CALLBACK DAY

"Alright, thank you, boys." Mrs. Hawkins looked at her clipboard slightly. "Ok, Abbi and Gabriella on the stage."

I got up out of my seat I was sitting in and walked from the west wing of the stage to the middle. Not until Abbi, who was in front of me, tripped me. I fell to the ground with a Thud.

"Oh, Gabriella! Watch your step! You could get hurt!" Abbi smirked in my face. She continued to walk across the stage, not caring about her reputation that she had now changed from Mrs. Hawkins point of view. At that point in time, my courage seemed to go up rapidly from a teenager who was bullied all the time, but never had the guts to say something to someone who would do anything to defend themselves. Then, out of nowhere, my courage made me, well not exactly made me, do something I would have never done before.

"Back off, Abbi!" I demanded as I stood up to my feet to defend myself. She stopped suddenly in her tracks and turned around to me.

"Excuse me?" She was now ready to punch me in the face, but I wouldn't let that happen. Especially now.

"You heard me. I said back off!" I was really mad now. My head told me to smack her, which I would 've loved to do, but that little voice that's inside of everyone told me not to. So, I didn't.

"Well, aren't we having an attitude problem today," Abbi remarked back. Her face started turning tomato red and so did mine. Not caring about the callbacks at all, we kept bickering, saying cruel remarks to each other.

Finally, Mrs. Hawkins had been fed up with it. "Girls...Girls...GIRLS!"

We stared at her, stopping the fighting suddenly. Mrs. Hawkins was about to scream.

"Now either you two stop your fighting or neither of you won't be getting Julie!" she demanded, raising her voice at us pretty well.

Abbi walked to the middle of the stage sweetly and grabbed the microphone from the stage manager. Then, she started her callback, hoping to impress everyone as always. As she continued, I became more disguisted with her voice, even if it did sound like an angel. But really, she was the devil. She kept going on and on and on until finally after four minutes, she stopped. She made her sweetheart smile and walked off the stage as everyone else sighed in relief.

I walked onto the stage as the blinding lights hit me just like they did at the auditions. My feet stopped precisely at the middle of the stage where the microphone was on the stand. I picked it up and held it toward my mouth. Then, I started singing like a true angel and not a fake, either.

"You were my strength when I was weak.

You were my voice when I couldn't speak.

You were my eyes when I couldn't see.

You saw the best there was in me.

Lifted me up when I couldn't reach.

You gave me faith cause' you believed.

I'm everything I am,

Because you loved me."

Now, I knew this wasn't the best choice in song, but I somehow remembered the song and sang it perfectly from the elementary school choir I was in. I just hoped it was good enough to get by you know who.

And, I was right. Everyone was on their feet, applauding for me even better than when I first sang at the auditions. Well, except for Abbi, who was standing on the left side of me, giving her I can't believe you actually liked her expression.

Finally, after all the applause stopped, Mrs. Hawkins had made her mind up.

"This year, it's been very hard for me to choose who gets the two main roles for this production. You both know that you're extremely talented no matter the outcome, right?" We both nodded our heads.

"Alright, I've come to a decision. Abbi. I'm sorry you didn't make the cut this year. Gabriella. Congratulations. You got the part."

Abbi's mouth dropped at the outcome. "WHAT?" she screamed.

"I'm sorry, Abbi. But I think Gabriella deserves the part more than you do." she tried to explain. But Abbi didn't take that as an apology.

"You'll be sorry!" she smirked. Then, she stomped toward the two entrance doors to the auditorium like a mad bull. She opened one of them, let herself get through, and slammed the door with steam built up in her and grudges between Mrs. Hawkins and me. I was now supposed to be jumping up and down, but I couldn't. All the bravery that had built up in me was now gone. Part of me was hoping for me to get the part so I could finally get somewhere here, but the other side of me was hoping Abbi gets it, so she wouldn't have done what she'd done.

LATER THAT DAY

BANG! I slammed the door to my apartment with mixed feelings. I put down my backpack in a chair and went to the kitchen and grabbed me an apple. I was taking a bite into it when Mom came into the room.

"Oh! You scared me there, honey! So, how were the callbacks?" she asked.

I paused for a moment, thinking of a way to take to say this in an excited way so I wouldn't have to explain to her about my bullying problems.

"There were great! I got the part!" I said to her as she smiled in astonishment.

"Congratulations!" She wrapped me in her arms. Usually, I would say to her that she was swishing me, but instead, I hugged her back. We then finally pulled away from each other.

"We should do something tonight to celebrate. How about we out to dinner tonight? My treat."

"Sure. Why not."

"Alright. Why don't you go and get ready? We should go before it gets too crowded."

"Okay. Gracias more than you know it." I ran to my bedroom, thinking about what I should wear and what I should tell Taylor especially.

THAT NIGHT AFTER DINNER

"Ok, now that was so much fun." I thanked Mom as we walked up the stairs to our apartment. We went to a pretty fancy Italian restaurant where she and I had a blast. We ordered probably the cheesiest pizza in our lives. Every slice was really hard to get because so much cheese kept getting in the way because it was so 'stuck' to the rest of the pizza. But boy was it good!

"I must agree that was fun," she replied as she unlocked the door. "That pizza was pretty cheesy. Especially when it got all over the table!"

I laughed at her comment. "Now that was funny." We went inside and plopped down on the couch.

"Gabriella?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something."

Ok. I know what's going on in your mind right now. What is Gabriella's mom going to say to her? Well, I can't tell you that! Just keep R&R!