Between You & Me - By Marisa Calin Page 0,26
And beside Lily: Me. Elated, I can’t stop smiling. You put your arm around my shoulders and squeeze me to you.
YOU
Congratulations, hotshot.
Yes. I’m a hotshot.
PEELE’S. AFTER SCHOOL.
You said we should celebrate, so here we are! If Peele’s isn’t a celebration, I don’t know what is. I floated here on a cloud and you’ve sweetly kept up with my excitement for the last half hour. I swirl my spoon around in the cup again, and giddily set it back in the saucer.
ME
Can you believe it?
YOU
Yep.
ME
Can you? I can’t. I can’t believe it.
I knew I could get the part, I’m just so relieved it’s happened. I take a sip of my tea.
YOU
Jasmine tea. Never seen you get that before.
ME
No?
Today, I’m not sure I even care if you remember when we last came across it. You eye me carefully.
YOU
Nice?
ME
Delish.
YOU
Really?
ME
Yep.
YOU
You don’t like it, do you?
ME
Nope. Tastes like a flower bed.
You laugh, shaking your head despairingly.
YOU
Not your cup of tea.
I roll my eyes and give you a token ha-ha before laughing genuinely into my muffin, loving life, but not jasmine tea, and remembering my reason to be happy.
MY BEDROOM. THAT NIGHT.
Hands behind my head, I lie contentedly in bed. It’s better to be me right now than it ever has been before. I can’t bring myself to close my eyes, to shut out the rosy hue that my new world has. Light shines through the gap in the curtains so I can still see the shape of the play on the bedside table beside me. My new sense of purpose is keeping me awake. I’ve been given time with Mia, glorious time that will be mine and hers, mine to be visible to her, earn her respect. When I let my eyes close, I can picture the lights and the stage, and the curtain call at the end of it all. I feel the rush, her eyes on me as I earn her approval. Maybe this is how I’ll find a way to be happy being me.
THEATER. FIRST DAY OF REHEARSAL. AFTER SCHOOL.
I’m the first to arrive in the theater and I stare up at the lights feeling today like this is my place. This is where I’ll prove myself. The rest of the cast is gradually assembling and I look around at the faces with a sense of belonging. Come in character, Mia said. I smile at Kate. She’s playing Penny. Penny doesn’t smile back. Gabe sits next to me; he’s been cast as Bobby. I spare him a second glance. He looks strong and boyish, not like a theater type. I’ve seen him around and figured he was all about sports—the kind of guy who calls you “babe.” He catches me looking and I feel the blood rush to my cheeks. He smiles and, close up, I see softness in his eyes. It’s surprisingly disarming. His eyes stay on me but I’m not sure if he’s looking at me or Lily so my blush is genuine. Zach strolls in at the last minute and sits by Kate. He’s playing Michael, Lily’s perfect date. He gives me a friendly nod as Mia takes her usual perch on the front of the stage.
MIA
So! We’ll start at the beginning. The beginning for your character isn’t the first scene, or the moment before the first scene. It’s every moment in their lives up until the first scene. Know your character’s history. Something I love to do is write a journal in character. Try to think like they do so you can fully inhabit their responses.
We start by introducing ourselves in character. I feel self-conscious but then Lily is too, so I embrace it. Mia calls us up to start the rehearsal. Purpose, I think as I get up onstage. I am Lily. I’m seventeen. I want to fit in.
Scene one goes smoothly enough, as I know it by heart. Gabe feels really real and present onstage, which makes him easy to respond to. I get caught up for a second in scene two, remembering our read-through in my bedroom. You put your name in for doing lights, so I know you’re somewhere up at the control board, sitting in on the first rehearsal to get a feel for the play.
For the third scene, Sarah, a senior, steps up onstage. She’s playing my mother and has embraced the role wholeheartedly. She’s been in character from the moment she arrived today and even now takes her place as if it really is her house. Lily is ready for her