I blinked sleep from my eyes as my alarm blared. My room filled with the sound of the beginning of No One Mourns The Wicked. I quickly stopped the alarm, saddened by the lack of music but not wishing to wake anyone else up. I rolled out of bed and quickly brushed my teeth and hair. I examined my face for any sign of imperfections, disgruntled to find a zit right next to my nose. Slight bags were visible under my eyes and I sighed, applying makeup to mask them. While most people find the idea of a boy wearing makeup absolutely revolting, I love it. Of course that's because i know how to apply it and like the way it looks on me. I decided on leaving it at just foundation and pulled on my jeans, not letting them sag because (no matter what Margarita says) it does not look good. I slipped a plain black tee shirt on and dashed down the stairs, grabbing my bag on the way.

I rummaged through the cabinets to find something to eat before I left. I took a gulp of the tea from the fridge, replacing the jug before someone noticed. At this exact moment my mother walked into the kitchen. "John how many times am I going to tell you to stop drinking straight from the container?" She asked, starting a pot of coffee for my dad.

I shrugged, shoving a granola bar in my mouth. "A million." I said, still chewing.

"I've said it a million times already." She shot back.

"A million and five." I finished the granola bar and tossed another into my backpack for after school. "Okay I have to go, see you, love you." I listed off my many farewells to her, swinging on my bag and grabbing my keys.

"Love you," she said without turning away from the pot of coffee.

I hopped into my car, legitimately tossing my bag into the passenger seat. I backed out of the driveway, quietly singing along to Newsies. The drive to the school was short but I refuse to sit through another year of the bus. I finally stopped riding the bus freshman year, close enough to the school to walk but this year I could drive, so I intended on doing so.

I swung into a parking spot close to the band entrance and entered the school. The halls were vacant spare a teacher walking quickly to her classroom, the sound of her heels resonating throughout the bland white corridor. I went to a public school, but it was an extremely nice public school. Massive as well. College swim teams actually used the pool here for swim meets. The music department though, was the pride of the school. 'One of the best in the country for music education.'

Though, we did have an amazing boys volleyball team and girls varsity softball team. Both win states almost every year. I immediately made a turn to the black box theatre, which was used for the acting I and II classes' student plays as well as the small plays, improv team and color guard practice during band camp and summer training. It was also the girls changing room in Fridays for marching band performances. The room was nearly empty, one wall covered in mirrors, another lined with a cart of chairs and music stands as well as stored sound equipment. I came here almost every morning to memorize lines, practice audition music and some days I came in and slept until Margarita woke me up five minutes before class.

I set my bag by the door and pulled out my black binder. I carried a music stand to the center on the room, facing the mirror and opened my binder to a piece of sheet music entitled, Wonderful.

I buzzed my lips a few times and took a deep breath before starting the song.

I never asked for this, or planned it in advance. I was merely blown her by the winds of chance. I never saw myself as a Solomon or Socrates, I knew who I was, one of your dime a dozen mediocrities.

I continued the song, imagining the upbeat music as I danced around in my spot.

A celebration throughout Oz, that's all to do with you. Wonderful, they'll call you wonderful!

Margarita's voice filled the air, joining me.

It does sound wonderful!

Trust me its fun!

She stood in the doorway, her dark hair falling over her shoulders perfectly. We finished the song, the both of us singing out the music. I tapped along to the end music, my eyebrows raised expectantly at her to do the same, which she did as though she was reading my mind. We both sang out the last note of the song which should be an instrument. She laughed while I tried to catch my breath. "That was good!" She said between giggles.

"Thanks," I breathed. I usually didn't lose my breath that quickly but I ended up prancing around the room while belting out the song at 7 am. I was still tired.

"So is that your audition song for the musical?" She asked, leaning against the doorway.

I shrugged, flipping through the pages of music. "I dunno I've got my eye on a few other songs depending on what it ends up being." I said.

She straightened up and walked over to me, her dress and hair bouncing ever so slightly. "Like what?" She asked.

"Uh, Don't Let Me Go," I said flipping passed the music. I buzzed my lips again, "Hard To Be The Bard, Everlasting down an octave."

She sighed inwardly, "Those are all really good."

