Summary: In order to graduate high school, Bella has to conquer through theatre. As she tries to endure theatre, she finds that she possibly found her white knight. AH/AU BXE
Bella's POV
I curled strands of my bangs with my pointer finger as my government teacher was lecturing on the syllabus for his class. My teacher, Mr. Keeler, had been teaching at Forks High School since the Declaration of Independence was signed. Okay he wasn't that old but in the way his monotone voice escaped his lips, I couldn't say that it wasn't true.
It was the first day of senior year and it had been one interesting year so far. My English teacher is a neat freak, my math teacher snorts in every two sentences, my Spanish teacher acts like he's part of the soap opera "Days of Our Lives", my Gym teacher is fat and lazy, and there's my musical theatre teacher, Mrs. Sisler. I haven't gone to my drama class yet, but I know that it'll feel like a boobie trap set up for me to fall in. Drama is my danger zone, but my counselor informed me that I can't graduate without a visual/performing art requirement. I could have picked art, but I can't draw or paint to save my life. Even drawing a picture a tree would give me a F on my report card.
As Mr. Keeler kept going with his lecture, I thought about musical theatre. The thought of me entering on stage made me throw up inside my mouth. I swallowed the throw up, feeling the burning sensation on my throat. I tried to list the people that could possibly be in my drama class. The Hales, Cullens, Mike Newton, Jessica, Angela, Lauren, Tyler, and Eric. There was probably more than what I listed but those were defiant possibilities. I couldn't imagine a play without the Hales or the Cullens.
Government was over as everyone leapt from his or her seats in relief. Mr Keeler slowly went to his desk and slowly squat down onto his chair. I picked up my binder slowly, hoping that I would be late to drama. I should be happy that drama is the last class of the day, but two hours of torturement isn't something to look forward to.
I exited out of the classroom, walking through the hallways with kids that cleared the path for me. Why couldn't they block the path like they usually do? It's like they planned for me to get to my torturement sooner.
Five minutes later, I entered into the theatre. I saw maybe forty kids in the seats with Mrs. Sisler holding a clipboard. I saw Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen sitting together with their hands folding into each others. Rosalie and Edward were sitting next to each other as Edward was talking into her ear with her laughing hysterically. Emmett was sitting next to Rosalie with jealously traced around his cores. Mike Newton was sitting a row head of him with Jessica Stanley, his girlfriend, nibbling on his ear playfully. Angela Weber was reading next to Jessica, trying to ignore Jessica and Mike's love affair. I sat down far away from the crowd of kids, hoping the teacher doesn't see me. The teacher was screaming the attendance while everyone else was talking over him.
Mike Newton is the most popular kid in school next to Edward Cullen, the drama king. They are best friends and have been doing theatre their entire high school years. Mike isn't a good actor but he enjoys the class so much that he decides to take it over and over again. Mrs. Sisler never gives him good parts, which makes me laugh every time I see the program of every show.
Edward Cullen, the other hand, is a talented actor. He's been getting leads since his freshman year when they did Sweet Charity. He got Vittorio, the Italian actor who had a fight with his girlfriend Ursula. In sophomore year, it was Beauty and the Beast and he got Beast who falls in love with the book freak Belle. Last year, it was My Fair Lady and he got Freddy who gets insane after falling in love with a girl who speaks cockney. When Edward sung "On The Street Where You Live", it made me want to buy the soundtrack from the movie.
Even though I'm not a drama student, I always went to the plays Edward was in. The truth is I've had a crush on Edward since freshman year when he was nice enough to help me pick up the papers I accidentally dropped. He gave me a flashy grin and walked away. That's the relationship Edward and I built over the four years I have been going to high school. Some people may call it depressing while I call it pathetic.
Alice Cullen, his sister, is also a good actress. In freshman year, she was ensemble but I heard from my best friend Jacob Black that she was too busy for an actual part. She was Babette, the french made who has a rendez-vous with a candlestick in Beauty and the Beast and Eliza Doolittle, the young woman who can't even say "girl" in proper English in My Fair Lady. It wouldn't surprise me if she got a part this year. His sister can be friendly, but I never talk to her because she and Rosalie Hale, my arch nemesis, are best friends.
Rosalie Hale is Edward's girlfriend who's unbelievably talented that makes me unbelievably jealous. In her freshman year, she got Nikki, the bad ass, in Sweet Charity, Belle, the bookworm, in Beauty and the Beast (that's how Edward and Rosalie begun to go out) and Mrs. Pearce, the british maid (which isn't what she defines "a good part"), in My Fair Lady because she was "helping out the orphans". That was hard to believe. Rosalie can be a spoiled brat to everyone but Edward doesn't see that in her. I never understood men.
And there's Emmett Cullen, Edward's brother. This is where the soap opera begins.
Emmett is "unconditionally" (from the words of Jacob) in love with Rosalie. He is what I call "the jealous type" because I always see him glare at them when they show PDA in front of everyone. Emmett is also a talented actor but not enough to impress Rosalie. He was Oscar, the uptight dumper, in Sweet Charity, Gaston, the bookworm's admirer who has biceps the size of my head, in Beauty and the Beast, and Henry Higgins, the insulting English phonetics teacher, in My Fair Lady.
