Chapter Text
I was late. It was my first show as an actual stage manager, the only junior to ever be a stage manager at the high school, and I was late to rehearsal. I was going to literally die.
Technically I didn’t really have to come into the rehearsal right before tech Saturday, but I was afraid that I would miss something if I didn’t see at least one performance before tech crew got here and this would all become serious. Still, I was prepared. I had seen the show, Into the Woods, about five times in the past month, and I already read through the whole script almost three times. Nothing was going to ruin this week for me, not even being late.
Luckily, as I walked down to the front of the theatre where the director was already working with kids, I wasn’t noticed, and I dropped down in my seat next to the music director, Lilith, without a word. Lilith was one of the stricter teachers at Blooming Isles High, but she had a soft spot for preforming, and I respected that about her. I loved her darker aesthetic, it reminded me of a grown-up goth girl, and it was hard to believe that she and the director, Eda, were sisters. They were so different.
Taking my things out of my bag, I began to calm down. No one was going to care that I was a few minutes later than when I said I would be there. I needed to stop overthinking like this, it only ended up making me feel shittier than I needed to.
I turned my attention to the kids on stage, all people I had been going to school for years with and was in amazement. Not like I was in awe of their talent or anything, but because they had to put up with Mrs. Clawthorne, or Eda, their director for the entire production of the show. Most of them were up there looking either like they wanted to die, or like they had never been happier to be at school, and it was easy to tell who an older performer was or not.
I loved Eda, but she was a bit much. I had heard stories from her days in high school and how much of a rebel she was, which made it weird to actually sit down in her English class and have her expect attention from me. She was one of the eccentric high school English teachers who had a taste for drama and over-reacting, and I couldn’t really imagine trying to work with her for 3 hour practices almost every day for a month.
“Oh Amity!” Eda exclaimed, finally turning around and seeing me, “You made it! I was starting to get worried that you got lost!”
I refrained from rolling my eyes. Of course I knew where the theatre was, I had been going to this school for the past 3 years, but I didn’t want to get on anyone’s bad side on my first day. “Yeah, no I just got dropped off late, sorry!”
She didn’t even acknowledge my statement, turning back to her students and yelling at one of them about how they weren’t on stage until the next scene. When she did turn back, she flashed me a smile I suspected she was forcing, “Amity, we are going to be doing our best to get through one run of the show this afternoon, and I will sit next to you and do my best to point out notes along with your script.”
“Sure.”
“And then if you could stay behind for light programing, I think King gets here around 6:30 for our Cue to Cue. You have his number, right? Anyway I think he's ordering Chinese to bring, so you can place your order. Alright, cool, cool. I’ll be over in a minute.” she had already turned around before I could reply, so I just settled back into my seat and started to look back at the kids on stage.
After a minute of nothing happening, I took out my phone and sent a quick text to King, the technical producer for the show. He was like the weird uncle to all of tech crew, and in my freshman year, one of the only teachers I would trust.
I remember in my first year I didn’t have many friends and he had invited me down to where all of the tech crew kids would come down to the auditorium and work on set building during lunch and after school. It was the first place I felt like I really belonged in high school, and I had him to thank for that. King was the one who had advocated for me being the stage manager for this show even though I was only a junior, and I loved him for it.
King 😈🤴🤡
Me: Can you pick up some Kung Pao Chicken for me? 😁
King: ugh fine. You owe me 30 bucks tho
Me: I refuse, make it free
King: 12 bucks
Me: 0.00 bucks
King: 🙄
King: you drive a hard bargain Ms. Stage Manager, for you itll be free.
Me: 😁
King: one order of Kung Pao Chicken got it
I smiled into my phone, then turned it off. What I loved the most about King was that even though he was an adult, he was more of a kid than even me. It was like he never got over being a teenager and chose the one job where he could be one forever.
I was too busy taking texting King that I didn’t notice someone staring at me on stage for a moment or two. When I looked back up, she immediately caught my eye and she gave me a sly wink. Luz Noceda. The Witch.
Luz and I had been enemies for almost all of our high school experience. She transferred in freshmen year, and we just clashed on ever front. There wasn’t anything specific, but I remember that in that first year we just decided that we would be enemies, and that would be that. Everyone knew about it, and it turned into an inside joke after a while.
