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The shrill whine of the late bell rang through the air. She rushed through the parking lot, narrowly missing the closing door, feeling that slap of the wind, and sped through the hallway. Grabbing the corner and swinging around it, she could hear her sister yelling as she grew closer to the room.
“Jessica! For Christ’s sake where is that girl? She should’ve been here by now and she’s got the fabric, my dress fabric!” Jessica rushed around the corner and into the room, but pulling herself to a stop as she was pinned on the spot by Mrs. Benjamin’s bushy-brow glare. A raise of her eyebrows made her blush and she looked down ashamedly.
“Why were you late this time? Wait, don’t tell me, you were eating lunch and lost track of time.” After a nod from Jessica she continued in a raspy voice. “And you are very sorry and promise it won’t happen again?”
A meek voice uttered a small. “Yes ma’am.”
“Hmmph. That’s what you said last time.” With that, Mrs. Benjamin walked away, her second-hand heels clapping down as she walked. Jessica sighed and shook her head. How was she supposed to tell her that she almost had to talk this morning and spent last period crying in the bathroom? It was bad enough her sister volunteered her to speak in front of the class this morning. “Speaking in public is definitely not my strong suit, no matter how much I wish it was.” She thought to herself as she trudged through the backstage towards the costume department.
“Hey there big sister! How ya doin’ sweetie?” Sydney walked up to her, firetruck red Converse high-tops at the end of long, Victoria’s Secret leggings legs, contrasting to Jessica’s scuffed up boots at the end of large, jean clad legs. Jessica rolled her eyes as she looked for where Mrs. B went when a cold hand brushed against her face and made her snap her neck back to her sister.
“Oh goody-lord darlin’, whatcha got goin’ on there?” Jessica glared at her through hot red-rimmed eyes.
“None of your concern.” A loud call cut through the air as Sydney opened her mouth to reply.
“Mom! I need help!”
“Coming!” Jessica smiled apologetically to her sister. and walked off toward the call. Daniel the male-lead in the production smiled sheepishly at her, a section of his collar folded over his shoulder.
“Can you help me? I was trying to get it on and it kinda, well.. You can see what happened.” Jessica shook her head at him as she picked up her box behind him and started getting ready to sew the collar back on.
“This is the second time this week Danny, you have to be more careful. It won’t do if our King suddenly as a wardrobe malfunction in the middle of a number.” Daniel chuckled. As he sat down, letting her fiddle around him, experience teaching him to let her do her thing lest she stick a needle in him by accident.
“Well then you can just sing the rest of the song for me. We’ll make a pocket in your sleeve for a secret needle and thread.” As Jessica opened her mouth to interject, a few more voices cast their vote in with their own suggestions.
“Be the mom and tell stories for kids to fall asleep.”
“Oh! I got it! You should be the person who always make cookies for people!” The last one got more than a few whistles. Jessica rolled her eyes as she tied the knot and cut the rest of the thread.
“Oh c’mon guys, I’m not that much of a mom.” Half the room stared at her with that look add she chuckled at them. “Don’t you have work you should be doing? We have this shindig in 9 days you know? We still have to make all of the final adjustments. Johnny! How are we doing on workers? We still have costumes to finish.”
A boy in the back looked back at her from his station. “I am going to call the rest of the guys and see if they can come back and help you later today after practice.” Jessica nodded and thanked him, getting up to walk around the room and inquire on how everyone else was doing.
“Do you have the right color thread?”
“How are the schedules coming? Does everyone know when they have to be here”
“What about the fittings, did you make sure everyone signed up for one? Cause you know that some one will forget and then that means-OH! Sandra!”
A little girl looked up, “Yes?”
“Do you by any chance know when Mrs. B is gonna be done with rehearsals? I have to talk to her.” Sandra shook her head.
“Actually, you just missed her, she left for a teacher meeting. Won’t be back for a few hours. I can call her and let her know if you want?”
“No! I mean, no that’s alright. Just a little something about the props I need to talk to her about.”
Sandra nodded and walked off. Great, how am I supposed to tell her now? A shout from her sister jolted her out of her thoughts and she walked back to finish out for the day.
“Let’s go! I still have to go to my fitting. And it starts in half an hour and we are like, an hour away.” Keys jingled as Jessica swung them around her finger and a dull ‘thunk’ signaled the trunk opening. Swinging her school bag around her shoulder, she placed her lunch box beside it and sighed. Sitting next to her black hiking bag was her sister’s sparkly PINK bag, annoyingly shiny in the afternoon sun beating down on her back.
“Any day now would be great you know!” Sydney called from the front seat as she tapped her newly-manicured nails against the door. Jessica shook her head and closed the trunk, coming around to shut the driver’s door. The sudden blare of the radio shocked for a second before she rolled her eyes and turned it down. “Does it really have to be so loud Syd?”
“Do you really have to be so old Jess? Geez.” 2 Fifth Harmony songs, 3 Eminem, and 1 Glee song made an appearance by the time they pulled into the dress salon. Sydney was a flurry of activity. Grabbing her bag, putting up her phone, texting her friends and telling Jessica what to do afterwards.
