April 17th 2023

Chapter 107
We Color In Tune

If Maya had any misgivings about what she'd chosen to do in response to Principal Davenport shutting down the theater class and dismissing Miranda, she could simply remind herself that while she did have new motives all of a sudden, she would have done the same thing if they'd still had their old administration. She might not have done it this year, might have waited until next year, or the one after that, who was to say? But now… Now, the need had been there for her to make a statement, and so she did. They couldn't miss it.

There were some perks to having been made the cheer coach not entirely by her decision. One of those was that, should she need the means to address a large crowd comprised of students, their families, and other local enthusiasts of their school and its students, she would have it at any and all of their basketball games. And then, if she needed a valid reason to be out there, not in the stands but on the sidelines, she had her squad. They would go out there, showing the work that they'd already started to do in the short time since they'd come together, the returning and the newly selected, and they would have the crowd's attention and their support.

So, if she went up there after they'd done their routine, as she'd done at the last game, and she addressed everyone, not only would they hear her, but they would listen to her. They did listen. They listened to her announce that, in the spring, they would be premiering this year's school musical. It would be the first time that this production had been put together in any school around the country and beyond. When she'd said this, she was sure, Sandra Davenport had already started to piece together what she was aiming to do, and if she had any inclinations toward stopping her, she was either too slow – unlikely – or she'd been put up against the fact that others in the gym saw where she was going, and the buzz rose with them. It wouldn't just be the first time in any school: it would be the first time anywhere other than back in New York. This year, they would be presenting her musical, the Tony-winning musical she had composed with her brother and sister.

She'd let the genie out of the bottle, and unlike with the principal's suggestions of a ticket auction, this one wasn't going back in. Everyone was so happy about this news that, going back on it would not be a wise move, right up to the top of the school, and they just couldn't have that, could they?

The last few days had been very quiet where their principal was concerned, which was just how Maya preferred it, especially as they looked toward the auditions. They'd revealed the dates right there at the game, as they'd also revealed that the sign-up sheets were already up. By the time they'd left the school after the game, the first one was already full. By the morning when they started the auditions – started, because they'd had to add another couple of dates – they'd had to add extra sheets to accommodate how many students from all four classes wanted to give it a shot. They'd resorted to filling in empty spaces on the sheets when the lines had been full, and when they'd run out of that, others had resorted to pinning bits of their own paper with their names scribbled on.

Maya and Morgan had been doing their best to chronicle the entire process, from the announcement on the basketball court through to auditions. It was in part for themselves, in part for Sam and Cara, but maybe most of all for their missing muse. They could very well imagine Miranda watching it all, thinking about how this would sit with their principal. They hoped it made her smile.

The friends, colleagues, and bandmates certainly had a great week together. Maya's favorite part from Morgan's recording of the announcement was easily getting to hear the music teacher hollering along with the audience, cackling to herself as she thought about their rebuttal. It had felt good for both of them, and finally getting to start the auditions had felt even better.

They had known to expect some duds, and they definitely got those, but even if some of the kids who tried out could not hold a tune to save their lives, Maya and Morgan both applauded their motivation and thanked them for participating. Most of them went away with a proud smile, and if any of them went away disappointed, they were comforted on their way out by the applause of fellow auditionees. It was really far better than the two teachers could have hoped, and the same went for their honorary muse, a musical legend of their own school. Lea Sullivan-Reyes could not have come along at a better time, and oh, was she ever happy to be along for the ride.

Setting aside the duds, they had the returners, those who were aiming to be cast in their second, third, or fourth musical in their high school career. Among those coming in to earn their full run, they had the likes of Angel Ríos and Luke Bailey-Ryan. And even though she hadn't technically been with them in her freshman year, seeing as she had been of her previous school's musical that year, they gave Meadow Bailey-Ryan the same accolade.

One year down, Maya had to give it to her baby brother. Matthew Jonathan Hunter had not only understood the assignment, he'd rewritten the directives. The guy knew how to stand out, but that day, oh, he'd walked very close to the edge of getting himself suspended in order to give just the kind of performance they would never forget, especially not Sandra Davenport up in her lair… office… He only had one sister left in the audience now that the twins had graduated, but when they had seen the video later on, Nellie and Gracie had both reacted just as their big sister and former teacher had done, cheering on their Star Boy in all his majestic stage presence.

