CHAPTER 2: Kristy

Well, the day of the auditions is finally upon us. By the way, have any of you heard that expression about how everything is perfectly calm before some unforeseen disaster? I'm not sure how it goes, but I think Watson described it as the "calm before the storm", or something like that. Anyway, that's what I was feeling long before we got to the school.

In case you're wondering, I'm talking about Karen making a spectacle of herself during Peter Pan auditions. To this day, I can still hear the fit she threw regarding Tinker Bell, sometimes even in my sleep. Now, I'm not saying that Karen means to show off or draw too much attention to herself (and sometimes negatively). Far from it. But—and there's no nice way to say this—she just doesn't think before she acts.

In short, brace yourselves!

The five of us arrived at SMS for the auditions: my three brothers, Karen, and I. While my brothers went to get audition forms and scripts, I decided to have a little talk with Karen.

"Now, do you remember what you did at Peter Pan auditions?" I asked, kneeling down to Karen's level. In my opinion, that's the best way to get little kids to mind you.

"Hmm...you mean when I asked Mr. Cheney if I could be Tinker Bell?" Karen guessed.

"Right," I said, but in the back of my mind, I thought, You call screaming like a banshee asking? And let's not forget how you pranced all over the stage and embarrassed me in front of everybody. If I were Mr. Cheney, there's no way you would've ever been in the play.

"But Peter Pan without Tinker Bell is like Annie without 'Tomorrow'!" Karen protested. Luckily, she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs about it. Yet.

"Yes, that's a good point," I agreed. "Anyway, what I'm getting at is, don't do anything to embarrass me or yourself, okay?"

"Deal," Karen said.

I knew Karen would listen to me, but I also didn't think Mr. Cheney would've ever gotten over that episode. Oh, well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

As I went to get audition forms and scripts for me and Karen, I looked around to see who else was coming in. Just as I'd expected, the other BSC members were already there, as well as some of Karen's classmates, and some of our baby-sitting charges.

The next ones to arrive were Jason and Bebe Everett. They'd just moved to Stoneybrook last fall, and they're quite an interesting family. You see, Jason's real dad died about a month before he was born, and he and his mom came to America from Scotland when he was four, but for some reason, his accent never went away completely. That always struck me as a little unusual, because most people, when they come to America as children, lose their accents by the time they're adults. Ann-Margret, for example. She was born in Sweden, and came to America when she was five, and her accent is long gone.

Bebe, on the other hand, was born in Toronto, Canada, and moved to Long Island with her dad when she was a baby. (She recently told me that when she grows up, she might file for dual citizenship for both Canada and the US.) Despite the fact that she's lived in America for practically her whole life, she has a very subtle accent. They also live in the brand-new apartment complex at the end of our block, and Bebe's dad is the superintendent. They're really nice people, too.

Well, the next thing I heard was a high-pitched squealing: "JASON!" That had to be Karen, and I looked up just in time to see her jump on him and throw her arms around his neck. Ever since Jason helped Andrew after his bike accident, Karen has pretty much worshipped the ground he walks on. (In fact, she once told me that he was her hero, which I thought was pretty special.) Not only that, but practically every girl at SMS is just ga-gam over him.

"Hi, Karen," Jason said as he regained his footing.

"Hi," Bebe said as the two of them high-fived. Then Karen dragged both of them over to me. I'm surprised she didn't pull their arms out of their sockets.

"Hi, Kristy," Jason smiled in his soft, yet very noticeable Scottish brogue. Besides that, the one thing I've always liked about Jason is the fact that even though he looks dangerous, he really cares about you. "How have you been?"

"Oh, pretty good," I answered. "Andrew got his neck brace off last month."

"Really? That's great! I'll bet he was glad to have that little present, huh?"

"I'll say."

By now, everyone had arrived, and you'd better believe it was noisy! Mr. Cheney was stepping out from behind his desk and making his way onstage. If you ask me, compared to Peter Pan rehearsals, he looked pretty sane. However, I knew it would just be a matter of time before the cast drove him crazy enough to make him want to check into the nearest mental hospital.

"Can I have everyone's attention, please?" he called, and much to my surprise, everyone started to quiet down. I was a little disappointed, because I would've gotten everyone's attention with my ability to whistle through my fingers, which is one of the things I'm most proud of.

"Good afternoon," he began. "First of all, welcome to Carnival auditions. For those of you who don't know, I'm Mr. Cheney, and these are some of the other people who will be working with you. To my left is our musical director, Mr. Drubek, and next to him are our choreographers, Ms. Halliday and Jessi Ramsey. To my right is our student director, Mallory Pike, and next to her is our stage manager, Mary Anne Spier. If there's anyone who isn't sure what part they want yet, please look over Paul and Lili's dialogue prior to 'I Hate Him' in Act Two. There are copies of that on my table."

Basically, the auditions went like this:

Lili—Dawn, Cokie Mason, Jennifer Abrams, Madeline Carver, a couple of other girls, and me (we, of course, sang "Yes, My Heart").

Rosalie—Stacey, Shannon, Grace Blume, and a few other girls, including two SHS students (they sang part of the reprise of "Always, Always You").

Schlegl—Charlie, Pete Black, Cary Retlin (my would-be boyfriend), Lucas Danver (a friend of Charlie's; he played Captain Hook in Peter Pan), Alan Gray (God help us all!), and a few other guys (they sang those two lines of "Direct From Vienna").

Marco—Sam, Brian Durang (his friend), Josh Freeman, and three other guys I didn't know (they sang part of "Sword, Rose & Cape").

Paul—Jason, Pete, Cary, Logan, Sam, Bart Taylor (my ex), Brian, and a couple of other guys (they sang part of "Her Face").

Jacquot—Pete, Cary, Logan, Alan (once again, God help us all!), and a few other guys (they sang part of "Cirque de Paris").

Then there was the dance routine that Ms. Halliday had worked out for everyone to learn. Even though it was pretty complicated, I kept reminding myself not to let it get to me, that not everyone's a great dancer, and that we'd learn. I especially kept that in mind when I saw some of the younger kids crashing into each other. And no, I'm not naming names.

Let's just say that one of them isn't called the Walking Disaster for nothing.

After everyone had finished singing, dancing, and reading, there was silence for a few minutes while Mal, Mr. Drubek, and Mr. Cheney consulted their notes. Finally, Mr. Cheney stood up and faced us.

"Okay," he began, taking a drink from his water bottle. He must have been pretty thirsty. "I'd like the following people to stay for another hour or so: Dawn Schafer, Jason and Bebe Everett, Stacey McGill, Shannon Kilbourne, Pete Black, Jessi Ramsey, Bart Taylor, and Sam and David Michael Thomas. The cast list will be posted outside the principal's office as soon as possible. Overall, you were all excellent, and you have our thanks for coming today."

"Congratulations, you guys," I said. "I'm sure you'll get good parts."

"I don't mean to sound full of myself, but I'll say it anyway," Dawn said. Then, in a high-pitched, whimpering voice, she said, "He likes me, he really likes me!"

If you don't think the rest of us were groaning, you're crazy.