Young Writers Society

Trace~

I picked a chair, sat down, and pulled out my script. I had gone through the pages the night before and had highlighted my lines. From what I gathered, I was Finch's younger, jealous brother who wanted to be the heir to my father's estate. And I had a couple romance scenes with Lola's friend, Mantha. I wasn't particularly fond of that, but oh well I'd done it before and I'll do it again. I sighed and decided to get it over and done with. "Who plays Mantha?" I asked the question so that all could hear.

The girl who had helped with Stitch looked up, "I do." Me and Stitch walked over.

"Trace," I said sticking out my hand, "I play--"

"Yea, I know, you just told me, remember?"

"Oh yeah," I said laughing. Cat didn't seem to thrilled. "Oh, come on, I can't be that bad, can I?" I shrugged instantly.

Cat

"Oh, come on, I can't be that bad, can I?"

I started spluttering immediately. "No-I meant- not that you're particularly- I just-" I sighed. "Chiz."

"No joke."

I grimaced at my less-than-stellar recovery and ran a hand through my hair. He'd been on Broadway before, he'd be fine. Me? Most I'd ever been so far was an end of Act One, where the lights cut off, leaving me and the male lead with our noses practically touching.

This was going to suck.

I muttered a few lines under my breath, trying to memorize them, while Trace did the same. I wanted to strangle whoever wrote this script. The lines were so dang TRICKY!

And the actions? Let's not go there, kay? I was still trying to get over the fact that I was going to be involved with Trace.

Not that bad?

You try being a teenage girl.

Trace~

She looked nervous, I couldn't blame her, I wasn't to thrilled about romance scenes either. "Hey, I was just messin' with you, it'll be easy. Just relax." She didn't seem convinced. I tried again. "To tell the truth, that's one of the reasons I bring Stitch with me, she helps me feel at home." She looked at the dog at my feet. "And, no, you can't barrow her." She laughed at that. Good, I was making progress. I had learned that the best way to do these things were to get close and become friends with your cast mates. It makes getting along easier, which is helpful when you have to work together for days on end.

Sammy

I sat silently, pretending to memorize my lines. I listened carefully to Cat's conversation with Trace, and I found out why she was frustrated. As I looked through the lines, I noticed that Mantha and Finch's little brother had a little bit of a romance. I couldn't help but giggle a little, but I put my hand over my mouth, trying not to be heard. I knew Cat was glaring at me, though.

Trace finally walked away, and we continued with our scripts.

"So, you excited about kissing Trace?" I asked her teasingly. I wasn't much too talk and tease, but I felt like I already knew her. She hit me, but there was a smile on her face.

"Shut up," she said, "and no, I'm not." I laughed.

"Whatever you say." I said. She hit me again. We went silent while we looked at our lines again.

Cat

I was practically scarlet. I hit Sammy and glared at my script.

Mantha: (claps hand to mouth and runs offstage)

Well, that wasn't so hard.

Mantha: I thought... I thought...
Kevin: What did you think? That you were special, different?
Mantha: I don't know, but I was wrong. You're just a spoiled jerk, Kevin. (walks away, silently crying)

Been there.

Mantha: Lola, it's time for you to forget this life. You belong with Finch; anyone can see that. Just let go, Lola. Let go.

I found myself blinking back tears. Where had that come from?

This play was making me weird.

Lilly

After I had settled myself, I looked again at my lines. There was one part where I, as Lola, was talking to herself about Finch. Let's just say it was really long, and really hard to learn. And Finch is listening the whole time to her, which just complicates things. I sat down, and rested my head against one of my hands.

I suddenly realized it would just be easier to do this section of the scene with whoever played Finch. Not really having a better plan, I stood up on the chair and yelled, "Who plays Finch?"

A boy towards the back raised his hand. I motioned for him to come over to where I was. He shrugged and walked over.

"Look, I'm having a really hard time with this part of the script and Finch is in this part and I think I could learn it better if I practiced it with the person who is playing Finch and I wanted, I mean, I was just wondering if..."

"I'll practice with you," He cut me off with a little smile.

"Okay, thanks!" I smiled my biggest smile, and then sat down. I looked at the first highlighted part, my monologue, where I talked to myself. "Page twenty two, line six," I told the boy sitting next to me.

Lola: I can't be sure. I mean, he's conceited, and he doesn't love me. He couldn't. It's not even possible. He's a heir, and I'm...not. It doesn't even make sense for us to be together. It's not right. But his eyes, the way he looks at me. No, I can't. I can't fall in love. But he's so sweet, and so gentle. And how kind he is, it makes me feel like I could fly. But I'm a nobody compared to him. He doesn't love me. He couldn't.

