CHAPTER 5: REFLECTING
Christine could not even begin to believe what was happening in her life at the moment,despite the fact that she never even considered joining in the music festival at school and immediately shut down the idea over at Joe's,she would actually end up joining the show after all due to one of the performers being sick and the gang desperately needing a replacement. Granted Christine was predictably very hostile towards the suggestion and tried to leave the school auditorium while on the verge of having a panic attack,but after partaking in a well timed practice act courtesy of the girls and James since he came up with the idea,the girl couldn't help but sign up for the show after all due to how much fun she surprisingly had during the act,and even how much her anxiety shriveled down a little,but still not by much.
Later on that evening after the gang had headed home for the night,Christine was lying on her bed while petting what appeared to be a black cat with a blue collar around it's neck that was lying down on the girl's chest as she happily stated "Oh Diana,you'll have no idea what happened to me today,I went over to the school auditorium and actually signed up for the music festival. I can't believe I did that,I thought I was never gonna sign up for that whole show,but now I guess I got some work to do." to which the cat calmly meowed in response before her owner continued a little more mellow and cautious "Although,I still got my anxiety to worry about,and the show is next Friday. That means I only have one week to sort this whole thing out,maybe I should have thought this through more." only for her nerve wrecking thoughts to be suddenly interrupted by the house phone ringing down the hall as she lifted herself up and promptly went to answer it while she called out "I'll get it!"
"Hello?" Christine cleared her throat and politely answered as she picked up the phone to be immediately greeted by the voice of James happily responding "Oh hello there Christine,it's me James from the auditorium." which prompted the girl to perk up a little and enthusiastically greet him back "Hi James,what's up? I never expected you of all people to give me a call." to which the brit lightly chuckled before he continued a little more calm and collected "Listen,I just need to say that we're all sorry if we appeared a little….brash and rough today. We just needed a really fast replacement for the show and we didn't exactly know where else to look besides yourself of course. I hope we didn't push you away from us."
"N-no y'all didn't push me away at all,I understand what y'all were thinking,I was just caught off guard by the whole thing at first,that's all." Christine cheerfully tried to convince James that she had no hard feelings towards him and the rest of the gang to which the boy gave a sigh of relief and happily continued while he dragged the phone cord around his house "Well that's very good to know because I was thinking about something on the bus ride home,and it's that I know you have a very severe case of anxiety around people you don't know,Charles and Freida made sure to relay that to me after he called you. So I was thinking that maybe tomorrow you could come over to the theater downtown and I could give you a little…..training for lack of a better word to say. Something that can help you with your anxiety since I feel that'll be a problem in regards to the crowd you'll be in front of. You okay with that?"
Christine could only keep herself silent for a few moments as she was clearly thinking the proposition over while James wore a look of cautious optimism on his face before the girl finally came to an answer and gladly took the offer "That…..would be great James,I'd love to do that,I was actually thinking that my anxiety would be a little problematic not two minutes ago." to which the boy happily replied "Oh that's just splendid to hear Christine,uh feel free to come down around noon and I'll try to help you out." which prompted the girl on the other end to nod her head and enthusiastically retort "You got it,I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."
"You too." James lightly chuckled and happily returned the farewell before he and Christine both hung up their house phones and proceeded to head off to their bedrooms,but in Christine's case however she would be quickly greeted by the voice of Ed suddenly asking "Big day for you huh?" to which the girl perked up and looked out her open window to see the hermit himself sitting up in the tree next to it which prompted her to playfully retort with a slight smirk "Like you even need to ask that Ed? What are you even doing up there?"
"Herman went off with Snoopy, Andy, Olaf, Gracie and Roger for a night out,so with nothing for me to do I decided to have a little walk around town." Ed promptly explained what he was doing as he climbed down the tree and walked up to Christine's window to which the girl chuckled and jokingly lamented "I guess I was expecting too much from you when it comes to sitting still,but yeah I do got a big day coming up for me,and you were actually there to witness my decision. When I go up on that stage on Friday-"
"You ain't going up on stage." Ed nonchalantly interrupted Christine's statement and begged to differ to which the girl raised an eyebrow and questioned out of confusion "Are you kidding me?" which prompted the hermit to explain where he was coming from with a sly grin "It's all over your face that you're still a nervous wreck about it." only for Christine to smile herself and catch onto the boy's verbal scheme while she crawled out the window "Oh,heh that was fast." before Ed calmly tried to pretend that he wasn't playing around "What?"
Christine:
Gee I suppose I should have guessed.
Ed:
Christine-
Christine:
No I'll admit it,I'm impressed.
Hey,did you get to use your handcuffs?
Come on,tell me.
Well it's not like you not to collect on a bet.
Ed:
It's not at all like that okay?
Christine:
Yeah right.
Ed:
It's not your business either way.
Christine:
Oh please! As if I buy whatever crap you're trying to sell me.
Ed:
Do you hear yourself?
Could you sound more insecure?
Christine:
Hey I'm not insecure,I'm angry.
Since when do you let a piece of cash run our show?
Ed:
Christine just let it go.
Christine:
No I-
Both:
I can read you.
Like an open book.
There ain't no way to hide a single lie.
You know it.
I can read you.
You ain't off the hook.
Christine:
As for the show-
Ed:
Yeah? What about it?
Christine:
It could be good for me.
Ed:
Sure,who'd doubt it?
Christine:
So?
Ed:
Trust me,you'll take this town without them.
Christine:
Ed-
Ed:
Trust me.
"If I start getting too confident in myself,our whole show goes straight to hell." Christine sighed and somewhat nervously remarked to herself with a hung head before Ed walked up towards her and comfortingly stated "You are good at this kind of stuff girl,you passed that little test I just gave you perfectly. The more confident you get the better,that just shows your determination." to which Christine lifted her head back up and couldn't help but give off a smile at the realization that their little heated argument was just a test to increase her determination.
"You're gonna do good,trust me." Ed comfortingly reassured Christine that she would do fine as he took off his fedora and placed it on her head before he began to walk away into the night to which the girl straightened out the crooked hat and whispered to herself in response with a smile "Thank you Ed."
NEXT CHAPTER: MAGIC TIME
"I Can Read You Reprise." Written by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.
©️Menken Music. Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp