Lola arrives, along with Luan, just before she is called to the stage. From their heavy breaths as they arrive on the hall with other kids waiting, they must have rushed there.
Wiping her sweat, Luan pats Lola's pageant dress (yes, the usual pink dress) and fix her up for a striking first impression. "Okay, got you all need?"
"Read the script, memorized my lines, practiced my number, remembered my poise and internalized my character," Lola notes. "I got it. I got everything prepared."
"Vocal warm-ups?" the former checks.
That is the only routine that Lola has not accomplished.
With that, the two sisters stand next to each other and conduct their vocal exercises. "Red letter, yellow letter. Red letter, yellow letter. Red letter, yellow letter…" Then, they make tonal screeching sounds, which caught the eyes and ears of other kids.
Five minutes after, Luan assures, "Okay Lola, you are good. You are…capable."
Lola asks, clarifying if her sister is unsure basing on her tone, "What does that even mean?"
"It means you're good. You'll be fine," the 14-year-old guarantees.
Just right after, Lyberti of the Theatre Club steps out of the door and calls the next participant, "Lola Loud, you're next!"
"Good luck!" Luan bids her sister a good one, "Break a leg!"
"What?!" Lola asks back after Luan tells her that.
"Ohh uhhmmm nothing. Just good luck!"
With an eyebrow raised, Lola walks inside the auditorium and proceeds to the stage.
Luan afterwards gets access inside, since the Theatre Club members are allowed in the audience area. Though, she positions herself in the back row. Luckily, Ben is there.
"Oh hey Luan!" he greets her.
"Oh Benny!" she greets back. "You're here!"
"Yeah, just chilling. And honestly taking minutes off break after practicing for the auditions."
"Yeah, seemed everyone else is." Luan notes the other members, who are required to audition, remaining at the audience seats and chilling.
"The audition set is tense, you know…"
"Yeah, I can feel it."
"Think you can feel Ms. Honey in you?"
"We shall see. But you know me, sweet as honey."
Benny laughs at the wordplay. "Yeah. Thankfully, there are no sour parts for the men."
"Exactly." She laughs along. "But Trunchbull is another story."
Soon as Lola arrives onstage, Mrs. Bernardo announces to all, "Ladies and gents, this is Luan's little sister, Lola Loud!" The club then gives her moderate applause, much to Lola's delight.
"Woah, your sister's auditioning?" Benny asks Luan.
"Yeah, she is," Luan replies. "She is trying. But…"
"But what?"
Luan then sinks lower to her seat, not wanting Lola to see her from the audience, despite her and Benny sitting far behind. "Just watch."
Getting from Luan placing her hand over her eyes, Benny sort of gets what is in her mind.
Cut from that, Mrs. Bernardo proceeds with the audition process. "Okay Lola, what do you have for us?"
After a deep breath, Lola sings out "Naughty" from Act One, similarly to what Meli sang.
Jack and Jill, went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water, so they say
Their subsequent fall was inevitable
They never stood a chance, they were written that way
Innocent victims of their story
Like Romeo and Juliet
T'was written in the stars before they even met
That love and fate, and a touch of stupidity
Would rob them of their hope of living happily
The endings are often a little bit gory
I wonder why they didn't just change their story?
We're told we have to do what we're told but surely
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty
But the difference with the two is that Meli had an assorted fairytales book as a prop and acted in the same way Matilda would onstage, and Lola did a diva-like rendition of the songs, complete with pink microphone. In actuality, both voices are decent.
Just because you find that life's not fair it
Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it
If you always take it on the chin and wear it
Nothing will change
Even if you're little, you can do a lot, you
Mustn't let a little thing like, 'little' stop you
If you sit around and let them get on top,
You might as well be saying
You think that it's okay
And that's not right!
And if not that's not right
You to put it right
But for Luan, it is clear that she cannot buy Lola as Matilda nor even her trying to act as Matilda. She remarks this to Benny, "Well, she tries."
Six audition pieces later, the high school students (including the Theatre Club) take their turn on auditioning. That time strikes at 5:00 PM, right exactly as classes end. Thirty students audition for primary roles of the musical, since apparently gaining roles in the musical would equate to incentives and increase in grades.