Finch: (entering room) You doubt yourself to much

Lola: Oh, Finch, your here! I had no idea. I wasn't.... (runs offstage)

Finch: Lola, wait!

Kevin Michaels~

Kevin sighed as he walked into the building, slipping his sunglasses off his head and taking the black beanie from his curly mass of hair. Nobody had noticed him, yet. Smirking, Kevin walked up to the director, script in hand. "You're late," the tall man sighed, Kevin chuckling deeply as he sat on the table.

"I'm aware. I had to take Emmalie to her dance recital. Forgive me," Kevin snorted sarcastically. The director nodded, saying something about the show Emmalie was in a couple of months ago. Kevin laughed at the memory of his little half-sister stopping the show because she had to go to the bathroom. "I can't blame her, she's only five." He chuckled. "Audrey still refuses to go to any singing lessons. She says she'd rather paint. It's what she wants to do. Father always said that we should follow our hearts, and that's what she's doing." The director began to ask about Kevin's step-mother, and his dad, but Kevin turned his gaze to a curly-haired, ditzy looking blonde who suddenly stood on top of a chair.

Apparently, she was the one who'd gone completely bonkers over Tyler Banks.

Ugh. Tyler Banks. How Kevin loathed that name. And to think, he was the one to play Finch's best friend.

"Who plays Finch?" The blonde yelled, Kevin boredly raising his hand in the air. She motioned for him to come to her, and he did just that.

You know, the closer I get, the more beautiful she really is, and the less ditzy she seems.

Kevin chuckled at the thought. They exchanged a few words, and began to practice, Kevin locked on her eyes as they practiced, amazed at her talent.

Lola: I can't be sure. I mean, he's conceited, and he doesn't love me. He couldn't. It's not even possible. He's a heir, and I'm...not. It doesn't even make sense for us to be together. It's not right. But his eyes, the way he looks at me. No, I can't. I can't fall in love. But he's so sweet, and so gentle. And how kind he is, it makes me feel like I could fly. But I'm a nobody compared to him. He doesn't love me. He couldn't.

Finch: (entering room) You doubt yourself to much

Lola: Oh, Finch, your here! I had no idea. I wasn't.... (runs offstage)

Finch: Lola, wait! (chases after her and grabs her wrist gently, his eyes showing love)

Lola: (spins around, eyes wide) F-Finch!

Finch: (smiles and pulls Lola to him, holding onto her tightly)

The were now out of their seats, acting the scene out in its fullness.

Lola: Finch, we can't! (looks around the room worridly) What if someone catches us?

Finch: (reassuringly) Then we'll run away before they can blink. We'll run away together! I'll take you away, somewhere where nobody can get to us. Not our families, nobody! What do you say Lo?

Kevin felt electric currents throughout his body as he gazed down at Lilly, who was just staring up at him, as if her mind had suddenly went blank of the next line.

Sammy

I watched Lilly and the guy that played Finch, Kevin I think his name was, as the acted out a scene from the play. It was kind of funny, the way they looked at each other. They were both really good actors, and I couldn't tell if they were just acting, or if they really liked each other.

I ignored them both and tried to focus on my lines, but everyone else was acting theirs' out with the people involved. It was really loud in the theater, and hard to concentrate.

My part was interesting. Lola, Mantha, and my character, Catherine, hung out a lot. Sometimes, though, there would be parts where it was just Lola and Finch, or Mantha and Trace. From what I'd read of the script, Catherine didn't have any romance. I hadn't gone all the way through it, though. I was a little hopeful, but I didn't want to get stuck kissing someone I didn't want to.

Cat

I cracked my knuckles and rolled my head around. I closed the script and my eyes, then promptly recited the line I had been struggling with- Lola, you're being an idiot. You have to confess what's built up inside, before it's too late! He's going to leave, you're going to get depressed, and I'll have no idea what to do!

I opened one eye and checked the line, then raised my fists in victory. "HA! Take that, complicated line!" I said, jabbing the script with one finger. Trace raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Good job, Cat," he said, trying not to laugh. I weakly hit his shoulder and rolled my eyes.

"How was my Mantha voice?"

"Pretty good. Explain how you do it again?"

"First of all, it's a little higher than I usually talk, and I have to add a sort of edge. I honestly.... it's just there, really. I don't really think about how I'm doing it."

Trace sort of just looked at me. I raised my hands defensively.

I mean, psh, it wasn't like I cared what he thought of my technique, right?

Right?!

