Opening Night

Please reply! Sorry if the wrong people dance to the wrong dance, it's been I while since I've seen the play. THANK YOU ALL FOR 1,500 VIEWS! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME... -snif-

Detications:

Aangsgirl: I'm glad you liked it!

timisnotmyname: I'm glad you liked the no-plot chapter. I was seriously worried about every ones reaction... But it turned out that it was a good reaction! Also: Why was Hahn going to the dance with Azula? No, you aren't remembering wrong... Sorry, I am getting into dangerous territory for spoilers for future chapters. No comment, sorry!

Also, for your other post:
The dedications are blank? Oh, crap. I'm going to fix that right now. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! I am a drummer too, and there are both congas, and bongos. (Confusing, I know. When my band directer told me to get on the bongos, I got on the congas! Embarrassing!)

hpswst101: Ouch. That must have hurt.

ibroughthomeababybumblebee: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GIVING ME THAT NAME! It was on the tip of my tongue for the entire chapter, and I couldn't figure out what they were called. Thank you! Sadie Hawkins dances... I'm going to go correct it now! Thank you!

Second daughter of Eve: Sorry! The next few chapters will be slower, I promise!

Disclaimer: No matter how many times I say it, the answer it the same: I do not own Avatar or West Side Story, so stop rubbing it in my face! -sob- But wait... I do own EBBA!! Yay! -party-


After School Rehearsal, Katara's POV

"Okay, everyone," Aunt Wu says. "I know it's a bit late in the game, but we have to change your lines. The principal thinks that it is racist again Puerto Ricains. I am going to go talk to him to try and change his mind, but in the mean time, read through your new script."

She left to go talk to Ozai. We were silent for a while, reading through our new script. Haru was the first to speak.

"We're not a gang anymore," He said. "We're a group."

Aang shook his head. "We don't call people spics anymore, now we yell 'nitwit' and 'pizza face' at each other."

I walk over to Suki. The page is open to were the the Jet gang- make that group- attack her. "Well, I see you're not called 'spic' or 'gold tooth' anymore. Now you're 'lying' and 'ugly'. That's gotta be an improvement."

Suki just stares at her script in disbelief. "This is incredible. Our own principal has stabbed us in the back."

"That is politically incorrect language," Kyro says, looking at his script. "I think you should say he pushed us, and we tripped and fell on our own knives, which is now what happens in the fight between Riff, Bernardo, and Tony."

"No way," Aang says, flipping through the script.

"We don't rumble anymore," Quin Lee says. "Now we are 'meeting to discuss our differences'."

Aang sighs. "Do I still get shot in the end, or does someone talk me to death?"

"What are we going to say to the audience when they ask why they paid to see a play about gang violence that contains neither gangs or violence?" Kyro asks.

Aunt Wu walks back in. She sighs and says, "You are allowed to be gangs and kill people, but not to yell racial slurs."

We all groan. "Let's pick up where we left off yesterday. Get on stage, get on stage!"

Then we all had to endure Azula screaming, "YOU KILLED HIM! AND RIFF AND BERNARDO! WELL, NOW I CAN KILL TOO BECAUSE I HAVE HATE!" It was supposed to be the main part of the play- the dramatic moment when she threw down the gun, symbolizing that hate needed to be thrown away. Only Azula forgot to throw down the gun. She yelled out her lines, then clutched the weapon to the chest.

We waited.

"The gun," I whisper. Either she can't hear me, or she is ignoring me.

We waited some more.

Finally, after about three minutes of waiting, Aang stood up, clutching his stomach as though mortally wounded and said, "Before I die, I think I have just enough strength to take this gun from you, and throw it away."

She handed him the gun, and he threw it on the ground. He then did a dramatic twirl and fell over dead again. We all laughed. Aunt Wu looked about ready to explode, but she said nothing. "Be here tomorrow for our first live run-through. The play is this Friday, two days away, so don't be late!"


Next Rehearsal

Our first live run through wasn't too good. The new lines messed up the cast- either they forgot to change the old lines, or they forgot what the new version was. In protest to the changed lines, Quin Lee said all of his lines as though his character, Riff, was phycotic. He made the phases "Riga tiga tum tum" and "Daddy-o" sound like something you could be arrested for. The Jet dancers finished their dance three measures before the music stopped. When Aang was supposed to stab Wei Ling, he dropped the knife, so Wei Ling just stood around waiting for his killer to kill him. Everyone burst out laughing. Aunt Wu yelled her "You are not taking this seriously!" speech. We had heard this along with her "Timing is everything!" rant, and everyone thought that a near-nervous breakdown was just around the corner. The lighting crew apparently had some problems too, because every once in a while, the lights would go out, and we would blindly bump around saying our lines trying not to ram into the set. Half the time, the spotlight trailed the characters in stead of illuminating them, so it looked like a giant white ball was chasing the cast.

