25. Taking Some Control.

The butterflies in Jade's stomach multiplied by a hundred throughout the time she ran lines with Beck in the dressing room. The curlier her hair got, the more violently the butterflies started flapping their wings. As Cat skipped off to get her sewing kit (Tori's costume would need some last-minute alterations), Jade started taking deep breaths, trying to quell her panic.

"You nervous?" Beck asked with a half smile.

"No!" Jade said immediately. But the universe apparently didn't want her to keep that secret — Sinjin appeared in the doorway suddenly.

"House is open," he announced.

"What?!" Jade shrieked. "B-b-but we haven't had a chance to go over the blocking!"

"Um…" the curly-haired stage manager wasn't quite sure what to do.

"Close the house!"

"I can't! People are already sitting!"

Sinjin fled the room and Jade buried her face in her hands, growling in frustration. Couldn't something go right for once?

"You have the blocking written down," Beck reminded her, holding out her script.

"Yeah, but I never got to run it!"

"You have the lines down pat, so just improvise the blocking you don't remember."

Jade looked up at him, her eyes squinted with skepticism.

"I'm serious. We'll react to whatever you do, and you're the star, so…."

"'So' what?"

"So you're most important."

Jade did her best to hide the warm satisfaction that sentence gave her. Cat skipped back in and began shooing Beck out of the dressing room so Jade could change.

"You ready Jadey?" Cat asked as Jade collected her costume.

"Not even a little," Jade admitted. "Well, maybe a little. But just a little."

"Okay. I wish you were a lot ready, but a little ready is better than none at all."

"Right."

After changing, Jade stood in the darkness of the wings, twisting the lense-less glasses in her fingers as she listened to the murmuring chatter of the audience. They all tried to tell Sikowitz how stupid it was for the hacker character to have glasses — how much more cliche could you get? But he insisted. Self-consciously, Jade adjusted the clothes that were meant for Tori. She couldn't help but notice how small they were on her. How ridiculous was she going to look onstage? Between the glasses and the curly hair and the ill-fitting clothes, she must look like a female version of Sinjin.

"Hey," a voice whispered as a hand slid onto her shoulder.

"Jesus," Jade exclaimed, jumping. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," Beck apologized with a grin. "How ya doing?"

"I'm about to play the lead in a show I've never done before. I don't think a more classic nightmare exists."

"Probably not. But you were once the self-proclaimed "Queen of Nightmares," if I recall."

"In eighth grade," Jade rolled her eyes. Laughter resounded from a group in the audience, making her jump again.

"You know you're just psyching yourself out, standing here."

"I know," she shrugged.

"So… How about instead you come psych yourself up with the rest of us?"

Jade paused for a moment, peering out at the seats filling in the house, then led the way out of the wings.

"Found her!" Beck announced when the two of them entered the green room. The rest of the cast and crew were standing around. Sikowitz was sipping two coconuts, comparing their flavors as he sat cross-legged on a desk.

"Excellent," the teacher declared. He stood, depositing his coconuts into the unsuspecting hands of a freshman standing beside him. "Circle up, everyone, circle up."

The students made a large circle that filled the entire room.

"Now," Sikowitz began, "I know we all wish Tori could have been here for this show, but I know Jade will do her best in filling Tori's shoes."

Jade snarled, nearly stepping forward to get at the crazy man in the patchwork pants when Beck grabbed her hand. She looked at the boy to her left, shocked. Beck nodded his head around the room and she saw that everyone around the circle was joining hands. Jade blinked, equal parts relieved and inexplicably disappointed, and grabbed Cat's hand with her right. Everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes, sending "energy" around the circle with a hand squeeze — a usual pre-show jitter-calmer.

"Alrighty then," Sikowitz said. "Places!"

"Thank you places," the students echoed. Jade didn't say anything. She couldn't seem to move as the students left to start the show. Her breathing started quickening, and she suddenly felt a hand squeeze her left. Beck was smiling at her encouragingly.

"Break a leg," he whispered, squeezing her hand again. He left Jade standing with Cat, who was bouncing up and down while gripping Jade's hand and squealing.

"Shut up," Jade demanded.

"Break a leg, Jadey," Cat hugged her best friend.

Jade patted Cat's back awkwardly and went to the stage. She stood in the dark of the wings while Sikowitz introduced the show with a few bad jokes. Her eyes rolled back into her head when he cracked the one about a crocodile wearing a vest ("an investigator!"). The lights dimmed and the audience clapped, and Jade took a deep breath before taking her place on stage to begin the show.

