Cool With A "K" PART 13 - CHAPTER 3

The musical auditions were this week. I decided to sign up. I went up to the sign up sheet and signed my name. Angela Harper. Leo spotted me. 
After I walked away, I stood behind a wall and watched to see what Leo would do. Sure enough, he looked around and hesitantly went up to the sign up sheet and signed his name. Leonard White was trying out for the musical.


Auditions. All of the sophomore in the school would be watching our auditions, so they were all gathered in the auditorium. Surprisingly, I wasn't really nervous. Leo wasn't either. Mouse seemed reasonably confident- Wait. Mouse? Okay, didn't see that one coming. Alice was pretty nervous. Chris was sitting by her, holding her hands and telling her it would be fine, take deep breaths, I'm Chris the annoying therapist.
Harold came in and sat down near Leo. I leaned over and waved to him. "Hi, Harold! You're trying out for the musical too?"
Harold's face turned kind of red and he looked away. Weird kid.
Kathy was first. The whole auditorium was hushed and Kathy started singing. She wasn't bad, but the song choice was kind of..... Kathy started singing Love Game by Lady Gaga. Yikes! I'll just assume you already know the words. If you don't, feel free to look it up but you will 
probably regret it. 
Kathy smiled at Chris as she sang. Chris's shoulders tensed, his jaw hanging open, and his cheeks bright red. 
"D-don't worry," I stuttered, "It's just a song, Chris."
"I am so taking Love Game off my iPod." Chris said, he looked like he was about to puke. Luckily, he didn't.


Michelle was next. She sang My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson. She smiled and stared dramatically at Leo throughout the entire song. Cuz we belong together now Forever united here somehow. You got a piece of me and honestly my life would suck without youuuuuuuu..... At the end of the song she ran up to Leo and he hugged her. "Oh, my life would suck without you too, Sweetie!" 
Michelle laughed stupidly, "What?"


Mouse was next. Chris grinned, "This will be good." He said, Alice and I nodding in agreement.
Mouse rapped/sang Paper Planes by M.I.A. She was alright, but not amazing. I still couldn't believe she was trying out. It really wasn't her thing, but whatever.


Alice's turn next. Chris held her hands and looked her in the eyes. "Look at me, Alice. It will be fine. Good luck." She hugged him and he patted her on the back.
Alice sang If I Fell by The Beatles. If I give my heart to you, I must be sure from the very start That you would love me more than her.... She sang it beautifully. So many of my friends could sing so well! Well, not trying to brag, I'm pretty awesome at singing. I really don't know about Chris, I guess I'll find out if he can sing in a few minutes.


Leo's turn was next. I watched as he went up to Michelle and said excitedly, "Watch this, Michelle! This will blow your mind! I am going to be awesome!"
Michelle smiled, "I'm sure you will!" She said, giggling stupidly.
Leo got up on stage and starting attempting to rap Gold Digger by Kanye West. Chris hid his grin under his hand and I tried not to laugh. Leo was trying to be all cool, rapping.  Get down girl, go head get down. Get down girl, go head get down. Get down girl, go head get down. Get down girl, go head! Leo smirked at Michelle and she said to her friends. "Um, let's go..." I laughed.
The judges sighed. "That's enough, Leo."
Leo stopped 'rapping'. "What?" He said.
"Okay, kid. You can be a tree or something."
"A TREE?!" Leo shouted. "I'm no tree! I should be the lead!" A few people in the audience laughed.


Next was a girl named Brittany. She sang a song I didn't recognize. Well, not really sang, per say. More like said every word as if she was asking a question. Weird girl. The judges stood up and clapped. "That was amazing! You just landed the lead!" They said. 
Leo stood off to the side, his mouth hanging open. "The lead?" He squeaked. "I'm a tree and she gets the lead?!"
I smiled at him, "Oh, come on, Leo! Being a tree isn't that bad!"


Next was Chris. The crowd started murmuring and one guy threw a empty water 
bottle at Chris before he even started singing. Chris glared at the guy who threw it and 
stood onstage, waiting for the judges to tell him to start.
I tried not to laugh when the music started playing. I recognized the song, Why Can't I by 
Liz Phair. Get a load of me, get a load of you, walking down the street and I hardly know you. Alice and I exchanged a look and we followed his gaze. Chris was looking at Jesse as he sang. Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you? Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you?
The song went on for a while. Baby I am dyin'
Now here's the scary thing; He did a heck of a job singing it. It wasn't really his extremely high vocal range that shocked me, it was the fact that he could sing at all!
Once the song was over, everyone in the auditorium was staring at Chris in shock. Not because of his song choice, no, because he was one of the "nerds" and was at the bottom of the food-chain at our school and he could sing!
I glanced at Leo, who just looked disturbed. 
People suddenly started clapping. Chris smiled triumphantly. Pwn, foo. He was probably thinking. Beat that. 
The judges all clapped and they gave him the male lead.
I glanced back at Jesse and Jamie. Jesse, looking confused, said something to Jamie and she giggled, saying something that Jesse didn't seem to notice. Alice and I laughed.


Now, last but not least, it was my turn. I must say, I was totally gonna bring the house down. Harold and Leo watched me anxiously, they both had the same annoying dazed look in their eyes, but for some reason it didn't bother me as much when Harold looked at me like that.
"I'm going to sing Imagine by John Lennon." I said. Everyone looked excited. 
I began to sing. Imagine there's no Heaven, it's easy if you try. The smiles melted off everyone's faces, except for Harold's, who beamed stupidly at me. I wonder what was wrong with the others.
Leo cringed and Chris looked disappointed, Alice sighing next to him. Harold leaned against Leo, saying, "So beautiful..." 
Leo said to him, "Dude, what are you doing?" 
Harold snapped out of it and said, "Oh god, I'm so sorry! Uh....."
Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. I sang out.
I finished the song and everyone stared at me. No clapping? Helloooo! I was amazing! Right?
One of the judges cleared her throat and said, "Angela, um.... We'll find a role for you."
My shoulders sagged. What? I expected something more like, 'Oh, Angela! That was absolutely exquisite! You can have Brittany's part as Dorothy!" I sighed and went back to my seat.
I glanced over at Harold, who was still staring at me stupidly. I tried not to roll my eyes, but then again, it was kind of nice having admirers.


When Chris and I got home, Mom met us with a plate if freshly baked cookies. I laughed, "Geez, Mom! Classic much?"
She laughed and said, "I just wanted to congratulate my kids on the musical auditions today! How'd it go?"
Chris stood up straight and said triumphantly, "I'm the scarecrow! Which we all know is like the Prince Of Oz." 
Mom hugged him, "Oh, good job Sweetie!" She handed him a cookie and he grinned at me and waved his cookie in the air as if to say, "I got a cookie. Can you believe that? I'm so amazing." 
"Guess what I am Mom!" I said excitedly. It was such an awesome part.
"What are you Angie?" Mom said, Chris rolling his eyes at our excitement.
I almost squealed with excitement. "A tree!"
Mom looked a little disappointed for a second and Chris chuckled, but Mom's smile quickly came back. "Oh, Angela! Good job! What a great part!" 
Chris's ears perked up as he noticed that I got two more sentences out of Mom than he did.
Mom and I walked out of the room, Mom cooing me. "Oh, congratulations, Sweetheart! Aww, you'll be the cutest little tree!" She handed me a cookie and I waved it at Chris, who stood in the kitchen, looking traumatized.



We left Chris standing alone. He said quietly, "But I'm the scarecrow....."