Chapter 19
The auditorium was dark, but there was a dull roar of newsies, factory workers, and friends of Medda's trying to find seats. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering at top speed. Then the curtains opened with a spotlight on Medda. She started singing "My Lovey Dovey Baby."
"Does she sing anything else?" I thought to myself. I looked over at my friends behind me. We all looked gorgeous. Amanda had twisted her chocolate brown hair up into a butterfly clip. Sniffles' white blonde hair was parted on the left with a single red clip keeping her hair from falling into her face. Lily's dark brown hair was parted in a zigzag part on her left and coiled into a beautiful bun. My hair was just pulled back from my face with a few bobby pins and hung down with its natural waves and tiny braids peeked out in various spots. Melanie's hair was in soft curls around her face. Everyone had on their accessories and outfits. We were ready.
The curtain shut behind Medda with the spotlight still on her. The audience applauded and many catcalled.
"Aren't you going to sing another song Medda?" Kid Blink asked, more like yelled over the noise.
"Well actually," she started, but paused waiting for the audience to settle down. "Actually, I'm not going to sing another song just yet, but, oh," she paused trying to decide what to say, "oh, just watch it, I know you will like it." With that, she scurried off the stage.
The curtains opened to reveal five curvy silhouettes and a bar in the middle of the stage. The entire hall went dead silent. The music started. At the precise moment in unison, we switched poses.
"Hey fella can I talk to you for a second? What'sa hard man…" Mel turned and lip-synched with the music until Lily's line interrupted.
"Hey good looking, I like your hair."
Now it was my turn, "Hey mister, got a cigarette for me huh?"
Next was Sniffles, "Monsieur, you speak French? Par lez vous frances?"
Amanda followed her with, "hey cowboy, you want to dance? A little dance wouldn't hurt you."
Mel piped up again from her spot at the bar, "guy, you want to tango? It always takes two to tango."
"Ooooh, you're soo taall," came from Sniffles.
And I finished with a false deep bored voice, "let's have some fun."
Again we switched poses and began to lip-synch the words of the song. We didn't move an inch from where we were hanging on the bar until there was a break between the verses. This is when Mel led the way by sliding from her position literally on top of the bar and strode out to the front and center edge of the stage. We followed, but Lily went to the far right of the stage, Amanda went between her and Mel, I was on the other side of Mel, and Tina was on the far left of the stage. This is the part we had left for free-styling and flirting up close and personal with the audience. It was amazing how our boys had positioned themselves in the front seats. I was gonna have a talk with Denton before the night was over.
I watched everyone out of the corner of my eye, Lily was doing the little dance we had come up for her because she wasn't quite up for flirting too much with the audience. Sniffles, on the other hand, had gotten totally into it and was sitting in Mush's lap. Amanda was totally leading Jack and the guys around him on and adoring the attention. Melanie was showing off her flexibility with high kicks, layouts, and splits. The best moment came when she got right into Spot's face as if she was going to kiss him, but blew him off by kissing Racetrack on the cheek instead. Their reactions were hysterical! I guess she thought she could do this because they didn't know who she was or any of us for that matter. I showed off my belly dancing skills, and did my share of flirting too, especially with Bumlets. By this point in the song, we regrouped for an ending pose. It ended with Mel lip-synching, "how's about it palsey?" She winked visibly. Then all of us finished with "yeah."
The audience was awestruck, nobody moved. That was until Racetrack stood up with his very visible kiss on his cheek, and began applauding vigorously, shouting catcalls. The rest of the newsies followed, then the rest of the audience did too. The curtain closed, but the audience was still going. We joined in with our screams of "WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!" Then we ran off the stage high-fiving or hugging everybody we passed.
The auditorium was dark, but there was a dull roar of newsies, factory workers, and friends of Medda's trying to find seats. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering at top speed. Then the curtains opened with a spotlight on Medda. She started singing "My Lovey Dovey Baby."
"Does she sing anything else?" I thought to myself. I looked over at my friends behind me. We all looked gorgeous. Amanda had twisted her chocolate brown hair up into a butterfly clip. Sniffles' white blonde hair was parted on the left with a single red clip keeping her hair from falling into her face. Lily's dark brown hair was parted in a zigzag part on her left and coiled into a beautiful bun. My hair was just pulled back from my face with a few bobby pins and hung down with its natural waves and tiny braids peeked out in various spots. Melanie's hair was in soft curls around her face. Everyone had on their accessories and outfits. We were ready.
The curtain shut behind Medda with the spotlight still on her. The audience applauded and many catcalled.
"Aren't you going to sing another song Medda?" Kid Blink asked, more like yelled over the noise.
"Well actually," she started, but paused waiting for the audience to settle down. "Actually, I'm not going to sing another song just yet, but, oh," she paused trying to decide what to say, "oh, just watch it, I know you will like it." With that, she scurried off the stage.
The curtains opened to reveal five curvy silhouettes and a bar in the middle of the stage. The entire hall went dead silent. The music started. At the precise moment in unison, we switched poses.
"Hey fella can I talk to you for a second? What'sa hard man…" Mel turned and lip-synched with the music until Lily's line interrupted.
"Hey good looking, I like your hair."
Now it was my turn, "Hey mister, got a cigarette for me huh?"
Next was Sniffles, "Monsieur, you speak French? Par lez vous frances?"
Amanda followed her with, "hey cowboy, you want to dance? A little dance wouldn't hurt you."
Mel piped up again from her spot at the bar, "guy, you want to tango? It always takes two to tango."
"Ooooh, you're soo taall," came from Sniffles.
And I finished with a false deep bored voice, "let's have some fun."
Again we switched poses and began to lip-synch the words of the song. We didn't move an inch from where we were hanging on the bar until there was a break between the verses. This is when Mel led the way by sliding from her position literally on top of the bar and strode out to the front and center edge of the stage. We followed, but Lily went to the far right of the stage, Amanda went between her and Mel, I was on the other side of Mel, and Tina was on the far left of the stage. This is the part we had left for free-styling and flirting up close and personal with the audience. It was amazing how our boys had positioned themselves in the front seats. I was gonna have a talk with Denton before the night was over.
I watched everyone out of the corner of my eye, Lily was doing the little dance we had come up for her because she wasn't quite up for flirting too much with the audience. Sniffles, on the other hand, had gotten totally into it and was sitting in Mush's lap. Amanda was totally leading Jack and the guys around him on and adoring the attention. Melanie was showing off her flexibility with high kicks, layouts, and splits. The best moment came when she got right into Spot's face as if she was going to kiss him, but blew him off by kissing Racetrack on the cheek instead. Their reactions were hysterical! I guess she thought she could do this because they didn't know who she was or any of us for that matter. I showed off my belly dancing skills, and did my share of flirting too, especially with Bumlets. By this point in the song, we regrouped for an ending pose. It ended with Mel lip-synching, "how's about it palsey?" She winked visibly. Then all of us finished with "yeah."
The audience was awestruck, nobody moved. That was until Racetrack stood up with his very visible kiss on his cheek, and began applauding vigorously, shouting catcalls. The rest of the newsies followed, then the rest of the audience did too. The curtain closed, but the audience was still going. We joined in with our screams of "WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!" Then we ran off the stage high-fiving or hugging everybody we passed.