Chapter 18

 

For reasons unknown even to herself, Aleda brushed off her parents’ offer to drive her to the high school. Normally she would have welcomed the option of riding in a warm car on such a cold evening, even for a few minutes.

It seemed a little silly, perhaps, to make them go to the trouble of driving her someplace that was no farther than the distance that she had just walked. If it weren’t for the necessity to change into her black clothes, she probably wouldn’t have bothered going home at all.

Even allowing for the time it took her to walk the few blocks to the school, Aleda arrived on time with little trouble. Actually, she arrived a few minutes early. When she got to the Chorus room, the few cast members who had shown up before her were camped out in the middle of the floor, eating fast food.

“Hiya, Leda,” one said. “Want a fry?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

She accepted a few of the greasy fries and chewed them thoughtfully. She really should have brought a book to read until everyone else showed up, or at least her homework. Finally she settled for sitting with the others, although she didn’t eat anything else. Somebody would probably make another food run in a little while.

More fast food, probably.

It wasn’t her favorite, but on nights like this she wasn’t particularly picky.

Twenty minutes later she found herself wishing she had stayed out in the woods with Talia. Okay, so maybe she would still be sitting around stupidly, waiting for something to happen, but at least she would be sitting around with a friend. The actors were slowly making their way into the chorus room, but Aleda had yet to see any of her friends—or, more specifically, Mara, Val, or Nate.

Pretty soon she was going to have to get herself up and start helping the actors with their makeup. The rest of the crew had better turn up soon. Aleda really wasn’t in the mood to negotiate the bits of food that were, at the moment, flying between them with great enthusiasm.

Mrs. Dodges was going to go batty, when she noticed.

Oh, dear… she noticed.

“Enough! What is this?”

Aleda gulped and made herself inconspicuous.

“You’re supposed to be wearing your costumes, not your dinner!” Mrs. Dodges yelled, “And just where did you get all this?”

The offending parties, now attempting to look as innocent as possible—given the circumstances—all pointed to someone else in the group. Mrs. Dodges glared at each of them in turn, finally throwing up her hands in exasperation.

“Fine!” she said, her frustration raising her voice nearly an octave, “Eat your cheeseburgers. But you had all better be ready by curtain, or so help me…”

She didn’t even have to finish. With one last warning finger pointed at the lot of them she turned away and worried after another group of crew members who seemed to be having difficulty with one of the costumes.

“Hey, Chica! What did I miss?”

Aleda rolled her eyes in relief to see Mara finally waltz into the Chorus room.

“It’s about time you showed up,” she commented dryly.

“What do you mean? I’m right on time!” Mara countered, grinning blithely.

“Yes, of course you are. Although, you did miss the food fight.”

“Damn it! There was a food fight?”

“If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t a very good one. Mrs. Dodges broke it up pretty quick.”

“Well, okay. I guess there’s still time for me to do some damage.”

Aleda sighed. Trying to stop her would be pointless.

“Yeah, plenty of time,” she admitted. “Just don’t get the musical canceled. That’s all I ask.”

“If you insist. But only because it’s you asking.”

Aleda narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously.

“I know that look. No fire, either!”

“How about if I just don’t set fire to anything we’ll need later?”

“…Fine.”

Several more of the actors had shown up. Aleda needed to help them with their stage makeup. Sufficiently convinced that Mara would not be burning down the school in the next few hours, she left her to go in search of a free makeup brush.

“Hey, Leda!” Mara called after her, holding something up. Aleda couldn’t see what it was. “Do we need this for the play?”

“Yes, Mara.”

“Aw, okay.”

One of these days, Aleda was sure, she was going to come to school and find nothing but a crater.

She was finally able to snag a brush while the girl using it was distracted. By the time the she looked back, Aleda was industriously slathering foundation on another actor’s face. Count that as another reason to stay out of the actors’ spotlight—she had enough trouble keeping her skin clear without coating it five times over with this thick, oily mess.

Admittedly, it was a little fun doing it to other people.

Especially the boys.

Boys who, any other day of the week, would not be caught dead wearing makeup now complained if they thought she had skimped on their eyeliner. And heaven help her if their hair wasn’t just perfect.

At some point, Nate had arrived and put on his Mayor’s costume. It was well made, although the suit didn’t really seem to suit him.

“Alright,” Aleda said, brandishing her makeup brush at him. “Your turn.”

He pretended to groan. “Aw, geez,” he whined, “You’re going to do the girlfriend thing now, aren’t you? Treating the guy like a dress-up doll. I should have known.”

She frowned at him. “What? No! You’ve got to—I’m supposed to help you put on your stage stuff.”

“Hey, relax!” he said, winking at her. “I was just messing around. Come on, paint my face.”

“…Ok.”

Aleda gave him a funny look and went to work getting him ready for the stage.

It took the entire two hours before curtain, but she and the rest of the cast and crew finally managed to get every actor costumed and coated with stage makeup. There were a few tricky points in the intervening time, especially when four people got into a brawl over the makeup brushes and a stick of foundation, but they eventually sorted themselves out and got on with their preparations.

The performance seemed to go faster this time.

Aleda noticed that the actors seemed more confident in their lines. It was probably a bad sign that she could tell exactly which of their lines they delivered differently, and how.

At least it would all be over soon.

Mara had been spot on in her appraisal of being involved in a school musical—it really did suck her life out through her nose. She couldn’t even remember what normal people did after school—every spare second she had was devoted to this thing.

Still, though, she knew she would miss it. Not the stress or the makeup fights or the set crises—she wouldn’t miss those—but there had been some great hijinx too. For all that Mara kept threatening to burn down the school, the girl was completely hilarious.

Well, they still had one last performance: Sunday matinee. They would even have an after-party at Val’s house. No costumes required this time, fortunately. They would all go over after the last performance and celebrate the end of their successful production. Also, the end of having to stay at the high school for obscene hours every day of the week.

Since her parents had not come to this performance, Nate offered to drive Aleda home. She waited in the Chorus room to help straighten up a little, while he talked to all of the people who had come to see the play. Mara and Val kept her company for a little while, but they had people waiting to say hello to them as well, and they didn’t stay long.

She helped Nate wipe off some of his stage makeup when he was finished greeting the audience. It took almost as long to get it off his face as it had to put it on in the first place. He stopped trying after a little while, saying he would simply wash the rest off when he got home. Aleda was grateful—she was getting sick of that freaking Chorus room.

It was time to go home.