Disclaimer: I don't own.
Also, who can see Cat directing a play?"
:}
"STOP!" Cat's voice had rung out, echoing down the halls of HA. That one sound sent Tori and the guys running, Beck and Robbie a few steps behind her. Only, Tori had run cross country, not the fastest, but liked the athletic endeavor. It had been her best chance at competing with Trina, from before she'd joined Hollywood Arts where her natural talent allowed her to shine brighter then her ultra athletic big sister. Now, it gave her speed over her friends.
Bursting into the Western Rehearsal hall, she found Jade sitting on a chair, watching as Cat skipped around on stage in front of a small gathering of students. "Cat…?"
"She's just showing new girl there the right way to, get this, skip." Jade let out. The pale girl was somewhere between amused and frustrated.
"Are you sure you don't wanna do this part?" Cat asked the goth, pausing her skipping to ask the question. "I know you can skip right." Her weak glare shifted to said girl. "Angie, you need to exude that you're carefree from every step, every skip. You can't just jump around on stage. No, people, lets be serious. I can't be the only one in Happy Glades who's feeling chizzing happy."
"Wait, did Cat just…?" Beck asked as he found himself looking at the same stage the others were.
"Yep." Jade said. "Cat's discovering the wonderful world of directing. Her first play that wasn't a one woman affair."
"And her first was?" Tori asked, only to be met by a shiver that ran down both Beck and Robbie's back. Andre, upon realizing who was in there, had slipped out, not wanting to be drawn into a problem that had so many people already there who could deal with it.
"Babraham Lincoln." Beck got out.
"Asking what would it have looked like if Abraham Lincoln was a hot girl." Robbie added.
"The school had her put it on off campus, in this community center." Jade explained. "It was, lets just say bad. Only, she had total control over the characters, cause it was a one woman play. This time, she has a cast, and…" Blue eyes watched the stage in the same way she'd watch an accident, unable to turn away from the coming calamity.
Cat, meanwhile, was working hard to get her cast to understand the total carefree attitude of her background location for her play. "And Angie, you're the fudging hero, so act heroic. Like, larger than life, only humble. Make the audience believe you're more without actually doing anything, EXCEPT skipping right."
"I figure she'll explode in a few more rehearsals." Jade let out.
"Not if I got a better lead actress." Cat sniped, her head whipped around to talk to her peanut gallery.
"You're playing the lead." Beck breathed out.
"And I know I'm amazing." Cat shot back. "But I'm not the best for this roll. I CAN do everything I need my cast to do, and I fully expect them to do their parts. Only Jade, she's a legendary type figure, the kind ancient heroes would need the help from the gods to get past. But while she can sorta, kinda hide her naked evil, she can't hide her legendary type status. Makes playing the lead easier, and I could be the one skipping through the set to show off how chizzing happy I am about living here in Happy Glades, which I wanted to call Happy Hollow, except there's this fudging petting zoo with that name up near Frisco."
"Happy Glades was a grave yard in an old episode of 'The Twilight Zone.'" Robbie said, holding up his phone. "But that doesn't much matter, does it?"
"What matters is I have to teach my cast how to be carefree, and I don't have time for them to master HaKuna Matata." Cat grumped. "Jade, you're here to help, right?"
"Just watching my closest female friend go crazy trying to herd cats." Jade said, smirking.
"I know people named Cat aren't any harder to heard than anything else." Cat argued. "Now, kitties, they can be tough, and thats what that saying means, isn't it?"
"Maybe we can help?" Tori offered, only to see the door still swinging where Beck and Robbie had made their escape. "Jam it…"
"She has her cast." Jade cut in. "Cat, you got this. The story may be dumb, and cause cavities in lab rats, but you have your story. So stop swearing, cause that won't help you."
"But you swear." The petite girl noted. "You use language that would make a teamster blush. I know, cause she once did."
"But you're not me." Jade argued. "You're you, and you're nauseatingly sweet. So, don't get mad just because they don't have the gravitas to pull off the exact image you have in your head. Just inspire them to work harder, help them find good enough, and that should be, um, good enough."
"Okay, everyone, back to one." Tori called out, but no one moved.
"Vega, I know it's in your annoying nature to just take over whatever, but the cast, they know who's been put in charge." Jade told the Latina. "They know to line up, as soon as Cat calls for it, Right?" Her gaze slipped across the stage, and a half dozen actors rushed to their places in line.
"See, I need that for my play to have the right impact." Cat told Tori. "Plus, I kinda need to know what Gravity has to do with anything."
"Gravitas basically means that your statements carry emotional weight." Jade told her. "It's how one comes across, right Vega?"
"Sure, yea…" Tori was lost, having heard that term before, but never defined it.
"But Cat, this is YOUR play, and your chance to show the faculty that you can handle the big girl job of running your own play. Directing isn't just what Beck made it look like, telling people what to do and having them bring you drinks."
"True that." Tori agreed. "What? You think my one directing gig didn't help me see the trials of running a show? I had Trina as one of my main leads."
"And she's not here to kidnap one of my stuffies and make me put her in the lead, or I would have." Cat sniped. "Honestly, at least, with her, I could have made it into a comedy, had her funniness carry the play. Just had to convince her it was a very serious play."
/
"Never thought I'd hear anyone missing having Trina in a play." Jade let slip.
"Wait, how would her bad acting help this play?" Tori asked. "I had to change all her lines into gibberish."
