"And so, for the assignment you need to write from the perspective of someone else - real or fictional," Mrs. O'Hara, the creative writing teacher said.
16-year-old Olive St. James, who up until that point had practically fallen asleep, sat up straight. She immediately locked eyes with her 17-year-old half-sister Maya Hummel-Anderson (Olive's mother, Rachel, had been Maya's egg donor).
"You will now have the rest of the period to brainstorm," Mrs. O'Hara said. Maya scooted her chair up to Olive's desk.
"So, obviously I'm going to be writing from your perspective and you from mine," Maya said.
"Correct," Olive replied.
"What if we…up the ante a little bit?" Maya asked.
"I'm listening," Olive said.
It had been about six years since Maya and Olive's full-on rivalry had turned into an extremely close friendship. Despite growing up in different homes and being raised by different parents (but still spending plenty of time at each other's homes) the girls were biologically related and Maya frequently referred to Olive and Rachel's other daughter with her husband Jesse, 2.5-year-old Clementine, as her sisters.
"You're currently in rehearsals for 'Brighton Beach Memoirs'," Maya noted.
"Yes," Olive said. She was an actor, just like both of her parents.
"And I currently have basketball practice," Maya continued.
"Yep," Olive confirmed, somewhat impatiently.
"So - what if this Saturday I went to your rehearsal and you went to my practice?" Maya asked. "Obviously you'd have to ask your director and I'd have to ask my coach. Who, coincidentally is also our creative writing teacher," Maya said.
"Hmmm," Olive tapped her chin. "I like it. Almost like 'The Parent Trap' but with Irish twins who have different dads and there's no romance…just chaos."
"You don't think I can play Nora?" Maya asked with mock hurt in her voice.
"Oh you'll be a lovely Nora, I'm sure," Olive said. "I, however, will surely get eaten alive at basketball practice."
Maya laughed. "I'm gonna go talk to O'Hara really quick - can you ask your director tonight?"
Olive nodded. "We should probably let our parents in on our little plan, too. I'm sure your dads will be excited you'll be acting instead of behind-the scenes for a change." Maya's dads, Kurt and Blaine, were actors like Olive's parents.
Maya laughed. "Yeah you're probably right."
Turns out Olive had underestimated the reaction however.
"OH MY GOD!" Kurt exclaimed, his voice two octaves higher than usual.
Maya stared back, eyes wide - she was honestly a little freaked out.
"KDad, it's just for part of one rehearsal," Maya said.
"I know but I don't care! You're going to be my little actress for two hours and that's better than nothing!" Kurt replied.
"I'll definitely be curious to read your essay - Olive's, too," Blaine added, also a tad freaked out by his husband's reaction.
"They should be interesting, that's for sure," Kurt added, calming down.
Both Mrs. O'Hara and Olive's director, Jason had okayed the place switch. Their cast mates and teammates were also aware of the arrangement.
Olive's rehearsal was a total of seven hours long, but Maya's practice was only two. So, Maya would be putting in two hours at Olive's rehearsal, and then Olive's understudy would cover the other five. Friday evening, Maya would go over to Olive's house for a sleepover - the girls were going to give each other the necessary information to be (somewhat) successful the next morning. Jesse would drop Maya off at the theatre and Rachel would drop Olive off at the school for basketball practice.
Friday arrived, and Maya followed Olive to the St. James house in her car.
Once the girls had changed out of their uniforms and gotten settled, Olive handed Maya a small book.
"This is my script - if you lose it, I will kill you. Nora's lines are highlighted already," Olive said, handing Maya the script.
"Alright. Tell me about Nora," Maya said. She'd pulled a small pad and a pen out of her backpack figuring she should probably take notes.
"Nora is 16 years old. Her dad died and she, her mother Blanche, and her 13-year-old sister Laurie live with her aunt, uncle, and cousins. Her younger cousin, Eugene, is the narrator. He lowkey has a crush on her," Olive said.
