Natalie and Rick as they walked home from school: Delusional praise.
"Your audition was just amazing, mate," Rick said. "You should be really proud of yourself,"
"I really loved the way you sang," Natalie said. "I thought that was amazing,"
And that's when Michelle reached the end of her limit.
"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "I was crap,"
Natalie and Rick looked at her in surprise as they didn't expect her to say that.
"What do you mean you were crap?" Natalie asked.
"What do you mean I was crap?" Michelle asked back. "Didn't you see the look on Miss Doherty's face? She looked like I was scratching my fingernails down the blackboard,"
"Miss Doherty's a bitch," Rick said. "She always looks like that,"
Michelle really wanted to believe that but she just couldn't keep the look out of her mind.
"No, I don't think it's that," she replied.
Natalie and Rick continued to argue their support for her singing voice but she just couldn't believe them, not with Miss Doherty's look firmly in mind.
*****
Michelle knew she was pushing her luck but as far as she was concerned it was too important not to. So she waited out the front of the house for her mother to come home. As Mrs. Slater pulled up in her car she was agitated and the last thing she needed was to see Michelle waiting for her out the front of their house. All Mrs. Slater wanted was a strong cup of coffee to deal with the day she had. Michelle could tell her mother was in a bad mood the second she got out of the car but she didn't care.
"Hi Mum," Michelle said casually. "Did you have a good day at work?"
In Mrs. Slater's mind that translated to Mum, I want something.
"No, my day was horrendous," she replied sternly.
In Michelle's mind that translated to: Don't even think about asking me for anything!
So with that translation in mind, Michelle knew she was stuck but she knew that if she waited for the right time someone else could get the role of 'Rhonda' and she wouldn't be able to sing for Mrs. Doherty again to prove her wrong.
"Mum, can I be honest with you?" she asked sincerely.
As Mrs. Slater walked towards Michelle she was taken aback by her bravery to be honest. She also considered the fact that Michelle could be lying but it didn't seem like it wanted to see where this was going to go.
"Yes, you can be honest with me," she replied. "What do you want?"
"I want to have singing lessons," Michelle said.
Mrs. Slater sighed instantly with frustration.
"Michelle, your father and I already let you audition for that musical," she said. "What makes you think we're going to pay for singing lessons?"
"Because I want to join a choir when I go to university," Michelle replied.
That was a notion Mrs. Slater didn't anticipate. When it came to Michelle's intelligence she wasn't entirely sure if she could make it university. Tafe, maybe, but not university. However there she was demonstrating a need to get into university and was intrigued by it.
"Is that something you really want to do?" Mrs. Slater asked fascinated.
"Yeah, because I really want to sing," Michelle said. "And I know you and Dad want me to go to uni so why can't I do both?"
As Michelle continued to talk to her mother about it, it became obvious she was going to get her way. Mission accomplished.
*****
Cameron had no idea how many times he had read Michelle's first letter because whenever he did he felt like he could get lost in it. All of his problems seemed to go away simply because he felt like he had a friend that wasn't going to make fun of him or judge him. He was happily lost in this euphoria until one of his classmates, a boy his own age with red hair, walked up to him as he stood by his locker.
"What are you reading, geek?" the boy asked aggressively.
Cameron quickly put the letter behind his back.
"None of your business," he said defensively.
"Hand it over," the boy said.
"No," he replied.
"I said hand it over!" the boy shouted.
Out of fear, Cameron handed the boy the letter and he hated himself for being so easily intimidated. The boy read the first few lines and threw it on the floor laughing.
"You're an asshole," the boy said.
Then the boy turned away still laughing.
"What a geek!" the boy said to himself.
Cameron bent over and picked up Michelle's letter relieved but still angry over the intimidation. But it had taught him the very valuable lesson of not bringing any letters from Michelle to school.
*****
At school, Michelle was a nervous wreck. She had to wait a week to find out if she won the part or not. A cousin from another school had told her how he had auditioned for a role in an amateur musical and didn't find out until the first rehearsal that he wasn't even in it because that's when they announced the cast. Michelle didn't want to go through something like that and was relieved that the cast list had been posted. As she looked at the character name Rhonda Michelle felt positive that she wasn't going to see her name. But that didn't prove to be the case as Michelle saw her name and just couldn't contain her excitement.
"Yes!" Michelle said. "You little beauty!"
Even though the day proved to be very exciting Michelle just couldn't wait to get home and tell her American friend that was really important to her.
*****
When Michelle got home from school the first thing she did was take out a piece of writing paper so she could write to Cameron.
"Dear Cameron," Michelle wrote. "I've got some amazing news. I auditioned for our high school musical called 'Villains' and I'm going to be playing Rhonda. It's a really cool part. She's a bikie. I wish I could be that cool,"
As Michelle continued to write to him she loved all the cool stuff she could say about her life, especially since it was true and she didn't have to lie about anything.
*****
It was about three weeks later when Cameron got the letter. With the way, Michelle described her life he was blown away by it. He read it several times before he decided to write a letter of his own. After he turned on his typewriter he started to feel a little anxious because he knew his life wasn't going to be anywhere near as exciting as hers. So he just sat there for a while thinking of what to say. Eventually, the right ideas came to him.
"Dear Michelle," Cameron typed. "I'm really happy for you that you got the part you wanted in the musical. I'm confident you'll be great in the role. But there is something you haven't mentioned and that's what you look like. Can you please describe yourself? I'd really like to know,"
As Cameron continued typing he hoped he wasn't pushing his luck and started to wonder if he should even send the letter.
*****
After Cameron finished typing the letter he was going to ride to the post office and mail it but he felt asking Michelle for her description was a little too daring and just stayed home. But as he woke up the next day he hated himself for not having the guts to ride out to the post office when he had the chance and meant he would have to wait one extra day to receive another letter from her.
So he rode towards town as fast as he could to the post office before heading into school. Then he heard someone riding on their bike towards him. As he turned to see who it was he hoped it would be Sarah but he knew it wouldn't be.
"Don't get too attached to Michelle," Stephen said as he rode closer to Cameron.
"She's only a pen pal," Cameron replied.
"Even so. Don't get too attached,"
"Why not? She's the only friend I've got and I never know when I'm going to see you or anyone else from 'Lovers of Light',"
Stephen sighed in pity for him.
"I know it's hard but I can assure you that your life will have more consistency in the future," he said.
"Will Michelle be part of my life?" Cameron asked.
He considered telling Cameron everything he knew at that moment but thought better against it.
"When it comes to Michelle you'll find out exactly how she'll fit into your destiny and how you'll fit into hers," Stephen explained. "But even so just keep yourself in check emotionally when it comes to her and things will work out the way you want them to,"
And with that said Stephen disappeared from view and Cameron was left there feeling very excited and also realized his need for caution as he wanted to be in control of his destiny and he wasn't going to let anything get in the way of that.