𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

twenty-three

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twenty-three: proud of us
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"Greetings, threater children." Juliette scoffed as she saw Channing walking into the dressroom as if it were his own house. "Do you see this camera? There are another ten of them planted throughout the theater. It all comes down to tonight."

"I wish something would come down on his head," Juliette whispered to Jett, who was besides her. The boy snorted, making everyone turn around to look at him, but he managed to play it down with a cough.

"Big new announcement. We will be live-streaming tonight's Frozen performance on Disney Plus in order to drum up interest in our documentary."

Carlos shrieked.

"Save the scream for on stage, snowman. When you find out your carrot's been replaced by a stick of dynamite."

"Dude, what are you talking about?"

"I may throw a few things at you guys, last minute," he said as if it were nothing. "It's fun stuff to shake up the show."

Juliette saw how Maddox's hands curled up in fists, ready to hit Channing any minute now and took a step forward, "you can't change the play last minute," the redhead exclaimed.

"You guys were so great at that last rehearsal, remember? We need that, but more. Okay? So change some dialogue, slap each other, pull some wigs off. It's fun stuff to amp up the livestream, right?"

"Are you on drugs right now?" Juliette took a step forward. She had been wanting to crush that man's camera ever since he first stepped on the Barn and that looked like a perfect opportunity for her to do so.

"Shut up, Juliette," E.J. pleaded. "We can do that."

"You two share a dealer or what?"

"We will do that," he confirmed. Channing, pleased, walked out of the room. Suddenly, everyone began speaking at the same time, trying to figure out what had just happened, but Carlos interrupted them, speaking louder than the rest.

"Elton. Even I think we shouldn't pull each other's wigs off."

"Settle down!" he yelled for everybody to hear him. "You guys, I was acting, okay? To get that jerk off our backs. Channing may know what makes a good TV show, but we're theater kids. And we're gonna do tonight our way. Final decision."

Juliette let out a relieved sigh and sat down in one of the chairs. She was already worried she would have to punch E.J. She couldn't even reach his face properly.

"You okay there?" Ricky asked, approaching Juliette.

"Just scared E.J. was speaking seriously. All good now."

"Hey, Juliette I... I wanted to say that I wish you were up there with us. With me. We still have that pending. Oh, and I'm sorry I didn't give you an opening night gift. I wasn't expecting..."

The girl did not say a single word. Instead, he stood up from the chair and hugged Ricky. She felt how the boy, digging his fingers into her skin, pulled her close to him, as close as she could be. He felt his chest going up and down with his breathing.

"You're amazing, Richard Bowen," she whispered in his ear. "I will be on the front row, okay? Break a leg."

Soon, they heard the Barn coming to life. They could hear the steps and the chairs moving as people sat down, they could hear the soft chatter of anticipation as everyone there look at the playbill Maddox and Juliette had prepared. The nerves started kicking in for all of them and, after wishing everyone to break a leg and making sure that nobody wore yellow, Juliette walked out of the dressing room and sat down on the first row, in the seat she had set aside for herself.