Jade wouldn't have a chance to be astonished until after the final curtain call, but the play was going well. The lines flowed out of her mouth as if they were her own words, and the others on stage were not fellow students — they were the characters they had been assigned. But, as it seemed to always happen with Jade, the good fortune didn't last. She stepped with confidence back on stage for one of the final scenes, where she was meant to confront her corrupt employer (played by Beck) about a missing million dollars. Jade — or rather, her character entered the door of the onstage office. Jade — not her character— was alarmed to find the office empty. She could see into the wings and no one was there. Her stomach dropped. Beck had missed his cue. Trying her hardest not to panic, Jade wandered the office as her character would, shuffling through the papers that littered the desk. Though they were really old assignments and posters from around the school, she pocketed a few as "evidence." She heard a whisper in the audience and, though she couldn't hear what was said, it kickstarted her panic again.

It took two more minutes for the door to the office to open. Though her character looked up in panic, Jade was filled with relief. But as once the scene was over, and Jade's character fled the office, the relief was replaced with rage. When Beck joined her backstage, she shoved him in the chest.

"What the hell was that?" she whisper-shouted, so as not to interrupt the "police officers" onstage.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back.

"What were you doing?"

"Um…yelling at Sikowitz."

"…what?" Jade was taken aback. She blinked, looking up at Beck in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because," Beck ran a hand through his hair, "he's been such an asshole to you lately, and he made another little comment, and I just…sort of…lost it."

"…and?"

"And…I think you should talk to him."

"I should talk to him," Jade repeated.

"Yes."

"Why?" she crossed her arms.

"Just do it. Please. After the show."

"Fine," Jade agreed. "But I'm only agreeing with you because I have to go back on stage."

"I can live with that," Beck chuckled. Then, they went back on stage to finish living other people's lives. Jade couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face as the audience jumped to their feet for her bow. She could see her cast mates applauding on either side of her, a certain artificial redhead jumping up and down beside Sinjin in the wings. Still grinning like the damn Cheshire Cat, Jade allowed herself to be absorbed into the group hug backstage.

"Where's Sikowitz?" Jade quietly asked Beck once she'd been released from the crowd.

"Went back to his classroom," Beck informed her. "Hey, congrats on tonight. You did amazing. Not that anyone expected anything different."

"Thanks," Jade smiled — a real genuine smile that she couldn't seem to prevent. "See you later."

"Good luck."

Jade nodded, then made her way to the Improv room. She knocked on the open door as she poked her head in.

"Sikowitz?"

"Yes?" Sikowitz looked up from where he was inspecting a pile of coconuts on the floor and sorting them into three piles.

"Um… So, Beck talked to you?"

"Yes he did," Sikowitz put one coconut into the left pile.

"And…what did he say?"

"He told me I had been a quote, unquote 'psychotic idiot' and that I should shove my coconuts — well, I didn't let him finish that sentence."

Jade just raised her eyebrows.

"So, of course, I asked him why he thought I deserved those particular insults. And he said…you."

"Me?"

"Yes. Well, actually he said Jade. But same difference. He was upset over my treatment of you — thought I was being too hard on you and breaking you down when you needed it least."

"He's not wrong," Jade muttered.

"No, he's not. But most directors in Hollywood won't see it that way."

"What?"

"That's what I was being. A Hollywood director."

"I don't understand," Jade's brow furrowed.

"I was treating you the way a director might treat you when you audition as a professional."

"Um…okay. Why?"

"Because I believe in you."

"You have a great way of showing it," Jade grumbled, but she felt a flutter in her chest.

"The last few weeks may have been difficult, but look what you've accomplished. You just completed a stellar performance with a director who treated you like a rotten papaya. We all know you're strong and talented, but now you've proven it. You just secured your success."

"I…well…thanks? I guess?"

"You are very welcome," Sikowitz smiled warmly, tossing a coconut from one hand to the other.

And this chaos, it defies imagination.

Wow, I'm back. Sorry this chapter was kind of all over the place, but at least now you can stop hating Sikowitz. He was just being a nutcase. Anyway, sorry for my absence. I can't confirm when my next update will be, but I can guarantee it will happen. There's still a few more twists in this story ;) Thank you so much for your reviews. Now I just have to get writing... Ooh, also, this song is "Panic Station" by Muse. Ch 24 was "Neon Tiger" by the Killers, 23 was "These Streets" by Bastille, and 22/21 were "Can't Pin Me Down" and "Savages" both by Marina and the Diamonds. I'll fill in a few more next update. Thanks again.

Edit: Okay seriously I thought I posted this two weeks ago but apparently I didn't, so I'm doubly sorry. But now I'm ahead in my writing! Sorry again.