“You know what? Nevermind, I’ll just call you. See ya!” With that, she slammed the door shut and walked inside, all of her 4 bags going with her, sticking out on top of one another and at random places on her body. Jessica chuckled to herself and walked around, pulling out the forgotten the roll of fabric from the backseat, and smoothing out the wrinkles and handing it to the attendant that came out. A buzz from her phone made her look down. 1-9-2-8, buzz, buzz, buzz, in her hand.
SANDRA: Hey! She just got out of the mtg., but she has another one in 1 hour. Can u get here by then?
ME: Nah, I’m about an hour out anyways, I wouldn’t get there in time. Thanks anyway!
Jessica looked down as her phone buzzed again.
JOHNNY: Hey, coach is having us go another hour over cause of last week’s game. I don't know if I can come and finish my stuff, sorry.
ME: That’s fine, I’ll do it. I have a few adjustments to make anyways. Thanks for letting me know!
A honking horn from the street jolted her out of her thoughts gets and she shook her head. “Alright Jess m’girl. Time to get going.” With that, she got in car and headed back to school.
A few country songs, old and new, made it’s way through the radio before she pulled back into the parking lot. She made her way through the teams coming out of practice, calling out greetings as she went. Finally she made it to the concert hall and she sighed in relief. Finally, peace and quiet. She walked back to the props/costume department and picked up the rest of Johnny’s clothes from his bin, finishing the stitching. This went on for a while, picking up someone’s costume, double checking the measurements and fixing a button here, sewing a zipper there, until she had done all she could for the day. She put on her jacket and sighed. She has just gotten it the other day, so it still had that uncomfortable itch from the tag she hadn’t cut off or gotten used to yet. A few janitors came in to clean, but left soon before she finished with the clothes.
Jessica said goodbye, and walked out toward the exit when the light from the piano caught her eye. She looked around and bit her lip. Surely no one would see her, right? The janitors had left for the day, and she was the only one. Slowly, as if not to frighten it, she slowly walked toward the center of the stage, gently laying her bags down on the tile and wiping her hand down her jeans to wipe away the sweat. She gingerly took a deep breath, and squared herself, rolling her shoulders forward-up-back-down to make she was standing straight. After a another moment to prepare herself, she slowly began to talk. After running through the intro for the play to warm up, she started reciting her speech. Words flowed out of her like a smooth, strong river, running without a break and turning hard enough so you could notice it, but not enough so you would go under. As she prepared for the last paragraph, a loud voice startled her out of her reverie.
“What are you doing child?”
“Mrs. B!” Wha-what are you doing here? I thought you were going home after your teacher meeting.” Mrs. B nodded to herself and stepped forward to the stage stairs, holding onto the railing to help herself.
“Yes actually I was. But, I forgot my purse in my room, I was coming to get it.”
“Oh.” Jessica said in surprise and embarrassment. She hastily walked away, slumping into her now very comfortable jacket, almost feeling as if she could swallow her swollen Jello-esque tongue. “I’ll just get out of your hair then.”
“No! By all means no child, that was amazing! I can’t wait to see what you’ll do for the show.” Jessica stopped and sighed, turning around to look at Mrs. B, the air conditioner suddenly seeming kick off, making the room seem much warmer than it was five minutes ago, and the lights even brighter.
“Ican’ttalkinfrontofpeopleorIstartcrying.” She said all at once, trying to hold the tears back once again as flashbacks from that morning occured to her. Mrs. B furrowed her brows with a melancholy expression and walked over to her, wrapping her arms around her and shushing her.
“Ohh sweetie. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. But, I’d still like you to be able to speak for the show. You have such a wonderful speaking voice and when you talk about something you’re passionate about, you go into this trance and a cadence comes into your voice that it just amazing.” Jessica nodded, then caught herself and shook her head. Mrs. B made a noise of confusion so she looked up at her.
“I get too nervous and I stumble, and then I can’t talk anymore and I start crying because I love public speaking.” They stood like that for a while, Mrs. B comforting Jessica while she hid her face into Mrs. B maroon cable-knit sweater. A buzz from Jessica’s phone made her look down and she slowly stood back.
“That’s my sister, I need to go pick her up.” Mrs. B nodded, then a Cheshire cat grin spread across her face.
“You do that, I know how to solve our problem.” She couldn’t say anymore, so Jessica left to pick up her sister, and after having Mrs. B not telling her about whatever it was she was doing, she gave up and decided to wait until the show.
Preparation was a whirlwind. Buttons being sewn, zippers pulling up, and the snap of clasps filled the air, adding to the already hectic atmosphere. The gust of wind signaled the curtains being raised, and the sound of applause filled the air. The taste of hairspray, and too much deodorant and perfume from the younger middle schoolers was in the air. Rough wood buttons, smooth silky fabrics, and prickly needles were all around Jessica as she tried to lessen the pandemonium backstage that comes with a big production.
“Jessica! Come on, let’s go!” Mrs. B ran up to her, frantically pulling off all of her bags and miscellaneous items and setting hem on the ground, barely letting her have time to think before she pulled her over to the side of the stage. “I can’t do this!” “Yes you can! Look!” Jessica looked down and tears filled her eyes, a microphone and the script sat in front of her, encased in a small room with curtains covering it. “Thank you so much Mrs. B!” “Of course sweetie, now go on, you start in a few minutes.” Jessica smiled to herself and sat down. After a minute of deep breathing, she nodded to herself, and picked up the mic. “Once upon a time. . .”