Chapter One

           Estelle Landon sat in her desk, counting down the minutes until she was free from World History, her last class of the day. She watched the second hand as it slowly made its way around the clock. Suddenly, the speaker in the classroom crackled to life with the end of the day’s announcements. All the students grabbed their books and pencils and packed them safely away into their backpacks. Nobody paid any mind to the announcements, but instead chattered away merrily about their after school plans. Estelle turned to Ashlyn Parker, her best friend. As Estelle opened her mouth to begin a conversation, Ashlyn shushed her and pointed at the speaker.

            “If you are interested, please check the call board in the music hallway for more information. Thank you.” The speaker went silent as the school bell rang.

            “Did you hear that?” Ashlyn asked excitedly.

            “All I heard was to check the call board in the music hallway if you are interested. Interested in what?”

            “Auditions for the Fall Musical!” Ashlyn’s face was alight with excitement.

            A grin spread across Estelle’s face. “So, I suppose you’re thinking what I’m thinking?”

            “Heck yes! Let’s go!”

The pair of girls grabbed their belongings and darted out of the room. They eagerly made their way to the music hallway, discussing what the chosen musical could be all the way. They found a group of people all huddled around the call board, trying to read the various papers tacked up, sign-up for auditions and pull audition readings. Estelle and Ashlyn stood back several feet from the edge of the group and waited patiently for the mob to dwindle. When there was space to approach the board without difficulty, they did so. A piece of brightly coloured paper, posted in the middle of the board read in large letters Announcing 2011’s Fall Musical: Guys and Dolls!

“I don’t know that one,” Ashlyn admitted.

“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it,” Estelle stated. “Here, they have the synopsis posted.”

The girls scanned the summery of the production and agreed that it sounded like it would be fun. They both grabbed audition readings, character breakdowns, music and audition sign-up sheets from the designated spots on the board. Alongside the information packets was posted a sign-up for audition times. Ashlyn pulled out a pencil and wrote her name in one of the empty slots. She handed the pencil to Estelle.

“Here, you can use this.”

“No, I�" ”

“What, aren’t you going to audition?” Ashlyn demanded.

“I have to check with my dad first…” Estelle mumbled as she stared at her feet.

“Oh… right…” Ashlyn remembered.

The two girls stood in an awkward silence.

“Well, hopefully he’ll let you.” Ashlyn said, trying to brighten their attitudes.

“Yeah… Look, I’ve got to get home. I’ll call you tonight.”

“Do you want a ride home?”

“No, its ok, I’ll walk.”

“Are you sure? We’ve got room, its really no trouble at all.” Ashlyn prodded, concernedly.

“Yeah. I’ll see you around.”

“Alright. See you, Estelle.” Ashlyn hugged her friend, gave her a smile, and left.

Estelle gave one last longing look at the board, sighed, then turned and commenced her walk home.

«««««

Estelle put her key in the lock and opened the door to her home. It was a nice house -- two stories with quality furnishings. But over the years, it had gradually become unkempt. Dust covered almost every available surface, as did miscellaneous items, papers, and old mail. Plates, cups, and silverware sat stacked up in the kitchen sink, waiting for somebody to need a dish and wash one.
            Inside the house, Estelle hung her windbreaker up, and weaved her way through the cluttered floor up to her bedroom. She glanced at the familiar posters hung upon her walls, the welcoming playbills her mother had collected with her from various theatrical productions. If Mom was here, I could audition for sure, she thought. She dropped her backpack next to her desk and pulled the papers from the call board out. She scanned them over and thought to herself I would give anything to be in this musical. She looked at the audition readings and after a moment of getting a feel for the characters, spoke the lines aloud.

“I thought I hated him… Adelaide, can’t men like Sky ever--”

“Estelle! Is that you?” a gruff voice yelled up the stairs.

Oh no! Dad’s home! He must have come in without me hearing… “Yes, Dad, it’s me!”

“Well, come down here, I want to talk to you!”

Oh jeez, I wonder what this could be about… Estelle set the audition papers on her desk and hesitated before leaving her room. Well, I have to ask him sooner or later, I might as well do it now… She gathered the papers back up and headed downstairs.

“Hey, Dad, what’s up?” She wrinkled her nose up at the smell of gasoline wafting from the dark blue, stained mechanic’s suit with the weathered name tag reading Scott. She looked up into the face of her father, his mouth turned down at the sides, and his brow creased in a look of sternness.

“Estelle, I looked at your grades online today, and I saw that you have a B- in your Physics class.” Scott stated in a harsh, yet concerned tone.

“Yeah… I know, I’m trying to raise it up. The last test was just really hard and I--”

“I don’t want excuses Estelle. I want to see it higher.”

“Well, I’ve been doing extra credit and trying my hardest…”

“Okay. I expect to see some improvement soon then.” Scott said, finalizing the conversation. He opened the fridge, pulled a can of Pabst from inside and walked towards the living room.

“Um, Dad?” Estelle asked her father’s back in a small voice.

“What?” He demanded, spinning around with the beer in his hand, clearly annoyed.

“Um, well, I was wondering… Would it be alright if… If I auditioned for the Fall Musical at school? I have all the information right here if you want to see.”

Scott sighed, “Estelle, your grades aren’t where they need to be and you have responsibilities around this house. You don’t have time to mess around with that theatre crap.”

“But Dad, you know I’ve always wanted to be on stage! I promise I’ll--”

“Estelle, I said no.”

“If Mom was here she’d want me to audition.”

“Do not bring your mother into this! She has nothing to do with it! Now, I told you no, and that is final!” Scott popped the tab on his can, took a swig, and retreated to the living room without another word.

Estelle stood, stricken silent by her father’s harsh words. Tears slowly crept into her eyes, blurring her surroundings. She clutched her papers close to her and made her way back to her bedroom. She looked around her room at the posters and playbills, thought a moment, then pulled out her cellphone and called Ashlyn.

“Hello, this is Ashlyn, leave a message!”

“Hey, Ashlyn, its Estelle. I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be auditioning for the musical! See you later! Bye!”

And with that, Estelle began filling out her audition form.

Reviews

[TommyFly777]

Sorry, Erin, I Liked The Whole Thing And Everything, But I Found A Misspelled Word And It Distracted Me A Little. . . .>_> . . . You Spelled "Summery" Instead Of Summary. . . 11th Paragraph. . . .

[Kita Tataki (Emily Conn..]

What a dramatic opening scene! I can tell I'll like this character already :) You have great character development and vivid imagery. Keep going, I'm interested to see the rest! :D