Maya looked up from writing.
"Oh my," she said.
"I know," Olive agreed. "She takes dance class and also wants to be an actress - she learns about an audition and is trying to convince Blanche to let her do it. She's jealous because Blanche pays quite a bit of attention to Laurie, because of Laurie's various health issues."
"I see. Anything else I should know?" Maya asked.
"I think that pretty much covers the basics," Olive said. "Okay, your turn."
"Well…do you know how to dribble?" Maya asked.
"Gross!" Olive replied, offended.
"No, no," Maya facepalmed. "Oli, that's what you do to the basketball - you know when you push it on the ground."
"Oh, that's what that's called? Shows how much attention I've been paying in gym class," Olive popped a pretzel in her mouth.
"Yeah, maybe you should work on that. Anyway, you can only dribble with one hand, not two," Maya continued.
"And why might that be?" Olive asked.
"I don't know. You also can't just carry the ball on the court - you have to dribble as you move. If you just carry it it's called traveling," Maya said.
"There's way too many rules in this game," Olive said.
"I've literally only told you two," Maya shook her head. "Anyway, when you're shooting a basket always remember the acronym BEEF -"
"But I'm vegetarian," Olive said.
"I do not think you're being cute right now," Maya said, rolling her eyes.
"That's a lie, but continue," Olive replied sweetly.
"B stands for balance - stand with your feet firmly planted and knees slightly apart and bent so you can stay balanced. First E is for eyes - keep your eye on the basket - I always aim for the square on the backboard. Second E is for elbows - bend them. F is for follow through - that's when you actually shoot the ball," Maya mimed shooting a basketball. "Now, you do it."
Olive also mimed shooting a basketball and did it a few times as Maya gave her pointers.
Then, Maya read a couple of Nora's lines as Olive gave her pointers.
"Well, you won't be winning a Tony anytime soon," Olive muttered.
"And you won't be winning a gold medal!" Maya retorted. There was a brief pause and then both girls burst out laughing. They decided they both had enough preparation and watched a movie.
The next morning, after a breakfast of pancakes, Maya and Jesse got ready to leave for the theatre. Before they headed out the door, Olive said Maya's name.
"What?" Maya turned around.
"Break a leg!" Olive encouraged.
Maya chuckled. "Thanks. Hey, Olive?"
"What?" Olive asked.
"Please *do not* break a leg," Maya said. Both girls laughed.
"No promises," Olive replied.
Shortly after Maya and Jesse left, Rachel, Olive, and Clementine got into Rachel's car.
"Where are we going?" Clementine asked, as Rachel buckled her into her car seat.
"We're dropping Oli off at school and then going to playgroup!" Rachel said.
"But I thought you said Oli and Maya didn't have school today!" Clementine said accusingly.
"Well, we don't have class. But today I'm going to Maya's basketball practice and she's going to my play rehearsal," Olive explained.
Clementine threw her hands up in the air.
"That's ridiculous!" She cried. Rachel and Olive looked at each other and laughed. They had no idea Clementine knew that word.
They arrived at the school and Rachel turned to Olive.
"Okay, we'll be back in two hours - probably a little after, actually, since Clem's playgroup will end at the same time as the practice," Rachel said. "Good luck - please don't maim yourself!" Rachel gave Olive a hug and Olive headed into the school.
Shortly before Olive arrived at the school, Maya arrived at the theatre. Jesse told her he'd be back in two hours.
Maya thanked him and headed inside - Olive had told her what room to go to.
"Hi - are you Maya?" A man sitting at a table asked.
"Yes. Are you Jason?" Maya asked.
"Yes - good to meet you," Jason stood up and shook Maya's hand. He introduced her to the other actors who were also wearing name tags with their character names on them as well.
"So we thought we'd start off and show you what kind of warmups we do. It's not a musical, so we won't do any singing - but we still like to warm up our voices with tongue twisters - I have my favorites, but I also like to ask the actors if they have any they want to try out. Do you know any tongue twisters?"
