Thursday evenings were always the most fun.. for Juniper & Kalani, anyway. They were at rehearsal. The two of them had always enjoyed acting, & for their university’s cut of Beauty & The Beast, they had roped in the other 3 to join them as well. Since Cherry, Nora, & Leslie had nothing better to do with their time, they agreed.
To the group’s surprise, Leslie had been casted as Belle, the main character. & even more to their surprise, the person who was playing The Beast was Natalie.
Everyone sat in the seats in the theater as Leslie & Natalie were rehearsing a scene. It was the scene where Belle was patching up The Beast after the wolf attack.
“I still can’t believe that kid who stole the book is here, of all people,” Cherry whispered to her friends.
“Natalie’s not so bad!” Kalani whispered back. “I mean.. yea, she did steal the book, & she did declare a rivalry between us, but she did help us out with the... banana thing. Give her some slack.”
Cherry rolled their eyes. “Whatever. She literally uses a kid’s toy as a weapon.”
“If it works, it works.”
The group looked back up at the stage. They might as well be watching what was happening for their cues. Not like the rest of them had any big parts anyway; they were just in the ensemble.
Despite not doing it very often, Leslie was a fairly good actor. Either that, or they just fit this one specific role perfectly. Leslie pretended to dab at a fake wound on Natalie’s arm.
“By the way..” Leslie said, reciting its lines. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re welcome,” Natalie responded.
It was just a line in the play, but the way Leslie had said its thanks made it sound convincing. Maybe it was the fact that Natalie did, in fact, basically save their life.
The actors for Mrs. Potts, Lumiere, & Cogsworth stood around the corner on the stage.
“Well, that’s more like it! I knew they could get along if they tried.”
“So, the ice is broken... at last.”
“& not a moment too soon! The rose is losing petals at an alarming rate!”
“I still think I should have been cast as that gay little candle.” Kalani whispered. “Kalani!!”
-
Nighttime was approaching, & so was the end of rehearsal.
“Alright!” Allie (the director) clapped her hands twice. “Good work today, everyone! See you all next week!”
The group gathered their things & started heading out of the theater.
“Whew! I am exhausted!”
“Speak for yourself! I read, like, three whole lines today!”
Leslie yawned, stretching their arms. “Who knew being a main character was so tiring?”
“Remember back in high school where I was The Nutcracker during.. well, The Nutcracker? I don’t think I could walk straight for a week after that.”
“& when I was Peter Pan! Being dangled over a stage is not fun, I’ll tell you that.”
“It was like that one Spongebob image.”
“Point is, Les, being a main character can be difficult, but it is absolutely worth it. You did great today, & I’m sure you’ll do even better on stage.”
“Really?”
“Of course!”
As the group got out into the parking lot, they noticed none other than The Auctioneer, leaning against a streetlight with some papers in his hand. Any good mood that the group was in immediately evaporated.
“Is that-” Kalani whispered.
“The guy from the Subway? I think so,” Nora whispered back.
The Auctioneer noticed the group & perked their head up, waving at the 5 of them. Groaning, the group approached him because they had nothing better to do right now.
“Hello!” The Auctioneer grinned. “Oh, how wonderful it is to see you all again!”
“Yea, yea, cut to the chase. What do you want?”
The Auctioneer passed out the papers to the group. “I’m hosting an auction this Saturday! I’d be truly honored to have you 5 there!”
The group looked at the papers they had been given. It was the same lavender color as the business cards they were given the day before, & it had a purple border. There was some text on it, but they didn’t bother to read it, because they weren’t going to the auction anyway.
“We already told you, dude,” Cherry sighed. “We’re college kids. We don’t have money to bid on things.”
“But.. here's the best part: You don’t have to bid on anything!”
“We.. don’t?”
“No! You can simply just... observe! That’s what I did when I was younger.”
“Uh... we’ll think about it.”
“You’ll think about it!” The Auctioneer exclaimed. “That’s better than a flat-out rejection! I’ll take it! I’ll see you folks this weekend!”
With that, The Auctioneer skipped away with glee. The group turned to look at each other.
“We’re not actually gonna think about it, right?”
“Of course not. We’re not going.”
“But you know where we ARE going? Home.”
“You’re right. Let’s get home. I’m exhausted.”
“Alright! Back to the dorm room!”