I smiled as I ran a brush through my wet hair. I had managed to sneak into the dorms the day before to see Knox make his move. He had managed to get himself to a party this Saturday which I found sort of funny, considering she was going to call him about it. So much for my genius advice, but oh well, it didn't matter now. He was now bouncing all over the place, cocky as hell, almost as bad as Charlie.
I stood in my in front of the bathroom mirror, attempting to straighten my hair. Of course this ended in a major battle, which I eventually won by just a little. I looked out the window at the clock. It was 3:30 and Neil's try outs started at 4:00. Pulling on my jeans and a sweater over my white t- shirt, I rummaged under my bed for my shoes. Just as I got about half way under, I heard a knock on the door.
"Yes?" I called, underneath the bed.
I heard the door open, "Rachael?" It was Neil, "Where are you?"
Considering I was on my stomach, I bent my left knee, sending my calf up as high as possible. I heard him laugh and kneel down.
"What are you doing down there?" He asked, giving my ankle a tug.
"Well, attempting to find a shoe would be the case," I replied, beginning to draw myself out from underneath the bed.
I had managed to get one of the stubborn shoes and emerged from the dusty darkness that had engulfed me.
"Well, here's one of them," I said holding up the sneaker like a prize.
Neil sat next to me, trying to hold back a smile, but it was futile, "You might want to look in the mirror," He said beginning to laugh out loud.
I stood, confused and went to the bathroom mirror. I looked in the reflection to see that my damp hair looked like it had erupted underneath the bed. The static from the carpet made it dry quickly crazy wisps all over the place. Neil came into the bathroom and when he saw me again, started laughing louder, and I joined in. We laughed till we couldn't stand anymore and ended up on the tiled floor, laughing so hard we started to cry. To this day I still don't know why we had that outburst, I mean my hair had done that before and it usually wasn't very funny so why now?
When finally we had calmed down, and weren't hysterical anymore, I proceeded to wet down a comb and straighten my hair while Neil dug under the bed and found my other shoe.
He had managed to barter with Knox for me to borrow his bike and we started out on the road. The sun was a golden crown that reigned over the trees that seemed to be on fire with dying October.
We barely talked on the way to town. Neil was too nervous to and I was transfixed by the trees that swayed in colors of passion and light. It made me lose my breath.
We made it to the hall just as try outs began. The theater was small but served its purpose. Neil was so anxious I swore he nearly turned back many times, but he kept muttering 'Carpe Diem' to himself which kept him going. We were all seated; I took a place a little farther away from those trying out and watched as the director progressed to explain the entire script, as if no one in there had ever even heard of A Midsummer Night's Dream before. I sat by and looked at Neil from time to time. He looked determined and I wished him luck again.
"Now, those trying out for the part of Puck please stand," said the stuffy woman with the black scarf.
Neil stood with three other gentlemen. I crossed my fingers for him.