She's The One Thing I Couldn't Live Without

“Congratulations, you are all officially members of the musical Hairspray!” Mr. Stevens said, throwing his hands in the air. Everyone in the theatre room cheered, clapping.

“Now, here are your scripts.” He said, handing us the thick booklets that held all of our lines and lyrics. I turned to Joe, an excited grin on my face. He gave me one back, and then we both turned back to Mr. Stevens.

“Now, since I am aware most of you don’t know the others in the cast, I shall introduce you all. Rebecca Todd is the lovely red-head in front of me, she will be playing Tracy Turnblad. Mr. Joseph Jonas will be playing Link Larkin, Ruby Quentin will be playing Penny Pingleton, Nicholas will be playing Seaweed, Madeline Rider will be playing Amber Von Tussle…” I tuned him out, hearing all of the names that I needed to hear. I looked over at Joe, Nick’s words running through my mind.

“I would know these things better than you…Would I push you towards something awful?”

Curse you Nick for not being straight up.

I studied Joe’s face, seeing as he was enraptured with what Mr. Stevens was saying. It was true that he was gorgeous, I had always known that.

There was something about him that I suppose had always attracted me to him. I just hadn’t realized it until now.

Soon, Mr. Stevens had stopped talking, and he had instructed us to break into groups. If our characters were friends, we were to get to know each other so the friendship on stage was real. If our characters were enemies, we were to become enemies. Mr. Stevens was very much into method acting.

Joe stood up, looking around for the group of kids that would be playing his friends for the next few weeks. The blonde girl, Madeline, walked over to him, taking his arm in her hands.

“This way Joe,” She said in a sickly sweet voice. I wanted to make her leave Joe alone, but he shot me a smile, promising to catch up with me after rehearsal. As they were walking away, Madeline turned around and glared at me. I frowned.

“You’ll have to excuse Maddie. She’s a bit of a…drama queen.” A soprano voice startled me, and I jumped, turning around. It appears Nick wasn’t the only one with a knack for scaring me.

“Sorry if I scared you. I’m Ruby.” The owner of the voice turned out to be a girl, and she was holding her hand out. I smiled, shaking it.

“It’s fine. My friends do that to me all the time. I’m Becky.” She beamed.

“Great. Looks like we get to be friends for the next 3 months.” I grinned, this girl seemed nice, and I had a feeling we would get along just fine.

~**~

“It’s been a good three months. You all have done so well, and I am very proud to say that I directed this show. It’s opening night, let’s give ‘em a performance worth talking about!” Mr. Steven said, and we all cheered, standing in full costume and make-up. He was right, it had been a good three months. The show was looking great, and I was extremely excited. I loved performing.

“Are you going to tell him tonight?” Nick asked, standing next to me. I bit my lip.

Yeah, I still hadn’t told Joe anything yet. So sue me if I was a little nervous.

Okay, very nervous. These past few months hadn’t made it any easier on me. If it was even possible, I had fallen more in love with Joe. Chalk it up to Mr. Stevens and his method acting, but I couldn’t get Joe out of my head.

“If you don’t, I will.” Nick warned, and my eyes widened.

“N-no! Don’t you dare. I’ll do it. I’ll do it tonight.” Nick grinned.

“That’s perfect, because he-” He caught himself before he could finish his sentence.

“Nick, what were you going to say?” I asked him, gripping his arm. He flashed me a smile before looking over my shoulder and shaking his head.

“Nothing. Now, I’ve got to go grab my props, so I’ll catch you later, Becky.” He said, wriggling out of my grasp and jogging backstage. I sighed, and turned around, nearly running into Joe.

“Whoa there, Becky.” He said, stopping me by holding on to my arms. I laughed, looking up at him.

“Sorry, Joey.” I said, and he grinned.

“Are you excited for tonight?” He asked, and I nodded.

“Of course I am! We’re going to knock their socks off!” I said confidently. Joe laughed.

“Yes we are!” He said, pulling me into a hug. I hugged him back, enjoying the moment until we were interrupted by a cough.

“Excuse me, Rachel, but I need to borrow Joe.” I rolled my eyes as I pulled away from him; I knew that voice well enough.

“Maddie, I told you, it’s Becky. Short for Rebecca. Not Rachel.” I corrected her for what felt like the trillionth time. She rolled her eyes.

“Yes, well, names aside, I need to borrow Joe.” She said, tugging on his arm. I frowned.

“Yeah, just a sec, Maddie.” He said, holding up a finger to her. He turned back to me. “Meet me outside after the show. I have something I wanna show you.” He said quietly. I nodded, feeling excited butterflies explode in my stomach. He smiled at me softly, before turning around, and leaving with Maddie.

“That’s so sweet!” I heard Ruby’s voice coo from behind me, and I turned around again, smiling.

“Yeah, it is.”