The process is tough since it balances out the mediocre ones from the talented ones. Luan is confident that she is worthy of the role of Matilda's motherly homeroom teacher Ms. Jennifer Honey, since she got the role of Juliet on her portfolio.
But it is a grueling audition process that run until 9:00 PM.
Luan gets home, bushed with her hair messy. She puffs a deep breath as she marches upstairs. That is when Lola greets her by the side.
"So, how are the auditions?"
"Oh, it was fine," Luan tiresomely answers. "Mrs. Bernando had us an hour sermon, for some reason."
"Woah, that was tiring."
"You know, you'll get used to it once you joined the cast."
Lola is insistent on one thing. So, she jumps right at front of her sister as she is climbing upstairs. "So, what do you think?"
"Think what? Your audition?"
"Yes? Was it great or was it great?"
"I…never got to see your audition…"
"You did not?"
Just from the sound of it, Lola is dismayed at her sister for not witnessing her audition, considering the fact that Mrs. Bernardo acknowledged the Theatre Club, which includes Luan. But Luan clarifies hurriedly, "I mean I never got to see your full potential from the audition because I know, and I know, that we would love to see more of you performing." She forcefully grins in the end, hiding her own opinions.
"But was it good?" Luan asks.
"Of course, it was very, very good. And you know what, this could rest. Come along." With that, Luan leads Lola back to her room.
"Well, if you say so, because I have lot of stuff to bring in theater!"
The next morning, Rita drops off Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola and Lisa to Royal Woods Elementary for another day in school. Lola cannot contain her excitement of seeing the audition results today.
"Just think about it. Star-billing! Getting celebrity treatment everywhere you go! Full cred for the great work you have done. Lots of praise everywhere. And best of all, open doors to join more beauty pageants! Oh, I can't hardly wait!"
"Well, if Luan says your audition is good enough, well that's a guarantee," Lincoln concludes.
"Indeed. Illogical, considering you have no professional acting experience erstwhile, aside from your unconvincing trickery," Lisa argues.
"Although, if I tricked you to saying that your test tube set was crashed by Charles and you bought it, then that's proof that I can act."
"You know her drill, Lisa," Lana points out.
Just as the five Loud youngsters are walking down the hall, a familiar face crosses their path.
"Lola! Lola!"
Lola greets her back with a hug. "Meli!" After she hugs her new best friend, she introduces her to her siblings. "Guys, this is Meli Ramos. Meli, that's Lincoln, Lisa, and Lucy is somewhere."
"Hi Meli!" Lana greets her, having already known her prior.
"Hello, Lola's brothers and sisters," she greets back.
Lola senses a similar excitement (with slight hesitation) running through her skin. "Okay, you seemed excited enough."
"I am but kind of nervous," Meli replies. "I auditioned for Matilda yesterday. And I am kind of nervous of the results."
"Really? Never knew you had interest in musical theater," Lola remarks.
"Well, no. I just considered your advice slightly. Trying something different that others would not expect from you."
"You know me, Meli. But if there is one thing to learn from this experience, it is to seize any moment with your fine talent."
As they walk across the hall, they notice several kids huddling in front of the bulletin board.
"I think there's your results," Lincoln deduces.
Lola insists Meli that they check out. "Come on!" And dragging her, they get to the bulletin board where the audition results are placed, as intended.
Many excited kids try to search if their names are placed on the list. The hype is effective for some elementary students to join to seize being excused from classes.
Lola and Meli notice that the list only indicated who will be playing Matilda, while the rest are placed on the ensemble. The first name they see is: Meli.
"MELI, YOU'RE IN!" Lola cheers for her.
Meli is unbelievably surprised that she now gained the role of Matilda. "Me? Lead role?"
"Yes! I am so proud of you!" She cheers her with a hug.
Two more names fall under the role of Matilda. The other is: Roxanne.
Lola reacts, "Oh, Roxanne's in. She's cool."
But when they read the last name as Matilda, it is: Lindsay.
Lola is devastated to see her name not for the role of Matilda. It would be one thing for another what's-her-face to be listed. But her pageant rival claiming that role is another story. Her eyes are just stumped in disbelief.
Yet, Meli remarks happily, "Hey Lola, look! At least your name is the ensemble. That means we get to be on the musical together!"