Another jump down brought them to the sophomores, and they may not have given it nearly as much as MJ Hunter did, but after he'd gone, it did feel like the ones that followed felt they had no choice but to up their game. Kip Perreault certainly surprised more than one of them, as did Agnes Killian. Maya had been hearing bits and pieces of the previous year's quiz team freshmen's audition songs all week, whenever she'd show up to her classroom in the morning, and she'd loved especially how the two of them and their respective teammates had been so eager to help the auditionees to perfect their acts. That was what it had been all week, far more than just excitement for this particular musical: it had been bringing the school together in ways so unexpected to either Maya or Morgan, which made the entire thing even better.

The drive of the musical definitely brought out a wonderful display out of Freddie Jacek. Oh, he'd been really good in his freshman outing, he had, and the experience had been great for him from start to end. But to see him step up for his audition that year, he was a whole new version of himself, true to the Freddie they knew but also as open as they'd ever seen him be. He'd held them all captivated, made more than one of them shed a tear, and when his song was over, he was given one of the greater ovations of the audition sessions.

As much as the returners put into their auditions that year, they really couldn't pass over the newbies, those who were far from duds. Most of those ended up being freshmen, which was as they had expected, even as their offering of who would and wouldn't show up definitely had some surprises.

Amy Dixon wasn't exactly a surprise. She'd been very near to where Maya stood when she'd made the announcement, so her teacher and neighbor had seen the instant glimmer in her eyes, telling her she would be all over this audition, and indeed she was. She'd been drawing eyes already since the start of the school year, and this was yet one more occasion for her to stand out among her classmates.

Seeing both the Maxes come up on the list and the stage was as much a surprise as it was the opposite of a surprise. How surprising could it be that the two of them, intent as they always were to share new experiences together, would decide to check off another one of those by auditioning for the school musical? When it came to whether or not they'd have the skills to rank them among the duds or set them up on the way to a four-for-four badge, it all came down to their performances.

They both did very well for themselves. With Max Farrell, there was some notion that, being Kelsey's brother, his potential was right there, waiting to be confirmed or denied. His singing voice was maybe not on the same level as his older sister, but there was a recognizable quality, to someone with an ear as honed as Maya's, or Morgan's, or Lea's, that was shared between the Farrell siblings. And then on Max McAllister's side, with no expectations ahead of her whatsoever, she put in a very respectable performance. She might require some training up, but already Maya and the others felt that the girl's potential was absolutely one they should try and develop with her.

In the last couple of years, the muses had started the practice of 'last minute chances.' In the last hours of auditions, they would open the stage to anyone who had maybe missed the sign-in window or lacked some of the nerve to put their name down. If they still wanted in, and if they could work up that missing nerve, they'd still have a shot. It had always been a worthy practice, and this year was no exception, especially with the very last person who came walking on to the stage on the last day. If they couldn't see who it was with their own eyes, they might not have believed it.

After vowing that they'd never want to actually be part of the musical over the past few years, only going so far as to coach up to now, Ash Bell was standing under the spotlight, and the entire auditorium was silent, watching them come to a stop before the microphone. They hadn't told many people. As would later be shared, only Maia and MJ had known, and not because Ash had set out to tell them. They had first set out to keep this completely private, which would go a long way to keep them from feeling bad if they chickened out in the end. Would their girlfriend and best friend have forced them or made them feel any kind of failure if they had chosen not to go up there after all? Not even a little bit, and Ash knew that. When they did go up, after the stunned silence that had kicked things off, sound had been returned thanks to their cheering section of two shouting and telling them to knock everyone dead with their voice.

It had been years since Maya had watched them up on a stage, giving everything that they had as they had done back in the days of Stage Ready, and to see it all coming from them all over again, it felt as though they had not missed a single beat in all that time. They had not gone up there last of all in order to stand out but that was definitely what they ended up doing.

"That's my friend! They did that!" MJ hollered while Maia whooped and whooped for her enbyfriend, and it was the biggest they'd all seen Ash Bell smile in their years at the school.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners