Chapter Two

Rehearsal

"Yes, for the last time, I have always been a girl. Ask again, and I'm shoving that music player up your ass." Rei muttered darkly to yet another cast-mate as she stormed out of the auditorium. "Mariah, rescue me!" She begged pathetically at the other girl.

"Hey, it's your own fault." she pouted. "Now I have more competition for you though...this may be difficult."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not gay. I've been telling you this since six grade. When will you get it through your thick skull?" Rei picked up her bags and got all her school things together as they headed out of the building and towards their vehicles.

"Mmm...never." Mariah opened the door to her car and tossed her bag in. "Where you wanna eat today? The burger joint again?"

Rei nodded as she got into her car and started the engine. "I'll see you there."

-Burger place I'm to lazy to name-

Rei got comfortable in a seat while Mariah ordered their food for them. It was nice and quiet here compared to how everyone had been acting before. She sighed contently as Mariah sat across from her. "God...I still can't believe you came out with it though. I thought you were gonna go through the rest of high school with everyone thinking you where a boy."

"Yes, well, now you have to come out of the closet or stop chasing me. Which will it be-" she was cut off when Mariah lent forward and kissed her full on the lips. "Mariah!!! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? It's-" She stopped as Mariah lent forward to try for another.

"Aw man! The day I forget my camera there's some action goin' on. Oh well." Tala walked up, smirking, Kai trailing not far behind, immersed in a call on his phone. Bryan was walking toward them, balancing a tray of food.

"What'd I miss?" he mumbled around a fry.

"Oh, great...what do you guys want?" Rei asked, annoyed.

"Just wanted to talk with my co-star." Kai piped from behind Bryan and Tala. He came up from behind them and took a seat next to Rei. Bryan and Tala squeezed in next to Mariah who glared half-heartedly at them, before turning away with a huff. She and Rei exchanged annoyed looks before turning their attention to the boys.

"So, Tala, how do you feel, playing the part of gay cross-dresser?"

"You didn't know? He likes to dress up in women's clothing." Bryan chuckled.

"Ignore Bry, he's being a dick. I'm bi, so I don't mind playing Angel. The women's clothing thing I'm not so sure about. But I'll be playing alongside Bry, so it won't be too uncomfortable." Tala interrupted.

"I'm just glad I'm not going to have to kiss another man." Kai muttered, dipping a fry into some of Rei's ketchup.

"Did you think Miller had cast a guy for Mimi?" Nods all around. "No. After everyone auditioned, I went to her and asked if I could audition for Mimi. You should have seen the look on her face when I asked that. She thought I was crazy. When I told her I was actually a girl, and she heard me sing, she said it was guaranteed that I'd get the part." Rei explained.

"Hey, that's right. We still haven't heard you sing yet. Sing for us." Bryan practically demanded.

"Not here..." Rei murmured. "Just cause I'm doing the musical doesn't mean I like to draw attention to myself. You'll get to hear my sing at rehearsal tomorrow."

-Next day-

Morning Announcements:

We still haven't had anyone claim that watch we found yesterday. If noone claims it they said I could keep it, so hurry it up.

Women's varsity basketball try-outs started yesterday...hm...guess I forgot to mention that...anyway, be there today to continue. Remember, you must have a recent physical to participate.

Rehearsal starts today for the musical, after school in the auditorium. This includes cast, which includes me, and crew; sets are going to be built today.

Again, who cares about lunch.

And lastly, big news folks, news that will probably get me replaced. It was discovered after school yesterday that our own Rei Kon is actually a girl. That's correct, Rei Kon is a girl. That means she's free to all you single men. (A shout of "That's it, you're dead Tala!" was heard from both Mariah and Rei's classroom.)

This concludes the final morning announcements with Tala. I gotta go get fired. Have a nice day. mutter It's not like I was getting payed for this anyway. mutter

-Lunch-

"So wait, you knew Rei was a girl the whole time? But you still kept asking hi-her for dates? I don't get it?" Kevin cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head a little to show his confusion.

"Look, it's not so hard to understand. It just means that I like girls...not guys...wow, get over it." Mariah rolled her eyes at the questions she continued to get.

"I still don't believe it."

"You want proof, I'll give you proof."

She got up and started towards Rei who was sitting at the other end of the table. Rei having heard the conversation knew what to expect. "Please, not again, Mariah!! No, please, don't, pleammph-" Rei struggled to get out of Mariah's and grip and the lip lock she had been forced into.

She was surprised, but very much relieved, when they were pushed apart. "You're standing n the middle of the aisle, get out of the way." it turned out to be Kai, again being followed by Bryan and Tala, Bryan carrying all the food again.

"See you at rehearsal!" How Tala was always so cheery was a mystery that would never be solved. Oh wait, he has his camera. Must have gotten that picture he wanted yesterday.

-1st day of rehearsal-

"Alright everyone. Before we get started with anything, I'm gonna pass out your contract, which needs to be signed before I can give you a script, and your schedule. If you have any conflicts with doctors appointments and such, I need to know 24 hours in advance. Besides those, I expect you to be here everyday, no excuses. I'm gonna pass out scripts now. I need these back before you leave though, you get a copy to take home when you get your contract signed." Scripts were passed out to everyone, as well as any other papers that were needed.

