Sea Foam

Chapter Three

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Arielle smiled widely as she forced herself to stay calm. "I'm here to audition." She pointed at the sign-up paper she had handed to the director, whose name Arielle didn't know, yesterday. "I believe I'm the last one on that list."

"You can't be serious!" Cathy stood up from her seat to face one of the teachers in charge. "She's an athlete!"

The director crossed his arms awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Cathy, but her being an athlete does not mean she can't audition. Anybody who attends the school is welcome to auditions. It's just that we don't usually have, um, athletes," the director finished lamely.

"She's stealing the audition spot from someone who actually wants to be in the show! Because of her, we may not have the person we're looking for!"

Arielle waited quietly as the director and Cathy, along with other judges who found this unfair, argued about whether Arielle deserved to audition or not. Secretly, she hoped the director would lose and make Arielle leave the auditorium. Sure, it would hurt her pride, and it would give the artists something to gloat about, but Arielle thought it was worse than actually trying.

Not that Arielle hadn't practiced, no. In fact, she had gone straight home every afternoon since she told Eric she would audition, to make sure she knew and memorized the lyrics. Even until today morning, the last time she had practiced, Arielle was sure she could stun all the artists into shock with her singing and dancing.

Now, however, she was having second thoughts. And, if she remembered correctly, she had only told Eric that she would be at auditions. She hadn't said anything about trying to land a role in the musical.

"Girls, this conversation is over," the director said a lot crossly than before. "There was nothing to discuss in the first place, anyways. Arielle!" The director turned to face Arielle, turning away from the enraged judges. "Will you be singing one of our musical's songs or a different one?"

"A different one, Who You Are by Jessie J," Arielle said before she could stop herself.

The director nodded for her to begin, and, before Arielle knew it, she found herself posing for the first dance move.

I stare at my reflection in the mirror
Why am I doing this to myself?
Losing my mind on a tiny error,
I nearly left the real me on the shelf

As Arielle sang and danced, she found her doubts fading away with every line and every step. Pretty soon, she imagined that the people in front of her were judges for an actual competition, and the seats were filled with people who paid to see her perform. Actually, she was so immersed in her performance, it took her a while to realize that the director was signalling for her to stop.

"Arielle, Arielle, please!"

"Huh?" Too late, Arielle stopped mid-spin and the fantasy broke down in her head. She was back in the auditorium, the judges were people her age, and only a few rows in the auditorium were filled. To her satisfaction, however, all the faces looked completely shocked. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Oh, no, it's not that." The director shook his head quickly. "It's now time for you to audition for the acting part."

The what part?

"The acting part?" Arielle repeated. "I have to . . . act?"

At the judges table, Cathy scoffed as she stood up, first to recover from the shock. "Of course we have to see how well you act," she snapped. "This isn't some choir you're auditioning for."