Cast Me! Chapter 2
The very next day of school, Res was shaking with nerves. He really wanted to be in the fall drama, but didn't know if his acting was up to par with the rest of the drama department students. Chad told Res it was a small cast, so as the pink fox walked down the sidewalk to East Fur High School, that butt of his was bouncing with speed.
He walked into the school and went to the auditorium. No one was there. He looked around for a bit and decided to go inside where he still found no one. Res went to the next door over, which was where his Drama class was. The second man besides Mr. Oefed at the auditions the previous day was sitting at Mr. Oefed's computer.
"Hey!" the snake called at Res, "You can't be in here while I'm making up the cast list!"
"I...I'm really sorry!" Res apologized and quickly left the room. Once the door closed, he began whimpering softly, feeling a little discouraged. That snake was pretty intimidating.
As Res thought about what to do next, Chad approached the fox from the direction of the auditorium just as the halls started to fill up with the student body. "Hey there!" Chad greeted Res.
"Hi Chad," Res replied, "When does that snake put up the cast list?"
"You mean Mr. Pacolle?"
"Sure, I guess."
"He usually doesn't put up the cast list until around lunch. Sorry sweetie."
Res sighed and whimpered once again as he started moving towards the orchestra classroom when he felt a paw on his shoulder.
"Don't worry hun. I'm sure you made it," Chad smiled and kissed the top of Res's head before walking off.
Res walked into his orchestra classroom, put his stuff down by his seat and went into the cello and bass room to get his instrument. After tightening his bow and extending his end pin, he patiently awaited class to begin by practicing a few scales.
Once class started, Mr. Enal introduced a simple piece of music to the class which they rehearsed quickly before class was over.
Biology came around and Bernard came in a few minutes late just like the day before. Ms. Sivad just decided to ignore it today and let him sit down. Res flicked his tail nervously, still thinking about the cast list, not realizing he was hitting Bernard's left thigh and arm.
"Excuse me?" Bernard asked, breaking Res out of his trance, "Is there something you want to say to me?" Bernard gave Res a smile, one of the most beautiful ones Res had ever seen.
"Is there something you want to say to me?" Ms. Sivad retorted back to Bernard, growling softly at the polar bear. Bernard looked down at his desk and the skunk just continued on with her lesson which barely anyone was paying attention to. It was something about coming together as friends and cell reproduction. Who knows?
The bell rang and Res headed out to go through his social studies, math, and English classes. Lunch arrived. The big moment was almost here. He walked hurriedly towards the auditorium where he was once again stopped by Chad. "Hey there, little buddy. Where are you going?" he asked.
"To see the cast list," Res replied.
"Packy doesn't post the cast list near the auditorium. He posts it outside of the Little Playhouse."
"What's that?"
"It's basically a mini-stage. Students in the Repertory Theatre classes use it to put on performances of their own. It's also where Packy's office is."
"Who's Packy?"
Chad giggled and said, "Sorry. That's what the Drama department calls Mr. Pacolle. And we call Mr. Oefed 'O'."
"Oh..."
"Right!"
Res giggled and Chad looked him, confused. "So do you think the cast list is up yet?" Res asked Chad.
"I doubt it. Packy likes to tease us."
Res growled and pouted. "This is killing me! Why won't he just do it?" he whined.
Chad giggled and took Res's paw. "Let's go find out," he said. The dalmatian and fox walked up the stairs to the third floor where the Little Playhouse was. The board was basically empty. Nothing really important.
Res lowered his ears and sighed in disappointment when the door to Packy's office opened and the same snake slithered out and quickly stapled the cast list up to the board and snuck back into his office before being trampled by the students looking to see if they made the play.
