Back at it again :) //OxO//MxM//CLOSED

“Oh- uh- yeah, sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Abe was a little taken aback by the suddenness, but he was fine with it. After all, he had to drive Dot home and she wasn’t exactly the most patient girl in the world.

Finn gave Abe a quick wave before quickly dashing out of the door. Once again, he was running through the halls, a privilege only allowed after school. He got to the auditorium where the dance auditions took place and tried the doors, all of which were locked, meaning the instructor left. Sighing, he ran towards the office and main doors. Getting to said doors, he saw the instructor in the office, a breath of relief escaping his lips. He would wait until she left the office so he could catch his breath, and she seemed to be talking about something important.

“I‘ve been waiting for ages, hurry your ass up!” Dot complained, shoving Abe’s bag into his arms.

He laughed, slinging it over one shoulder and giving a quick wave to Ms Nobles before walking outside with the short girl. “I think I’m gonna stop by the drugstore on the way home. Pick up some snacks.”

“Oh, dude, fuck yeah!” Dot exclaimed, punching the air. She had a sort of puppyish energy to her. Something magnetic that just attracted attention, even if she wasn’t talking. “I’m hungry as hell!”

“You got money, honey?” Abe teased, tossing his backpack into the backseat of his beater before sliding into the driver’s side. “Because I’m not payin’ for ya right now.”

A little after Finley caught his breath, the instructor came out of the office. He rushed over to her, putting a smile on his face once he got her attention. "Hey… Ms. Walker, I need to let you know that for the next month-ish I have musical rehearsal right after school 'til around this time. Towards the end of the month-ish, we'll be going later, but I'll get more on that when the time comes. Anyway, what I'm saying is that I won't be to practice until around this time every day. I take the musical very seriously and I would rather not miss any days or be late any more days. And I know I say this every year, but I like reminding you and making sure you know. So yeah, that's all I needed to say."

Ms. Walker nodded while Finley talked, a smile on her lips. "Oh Finn, you really don't need to tell me every year, I know you have it and I know how special it is too you, I'd be surprised if you didn't do the musical. So, as always, it's okay, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Finn's smiled brightened and thanked her before heading out of the school. He walks home since it's pretty close, and he honestly is almost afraid of driving himself.

Dot scoffed, hopping into the passenger’s seat. “Uh, of course I do! Remember that family I babysit for? I made $250 off of them last week. Anniversary and all that jazz.”

Abe raised his eyebrows as he started the engine. “Jesus! It’s basically a full time job now, isn’t it? You paying taxes?”

“Fuckin’ no! It’s under the taaable.“ Dot’s voice was singsong as they drove out of the junior’s parking lot. “And lemme get the aux cord, yeah? I downloaded new songs I think you’ll like.” She snatched up the cord in question, plugging in her phone.

Finn had [insert a song from the musical] stuck in his head, so he ended up humming it as he continued down the sidewalk. He had listened to the songs ever since it had been announced, but it was a totally different thing when each person in the cast added their own little thing to it. That was one of the things Finn loved about doing musicals in high school.

Abe pulled into the drugstore parking lot, hopping out with Dot. He tugged his wallet from his pocket. “So- what’re you thinking about the cast so far? I’ve already got some issues with a few people.” He looked over the drinks fridge, pulling out a water and Dot got her hands on a Monster.

“Eh. I think we had better last year. But.. I mean- like- bigger cast means more assholes and noncommittal kids.” She shrugged.

Only a few minutes later, Finley made it home. He unlocked the door and opened it, only to instantly be surrounded by his family; mom, dad, older brother, and younger sister. They all had hopeful looks on their faces.

"SO! Did you get a lead?!" Asked his mother.

"Yeah yeah, what'd you get?!" Added his younger sister, Aria.

"Or did ya get ensemble?" Continued his older brother, Caden, with a little chuckle. His father stayed quiet, opting to wait until Finn responded to say something.

Finley giggled, listening to everyone. "Yeah, I got… drumroll please," He said, taking a dramatic pause. His family patted on their knees, complying with his request. "Horton!"

“I just wish Ms Nobles would kick them this time, though. She said missed one unexcused rehearsal gets you kicked out, but she’s too nice to actually go through with it, I think.” Abe groaned, grabbing a few snacks and heading to the cash register. Dot hummed in agreement, digging out a crumpled tenner and handing it to the cashier.

Abe continued on with his speaking. “It just fucks me up that people can be so blasé about this. I mean- we’re about to dedicate four months to this show, and some people don’t even have the decency to act right on their first day.” He wasn’t only talking about Finn- they already had issues with snarky little comments and soured attitudes (mainly from ensemble members).

Finley's family all clapped and congratulated him. He was still surprised to have gotten a lead as a junior. He also still felt bad about being late today. It was a good thing his last class was close to the drama classroom, so he was determined to be early to the rest of the rehearsals. Of course, that wasn't the only thing to make up for being late. But he never had a problem with working hard and having a good attitude, so at least there's that.

After a few more minutes, his family dissipated to do their own things. Finn went up to his room, starting to look over the lines he had missed and going over the ones he had been there for.

“I know! And I can’t believe that James got cast again! Don’t you remember all the shit he said to Dana and Lilli last show? I wish he’d gotten kicked out then and there.” Dot frowned, giving the cashier a small wave and a goodbye while she waited for Abe to finish ringing up his own stuff.

He grabbed the plastic bag, nodding his goodbye to the cashier as they walked out. “Trust me, I remember. I think I almost killed him for it.” He dug the water out of his bag, cracking it open as they walked to his car. “You want me to drop you off or you wanna come over? I’m good with either.” The two lived in the same neighborhood, meaning this type of this was easy.

(Should we TS to the next rehearsal or something?)

