A/N: A short oneshot from Maureen's point of view. Her thinking about the theatre, which is where she really feels at home. The same thing that I've used for my Promising Young Writers piece. So it basically required no brain effort. Enjoy!

The lights in the auditorium go down and the spotlight clicks on.

A hush washes over the assembled crowd.

They're waiting. For something. No, for someone.

For me. They're waiting for me.

I take a deep breath and finger the good luck charm in my pocket.

You can do this, I remind myself. I was the one chosen to portray this part. The week of auditions. The grueling months of practice.

This past week before opening night, spending every night at the theatre, until eleven or later.

The frantic rush to get all the homework done during lunch so I could force my friends to help me run scenes.

Writing my lines down on the whiteboards in Spanish to remember them instead of practicing vocab.

Passing up countless parties and outings to go to rehearsal and practice until I collapsed on the stage, exhausted.

Spending an unbearable amount of time at thrift stores and with a sewing machine to get the costumes to fit everyone and still look good.

Writing every little movement down in the play book to give to the girl controlling the lighting and sound effects.

Calling the newspaper to place an advertisement. The nerves so bad that I couldn't eat anything today.

It all came down to this. I didn't know who was in the audience.

My family had promised that they'd be there, but would they be willing to find time in their hectic schedules to see me perform?

And as for my friends… they had been thrilled for me at the beginning and supportive later on, but I had been getting on everyone's last nerve lately by obsessing nonstop about the production.

But as the villain whispered his last hurried "break a leg" to me and squeezed my hand, all my cares dissappeared.

What did I care who was watching?

What did I care if everyone else screwed up their parts?

Hell, what did I care if I screwed up mine?!

I had put my heart and soul into this, and it showed.

I vowed that this would be a night no one would forget.

As the curtain rose and I swept on stage, I couldn't help myself from grinning broadly.

At last, I felt at home.