I flipped shut the binder, "Well I'll know when Zortman tells us what the musical is gonna be." I shoved the binder into my bag and zipped it up. I held my arm out to Margarita as kids began flooding the halls lugging instrument cases and bags for athletics. "Shall we?"

She smiled and nodded curtly, taking my arm, "We shall." We walked together down the hall and into the large atrium which was packed full of cliques. We walked up the stairs to a bench that overlooked the atrium below. She set her bag on the ground and pulled out a book, sitting down to read it before class.

I continued to stand, watching the crowds of teenagers. There were couples here and there, making out where they thought they were hidden but obviously they weren't, standing behind the large concrete pillars that held up the top of the atrium. The atrium was a giant open area with a square cut out of the second floor. Large pillars led up from the ground to the ceiling where it peaked into a point. The most beautiful part of the school really. Stained glass window panes from the old high school let in light making the atrium perfect for shooting videos, or daily selfies.

I watched as a flood of kids would come in. Signaling that another bus had arrived. From up above it looked like a mass of brown, blonde and black hair with the occasional ginger or vibrant artificial color. Also lots of neon shirts and shorts yielding the Nike logo. The first bell rung signaling ten minutes until first block started. Margarita and I gathered our things and walked towards the 500 wing. Neither of us spoke however it wasn't silent because the occasional locker could be heard being slammed shut and lots of voices trailed about.

We both turned into our first class hoping that the board was fairly empty. To our dismay, Mrs. Lemmings was writing the agenda for the class. Which was more for herself than us. Margarita took her seat at the back of the class in a group of four desks which also hosted myself, Hercules and Burr. I slid into my seat and pulled out my school provided iPad. The students still have no clue as to why the school board decided to use their budget to provide every high-school student with an iPad instead of new turf on the football field or a larger band budget. (The color guard sews their own flags and sometimes costumes due to low budgets) Perhaps new mics for the theatre department. The library has since been replaced with a "student learning hub" which was much like a computer lab. Clusters of Mac desktops and plenty of tables. We still call it the library.

Sitting through first period involved avoiding eye contact with Mrs. Lemmings and sneakily playing games or scrolling through Tumblr. The bell finally rang and Margarita and I both rushed out the door and down the stairs towards the music wing (the 700 wing but it's called the music wing).

"Hello Zortman," we said together as we entered the chorus room.

He nodded from his spot right outside the door, "Good morning." He said kindly.

We dropped our bags on the counter in the back of the room (which also had a large mirror covering the wall) and parted ways as she sat in the alto section and I sat in the tenor section. I could sing bass but I found singing tenor easier on my voice.

The bell sounded in the room and Zortman took his place in the front of the class, behind a keyboard. He sang a note on an "ah" sound, same as he did every morning that we saw him. To which the students scurried to their seats and matched the pitch. He signed solfege notes which we sang in accordance to the first note he sang, being do. "Okay great," he cued for us to shut up, which we did. He was not nice when he was ticked off. He glanced a a paper on the music stand in front of the piano. "Reminder that the current fundraiser is due next Tuesday, blah blah blah. Put them in the box up front." He pointed being himself. "Okay, auditions for the fall musical will be Saturday beginning at 9 am. I will need student volunteers which can go towards hours. Breakfast will be provided for those who sign up to help. I'll need about ten of you. Audition packets are out on the bulletin board in the hall. Just show up, sing, perform your monologue. Learn the dance, get callback information and go home. Simple." A few hands shot up. "For those of you that are concerned, we are looking at doing either Shrek the Musical, Wicked, or In the Heights." He waved down the hands that were up. "We will decide based on what our cast for the year looks like."

Margarita, Eliza and I left the chorus room chatting excitedly about the three choices, mainly In the Heights since the cast was mostly of color. We grabbed audition packets and walked to the cafeteria for lunch. We met up with Angelica and handed her a packet. She had a way of leading us through the lunch line in literally one minute.

We sat at our table towards the front of the cafeteria and babbled on about audition songs and monologues for the entire lunch period.

Chapter one is so long wtf.

Anyway pls vote for the musical you want them to do by commenting down below.

Shrek

Wicked

In the Heights

Thanks friends ❤