That girl!
Because Wednesday’s rehearsals had taken place at both Lakeside and St. Andrew’s, today was the first day the entire cast, band and crew had been together at the same time. The vibe was completely different from the auditions. It seemed like everyone had traded in their egos and were actually getting worked up about being involved. It had the same feel as when the boys and I were just about to go onto the soccer field. You weren’t thinking about yourself, you were thinking about how you were going to win the game and annihilate the opposition. Except there wasn’t any opposing team to the musical, apart from me. And after the morning I’d had, I didn’t have the energy to be a one-man opposition. I figured I’d try to sit today out on the bench.
There was another really good reason for the excitement and maybe this was the most honest one. We were in the presence of GIRLS! I reckon the musical thing is different for girls. They don’t seem to find being involved in this type of stuff as wanky. It’s a far cooler thing to be involved in the school musical if you are a girl from Lakeside rather than a boy from St. Andrew’s.
As soon as I hit the newly polished floorboards that Mr. Jenson, the maintenance guy, always had a go at us about scratching, Brother Pat had me doing band stuff. We had to set up right down the back of the hall until recess, so the leads could run through their dialogue onstage without having to yell over us. This meant I had to get the geeks organized with music stands, musical instruments and whatever other stuff was essential in a junior band geek’s life. After half an hour of setting up and making sure everyone had the right lunch box, we were finally ready to start. That was when Brother Pat stepped in, and he kept at it for the next two hours. Not one of the geeks complained. They just played nonstop, loving every second of it. The only thing I kept at was looking at my watch, counting down to the break. I was hanging out for the moment I could check out the girl factor. But as usual Andrews got in the way.
OK, everyone, I know you’re ready for a break but I want to run through the opening before we stop. Complete with overture, so band to the pit, please.
The geeks moved in tornado-like time, leaving a similar trail of destruction. I took my time.
Right, thank you, everyone. Silence, please. Polly, entrance!
She entered from stage left, without her script. As soon as she came onstage the whole hall faded away, including Andrews. I felt strange. Removed. Disorientated. From that moment on I was gone. Completely and totally gone.
I remember in Year 9 when we did Shakespeare in English. We watched Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and got to talk about love and sex and stuff, something Year 9 boys are obsessed with. There was this one scene with a fish tank in it, when Romeo and Juliet saw each other for the first time. I remembered our teacher said this was the moment they fell in love—well, I think she said lust actually—and we all thought she was an idiot. How could you fall in love after one look over a bloody fish tank? Right now I could safely say that we had quite clearly been talking out of our arses. You obviously knew nothing about anything in Year 9.
I was locked to the spot, paralyzed, but still managed to stay on my chair, just. My jaw felt as though it had dropped to the floor like in the cartoons. It was difficult to breathe, like suddenly I had to think about doing what my body had been doing on its own for the past seventeen years. And then I knew I was really in trouble because I could feel myself starting to come over a bright fire-engine red.
She was …
She was …
She was hot!
And I was behaving like a dickhead.
It wasn’t that she was drop-dead gorgeous—you know, like on the front of Ralph magazine gorgeous—but she was just awesome! She had brown hair that was long, past her shoulders. She wasn’t that tall but she wasn’t short either. She fit together with all the right parts so that everything was in exactly the right spot and in exactly the right proportions. Not super skinny, just, I don’t know, like she was meant to be how she was.
But it was her face that really blew me away. All I could see were these bright, deep brown eyes, like they were always ready to have some fun. And her mouth looked like it was molded into a permanent smile. I couldn’t drag my eyes away. It wasn’t only her looks, though they had a lot to do with it. I also had this feeling that I had definitely seen her somewhere before.
Will? Hey, Will?
The Freak was hitting me with his trombone.
Will!
Back off, man! You could do me some serious damage with that thing.
It was then I realized the whole band was waiting for me to play. No!!!! Had they noticed? Had they seen me just completely lose my head over this girl? I looked around slowly. The geeks were doing their own thing as usual and the other guys were happy to have a chance to goof off. The two up onstage were looking a little annoyed, especially her. But they didn’t seem to know where the holdup was coming from.
Come on, Will, hurry up, the Freak whispered.
Andrews was grinning directly at me. Had he been watching? He would have been watching the stage, surely.
When you’re ready, Mr. Armstrong?
Bastard. He never missed a thing!