It wasn’t until spring of our first year in school together that I learned that she was a theatre kid also. While she tended to rule the stage, I was better off in the shadows. Over the years our aggression towards each other had slowly diminished, and last year she even invited me to the cast party after the show. We didn’t have many classes together, but all the sudden I was seeing her everywhere, and it was different than before. Somewhere along the line my anger decided to change, and now instead of fuming when I saw her, I began to feel electric. I knew I couldn’t be the only one feeling this way because now instead of arguing with me when she saw me in the hallways, Luz was flirting with me.
At first, I didn’t really notice it or understand, but earlier that year, she had just started randomly complimenting me. She had even gotten my number from someone and occasionally sent me tiktoks of pretty girls and stupid flirts. Luz was one of the most popular kids in school, mostly because she was so peppy and could be friends with anyone, and I was baffled at her paying sudden positive attention towards me. The fighting was fun when it happened, but the flirting was just in a different ballpark. Even though she had been doing it all year, I still always blushed.
Not that I liked it or anything, but I couldn’t help it. She was still pretty, stunning brown eyes and stupid floozy hair, whether we had a feud or not.
On cue, I blushed bright red, and she smiled. Not knowing how to respond, I pulled open my script and buried myself in it. There was no way I was going to let someone as stupid and idiot as Luz Noceda mess with my first show as an SM.
But what I didn’t notice while my face was buried in my work was that Luz’s eyes didn’t leave my spot in the audience, and that, when I blushed, she blushed too.
…………………………….
After rehearsal had finally ended, I was exhausted. I had an English paper due on Monday, no food in my stomach, and Luz hadn’t stopped catching my eye the entirety of rehearsal. Between the lack of food and the constant butterflies, I was staring to get nauseous.
I watched her as she finally got off of the stage and started packing up her things. She caught my eye when she had put all of her stuff away, and I thought that for a moment she was about to walk over and say hi, but instead she turned to her friend Willow and Gus, our Red riding hood and Bakers Husband for the show, and slowly left the auditorium.
I tried not to be disappointed, and silently scolded my heart for getting so fluttery all the sudden. To distract myself, I let my eyes flicker back to my notes. So far I only had a few about placement and needing help with certain quick-changes, and I was beginning to feel a little more confident about the whole tech Saturday thing.
All the sudden I heard footsteps from behind me.
“Guess who has your food!” King asked in a sing-song voice as he walked down to the stage, surprising me.
I jumped up immediately, perking up with even the mention of my food, and ran up to greet him. “Oh my god King, you're amazing!” I exclaimed, grabbing the Styrofoam container from his hands. “I literally needed this more than anything.”
He rolled his eyes and passed me some chopsticks as I eagerly opened my steaming hot container and sighed in bliss. “You're a weird kid.” King said, sitting down next to where I had put all of my stuff. “I like it.”
He pulled out his own food, and we both ate in silence for a moment as the last remaining kids filtered off the stage. Eda was off talking to Lilith about some minor element in the show, and I didn’t care enough to listen to what they were saying. In that moment the only thing that mattered was my food.
I emptied my container of chicken in less than three minutes, then let out the biggest burp. King applauded me, and I smiled. I loved him.
“Oh King!” Eda exclaimed, finally noticing the two of us where we were sitting in the house, a little ways away from the stage. “You're here.”
She excused the remaining kids and walked up towards us. “Hey Eda.” King said to the director, and she smiled. King and Eda were weirdly enough, best friends. Their personalities were very different, but both insanely chaotic which is why I suppose they got along so well. Regardless, I couldn’t help but love their dynamic.
“Ready for the cue to cue?” she asked, picking a piece of chicken from his container.
He flashed her an annoyed look, but I could tell he didn’t really care. “Yeah, just a moment.” He finished the last few noodles in his dish and rubbed his hands on a stray napkin. Feeling satisfied, we both stood and walked to the back of the house, to the tech booth, and sat next to the light board.
I had operated the light board for one of the shows before, but I didn’t know how to program it. That was why King was here, he programed all of our shows, and had even gone to school for it. I had heard rumors that he worked on Broadway when he was younger, but that he decided to come here to teach kids about tech instead. I liked thinking that he had a mysterious backstory I hadn’t unlocked yet. Anyhow I still had to write the light cues into my script to call later in the actual show, and it always took 2 in a cue to cue.
“Ready kid?” he asked, giving me a look as I opened my script to page 1.
“Yup!”
“Eda?”
Eda had pulled out her own director’s script and put her readers on her face. “Yeah, I'm ready.”
“Alright, cue 1: preshow…”
And we begun to program the show.