Chad smiled to Res and pulled him up on his back, giving Res a piggy-back ride so that the fox could spy over the crowd and look at the list:
Cast:
Jellaby...............................................................................................................................................Nathaniel Dodge
Ezra Chater...........................................................................................................................................Mestian Bariff
Richard Noakes...........................................................................................................................................Ille Myriet
Lady Croom...................................................................................................................................Sylvia Underwood
Captain Brice................................................................................................................................................Ixan Dion
Hannah Jarvis............................................................................................................................................Yulia Pixiar
Chloë Coverly.........................................................................................................................................Fiona Eulana
Bernard Nightingale........................................................................................................................Lordon Rightwin
Valentine Coverly...........................................................................................................................Oxford Dresseet
Gus/Augustus Coverly........................................................................................................................Frank Neoshin
Leads:
Thomasina Coverly....................................................................................................................Resplendence Eden
Septimus Hodge......................................................................................................................................Chad Mayax
NO EXTRAS
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THOSE CASTED. THE READ THRU WILL TAKE PLACE AFTER SCHOOL IN THE AUDITORIUM.
Thomasina?...Res got a...girl's part? This must have been a mistake or a joke. He felt Chad bend down so that he could step off of his shoulders, where Res just stood and stared off into space, half in shock, half in confusion.
"Well?" Chad asked, "Did we get parts?"
"Umm....Y...Yeah...," Res answered, "Uhh..You're Septimus."
"Yes!" Chad cried in excitement, "Oh, I can't believe this! My first lead ro...Oh...Uh...What about you?"
"Umm...It must have been a mistake...," Res stammered.
But everyone in the mob never questioned the fact that he got the lead woman's part, because everyone still thought he was a girl.
"You didn't get a part?" Chad asked.
"No...I got a part," Res hesitated.
"Well, that's great! Why do you look so down?"
"I got the lead girl's part."
Chad just stared at Res for a moment and then started to burst out laughing, causing the mob to look back at him in confusion. As Chad began to roll on the floor in hilarity, Res walked over to knock on Mr. Pacolle's door where, to his right, he heard the cheers and "aww's" of people getting parts and others realizing they weren't casted.
The snake cracked the door open just a little and looked out towards Res. "What?" he asked.
"Umm...Sir...I think there's some mistake in the cast list..." Res answered before being cut off by Packy.
"Nope. There's never any mistake in the cast list. You're Resplendence Eden, right? Didn't you get the part you wanted? The lead woman?"
"Quite the opposite sir. I was looking to get the lead man's part. But I totally understand that Chad deserves..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, sir...I'm a boy."
Packy just stared at Res for a moment just like Chad. "Really? Well, the cast list is still correct, and there's no changing it," he stated. The door shut in Res's face, stunning him for a moment before he walked back over to the recovering Chad.
"Wh...What did Packy...say?" Chad tried to speak through gasps of breath.
"He said the cast list is final," Res said.
Chad stood up, finally regaining his breath before saying, "Well, then. I can't wait to kiss you in the final scene." He winked at Res, who blushed deeply.
Res walked away, growling a bit to himself.
His next few classes were a breeze. Drama arrived once again. Mr. Oefed said to the class, "Congratulations to Resplendence and Nathaniel for making the cast of Arcadia." Mr. Oefed must still not have known that Res was a boy. The blue jay on the other side of the room stood up and took a bow while the rest of them clapped for the two actors.
'Eff,' Res thought to himself, 'That's Nathaniel? This is going to be a long show.' He looked up and saw Nathaniel stare back at him for a few seconds before sitting down in his seat.
The class was over soon enough. All they did was talk about a little theatre history, but he caught Nathaniel's eye a few times during the lesson.
Thankfully, eighth hour was over soon enough and Res hurried out of the room and down the hall to the auditorium. He walked inside where he saw the immense and absolutely stunning room. It was, obviously, filled with seats, aisles separating them every now and then. Each seat had a red felt with golden studs on the back of them. The bay up near the top of the room housed the light board, and a small room even higher above that controlled the sounds. Lights hung from the very top of the ceiling and along vertical bars on each side of the theatre. But the stage, oh the stage! The floor of the stage was black-painted wood and a black wall in the back. On stage right, Res could see the intricacies of the fly system which controlled even more lights directly above the stage. It was beautiful. And Res knew this is where he belonged. It felt satisfying having found his home in high school so quickly.
