Chapter 5

"Five, six, seven, eight; who do we appreciate? Go team!" Girls were crying the chant in unnerving unison as Bella made her way to the try out table.

"Oh, hey Barbara!" Becky was one of the girls at the sign up table.

"It's… Bella…"

"Yeah, sure. Let me just sign you in." He pen skated across the paper lightning fast and like that Bella was 'signed up.' She sat on the benches with a few of the other girls where she pondered if she had made the right decision. She had been thinking about this day for the entire week, even going as far as to ask her dad about it. You see, dear reader, Bella was in a bit of a quandary. On the one hand she had her 'friends' in the cheerleading, all of whom wanted her to try out –and without whom she would be about as attractive to the boys on campus as the weird kid with the scraggly hair. On the other hand was Miss Cullen; the music teacher. Bella had made a strong friend in her over the week and had been all but guaranteed some kind of role in the school musical, should she choose to audition. "Sorry, Miss Cullen." Bella muttered to herself as she sat on the bench; as it was clearly her hand that had been let down. She then spent the time on her bench attempting to rationalize this. She knew that Alice would never be upset, her friends certainly would. No, if anything Miss Cullen would be disappointed… but not for long. Maybe she could do another play next year… Next year… That is assuming that she wanted to stay in Forks; she still hadn't quite made up her mind on that point.

"Um… Bella!" Sydney read out loud. Bella walked out in front of the bleachers and turned to face the coach. "Mary." Mary walked up next to her.

"Like, hi Bella."

"Hey, Mary."

"Isn't this cool? We get to audition together." Bella preformed an awkward combination of a nod and a smile. "Five, Six, Seven, Eight!" The music kicked in and the two began to perform the routine. It was actually going pretty well, the coach was smiling and nodding. He wrote a few words on his clip bored. Suddenly it all went wrong. Bella forgot weather they were on eight or four, just for a moment, but it was clearly all that fate needed to throw a spanner in her particular works.

Bella threw out one leg to the left which in turn sent Mary careening into the mud in front of both of them. There was a sickening crack. Mary looked up with pure fire in her eyes, and the Coach quickly drew a line across his clip bored… Bella took a step back. "Oh my fucking god, Bella! What do you think you're doing!?" Mary began to pull herself out of the mud.

"I'm sorry, I'm-"

"You're sorry!? Sorry doesn't clean my designer jogging pants you little slut!" The rest of the girls began to chime in with various insults, the coach just stood by watching.

"I'm sorry… I'm just so clumsy…" Bella turned and ran away, almost in tears, but not quite. She ran and ran, until she reached the end of the main hallway. Then she turned and walked into the building that she was wishing more and more that she had gone to from the beginning.

"Ah, Bella." Alice said in an endearing coo. "I was beginning to wonder if you would make it."

Bella walked in and sat down with a group of the other theatre hopefuls; there were a few nerdy looking girls, a couple really pretty ones, and about four boys –one of whom was probably gay, the others were clearly trying to avoid the implication.

"Next!" Alice called from the stage, and thus the eliminations went on. Bella watched as hopeful after hopeful went up, preformed a song from the show (Girls did "Adelaide's lament" while boys did "Rocking the boat."). Then each would sit back to. Bella listen to each version, each note, and knew that she could do just as well. Bella was a sometimes competitive girl; although only for things that mattered. This was one of the things that really mattered.

"Bella." She snapped out of her little bubble. It was time for her to walk up and sing. Bella got up from her seat and slowly shuffled to the stage. The other kids stared at her; she was clearly the new girl and the outsider, but she was determined to show them that she was worth her salt. She stood there as Alice gently began to press a few keys. "This is your starting note, ok?" Bella nodded and smiled, and then she heard a subtle string played on a violin. Of course she had heard it from the audience, but only now, from the stage, could she see where it had originated from.

There was a boy sitting just off the stage with the violin in his hand. Bella was almost captivated by him; not so much by his appearance –his knotty dirty blonde hair covered up much of his face, and his lanky frame was almost completely shrouded in the dark of the wings; but the sounds that his violin made were what captivated her. Dear reader, if you have ever felt this feeling –the feeling of falling in love with a word- then I am sure you can relate with Bella, but if not then I doubt that mere words can describe it. Bella felt as though all her breath was being pulled out of her, yet what was left in her lungs was not so much void as it was satisfaction. The room was deathly silent, nothing but the sound of the violin, and the subtle pitter patter of… what was that? It was the piano. Then Bella remembered that she was supposed to be singing.

She suddenly spun around to face the audience and managed to get out a few, strangled notes, before the song ended; but it was clearly a defeat for her. She walked back to her seat in almost total dejection… If she didn't make it into the show then how would she ever make any friends?

I honestly can't tell you how long she sat there, but it was defiantly longer than the auditions were meant to have lasted; long enough for Alice to walk up to her and say, "Are you alright Bella? I'm just about to close up shop.'

"Yeah… sorry, I was thinking about my audition."

"It wasn't that bad Bella." It was. "You probably just got nervous."

"I guess… that's never happened to me before. Usually when I'm singing… Oh well, it doesn't matter."

"It'll be ok, Bella." Alice smiled and patted her on the back. "Just wait and see." Bella smiled up at her. "Now we need to get out of here before I get in trouble."

The two women began to leave the theatre. "Oh, Alice… who was the boy playing the violin?"

"Him? That was my brother, Edward. He helps me out with the music from time to time."

"Oh, ok… I was just wondering." Bella walked out of the theatre with her head held high; she didn't know why, but somehow she felt that everything would be alright in the morning.