However, she gets interrupted when Lindsay Sweetwater walks down the hall with a queue of fans behind her. There are cheers for her as she proceeds. "Thank you. Thank you. I promise to you that I will give you a great surprise as everyone's favorite bookworm." She acts like this gig is another pageant gig, infuriating Lola within.
"Lola, are you okay?" Meli asks her.
Lola cogently shifts her shaking head towards Meli with her eyes twitching, her teeth grinding and her fists clenching. "Why sure Meli...I am extremely okay. I am proud of you, Roxanne and…her…"
"Glad you are. Can't wait to spend time with you for the musical."
Even as the two proceed to their classes, Lola cannot contain her aggravation throughout the day over the audition results.
It is only when she gets home that she gets to vent all to Luan in her room. "WHY?! WHY?! WE TRIED HARD! WE PRACTICED HARD! AND THIS WAS ALL THEY GAVE ME!" Lola bursts out her frustration for about an hour or so.
"Probably there is a reason. Like they see a different role for you," Luan reasons out.
"I DON'T WANT ANY OTHER ROLE! I WANTED MATILDA OVERALL!"
"Or probably they just placed you on the ensemble since they see you as an understudy."
"What kind of a character is an understudy?!"
"It's just a position of an actor to play a character, in case the main actor is unavailable."
That designation brings music to her ears. "You don't say?"
"Lola, it is just 'in case'. But you had to deal with the fact that several people placed some kids in their roles, seeing them fit."
"What do I have to do to convince them?"
"You can, but you shouldn't."
Lola is annoyed by that. "Errrrgggghhh!"
"Look at the bright side, you're part of the musical."
"How about we look at the dark side, Luan! LINDSAY SWEETWATER IS THE FREAKING LEAD!" At the top of her breath, the room suddenly quakes in response to Lola's rant as she walks out. The lights unnoticeably flicker. The shelves slightly shake. The floor quietly trembles. Just as she steps out of the room, the trembling stops.
Luan witnesses that all, and she is stunned.
As for the former, she steps inside the bathroom to get a beauty regiment and refresh her face from stressing about missing the role of Matilda. She still cannot get over the fact that her rival got the role that she wanted.
But because of that, she tries to devise an idea to get back at Lindsay. And then, she spots Lori's hair bottle. "Platinum blonde hair dye. Extra strong. Keep out of reach of children. Hmm." She also notices her father's hair lotion. "Oil of Violets hair tonic. For men. Yep!" She then mixes both hair products into one bottle that is similar to what Lindsay uses. They compete frequently, so Lola would know what she uses. And as she does so, she decides to hum "Naughty" once more.
In the slip of a bolt, there's a tiny revolt.
The seed of a war in the creak of a floorboard.
A storm can begin with the flap of a wing.
The tiniest mite packs the mightiest sting.
Every day starts with the tick of a clock.
All escapes start with the click of a lock.
If you're stuck in your story and want to get out,
You don't have to cry, you don't have to shout!
'Cause if you're little, you can do a lot. You
Mustn't let a little thing like "little" stop you.
If you sit around and let them get on top, you
Won't change a thing.
Just because you find that life's not fair, it
Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it.
If you always take it on the chin and wear it,
You might as well be saying you think that it's okay,
And that's not right.
And if it's not right,
You have to put it right . . .
Next Monday, the kids who are in the list gather for the 1st day of rehearsals. They huddle in the auditorium after their classes, but the hollow platform seems dimly lit as they enter. It is as if they are receiving a theater experience.
The instructions for the kids are to leave their bags by the foot of the stage near the orchestra pit. This gives a perfect avenue for Lola to sneak a bottle of mixed hair dye and hair tonic, stored inside a bottle of her own hair conditioner. She quickly swipes Lindsay Sweetwater's conditioner with her own mix. The 6-year-old nearly gets spotted when her crush, Winston, skips to the stage.
He sweetly waves at her. She waves back, blushing.
But she quickly reverts scheming and finishes the song.
But nobody else is gonna put it right for me.
Nobody but me is gonna change my story.
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty!
And after that, she gets to the stage with the rest. But one thing remains: the Theatre Club is absent.
(Readers footnote: Need opinions on who should play Miss Agatha Trunchbull, Matilda's mean principal.)