"Now, I'm assuming that all of you can read sheet music." Most everyone nodded. "Good, makes things so much easier. Today, we're just gonna run through the script, sing the songs as best we can. Tomorrow I will go through and fine tune everything. Let's get started."

Mrs. Miller explained how she was going to have this set up. It was going to open much like the movie, with the eight main characters seeing 'Seasons of Love.' The curtain would be closed behind them while everyone else got in their correct spots. Then it would go straight into 'Rent.'

They got through 'Today 4 U' before Mrs. Miller decided to skip to the last to songs. "We don't have much time left so we're gonna skip to the last song and the encore song. Everyone except my eight main people can leave."

After everyone had cleared out, Mrs. Miller explained how this scene would go. "Okay, in the musical, Mimi is supposed to die, but we're following more allow the lines of the movie, so you get to live Rei. When you sing 'Finale B' everyone is going to move down-stage and we're gonna close the curtain so they can clear the sets off the stage. Near the end of the song, Tala is going to come on stage and stand with you. You'll be waiting in the wings, singing the whole time, but that's when you come on stage. When you finish, we're gonna do a blackout and you all will go and take spots on stage to sing 'Love Heals.' We'll open the curtain y'all will sing and take you're bows then we're done. So let's just sing through these and we'll block them tomorrow."

They sang their songs and then were allowed to leave. Rei was leaving with Mariah when Tala called her over. "Hey, I heard you were like an expert at these songs right? Well, can you help me with some?"

"I..guess I could. Yeah." Rei agreed hesitantly.

"Can you follow me today and help? I've got work tomorrow and the day after."

"Sure." Rei explained things to Mariah before heading to her car. Instead of following Tala home, she ended up following Tala, Bryan, an Kai to Kai's house- well, more like mansion. When they got there and got inside, Bryan and Kai disappeared somewhere and Tala lead her to what appeared to be a studio of some kind.

"Can we use the 'Rent' soundtrack since we don't have the practice cd's yet?" Tala asked as he moved over to an expensive looking sound system.

"Yeah, that's probably best. Since Miller left the choreography up to me, I can go ahead and brainstorm and start to teach you the number." While Tala was distracted, Rei quickly changed into more dance appropriate cloths (ie leggings, shorts, tank top, etc.).

"Why did Mi-" Tala paused as he turned and saw Rei in much more revealing clothes than normal-"Miller put you in charge of choreography?"

"Because I've seen this movie more times than anyone else working on this, for one thing. I've also got 15 years of all kinds of dance under my belt. Do you have like any sweat pants or something? Dance isn't so easy in tight jeans." She gave Tala's jeans a look.

"Aw..but the show off my ass perfectly." He turned to look at his ass in the wall length mirror that covered one of the walls. "I guess I can go change though. Something of Kai's should fit me. Be right back."

Rei went over to the sound system and started the cd, putting it on random just because. One of Mimi and Roger's songs started playing (Without You). It started off as a solo for Mimi then became a duet. So Rei started to sing. She sang through her part and was rather surprised when a deep voice started singing Roger's part. She looked in the mirror to see Kai standing near the door way singing. She continued with her part as Kai sang his. She motioned for Kai to join her in the room and he did. They finished the song there was silence for a few moments. They just kinda smiled at each other as another song started playing.

Then there was clapping coming from Tala as well as Bryan. What a way to ruin a mood. "That was beautiful!!" Tala gushed, eyes watering. "You sound so wonderful together!" Bryan just rolled his eyes at Tala display of emotions.

"...Thanks, Tala..." Rei sighed. "Come on, let's get started. We're gonna stretch first so just copy me." she let the music keep playing as she started stretching, Tala copying her. She looked to Bryan and Kai. "I don't care if you two stay, just stay near the walls, I'm known for taking up the entire floor." As she finished saying this, she slid into a split. She took note of the distressed and slightly pained look on Tala's face and laughed. "You don't have to do this unless you really think you can." He looked relieved.

Meanwhile, Kai and Bryan were having a little conversation in their corner of the world. "So..what do you think of her?" Bryan asked tauntingly.

"I...well to be honest, it's nice to know I'm not attracted to a guy. A feminine guy, but still a guy. It's nice to know that guy is actually a girl." Kai replied, his voice slightly monotonic. "I used to think h-she was just a little book-worm. She's got a great voice, can dance, and I have to say, I like her body not that she's not wearing those baggy clothes."

"Good. Now it's time to start playing match-maker." Bryan smiled deviously.

"No, Bry. Don't meddle in everything, you'll mess things up again. Remember Spencer?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember."

"Alright Tala, that's all for today. We can continue tomorrow if you want?" Rei sat down and gulped some water from the bottle Bryan tossed her. A muttered "Thanks" was heard. She got up and packed her things and got ready to go. She stretched her arms up above her head, causing her shirt to ride up and expose most of her stomach. When she realized this, she immediatly pulled her shirt back down with a scared look.

She thought noone had noticed, but one person had. Kai had been watching out of the corner of his eye. He had seen the dark coloration of the exposed part of her torso. Are those...bruises? There was practically no spot untouched that he could see. He quickly turned his eyes away before she noticed.

"Hey guys, I'm going now. I'll see you tomorrow." She walked with Tala back to the front door.

"Do you know the way back?" Tala walked her to her car.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure I can find my way. Don't worry about me. I'll see you tomorrow." She got in her car and headed home.