"Hey!" Res heard. The fox snapped back into reality and looked across the room at two people sitting in the seats. It was a red fox and a grey wolf; male and female, respectively. "You must be Resplendence," the fox said.
"How'd you know?" Res asked.
"You're the only one in the cast we don't know. You must be a freshman, too," the wolf noted.
"What about Nathaniel? He's a freshman," Res questioned.
"We went to the same elementary school with him. So, we know him," the fox explained, "Congratulations on getting the lead."
"Thanks," Res said. He wondered if they knew he was a boy. He was also surprised that the two of them weren't jealous even though they had been in theatre a long time before he had. Res was curious.
"You do know I'm a boy, though, right?" he asked the two of them. The fox and wolf both went wide-eyed and the wolf's maw even fell agape as they stared at Res.
"What?" the fox asked desperately, "Did you talk to Packy about it?"
"Yeah," Res replied, "He said the cast list was final."
"Ugh," the wolf said, "That is just like him."
Res was now surprised that the two weren't turned off by the fact that he was a crossdresser. He smiled to them and asked, "What are your names?"
"I'm Oxford. I'm playing Valentine Coverly," the fox said.
"And I'm Yulia. I'm playing Hannah Jarvis," the wolf smiled, "I'm afraid we won't be in any scenes with you except for the final scene."
"Does everyone know this play except for me?" Res asked.
Oxford and Yulia laughed. "In Repertory Theatre, we're required to read every play we produce over the year during the previous summer," Yulia explained.
Res nodded. "So, you two must be juniors? Do you know Chad?" Res asked.
"Yup yup," Oxford said, "Watch out for him." He winked to Res and the two canids laughed together again. Res tilted his head, confused, but noticed that the rest of the cast and Packy had assembled.
Packy stood in the aisle and passed out the scripts to the small cast of only twelve people. "Welcome everyone, and congratulations on making this play. I hope you all enjoy the experience. Cameron is not here today because he had a doctor's appointment, but he will be here tomorrow," he told the cast.
'That must be the rhino that was here yesterday,' Res thought to himself.
He saw Nathaniel sitting a few rows down and glaring at him once again. 'What a creep!' Res thought to himself, getting quite annoyed.
Everyone looked down to their scripts and began reading. The first scene started with Res and Chad in a room of "a very large country house in Derbyshire". Thomasina is aged thirteen and Septimus is twenty-two. Thomasina is studying in her mathematics primer when she asks the first line of the play, "Septimus, what is carnal embrace?" The cast immediately burst out laughing, and Res knew this was going to be exciting. Res was also happy to learn that Nathaniel's part, Jellaby, was the servant of the house in which Thomasina was living.
The play was fascinating. It was full of deceit, thoughtfulness, and a mystifying cast. They reached the end about an hour later, where Thomasina forced Septimus to teach her to dance. All of the characters came together in the final scene. The play consisted of two time periods: the nineteenth century and the present day, with the characters of the present day studying what happened to the characters of the nineteenth century. The characters of both of these time periods intermingle and react to each other's presence without actually acknowledging each other's existence.
The play ended with Hannah discovering the mystery of the nineteenth century characters and getting up to dance with Gus who helped her receive that information necessary for the solution. As those two danced together, Thomasina and Septimus danced together in unison, kissing.
Res blushed deeply and his heart started beating as the rest of the cast started making ooo and kissing sounds and he thought of kissing Chad. The dalmatian smiled to Res, almost seductively. Res gasped to himself and looked back down to the script quickly.
"All right everyone. We will start with blocking for scenes one, two and three tomorrow," Packy told the cast, "Have a nice day."
Everyone got up and went out into the lobby which connected the auditorium to the outside. Chad caught up to Res and grabbed his paw. "I hope you're as excited as I am," Chad smiled to the little fox.
Res took his paw back and smiled back up at him. "Sure," Res said, nervously as he walked out of the lobby and towards his mom's car, leaving Chad to sulk and look down at the ground.