Sammy

I giggled at Cat. She looked really...confused. I couldn't tell if she liked Trace, or if she wanted to rip his head off. It was quite amusing. She just glared at me, but I raised my eyebrows and laughed again.

At least she was having some kind of fun with her script. My part was boring. I was one of Lola's friend, but Mantha had a more important part. I just skimmed through my lines, a little disappointed that I didn't have much to say. I was glad to be here, nevertheless.

James

I looked through my lines, as so many others were doing. I had an okay part. Finch and my character, Sam, were pretty close, so I talked to him a lot.

Tyler Bank's character was also around my character a lot. I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing, but I figured it was most likely bad. People would notice him more than me, for sure. I still thought it would be best to get to know him, so I walked over to him.

"Hey," I said, "I'm James." I put my hand out, and he shook it. At least he wasn't extremely rude.

"Tyler." he said. I nodded.

"I know. Everyone seems to know who you are." He just laughed. We sat down and went over some lines, but we mostly just talked about ourselves and got to know each other. That was good for me. I wasn't the best at getting to know people, but this was going better than I had thought.

Trace~

I had to admit I was kinda disappointed with my part, but I suppose the judges knew best. I can just imagine what their conversation was like. So lets discuss Trace Young one would say. Ah, yes that kid the other would answer an excellent dancer, and his acting was impressive, but I don't think his singing was quite up to where it needs to be, to be able to play the part of Finch. I had always struggled with singing, and so I got Kevin. I sighed, "Great, I get to play a bratty kid," I mumbled.

Cat smiled. "That shouldn't be to hard for you to play," she teased. I pushed her shoulder.

"Attention everybody!" A lady that seemed to be in charge, yelled. We all stopped practicing and turned toward her. "Now that everyone is here, I'd like to begin. First, I'd like to welcome you all to the Wilson theater. Now, lets get to business. I want to see Catarina , Kevin, Tyler, Sammy, James, Lilly, Trace and Maddy to come down to Room B so that we can start learning the choreograph to the song "Money." "

We all started making our way towards the room. "I don't like that lady." I whispered to Cat, "She's so stiff and serious."

"Isn't that the same woman that tried to get rid of your dog?" She asked. I nodded. "Well you're going to be seeing a lot of her because she's the director." I glared at the woman. Cat shrugged, "Tough luck."

Cat

Catarina? No one called me Catarina anymore! I hmphed and kicked a scrap of paper. I agreed with Trace- the director was too stiff. The play was loose, about trusting in yourself and having faith and taking risks.

Somehow I got the feeling the director didn't know or do that.

I was excited though- choreography! YES! I would be able to actually dance. Granted, I was positive it wouldn't be like improvised contemporary in the studio, but still. It was something. Trace looked excited too- I knew he was a dancer. Which was good; I wouldn't be able to relate to anyone fully if they didn't dance. I mean, my sister was an exception, but other than her, no one could fully understand me unless they danced.

And Trace danced.

I was pleased to see that the director wouldn't be our choreographer- a young man clad in gray would. I smiled and pulled my hair back.

Maybe this wasn't as bad as I thought.

Lilly

Me, being the ditsy bubble head that I can be, looked into Kevin's eyes and forgot the next line. And, to top off my genius, I was ignoring the fact I had a script right in front of me. And did I care?......no. Because I was content making an idiot out of myself.

"Lilly?" he asked after a minute.

"Oh, sorry," I blushed at my stupidity, then looked down at my lines. After I answered finches question, they both broke out into song. this was such a typical Broadway show. Knowing I had nothing to loose, I began to sing my part:

It happened upon a midnight star
A blue moon in my life
I never guessed it could be me
But yet here we stand

I noticed people were staring, staring at me. The whole theater had gone silent. Even the tech-people had stopped messing with the lights. Maybe my voice wasn't good enough. Or maybe they didn't want me in the show anymore.

"You have a beautiful voice," Kevin said. Oh, so that's why they were staring. They thought I had a pretty voice.

Sammy

I loved dancing, though I never thought I was good at it. Still, I was excited about the choreography.

"Okay, we're going to be going over the choreography for the song 'Money'." A man said. I'm pretty sure we all knew that already, but I figured he just wanted to make sure we were listening.

"Lily and Kevin, come here." he said, waving for them to come over to him. They did as they were told. "You'll enter from stage right and come to here," he pointed at Lily, then at Kevin, "and you'll enter from stage left and stand next to her."

I had a bad feeling I was going to be standing here for a while. They were the ones that did most of the big important stuff, so I figured I wouldn't be doing much. Nevertheless, I waited patiently for him to tell me what to do.