Well, I started this chapter in the summer, and now it's November. Whoops. So, anyway, here's the next chapter where I reveal who got which role. Also, there's some awkward dancing.
Chapter Two – The Casting
Pete and Firkle were grumbling angrily as they joined their classmates up on the stage. Apparently Hennrietta not actually auditioning and calling them "suckers" did not sit well with the two of them. Pete kept casting angry glares at where Hennrietta had left as Mr. Adler walked up onto the stage as well, as if he believed that if he just kept glaring hard enough then she would feel guilty and come back.
Mr. Adler barked at them all to line up before him, and he walked down the line of students, scrutinizing everything about them. Finally, he stopped in the middle of the stage and turned towards the students. Mr. Mackey stayed where he was in the auditorium.
"All right, there's only going to be one real dance scene, so you all need to learn how to ballroom dance," Mr. Adler stated. Some of the teenagers let out annoyed groans. "So, you better not screw around when learning this! You all screw around too much!"
He then barked at them to all pair up with someone, and everyone began scrambling to find a partner that wasn't the same gender as themselves, or could actually look in the eye. Stan found himself face-to-face with Wendy, for which he was grateful. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kyle looked slightly annoyed as Heidi stepped in front of him, and when he turned his head, he could see Cartman glaring at the Jewish boy as if it was his fault that Heidi chose to dance with him. Stan also noticed with annoyance that a couple girls were fighting over Clyde, who ignored them and partnered with Craig.
Mr. Adler looked at all of them with slight disapproval before beginning to coach them on how not to trip over their own feet while dancing. Stan tried not to look too nervous as he turned towards Wendy and put his hands around her waist. Mr. Adler showed them the exact steps, ordered them to do the same, and watched as almost all of them immediately ran into each other and fell to the ground.
"You call that dancing?" he sighed. "You're all screwing around too much!"
Looking around, Stan realized he was one of the very few who hadn't tripped over someone. Craig was laying on his back, looking annoyed with Clyde awkwardly on top of him. Pete was rolling his eyes, standing over Firkle who was complaining that he had broken his leg. Butters had fallen into the orchestra pit, and there was a pile up of kids in one corner of the stage. Kyle and Heidi were the only other couple still both on their feet.
Mr. Adler kept having them all try the dance over and over until they could at least do a few steps without tripping over themselves. By the time Mr. Mackey stepped back up on stage, they were all tired and sore and grumbling. The counselor gave a sigh.
"Mm-Kay everybody, that was great," he said. "Now go home and get some rest, mm-kay? The cast list should be posted by Monday."
Stan looked around for Kyle and saw him already coming towards him with Kenny close behind him. They were both grumbling and Kenny was rubbing a sore spot on his leg where Annie Knitts had accidentally kicked him.
"I still can't believe you talked us into doing the musical," Kenny grumbled yet again when they had reached Stan's side. Stan rolled his eyes.
"And I still keep telling you that you didn't have to audition," he pointed out.
"With the way you were begging us, we really didn't have any choice," Kyle replied. Stan glared at him but didn't say anything to defend himself. "Well, hopefully with any luck we'll only get bit parts and won't have to worry about doing too much work."
"I know Wendy's really hoping I get the lead," Stan sighed. "But I don't know if I could handle the pressure or all of those eyes staring at me."
"Good god, you're turning into Tweek," Kenny laughed.
The weekend passed uneventfully, only with the usual South Park stuff. A wormhole had opened up and dinosaurs ran rampant all weekend until an alternate dimension Randy came through and blasted all of the dinosaurs and saved the town. So, you know, nothing exciting.
The only thing that was on the teens' minds when they returned on Monday was who would be playing which part in the musical. Mr. Mackey had said that he would be posting his casting choice on the doors of the auditorium. It was an unfortunately small piece of paper with already a huge crowd of people gathered around it.
Stan and his friends couldn't even sort of see the list from where they stood from the back of the crowd. People were constantly either sighing with relief or letting out groans of disappointment before walking away. Stan was feeling quite nervous himself. He didn't want a big part, but he also didn't want to disappoint Wendy. He just hoped his part was small enough so that he wouldn't have to do much work, but big enough to please Wendy.