(Yeah, let's skip to the next rehearsal.)

That day Finn was not going to be late, he was determined. It's a good thing his class was close to the drama room. Once again, the second the bell rang, he bolted out of the classroom. It was nice having the door towards the back. He always sat closer to the back to it was perfect positioning. Less than a minute later, he got to the classroom. He saw only a few other people, Abe included. They were setting up the chairs in the familiar circle, so Finley went to help them after setting down his backpack.

The volume was a low chatter when Finn walked in. There were maybe 12 people in the class, most of which were trying to gather their things to leave as they pushed through the door. Abe and Ms Nobles were talking, though what exactly they were discussing wasn’t too clear. It honestly sounded like a bunch of jargon unless you were actively listening, but they were clearly discussing something.

Finn gave Ms. Nobles a small wave as to not interrupt her and Abe's conversation. He didn't bother listening to what they were saying, if he didn't hear his name or they didn't explicitly call him over, it wasn't his conversation to listen to. Once he and a couple of freshmen finished the circle, he went back to his backpack and pulled out his script.

“Let me know when the updated schedules come out! I gotta give one to my manager so he knows when I might be showing up a little late.” Abe gave Ms Nobles a thumbs up, going to sit down and dig out his script to study over.

Finn took a seat next to Abe, a smile on his face. He started looking through the first scene he was in, since he had been absent for the first reading. Then, he had an idea and turned to Abe. "Hey, you wanna work on one of our scenes?" He asked, hoping the other would agree.

“What, like run lines? Yeah, sure.” Abe nodded, pulling out his script. They didn’t have to be off book for another month, but he was studying his lines religiously so he could be off book ASAP. “We’ve got a few minutes. What scene are you looking at?”

"Perfect. Let's see… maybe…" Finn was trying to find a scene where it was mostly just their two characters without many others. "What about scene 3?" He asked, looking back up at the other. Finley is pretty good at memorizing lines and learning things quickly. With doing stuff like that for a very large majority of his life, it's natural to pick those things up easily.

“Uhhh, yeah. Scene three, act two, right? Circus McGurkus?” Abe flipped through his script. “Technically we’re just.. on stage together and both talking. No real dialogues together, but that’s the best we have. We can work on How Lucky You Are circus reprise and the actual Circus McGurkus..?” He furrowed his brow, adjusting his glasses so he could read a little better.

"Hmmm yeah." He mumbled looking through the scene. "K so yeah sounds good." Finely said louder, actually directed to Abe. He flipped back to the beginning of the scene. He started off with the first of their lines.

(Shit, this is hard lol, not knowing anything about it)

(yeahhhhh, i was debating whether or not to tell you that the Cat and Horton don’t actually interact verbally lmao)

Abe began his own lines, and it became clear why he was cast. The combination of his modified diction and verbal cadence created a sense of character, even without a costume. He was already trying to skim the lines and respond without looking at his script.

(Ahhhh now I feel bad lol.)

Finn was impressed by Abe's acting. He was already embodying the character with his whole self on the second day of rehearsal, ever, on this musical of course. In the first week, Finn wasn't pushing himself too much, just getting super familiar with the whole plot and everything involved.

(No don’t!!! It’s a weird setup where the two leads don’t actually ever talk, lmao, I was surprised too!)

It was a method that had worked well enough in the past. He watched recordings of the show on Youtube and listened to the soundtrack more times than he could count, so Abe was already intimately familiar with the musical’s plot.

(That is a weird setup. Good to know though lol :)

Finn usually didn't watch the show. He was one of the weird minority of theatre kids that felt bad about watching bootleg recordings. However, once the musical was announced, he immediately started listening to the soundtrack. He may not have his lines yet, but at least he knew every song by heart.

Before they could do much more, Ms. Nobles got everyone's attention and started speaking. Sometime between then and when Finn and Abe started talking, everyone had arrived.

“Good afternoon, sweet-peas!” Ms Nobles chirped from her desk, walking over to shut the classroom door. “I can see that a handful of you are already running lines, thank you for that! I’d just like to remind you all that you all need to be 100% off book by next month at the latest. The sooner, the better.” She continued, looking at her copy of the schedule. “Today we’ll be putting the whole show on its feet. No blocking, just lines and doing whatever feels right to you. This is your first week of the show, I want you to play around and get a feel for it.”

Finn was smiling, beyond excited. He would say he loved this part the most, but that would be a lie because the whole experience was just his favorite thing almost ever. "So what does that mean exactly. Like are we going to the auditorium and just standing on the stage and stuff? Or are we staying in here, or what?" One of the freshmen asked.

“Yes, thank you for asking that! Today we won’t be going to the auditorium, we’ll start that next week. Today we’ll just be rehearsing in here so you can get a basic feel for what you want to do!” Ms Nobles clapped her hands together, stepping out from behind her desk. “I think we’ll start the day with a theatre game to warm up, how does that sound?”

The freshman nodded, muttering a quiet "thanks". There was then a round of different variations of "good". Some people started standing up and moving away from the circle of chairs they had all taken a seat in. Finley stood up, but he hesitated, not knowing if he should go or not since Ms. Nobles never said what game specifically.

“Circle up!” She woofed, joining the students. “Since it’s just a warmup, we’re gonna play Zip Zap Zop today, for simplicity’s sake. Does everyone here know the rules?”

Abe joined in the circle, easily one of the tallest. He didn’t hate the game, it was fun, but it got boring after a while.

Finn quickly joined the circle. He looked around and saw the freshmen whisper around to see if they knew the game. After a little of that, most of them shook their heads as well as a few sophomores and one or two upperclassmen. There were definitely games he liked a lot less than this one, but similar to Abe, it wasn't the most fun to play after a while.