Becoming Better

Chapter 27 - Curtain Call

People were still applauding after the final curtain went down. Charlie's castmates tackled her and gave her a huge group hug. They all ran backstage, basking on a high of adrenaline. Charlie was so shocked by the thunderous round of applause she had received when she came out for her bow that she nearly cried. She actually did have tears in her eyes, but they were happy tears. She tried to wipe them before they made her stage makeup run.

The play was to run over the course of two weeks, with three performances each weekend. One each Friday night, one matinee each Saturday afternoon, and then one more each Saturday night. All of Charlie's friend came to see Opening night the first weekend, and Courtney came the night after that. She brought some of her friends from AA, as well as a guy she was dating. Charlie liked him almost right away. He was sweet, funny and good looking. She could tell he was nervous and trying to make a good impression on her, and it worked.

The following week at school, Charlie's teachers seemed to look at her differently. They were very complimentary of her performance, and weirdly, they seemed to treat her better. Charlie almost laughed. It was kind of messed up that they paid her all this attention now that she was doing well, instead of when she was struggling. But, either way, she was just happy to have turned things around.

The upcoming weekend's three performances were sold out by Wednesday. Charlie and the rest of the cast were shocked, because that had never happened before. Mrs. Newman pulled her aside that day and congratulated her. Although she didn't explicitly say she believed the ticket sales were due to Charlie, she definitely acknowledged that she was a valuable addition to the theater department.

"Charlie you've got a talent, you should really think about pursuing acting in some way in the future if you enjoy it," Mrs. Newman said.

Charlie grinned. "I do enjoy it, a lot."

"There's an excellent theater program at the Art Institute in Bridgeport, I could write you a letter of recommendation for your application if you'd like," she offered. "You're going to apply there, right?"

Charlie blinked. The Art Institute of Bridgeport was where Cassius went to school. "Uh," she said. "I honestly had not thought about applying there, no."

"Oh, you must! Several Saint Peters students have gone there after they graduated. It's a fantastic school," Mrs. Newman insisted.

"I've heard, yeah," Charlie smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'll definitely think about it, thank you."

"Just let me know, the application deadline is coming soon," she said, before walking away.

Charlie stood there after she left, her mind running a million miles an hour. This last month she had been filling out college applications, unsure of how to answer one particular question. 'What do you want to Major in?' After considering everything from English to Communications, she just kept putting 'Undecided.' It was a huge decision to make, and it wasn't something she took lightly. She sort of hated the fact that she even had to decide right now. Who knew what they wanted to do with their life when they were eighteen years old? None of the options she had looked at were particularly inspiring. However, she hadn't even thought about get a Bachelor's Degree in Theater. At least, not until just now.

She knew it might not be the most useful degree, but studying acting and drama sounded like the coolest thing she could do with her time for the next four years.

However, there was one major issue. The idea of being at school with Cassius next year made her want to throw up, or faint. She couldn't decide which. The Art Institute of Bridgeport was not a big college. There was no way she could avoid seeing him. In fact, she'd probably see him every day.

The more she thought about it, the more it sounded like a bad idea. Why did she have to go to the Art Institute? She could probably get a theater degree at a regular University. She had always wanted to leave Bridgeport for college anyway.

That Saturday, The Philadelphia Story was coming to an end. It was closing night, and the energy backstage was so electric you could almost hear it buzzing. Charlie stood in a circle with the rest of the cast doing vocal warm up exercises. She felt the now familiar tingling of nerves that came before each performance. She didn't mind them, because she knew that when she stepped onstage, they would disappear like they always did.

After the final curtain call, Charlie felt a strange combination of feelings. Everything about the night was so bittersweet. She was elated, still on an adrenaline high, but at the same time she was sad. She wished there were more performances to look forward to. She had never experienced anything that special in her entire life.

She changed out of her costume and headed out to the auditorium for the post-performance closing night reception. When she exited the stage area and came out into the big hall, she looked up, and her jaw dropped. She did not expect him to be standing there. 

***Who do you think it is?!