"Which part are you guys hoping for?" Stan asked his friends, trying to make conversation while they waited to see what parts they got. Kyle shrugged.
"I'm fine with anything, I guess," he replied. "As long as Cartman doesn't boss me around too much I think I'll be good."
"I hope I get the ensemble," Kenny said simply. Stan rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"I'm just hoping I'll get a small role, but big enough that Wendy won't complain or anything," Stan told them. "She's been going on and on about how she wants us to be the leads together, but I don't think I could handle it."
"Well, we're about to find out," Kyle pointed out. Indeed, most of the people had dispersed by now, and the three of them found themselves standing next to the goths, who were also looking over the list. Pete was glaring at the list and letting out a cry of outrage as Stan and his friends approached them.
"What's the matter?" Stan asked, looking at him with surprise. "You didn't get into the musical?"
"No, worse!" Pete growled, his lips drawn back into a snarl and pointing at the list. "I actually got a part!" Stan looked to where he was pointing and saw that Pete had gotten a part as one of the six bounders, in the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Firkle was also looking quite annoyed, though not nearly as pissed off as Pete, and it was possibly because he had only gotten into the ensemble. Henrietta was standing next to her two friends, trying to look sympathetic, but also looking smug at the same time.
"Ok, who wants to go first?" Stan asked as the goths sulked off.
"It was your idea," Kyle pointed out. "You go first." Stan glared at him, but didn't respond as he looked over the list. He let out a groan a moment later.
"I got the main lead," he groaned. "The Scarlet Pimpernel himself, Percy." Kenny patted him on the shoulder.
"Congrats, dude!" he said in an overly cheerful voice. Stan snarled at him, but he ignored it as he tried to find his own name. His face suddenly changed into that of shock.
"I got the Prince of Wales?" he questioned. "You see what happens when you make us do shit like this, Stan? We get stuck with speaking roles and everything!"
"I've told you before, you didn't have to audition," Stan growled.
"I got Armand St. Just," Kyle announced before the argument could escalate. "He's the brother of the main female lead who's also in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel. His capture is what gets the two leads to work together and lead to the climax of the play."
"How do you know that?" Kenny asked, looking at him in surprise. Kyle rolled his eyes.
"Because I actually read the synopsis of the musical before auditioning for it," he said.
Stan turned and looked over the list again. It looked like Craig, Butters, Jason, Dougie and Scott were also going to part of the Scarlet Pimpernel league. He saw that Bradley and DogPoo were going to be the villain's minions. And just who was the villain, anyway?
"Are you going to stare at your name all day?" Kenny asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts. "It's not going to change no matter how long you stare at it, you know."
"I'm reading over the rest of the cast list," Stan growled, glaring at him. "Unlike you guys, I'm actually interested in who's going to be in all of the roles." He went back to the list.
Chauvelin will be played by Clyde Donovan. For some reason, Stan didn't like that. His songs were powerful songs, and Stan didn't enjoy the idea of acting opposite of Clyde. He didn't know why. Maybe it had been his performance the day before, or his nonchalant attitude towards the entire thing.
Then he noticed something else that took his mind away from Clyde, and he went pale.
"Uh oh," he muttered. His two friends looked at him in confusion. He pointed. "Wendy didn't get the lead this year," he told them. "She only got a side role!"
"Really?" Kyle asked, looking at him in surprise. "Then who did get the main female lead?" Stan paused before answering.
"Heidi," he answered in a soft voice. Kyle stared.
"Wendy is not going to like that," he stated.
I'm going to end this chapter right here, because I really wanted to get another chapter out now. Plus, I didn't have a lot to do in this chapter. It took me a while to finish it because I have A LOT on my plate right now. Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner. We'll see Wendy's reaction to one of her closest friends getting the lead role instead of her, and we'll also hopefully see their disastrous first rehearsal. Don't ask me why I decided I made Stan jealous of Clyde. I just did.