Disclaimer: the lines, scene descriptions and music mentioned are all a part of Walt Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I do not claim these lines as my own, they're just repeated by the characters during their play.
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Nate looked over at me and winked. I made a face at him. Ms. Williamson cleared her throat.
“Are we done here, kids?” she asked peevishly, and Nate and I whipped around to face her.
“Yes, miss,” we both mumbled.
“All right,” she said, peering at us sternly over the edge of her tattered script. “Please let’s pick it up from scene three. Esmeralda,” she addressed me, and I heaved a patient sigh.
She never called me by my real name, but rather ‘Esmeralda this,’ or ‘Esmeralda that.’ I don’t think she even remembered my real name anymore.
But I must say, I enjoyed the pained look on Nate’s face every time she called him ‘Phoebus’ since that was the soldier’s name. Though it was just plain awkward calling Kyle ‘Quasimodo’ and Mark certainly could be evil enough to fit the name ‘Lord Frollo.’
“Esmeralda?” she asked me now, and I jolted back to reality. “Are you listening?”
“Is it possible to do anything else?” I snapped back. Ms. Williamson didn’t pay attention to me.
“I don’t want to see the entire gypsy dance, but you can pick it up halfway, all right? You’re a gypsy girl, earning some money by your performance at the Festival of Fools. Phoebus here,” she gestured at a scowling Nate, “sees you for the second time, and Frollo,” Mark grinned at me, “is consumed by lust as he sees you dancing. All right! Go!” she shouted, and I dragged myself to the center of the stage where a fake podium was erected. The best part about this stupid dance was that there was a trapdoor that I got to fall through. It always freaked Nate out.
“Halfway!” Williamson reminded me, and I got into position, tambourine in hand and scarf hanging off my exposed shoulders. The familiar, lyrical flute music started from the halfway-point, and I began the steps.
It was a seductive dance, no doubt about it. The skirt twirled around my ankles as my hips swayed, and my arms were extended above my head, beating the tambourine. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nate look at me admiringly, and Mark kept glancing uncomfortably at Grace in the audience. Nate and Mark weren’t the only Leaguers checking me out, though.
Eventually, the dance reached its peak as I sank into the splits, cleavage quite ‘out there’ and it was the cue to Mark’s line.
“Look at that disgusting display!” he said quite emphatically, relieved to show Grace he wasn’t really enjoying this.
“Yes, sir!” Nate responded immediately, lifting his helmet’s visor for a better look and grinning seductively at me.
I continued to dance, blushing at their prolonged attention. When I am finished, the hunchback – Kyle – climbs the podium where he ends up being mocked and tied up by the crowd. Esmeralda’s inner sense of justice makes me completely insult Frollo. Mark smiled politely at me the whole time.
“You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!”
“Silence!” roared Mark-as-Frollo.
“Justice!” I yelled.
“Mark my words, gypsy, you will pay for this insolence!” Mark promised threateningly.
“Then it appears we’ve crowned the wrong fool,” I said disdainfully, “The only fool I see is you!” I threw the crown of Fools at Mark’s feet.
All of a sudden a mass of soldier-encostumed actors rushed onto the stage, surrounding the podium and pushing through the ‘crowd’ watching me defend Quasimodo.
“Gypsy!” they shouted accusingly at me, and I literally ducked for my life as an overly-enthusiastic soldier nearly beheaded me with his plastic axe. Okay, not beheaded me, but still. It was close.
“Let’s see,” I spoke Esmeralda’s lines in a calm voice, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… So there's ten of you, and one of me. What's a poor girl to do?” I asked in a mock-pathetic voice, pulling out a handkerchief from my shirt, pretending to cry. I blew into it, and one of the stage workers above my head dropped a non-harmful smoke pellet on top of me, causing me to be enveloped in dark red smoke. I fell through the trapdoor and above my head, heard the commotion of soldiers ‘looking’ for me.
“Where did the gypsy girl go?” someone was yelling, and I grinned as I navigated my way underneath the stage. This was going to be one cool play.
We moved through the scene of everyone looking for me, and then it was my scene in the cathedral, where I ran to for ‘sanctuary.’
