Winnie, Not Winifred

07 | Welcome to the Wonderful World of Theatre

"Winnie, I'm freaking out!" Heidi, exclaimed, her voice echoing around the empty bathroom across the hall from the theatre classroom. "I have to do well at this audition!"

When we parted ways yesterday, I had been under the impression that we were both confident and ready for the audition, but by third period, it was safe to say that Heidi's confidence from the day prior had completely worn off. I had watched out of the corner of my eye as she twirled her hair and chewed on her fingernails all through English.

"Calm down," I responded gently, lifting up onto my tiptoes to place a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Calm down?" she scoffed. "What if I get my words jumbled up during the cold reading? What if I don't move enough?" She gasped. "Winnie, what if I start singing in the wrong key?"

"None of that will happen," I reassured her. "And you wanna know how I know?"

She sighed, tousling her blonde hair so that it fell to the side rather than her usual middle part. "How do you know?"

"I know, because you are more prepared for this than anyone else who's going to be up auditioning today. You know your music. You've performed it for me exactly twenty times, each time equally as perfect as the last, might I add." I took my hands off her shoulders because being on my tiptoes was starting to hurt my calves. "You know Maria. You made me watch the movie with you twice and you freaking filled out an entire twelve-page character analysis on her. Heidi, you've got this one in the bag."

"You're right," she murmured, inhaling deeply. She stepped toward the mirror and examined her appearance.

One of her first lessons on the art of auditioning had been that of wardrobe. She had emphasized the importance of dressing in a manner that was both simple and sophisticated, all while hinting at the character you want to play without being too obvious.

The black tee and white jeans she was wearing perfectly exemplified the lesson, playfully hinting at Maria without the need for a head-to-toe costume.

She smoothed out her shirt and adjusted the straps of her bookbag on her shoulders. "I am Heidi freaking Cidrich," she said to her reflection before turning to me. "I am an actress!" She took a deep breath. "Let's do this thing."

"Hell, yeah!" I responded, following her out of the bathroom and into the theatre room.

Ms. Abby had pushed her collection of theatre objects up against the walls to create an open space in the center of the room, where a grand piano stood, along with Ms. Abby and two other students, both of whom must have shared Heidi's idea of getting to class a few minutes early.

"Hi, Ms. Abby!" I smiled as we approached her.

"Hello, girls," she sang back. "Ready for auditions?"

"Of course!" Heidi said with confidence.

She really was a very good actress. You never would have guessed she was having a panic attack in the bathroom a couple of yards away only a minute prior.

"Good," Ms. Abby replied. "Do you mind passing over the sheet music you picked out?"

"Sure thing!" Heidi chirped, reaching in her audition folder for the composition she had picked out.

I was about to do the same when I was distracted by a familiar earbud-clad head of hair so dark it was almost black, but not quite, entering the room. Never once in our near week of classes had Colton been on time, let alone, early to class.

Even after the conclusion Heidi and I had come to in the treehouse, that Colton was a jerk and his past wasn't an excuse for that, I had still found myself trying to make excuses for him in my head.