Jasper Hale, Rosalie's brother, is always the one I tend to block out. He never plays a leading character so it's easy to forget about him. He's nice but pretty shy around other people he barely knows enough to make them as friend. It's hard to understand why he's in theatre.
"Isabella Swan?" The teacher yelled my name. Everyone paused from their conversations and looked back at me. I raised my hand to let her know I was here, but I wished I never did. "Isabella, you can come down a little further. Join us! We don't bite."
"Welcome to theatre crew, matey!" Mike tried to do an impression of a pirate but failed miserably. Jessica laughed hysterically, sounding like a hyena in the zoo that was viciously tickled to death.
Some kids do I thought. Obeying her to avoid embarrassment, I got up sit two rows ahead of mine.
The teacher cleared her voice for the class to settle down. "Welcome class! I'm going to pass out a schedule for our musical we are doing this semester. This year's musical is going to be...drum roll!" Everyone patted their knees to make the sound of drums. "The Music Man. I need everyone to have your parents sign the schedule to make everyone can attend every dress and tech rehearsal. Does anyone have a question so far?"
"What if you don't have parents?" Tyler asked, giggling hysterically with Mike laughing with him in harmony. I couldn't help it but to roll my eyes in disgust over their stupid jokes that have no sense of humor in them.
"If that were to be the case, I would have your guardian sign it," Mrs. Sisler answered him, not hearing any anger in her voice. It surprised me that she didn't seem angry at Tyler like I would have been if I were the teacher. "Any more questions?"
"When are the auditions?" Mike Newton asked her.
"The auditions are next week during class. I want everyone to prepare a one minute monologue and a one minute song," Mrs. Sisler announced. I groaned silently in my chair, sliding down my chair to hide myself.
"Bells?" Jacob smiled, walking towards me with light chords wrapped around his shoulder. "You're going to act in a musical?" He burst out laughing, loud enough for the teacher to stop talking. He mouthed a "sorry" as the teacher continued. He walked over and sat next to me in the audience. "Why are you in this class?"
"I told you that I have to get a visual/performing art credit in order to graduate," I whispered to him.
He raised an eyebrow. "And you picked theatre?"
"Well I always see the plays they perform here so maybe I should be in one for a change," I shrugged. I was terrible at excuses and by Jacob's expression, he knew that too.
"Anymore questions?" Mrs. Sisler asked us loudly. "Yes Alice?"
"How long does the audition have to be?" Alice asked her politely.
"It has to be longer than thirty seconds but the audition can be ten minutes if you really want to. Any more questions? Yes, Emmett?"
"Does the song have to be from a musical?" Emmett asked her. It was amazing how serious the Cullens were sounding.
"I recommend it, but it doesn't have to be if you don't want to. Yes, Edward?"
"Do you want us to perform a contemporary or classical monologue?" Edward asked with his voice making my heart beat thunderously.
"Whatever fits the character you're trying out for. I want you to start researching characters from the musical and we'll start reading the script tomorrow. Any more questions?" The theatre was completely quiet. She cleared her throat again. "Very well then, you may take this time to look for monologues. Remember that you'll be graded on the audition."
"Jacob, do I have to audition?" I groaned to him, getting my pain out to him.
"Only if you want to be in the play. You can ask her if you can to be stage manager or assistant director," he suggested. "That way you don't have to audition and boss everyone around. Who knows, you might get Edward to notice you."
I glared at him for a slight second until the thought of me not auditioning entered into my brain. "Thank you for that. But Jacob, you're a genius. I'll be right back." I got up from my chair and started to walk down to the path towards backstage. I heard numerous chuckles behind me that puzzled me. What can possibly be funny about me walking down a path? I turned around and saw that people were focused on his or her monologues. I continued to walk towards the back stage with a shrug. I went through a dark hallway, seeing a little light coming from backstage. I reached the end of the hallway and saw that there were stairs to get to backstage. Mrs. Sisler was talking to the techies (except Jacob) as she was till holding her clipboard. I walked up the stairs, gliding my hand up the rail to keep myself from falling.
Mrs. Sisler immediately saw me and paused herself. "Isabella, how can I help you? Techies, get to work." The techies left to do whatever techies do.
"Hi, I don't want to audition—"
"Well no one likes to audition," she pointed out to me. "I know you must be scared to death, but all the actors will understand the feeling you'll be going through, I promise you."
"I know, but can I become a techie or stage manager? Acting isn't my forte," I chuckled to myself, feeling shier than I usually feel around people.
"Well Jacob Black is my stage manager but I could use another pair of eyes for directing. Would you be interested in becoming my assitant director?
"Yeah, sure," I stuttered, trying to find better words to say "yes".
"But are you sure you don't want act?"
"Oh I'm positive. Thank you Mrs. Sisler! So does this count still count as a visual/performing art requirement?"
"I suppose. You can help out the techies for now while I'll help the actors. I'll put you to work after the auditions and call backs. But I want you to do one monologue in front of the class at the end of the year."
"Okay, thank you Mrs. Sisler." I started to walk away by going down the stairs until…
"Oh Isabella?"
Oh crap I forgot to tell her I hated being called that. I turned around from my spot even though it seemed impossible due to the stairs. "Yes, Mrs. Sisler?"
"You have a hole in your pants."
Oh great.
I hope you liked it! :)
~Ivy~