"Simple." Cat sighed. "Okay, everyone, take five while I explain this to Tori. Apparently, she's a touch slow when it comes to comedy, or her sister, or the way she keeps trying to look down Jade's blouse. God, Tori, Jade's taken. Even when she's single, she's taken, cause she's Beck's… Okay, had to get that off my chest."
"Ulp…" Tori wasn't even aware her angle, while standing, had allowed her to look down the pale girls front. Of course, as was the usual, Jade's outfit was far from revealing. Still, to have been called out on something that, once she thought about it, was fairly obvious, was shocking to the Latina.
"You do realize, she had no idea, right?" Jade asked. "And I mean about all of that. About how a good director can look for the best actors, but also adjust to make use of the talents of the actors she has. Trina may well be talentless, but to manipulate her, use her natural attitudes to your benefit, would have indeed made this a comedy." Blue eyes now locked on the stage. "Which would have made it more entertaining, but make less sense. Honestly, Cat, the biggest problem in your work is that you're trying to build a world meant for preschoolers. At least Babraham Lincoln had some sex appeal."
"And this one doesn't?" Cat shot back. Only, her face soured. "Okay, it doesn't. I like plays like this, where it's okay for small children to watch, and the bad guy isn't so bad. Just someone who wants something they shouldn't, but isn't trying to, I don't know, eat the main characters. What was the Smurfs writers damage?"
"Not the movie, which at least made Gargamel's motives make sense, but the original animation, where he wanted to eat the blue bastards." Jade explained.
"Oh, right…" Tori nodded, happy to have something other than Jade's generous endowment to think about.
"So, anyways, Cat here, or lets be honest, any good director, can get something out of Trina." Jade continued. "Just, that play you were trying, I think, maybe, it was a touch too far out, and Trina wanting the lead didn't help it any. Gave you an excuse for why it failed, but failed to help you see the best way to use your sister, or Robbie for that mater."
"And we're getting off topic." Cat jumped in. "Point is, I need larger than life. Tori, maybe you could have done it, maybe, except you're, I don't know. You're a good singer, and do have the stage presence, but for this part, I'd need someone who could be the whole chizzing play. Trina, cause she's good at demanding all the attention, or Jade, or maybe Robbie, if I could stop him from insisting on playing the lead in drag. Not that hard to change the leads gender."
"Wait, why not Beck?" Tori asked.
"And she wonders why Rob gets leads." Jade drolled.
"She's being distracted by the way your bosoms push out that top." Cat said. "So stop that, and help. If your not gonna play the lead, then… I don't know. Go teach my lead how to be happy, cause lord knows no one fakes it as well as you do. Just, go, help."
Jade almost protested, but then realized Tori as still watching her. Standing, Jade walked off towards where the actors were hanging out, as this was a rehearsal space, and lacked a back stage. Everything had been said in front of the cast.
"And Tori, I do appreciate that you wanted to help." Cat's voice was all sweetness now. The petite director moved towards her, smiling a sweet, devious smile. "Just, stop undressing Jade with your eyes, and not in a good, what would she look like in pink way. Thats natural and I do that all the time. No, you're doing it in a dirty, wanting to do adult type things with her way. I don't like it, and while I get why, not happening. Nope, you don't romance Jade, cause I need my Bade, got it?!" Her voice turned harsh towards the end.
"Sorry, what now?" Tori took a step back. Cat was the sweetest person she knew, and the Latina almost never saw her this angry. "I wasn't…"
"Not intentionally, but Jade is right, things do kinda work out in your best interests." Cat said, her venom gone, for now. "Only, while even I can see how hooking up with Jade, who won't admit how, um, close you two have gotten, even as she usually does what you ask her to, and I do see how that would only help both your careers. But Jade is with Beck, and that's how it has to stay. At least, until I get used to the idea… No, never gonna happen. So, hands off those curves, but stick around, cause you being here means I can maybe get Jade's help in training my cast, cause lord knows she's good at that. Part of being so naturaly evil, I guess…"
'Now I know why the guys just booked it.' Tori though, even as she tried to find some way, some excuse, to leave. 'It feels like Cat wants me to vamp Jade out, use my appeal to get her to help, but not do anything. NOT that I was planning to. No, not like that. Tori's not gay. Just, god, gay much, Tor? You do stare, and take in so much. Jade IS pretty. Really pretty. Second best looking of my friends, AFTER Beck. But there's more to this than looks. Beck is a pretty picture, fun to look at, but not the kind I could live with. He… he just needs the drama too much. Jade, she's… Captivating. Cat's right, Jade is captivating, and I could so… Okay, those are dirty thoughts. Lets keep it clean, cause I need….' Tori was out of that room, heading to anywhere to clear her mind before she realized something she wasn't ready for.
"You have got to tell me how you did that." Jade said to Cat, enjoying the speed of Tori's retreat.
"Maybe, if you help my lead figure out how to be part way as epic as you are." Cat said. 'You're gonna take her V card, which I'm told is something sexual, aren't you?' Cat thought at her friend. 'But at least my play will be a success. Too bad I'm losing my emotional safety net. I need the gang to stay together, so I need you and Beck to be end game, at least until high school is over. THEN, if you must, you and Tori can make lesbian babies...'
:}
First, can't get my Jori out of my mind. With that said, thoughts about cat as a director?