The Deleted Scenes of August Rush

Scene #10

It wasn't all that fair to Melanie that she had to miss that High School Musical production, now, was it? So I decided to have this take place a couple months after the ending of the story, right before the show starts. And Mel's has a bit of stage fright…but maybe her new little brother can help her with that…

.........

"I will be there with you all of the way…you'll be fine." - Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus)

.........

Melanie sat in the Green Room, her right leg pumping up and down, her heart just as anxious.

This was it.

The one thing she had been focusing on so much for the past weeks was the one thing she now hated. She didn't know how her family had talked her into taking up High School Musical again.

For a moment, her mind wandered to the past couple of months and how busy they had been. She had been adopted by Louis and Lyla, and since Louis was her uncle, that made Evan her cousin. They had eventually moved into a big house with enough space for all of them. Louis and Lyla had gotten married, so now technically she had a mother and father and a little brother, too.

And all three of them were out in the front row, waiting for her to get onstage.

But she didn't want to.

She knew that sounded really selfish, but it was true. When she had first gotten into the stupid play, it was all she could think about. But after she had realized what it was doing to her relationship with Evan, she had vowed never to return.

Yet here she was.

"Forty-five minutes till curtain!" the director called.

Melanie got up and walked out.

She needed some air.

.........

"Something's wrong," Evan said suddenly. He and his parents were sitting in the theater, waiting for the show to start.

"What do you mean?" Lyla asked.

"I don't know, exactly…something just doesn't seem right," Evan said. "I just know that something's up."

"Is there something wrong with Annie?" Louis asked.

"Yeah. She seems…troubled." Evan stood up. "I'm going to go look for her."

"Okay," Lyla said.

"But if you're not back by the time the curtain goes up, your mother and I have permission to come and find you," Louis added jokingly.

Evan laughed and started up the aisle.

.........

Melanie sat on the curb outside the school, breathing in the late spring air. Maybe if no one noticed, she could sit out on the curb for the whole show and her understudy could take over for her. Then she'd always be known as Melanie, the Girl Who Bailed Out Twice On Her School Play. And even though it was a lame title, it still hurt.

She suddenly heard someone sit down beside her. She could tell without looking that it was Evan.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

"What on earth are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be inside?" He nodded toward the building behind them.

"Yeah."

"Are you worried about something?"

She nodded and sighed. "I don't know…it just doesn't feel right doing this."

"Why?" Evan was genuinely confused. "We already discussed that you wouldn't lose your head again."

"I know, I know," she said, finally looking at him. "But…I don't think I can go through with this. I don't wanna disappoint you again."

Evan looked at his cousin--his sister--and knew what she was talking about. She didn't want to mess up. She wanted to make him proud of her. But she was afraid she'd do something wrong and disappoint him.

He put a reassuring arm around her shoulders. "That'd never happen," he told her. "No matter what, Mom and Dad and I'll always be backing you up. Things aren't how they used to be."

"And thank God for that," Melanie said, and the two of them started laughing.

"Twenty minutes to curtain!" came the director's voice inside.

The two of them got up.

"Race you inside?" Evan asked mischievously.

"That's not fair!" Melanie protested in mock annoyance. "I'm wearing high heels."

"That's the point."

He took off at that moment, with Melanie racing to keep up.

.........

She was a hit. Everyone got three curtain calls, and Melanie got a standing ovation. Evan figured she couldn't have asked for bigger success than that.

"Sweetie, you were great!" Lyla said in the car on the way home. "I was busting up at almost every line you said."

"I don't know how long it's going to take to get all those songs out of my head," Louis said. "You guys did such a good job, it'll probably take days!"

Evan and Melanie exchanged glances and smiled. They both knew that, somehow, this was the beginning of something neither of them could explain.

But whatever it was…it was something worth waiting for.