I shyly walked into auditions at the local theater, and I felt Elle put her hands on my shoulders.
"Good luck, Sunshine. Make me proud." She kissed me on the cheek and left.
There were about 8 other kids there. I sat down on the risers and I found myself in between a boy and a girl. I waved to the girl, and she waved back.
The boy waved to me, and said, "Hi! I'm Lachlan! What's your name?"
"Catlynn." I responded.
"That's an awesome name!" Lachlan said. I turned towards the girl and said, "What's your name?"
The girl quietly said, "Emily." and went back to her book. I waved at Emily and another girl with curly brown hair sat down in front of us.
"Hey! My name is Francesca, but you can call me Cesca." I waved at Cesca and said, "I'm Catlynn. This is Lachlan and that's Emily." Lachlan nudged me, and said, "Don't expose me!" Emily laughed.
A boy with messy brown hair sat next to Cesca and said, "Hi. I'm Victor Davis." We waved to Victor and introduced ourselves. Now there was 5 of us.
A girl who had long brown hair came in and said, "Hi. I'm Erin." We all waved to Erin, and another girl came running in.
"I'm Elliott. Yes, I'm a girl named Elliott. Fight me." We laughed at Elliott and then another girl walked in with who appeared to be her twin sister. One girl had a short haircut and glasses, and the other had longer hair.
"Hey. I'm Drew, and this is my sister, Basil." We waved to both of them, and then the director said, "Alright! We have just enough of you to make a full cast, so no need to cut anybody. This will be quick, just sing your song, and when everyone's done, I will make the cast list. It'll be announced before you go home."
The director filed through the audition papers we had filled out the night before. Elle had helped me fill out mine.
"I'm doing this alphabetically by last name. So, first up, Basil Charleston?"
Basil stood up and sung Woe is Me. I assume she was auditioning for Logainne. After she was done, her sister Drew went up and sung the same song.
After Drew went, Victor sung Magic Foot, with choreography and everything. Then, Elliott sung a song I didn't know.
"Erin Hunt?" Erin walked up and surprisingly sung a song from Heathers, Lifeboat. I applauded the loudest for her, even though nobody here knew who my mom was.
Mom. It felt weird thinking of Elle as my mom. But I was fine with it.
"Catlynn Reeve?" the director asked. I took a deep breath, and started singing My Friend, The Dictionary. I thought of all those practices I had on stage with my family, and that calmed my nerves. I pretended I was singing for Elle, not the director.
After I was done, everyone applauded, and Emily started singing. We were auditioning for the same character. Weird. Then Cesca went. Her and Emily shared the same last name. She did a great job with I Speak Six Languages.
After Cesca was done, we all hung out in the hallway. I texted the cast group chat saying "It's over. Cast list is coming out in half an hour. I think I did good."
I got a string of smiley faces and heart emojis back. Then, after half an hour of talking, the director posted the cast list.
Spelling Bee Cast List:
Rona Lisa Peretti- Erin Hunt
Douglas Panch- Drew Charleston
Mitch Mahoney- Elliott Garrett
Chip Tolentino- Victor Davis
Logainne Schwarzandgrubbinere- Emily Sawyer
Leaf Coneybear- Francesca Sawyer
Marcy Park- Basil Charleston
William Barfee- Lachlan Connors
Olive Ostrovsky- Catlynn Reeve
I got Olive.
I jumped up and down and immediately texted the cast.
I GOT OLIVE!- Me
I immediately got a string of texts back:
YAY! So proud of you!- Jessica
Celebratory slushie? So proud of you, kiddo- Ryan
I knew it. You're so amazing. Can't wait to see you shine- Katie
Why am I not surprised?- Barrett
OH MY GOD! CAT! SO PROUD!- Evan
Can't wait to see the show, Olive!- Jon
I'm so proud of you and all you have done- Alice
I knew it. I'm so impressed with you and your talents. See you soon, Sunshine.- Elle
I looked over at Lachlan, who was also texting.
"My grandpa wants to know if my character swears." Lachlan said.
"We haven't gotten the script yet. I know we're doing the kid-appropriate version, though." I said.
"There's a not kid-appropriate version?" Emily said. I shrugged, and said, "We're just gonna change some stuff up in the script, I believe."
"My dad is gonna flip!" Cesca said. I laughed, and Victor came up to me.
"Congrats on Olive." I said, "Thanks. You're gonna make a great Chip." Victor laughed, and Erin ran up to us.
"Guys. I'm so excited for this."
"Wait, aren't there audience volunteers in this show?" Elliott said.
"Wait, audience volunteers?" I asked. Elliott nodded, and I immediately texted the group chat.
Are any of you willing to be an audience volunteer for Spelling Bee?
ME!- Elle
Me too!- Ryan
Guys, there's other cast members. Not just me.- Me
What do audience volunteers do?- Jessica
I guess spell words.- Me
MYRIAD? NICE!- Alice
THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SHOW!- Katie
TELL THE DIRECTOR TO MAKE YOU SPELL MYRIAD- Evan
No- Me
I shut off my phone after a few minutes of them arguing, and then Elle had texted me individually.
We're outside whenever you're ready.
I said goodbye to my castmates and went outside. The director handed me my script and music and said goodbye.
"CONGRATS!" Elle yelled. Jessica was sitting next to her, applauding. And Katie and Ryan were in the backseat, also applauding. I sat in between Katie and Ryan and pulled out my script.
"I have a lot of lines..." I said.
"No spoilers!" Katie said, moving the script out of her sightline.
"Please. I wouldn't spoil it even if you paid me a million dollars." I laughed, and then Ryan said, "We did practice the number that reveals who won the bee..."
"Yeah, I don't want to know the order of elimination, though." Katie said.
"So, who are your castmates?" Elle said.
"So, um, this girl named Erin got Rona, Drew got Panch, Elliott got Mitch, Victor got Chip, Emily got Logainne, Cesca got Leaf, Basil got Marcy, and Lachlan got Barfee."
Elle nodded, and said, "Let's go home. You have a lot of lines to study."
We drove off, and I thought of my new role and what would become of me.
AN: SO EXCITED FOR SPELLING BEEEE! Yes, I am obsessed with this show! Hope you enjoyed! Catch ya later!