At the end of rehearsal, Aunt Wu said that in drama tradition, a bad rehearsal meant a good opening night. I don't think she meant it. I noticed that she nearly chewed through her pencil.


Opening Night

We all met backstage at five o'clock and ran over trouble spots. The Jet dancers ended the same time as the music did, and Aang didn't drop the knife when he had to stab Wei Ling. It seemed as though the play would be alright. Aunt Wu wouldn't let Aang and I practice our kissing scene so that it would be "more dramatic". That disappointed me a bit. When the auditorium began to let people in, we all went backstage again. Aunt Wu made us all cookies with our faces on them. It was nice of her, I admit. Once she left the room to go talk to the audience, Haru made a big joke about his cookie having a lighter frosting color than the others.

"Is this an insult?" He joked. "Is she insulting my Mexican heritage? I better run this past the principal."

"Or you can give it back to Aunt Wu," Aang jokes. "She's about ready to bite your head off anyway."

I walk over to Suki, who is sitting in the corner. "I feel sick," She says.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. The play will work out great!" I say as I pat her shoulder.

Which just goes to show you that I'd make a lousy fortune-teller.


At 6 o'clock

The curtains went up, and we were all nervous. Extremely nervous. That gave most of us stage-fright. Half the Jet dancers finished early, making the rest of them look like they were behind. The optimist side of me said, "What self-respecting gang members have rhythm, anyways?" But as the play went on, mistakes increased.

Wei Ling said all of his lines in a rush. Azula said her's like she was in pain. Mai tripped during "I Like to Be in America" dance number and just barely saved herself from falling into the orchastra pit. With one of her legs flailing, she took out a flutist, which sort of ruined the continuity of the song. The gang members kept forgetting their cues, and they either skipped big chunks of dialogue or had breaks where they stood around not knowing who was supposed to speak next. In those parts, Haru improvised in a horrible way.

When the actor who played A-rab forgot his, "Where are you supposed to find Bernardo?" line, Haru struck an Elvis-like pose and said, "So ya Jets wanna sit around here shooting the breeze, or do ya wanna do something fun like holding up a Circle K?"

Everyone looked at him blankly.

"We're hoodlums, so we should do hoodlum things. You know, rob convenience stores, trip roller skaters, and let dogs out of peoples back yards. Or, hey, I know, we could find Bernardo at the dance tonight in the gym!How about that, A-rab?"

"Great, Daddy-o!" Wei Ling replied.

"And great Mommy-o, too!" He said.

Which just goes to show you that some people can't be trusted in front of an audience.

During the scene where gang members yell insults at each other then set up a rumble, instead of saying the revised line, "Jerk!" one of the Jet gang yelled out, "Spic!" then clamped his hand over his mouth like he'd just been caught cursing in a church service. He looked helplessly at the audience and said, "I didn't mean that."

Haru smiled stiffly at the rival gang. "Yes he did. He meant that insult and many more! We curse you Sharks and all your Sharky spawn!"

"Idiot!" One of the Sharks yelled back, though it was unclear if he meant Haru or his character, because he said the line with a smirk.

"Wop!" A Jet yelled in return, and then winced at his mistake. "I mean, uh, Whopper! Yeah, that's right! You're nothing but a big burger growing stale at some jank fast food joint!"

"We accept!" Aang yelled, which didn't really make that much sense anymore. He was probaly just trying to end the humiliation.

Right before our eyes, West Side Story became a comedy. I wondered if the scriptwriters were alive and if they could sue us for defaming their musical.

Only Aang managed to keep any dignity through all this. He said his lines flawlessly. Thoughtfully. Unfortunately, he looked odd doing this as the rest of the cast was falling apart around him. Still, when he rammed the prop knife into Haru, his anger seemed real. When he stood over Haru's still body and cried, "Maria!" I wanted to cheer for him.

During intermission, Aunt Wu gave us a talk that would have rivaled one given in the locker room during the Super Bowl. Our whole lives would be affected- no "apexed"- by whether we could pull our acts together and stop humiliating her as a drama teacher. She stormed back to her seat to let us "think about it."

Like that was suddenly going to change everything. Like "apexed" was even a real word. As soon as she left, we raided the soda machine. Haru, Wei Ling and Kyro chugged their root beer without stopping and tried to burp to the tune of "I Feel Pretty".

Suki bought a coke and was walking across the room when she tripped, and spilt her coke all over Ty Lee.

Now, you must know, Ty Lee and Suki hate each other with a passion. They constantly battle for cheer leading captain, and they hate each others guts.