Ms. Williamson interrupted me, telling me to hurry through and skip the song. She didn’t like the dancing or singing, preferring to get down to the lines. Needless to say, she didn’t really get along with the Arts and Music teachers.
As I wandered around on stage, Nate – or should I say Phoebus – entered, looking for me. And then began my favorite part of the play – I got to beat Nate with a candlestick holder. We were doing this play based exactly on the Disney version of it, and I loved it.
We fought our way through our choreographed battle as I pretended to be furious at having a soldier discover my hiding place.
“You fight almost as well as any man,” Nate complimented me as the soldier.
“Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you,” I replied. Inwardly, I gave a happy sigh. Esmeralda and I have so much in common.
“Candlelight, privacy, music,” Nate shook his head, crouched in a defensive position, “Can’t think of a better place for hand-to-hand combat.”
I laughed accidentally.
We breezed through the scenes with a satisfying ease, and even Williamson found little to critique. The three guys playing the gargoyles were perfect – Shane and Eric were Leaguers, but they were still good at their roles.
“Hey, isn’t that, uh, Feeble?” asked Shane, pointing at Nate.
“No, no,” Eric corrected kindly, “it’s Doofus!”
“Phoebus!” Kyle called out to Nate, completely annoyed by his role as the hunchback while the onlookers sniggered.
Overall, I was feeling pretty good about the play. The only glitch was the kissing scene between me and Nate. The thing was, once we started kissing, it was pretty hard for us to stop, and no amount of the teacher’s yelling got through to us. She usually got Jeremy to give one of us a kick so we’d pull back. While it was Nate’s favorite scene, Williamson put it off as much as she could. But eventually, it was the only one left unrehearsed, and she had no choice but to run through it because everyone wanted to go home.
“Why is it, whenever we meet, I end up bleeding?” Nate asked me, as he lay on the ground, ‘injured’ as I tended to him.
“You’re lucky. That arrow almost pierced your heart,” I replied softly , as I tenderly wrapped his shoulder.
Nate took my hand, placing it over his heart. “I’m not so sure it didn’t,” he said, and then I leaned down to kiss him.
From there, history pretty much repeated itself.
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“You can stop grinning like an idiot now,” I told Nate, but I was still smiling too.
Finally, rehearsal was over. I couldn’t believe that the play would be happening one week from today. Just one week! Itfelt like no time was left. Strangely, it made me feel a bit sad. Like my excuse to see Nate and to spend time with him was dwindling. If only he’d just quit the League, then I’d be his girlfriend and we wouldn’t need excuses to hang out.
I was still stubbornly refusing to be with him in any way, unless it was necessary, as long as he was still a Leaguer. He’d promised to quit today.
“Hey, now, I can’t help smiling!” Nate protested, nudging me. “I just got kissed, isn’t it natural for a guy to be happy?”
I looked in alarm at him.
“Jeez,” Nate amended, rolling his eyes, “I didn’t mean that kind of happy, get your mind out of the gutter, Courtney.”
I laughed. “You said it, not me!”
“I know you were thinking it, you naughty child.”
“Oh yeah?” I challenged him, “then what am I thinking now?”
“Hmmm…” Nate pondered this, “I’m thinking that you’re going to be pretty surprised pretty soon.”
Once again, I shot him an alarmed look, backing away from him. “What are you up to?” I demanded warily, “I don’t like that look on your face.”
Nate grinned wickedly at me, coming closer, and I backed away from him again. I felt a door handle dig into my back and I grinned triumphantly.
“Haha!” I yelled at him, sensing an escape route, “Watcha gonna do now?”
And with that, I yanked open the storage room door, and screamed at what I saw.
Note from ella:
Okay, sorry for being evil and ending it on a cliffhanger. And also sorry that this is shorter than the other uploads. I'll make the next one longer, and I'd also love to hear your guesses at what made Courtney scream. Well... now that I think about it, it doesn't take much, does it? But still, any guesses are great! Some of you may be surprised, and some of you... not so much. I hope you enjoyed this anyway, and I hope you watch Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, because it is SUCH a great movie. Have an amazing day, everyone!