Maya thought long and hard.
"Nothing outside of Sally and her seashells," Maya shrugged. Olive was definitely the more creative of the two of them, that was for sure.
Jason and the cast laughed.
"That works! I've actually never heard of the seashell sales girl having a name. Okay everybody, 'Sally sells seashells by the seashore' three times - fast as you can."
The cast did so, as well as running through a few other tongue twister suggestions.
Then, they got to work rehearsing a scene where Nora and her sister Laurie make a plan to save up all their money so they can move out of their aunt and uncle's house with their mother…after going to see the latest movie. Maya, who had no prior acting experience, found it easiest to pretend like she was having a conversation with Olive.
Olive herself had told her that when she was playing a character experiencing something she had experienced in real life she just remembered what that was like during the scene, and when she was playing a character who was experiencing something she hadn't, she imagined what it would be like to do so.
Maybe this wasn't going to be so hard after all.
Meanwhile, at basketball practice, Olive was having a harder time. The most athletic thing she did was ballet - which really could be a workout contrary to what one might think, but it didn't compare to running laps around a gym, doing jumping jacks, and throwing basketballs around. Olive knew or knew of all the girls on the team because Larkin had a relatively small student body despite being K-12. The girls had just finished the warmups and Olive was trying to play it cool - taking sips of water, trying to keep her panting to a minimum, and attempting not to die.
Maya's team was made up of juniors and seniors, so in addition to being the only non-athlete, Olive was also the only sophomore. While all the girls were nice and welcoming, Olive definitely felt like the odd one out. At least it was just for two hours.
"Okay, girls!" Mrs. O'Hara said after blowing her whistle. Maya had told Olive that she felt the whistle was completely unnecessary because Mrs. O'Hara had a very loud voice. Turns out, she was right. Olive only ever heard her talk in creative writing class, and hearing her coach voice was actually scary.
"Since Olive is new to basketball, why don't we practice shooting some baskets?" Mrs. O'Hara suggested.
"Beef!" Olive cried, almost involuntarily. The other girls laughed, and Olive blushed. Was that why they called it red meat?
"Someone's been doing her homework," Mrs. O'Hara chuckled as the girls all grabbed basketballs. They all lined up in front of the basket and Olive was somewhere in the middle, so she had the chance to watch several people shoot a basket before she made a fool of herself.
Maya's friend Cassie was in front of Olive. She aimed and fired - barely missing the hoop.
"Good try, Cass!" A girl named Rochelle said. Cassie smiled at her then turned to Olive.
"You got this, St. James," she said.
Olive smiled. No one had ever referred to her as just her last name before but she knew it was pretty common in sports. It actually made her feel like she belonged on a basketball court which was odd because…she definitely didn't belong on a basketball court.
Olive widened her stance, rested the ball in her left palm, focused her eyes on the square, bent her elbow, and followed through.
Swish.
The ball fell through the hoop.
"Jesus," a girl named Lexi muttered.
"Nicely done, Olive!" Mrs. O'Hara praised, although she sounded as surprised as Olive felt.
Instead of thanking Mrs. O'Hara like a normal person, the first thing Olive thought to say was, "hoop, there it is!" There was a brief pause before everyone burst out laughing - Mrs. O'Hara included.
As much fun as Olive ended up having at practice, and Maya ended up having at rehearsal, the girls were relieved when the two hours were up and they were on their way back to Olive's house. When they were both back, the girls both started talking at once.
Clementine stepped between the two of them.
"Too loud!" She exclaimed, hands over her ears. The girls both stopped talking and laughed.
"I scored a basket!" Olive exclaimed.
"I actually…acted!" Maya exclaimed back.
"So…" Rachel laughed, joining in the conversation. "Do you girls see yourselves ever switching places again?"
Olive and Maya looked at each other and back at Rachel.
"Not in a million years!" They replied in unison.