AN.
Fluff. So much fluff. I haven't posted anything for this pairing in a while and I wrote this many moons ago.
I recently started re-watching OB again (while I eagerly await S4) and find myself hooked all over again on Soccercop.
Dammit. I should have learned from last time!
This should only be 2 chapters, maybe 3. Theatre madness in high school format. Enjoy!
..
Final auditions for the summer musical RENT were tomorrow and Alison Hendrix was simply not prepared.
Normally, theatre professional Alison would never be phased by a second audition, but it just so happened that this audition was a duet she'd never practised singing with another person.
Her first audition with the song 'Over the Moon' from RENT had gone beautifully, but now there was just Alison and her 'best friend' Aynsley auditioning for the part of Maureen and Aynsley had a number of people willing to rehearse the song with her.
There were two girls competing for the part of Joanne, the character who sang the song with Maureen, but when Alison had asked for their help both were too busy to practise when Alison was free. Obviously their lack of commitment would never propel them into a career in the theatre, Alison decided, but she wasn't one to be brought down by amateurs.
Ultimately, Alison knew the whole audition was going to be a complete nightmare but she was intent on at least getting her part right.
"Every single day when I walk down the street, I hear people say Baby's so sweet…"
Alison wandered to the front of the stage and stared out across the empty theatre, pleased that the rest of the drama club weren't around to annoy her while she had to practise alone. Cal, the guy who would be playing the part of Roger, had actually offered to help Alison with the song but while the offer was sweet Alison doubted that rehearsing with a guy would help.
"Ever since puberty everybody stares at me, boys girls, I can't help it baby."
She knew every song in RENT without question but the song relied heavily on chemistry between Joanne and Maureen which was what worried her so much. If she and the girl she auditioned with didn't work well together than Alison doubted she would get the role. Not to mention half the drama club were already surprised that innocent Alison Hendrix had chosen to audition for Maureen.
"Every single day I walk down the street-"
Alison huffed and shook her head. She just didn't feel like Maureen at the moment and it was hard to play the role without somebody to react from.
"This is useless." The theatre queen pouted slightly and sat down on the edge of the stage, wondering if perhaps she was taking the audition a little too seriously. Perhaps tomorrow would go well and Alison was just worrying over nothing.
Or perhaps it'll go terribly and Aynsley will get the part.
Alison raised a hand to the side of her face and glanced down at her shoes, wondering if she ought to call Cal and see if he was still free to help her practise.
"Hey, is anybody in- oh."
Alison's head jerked up upon hearing the voice and immediately frowned at the girl standing at the back of the theatre.
If there was something more infuriating than the thought of Aynsley getting the part of Maureen it was the arrival of Beth Childs.
"Did you get lost on your way to the track or something?" Alison asked stiffly, standing up from the stage as Beth made her way down the aisle with her hands in the pockets of her shorts.
Beth was dressed in a familiar Jersey, the one she wore whilst playing soccer, and her signature running shorts. The items did not match but Alison was feeling too annoyed to pay much attention. What was Beth Childs doing in her theatre?
Beth raised an eyebrow at Alison and came to a stop in front of the stage, leaning against one of the chairs with a calm expression on her face. Beth always looked so confident and Alison absolutely hated it.
"No, I know where the track is." Beth replied casually, "But Art said he got tied up with revision and I was on my way to meet him when I saw the lights on in here."
It seemed a reasonable response and Art Bell, Beth's fellow jock friend, did spent a lot of time revising as he had his heart set on becoming a cop after high school. But still, jocks never came to the drama department, except when Chad was being forced to come and watch Aynsley in a production.
"Well, I have an audition tomorrow and I have permission to rehearse in here for as long as I like, so you can go back to finding your friend."
The look on Alison's face was intriguing to Beth, especially as Beth never socialised much with Alison to warrant any feelings of dislike.
Sure, it was standard high school rules that the jocks and drama nerds led separate lives but Beth had never gone out of her way to be rude to Alison, in fact Beth hated the jock stereotype with a passion and wanted nothing more than to be seen more for being herself.
"Audition huh? What's the play?" The jock asked, unable to stop herself from trying to further the encounter when Alison looked so uncomfortable.
"Musical, actually. And it's RENT."
RENT. Beth grinned faintly, Chad had been telling the group over lunch how Aynsley was auditioning for a hot lesbian part in the new musical and Beth was suddenly wishing she paid more attention to him when he talked.
"Aynsley Norris is auditioning, right? Her boyfriend mentioned it once or twice."
Alison nodded gently, although she did wonder why Beth was even pretending to care. "Aynsley and I are actually auditioning for the same role. Maureen Johnson."
While Beth cared nothing for theatre, the idea that cute Alison Hendrix would be playing 'the hot lesbian part', was rather appealing. Alison Hendrix always seemed like the straight, good girl who even in theatre wouldn't do much out of her comfort zone yet Beth was starting to think otherwise.
"Everyone says she's really good." Beth pointed out, before waggling her eyebrows at Alison. "You confident that you're better?"
Alison tutted and took a few steps back away from the edge of the stage, once again reminded of her failed attempts at rehearsal.
"I would be if I had someone to rehearse the song with. I asked my friends and none of them like musicals so they wouldn't do it. Now I'm worried that I won't be any good because I haven't practised the duet enough with another person."
Alison felt silly telling all of this to a jock, but she was frustrated and thought it was only right she tell people how horrible her friends were for not helping. It wasn't as though Felix didn't sing La Vie Boheme enough times when the group were together, even though he always swore that Cats had ruined his love of musicals forever.
Another reason to hate Beth Childs; she was incredibly cute and had a reputation for being incredibly nice, too.
"Do you have a script or something?"
Alison frowned ever so slightly, stepping back as Beth climbed up onto the stage and moved to stand in front of Alison with her hands still resting in her pockets.
"Excuse me?" The actress blinked a few times, not sure what Beth was getting at.
"A script, like with the song written down in it?"
Alison scoffed and her frown only deepened. "I know what a script is." She huffed.
Beth smirked at her and shrugged her shoulders, "Then could you get it for me?"
Alison Hendrix, model student and theatre professional, could not believe that she was standing on her own stage having a conversation with Beth Childs. Beth Childs, captain of the soccer team and aspiring police officer.
Alison had no real reason to dislike Beth, but she did. Because each time she saw the jock she had all of these mixed up feelings swimming around inside her. Alison was attracted to Beth Childs and just standing on a stage with her was making her palms sweaty. Which was why, when Alison found her feet moving and her hands clasping around the script she'd set down in her bag, she had no power to stop herself.
Once she'd received the script, Beth scanned through the lyrics to the sections that were sung by the other character, Joanne, apparently.
"Okay, I think I got this. Now I don't know the tune or anything so you'll have to bare with me."
Alison blinked a few times and only found her voice when she realised she must look strange just staring at the other girl.
"You're going to help me practise? You?" She asked sceptically.
"Well, nobody else offered and you said you need somebody to work with." Beth replied casually, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
It didn't make any sense for Beth to be offering to help, but Alison appreciated the gesture despite herself. And practising with a girl would be a lot more beneficial than practising with Cal, as lovely as he was.
Suddenly regaining her composure, as she would have to take the lead here in order to ensure Beth didn't completely ruin the song, Alison straightened her spine and nodded.
"Alright then. But before we start to practise, I'll need to give you some background information to the musical. Practising with no character profile is just as useless as not practising at all."
Beth rolled her eyes as high as she could in her head as Alison began moving around the stage.
When she'd offered to help sing in a few lines for the drama princess, Beth hadn't expected she'd have to suffer through Broadway training too.