Ty Lee stood gaping for a minute, then flung her coke all over Suki. The liquid trickled off the ends of her hair and fell in brown streaks on her costume. The two lunged at each other.Ty Lee grabbed Suki's hair and her sleeve, and yanked her downward. The sleeve ripped off. Suki plowed into Ty Lee's stomach and slammed her into a make-up counter. Blush and mascara scattered everywhere. A bowl of Cheetos flew up in the air, and rained down like orange confetti. Aang stepped between the two and airbended them apart.

"Enough!" He yelled.

"Look what you've done!" Suki yelled. "You've ruined my costume! You've ruined everything!"

"We can fix it," I say. "We can find safety pins to put it back together. Go wash the coke out of your hair."

Suki and Ty Lee both stormed away in different directions. I look at Aang.

He says, "I'll go look for safety pins."

He walks away, while I clean up the mess of Cheetos and make-up. After I finish cleaning up, Aang walks backstage again and says, "The best I could find was duct tape." He tosses it to Suki, who is sitting in a chair away from Ty Lee. She catches the roll of tape, and uses it to put the sleeve back on. Aunt Wu walks backstage again to tell us that we are back on.

Suki, Ty Lee, and Azula go onstage to do the "I Feel Pretty" scene. The cast and I watch from the wings. The curtains open up to reveal Suki with a great brown stain on her dress, and Ty Lee with a similar stain on hers.

"Where are you going?" Azula asks Suki's character.

"Perhaps she's just dolling up for us," Ty Lee says. The audience laughs. Suki gives Ty Lee a death glare, and forgets her next line. Ty Lee, who knows Suki's lines as well as Suki, offered no help. She just stood there with a cat-like grin plastered on her face. After a few moments of glaring, the orchestra began to play the music for "I Feel Pretty". This may have smoothed over the rough spot, but in the middle of the song, Suki's sleeve falls off and in one quick motion, the sleeve is flung into Ty Lee's face. Ty Lee stops in mid-dance, and flings it back in Suki's face. Still singing, she storms towards Ty Lee, and tries to shove it down her front. Ty Lee and Suki each throw a few punches at each other. They begin to have a full-blown fight (while still singing). The song finishes, but the two make no motion to go off-stage.

Haru, who goes onstage next along with me, just watches in disbelief.

"Help me break them up!" I say. We both run towards the two. Haru restrains Ty Lee, while I hold Suki's hands behind her back.

"Uh..." I say. "You two are needed at... uh... the gym! Yeah! You better go!" Haru says.

Suki and Ty Lee both storm off-stage, while I massage my head.


Suki's POV

After I walk off-stage, I watch from the wings. Katara begins to massage her forehead. Haru tells Maria that her brother died, and then he just stands around, not knowing what to do. After a moment, Katara turns to him.

"What are you still doing here?" Katara asks angerly. Haru raises his hands in defense, and backs off the stage.

"The gun!" I whisper to him. "You need to get the gun!"

"Crap!" He says, and it isn't a whisper. He runs back onstage, by which time Tony is climbing through the window. They both just stare at him. "I came back to get my gun."

They all just stood there. No one knew how to handle this. "No, don't shoot!" Katara cried.

"I can't shoot! I don't have the gun," Haru says. Then he turns to Aang and shakes his finger. "But as soon as I find it, I'm going to kill you, Tony!"

He ruffles around the room, probably stalling for time. He had to find the gun so he could shoot Tony in the last scene, but if he finds the gun, then he wouldn't have an excuse not to shoot him right then. It was also awkward for Tony to just be waiting for his killer to kill him. After a few minutes of Haru ruffling though the furniture, Aang has an idea.

"You can't shoot me!" He says. "The gun is out of bullets!"

"If that's the case, I've found the gun," Haru says, grabbing the prop gun. "I'm going to get bullets and kill you, Tony!"

And he runs through Maria's closet, which in real life would not have lead out of the room, but no one pointed that out. When Aang was halfway in the window, he tripped and fell into the room. He stood up, and tripped over the prop bed, and rolled across the stage, and fell into the orchestra pit. Katara winces as she hears a loud grunt.

A weak voice calls, "I'm okay!"

At this moment, the play reaches the point of no return. Aang weakly climbed back onstage.

"I can't take this anymore," Haru whispers to me. He grabs the gun, and motions to the rest of the cast, who is watching over our shoulders, to go out onstage.

"Tony! I hate you!" Haru shouts at Aang, who is stumbling back into Maria's room. He shoots Aang, who just goes with, and falls on the floor.

He and all the gang members seemed entirely to happy about his death. Even Maria couldn't express much despair at his passing. When the curtain finally fell, there was a smattering of polite applause throughout the auditorium. Probably people clapping because they get to go back to their dorm.

I don't blame them.