Name: Show Boys Chapter 2: The Audition
The doors to their new world opened. Alex and Tony walked side by side as best they could, with Alex's cello case keeping them from walking closer. When they reached the auditorium, there were kids of varying ages all over. Alex noticed that many were older, which worried him a little bit as he was used to being the older grade in the school from middle school. This was like a whole new beginning and he didn't know if he liked it that way.
The most immediate realization by both boys was that there was a certain rift between the auditorium. On one side was the group auditioning for the cast, while on the other was the group most certainly auditioning for the pit orchestra. As with any performance, there would be a whole slew of tech students, but they had a different process of being picked. This was definitely a good thing for there were a good 200 kids in the auditorium to begin with. Any more people and it would have been unbearable.
"So, good luck with your cello then," Tony said.
"Oh, uh thanks. You too," replied Alex. Smooth Alex,' he said to himself, you too? He sings..." Although, Alex was quite happy that Tony had remembered what his instrument was. Even though he acted like a moron, he was happy it seemed Tony was taking interest. He only hoped it was the same interest Alex had for him.
"I'll do my best! I'll, um, see you around then."
"Yeah, sounds good. Later," said Alex.
As Alex walked away toward the pit kids, both boys were thinking the same thing. They wanted to say something more, but how... how could they do it? Alex knew he would just make a fool of himself, so no words came out as he walked away. Tony, on the other hand, had the confidence to blurt something out.
"We should run together sometime."
Alex turned around, quite surprised at the sudden outburst by this boy. "Yeah, maybe... Um, sounds good actually."
"I'll catch you after then?"
"Uh, okay," responded Alex, with a slight smile on his face. He walked on, thinking many a good thought. He sat down in the middle aisle so that he could have his cello in front of him. He unpacked the glorious instrument his father had spent a fortune on for his last birthday. He eyed other cello players around the area, and noted that none of their instruments could even begin to compare to the piece of art that would soon be between his legs.
Once his instrument was out, he tightened his bow and placed it on the strings. He hummed a perfect A in his mind and began to tune the strings. A, then move to the D string and match the harmonic, then to the G string and then the C. Perfect, he thought to himself. He started just messing around, playing a fancy little jig he had made up the past school year. Naturally, every time he played it, it sounded different, but that was what Alex loved about improvising his own tunes. His hands moved skillfully up into position on the D string and bridged across to the C string, while his bow flicked back and forth between strings to create a sound of discord that nearly brought tears of joy to Alex's now closed eyes.
As he played, the smile of his new friend Tony came to mind. His song soon changed its tune to something more out of a sappy love movie. His strings cried of loneliness and hopelessness as if they could actually emote the way Alex felt inside. The instrument was executing Alex's every thought with perfection. It helped quite a bit that Alex was quite gifted, even if he didn't realize just how much so. Unknown to him, quite a few other instrumentalists around him were listening to his odd creation in awe and jealousy. Some of them were seniors and could only dream of playing with the grace that Tony was able to. A tall, pretty girl walked up to him.
"You are quite good. What piece was that?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh," Alex spluttered. He had been caught off guard with his eyes closed, and his bow scratched oddly on the strings. "It was no piece specifically. I was kind of just making it up, I guess."
"Wow, really?" the girl exclaimed, "It was quite remarkable!"
"Oh, really? Well thanks."
"My name's Sarah. I've never seen you around here. You new or something?"
"Oh, umm, I suppose so. I am a freshman."
"I see. Well good luck with your audition... umm..."
"Oh, my name is Alex. Sorry."
"You're cute. See you later Alex."
"Uh, bye then," said Alex, caught quite off guard once more by this mysterious girl. He had no idea what that was all about and he quickly dismissed it. His mind went right back into his dream world and his song of lust.
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As Alex walked away, Tony congratulated himself on speaking up. Even though he was a social butterfly, some things came hard to him and one of them was expressing his deep, inner thoughts. Although it wasn't quite that apparent, Tony wanted to be sure to show a little interest in this new boy to start making a sort of friendship. Maybe someday soon he would be able to make a move that would make them more than just friends. And yet, he could not help reminding himself there was a great possibility everything could go wrong. Borders could be crossed with Alex that would not make any of these self discoveries any better. Tony decided it would be best to just play things cool, not be too intrusive and to wait until he knew how Alex felt about, well, other boys. Tony said a little prayer, of sorts, to whatever god or deity made boys like other boys. It went something like this: "Dear god-thing of gay love, please make Alex like me as much as I like him. I would sacrifice something to you like we talked about in history class on Monday, but I feel if anyone found out, I would be put in a padded room, so yeah. Thanks for anything you can do. Umm, peace? Yeah."
As he moved through the crowds of students, Tony saw one of his good friends from middle school. "Jessie, hey!" he hollered over the many voices around him.
"Hey Tony! How's it going?" she responded.
"Oh you know, just here to get the lead part, nothing big."
"Hah, yeah, whatever Ton. You always were a dick like that."
"You know you like it," Tony retorted sarcastically.
"I'd like it if you would go on a date with me. You know that, but no. You can't, blah blah."
"Ah, shut up Jess! Why the hell would I go on a date with you?! You're like my fucking sister!"
"Psh, whatever," spat Jessie. "You called, what, like twice over the summer? If we're so close, then why didn't you at least call more?"
"Well, uh, I kind of had some things on my mind, and stuff, umm, like running and uhh, I was finding myself? I guess...? Yeah."
"Ton, you make no sense. And I know you run a lot, but still..." she led off into her own thoughts. She really did like him, but she knew something was stopping him from making the move she thought should be obvious to both of them.
"Jess, can I have a hug?" Tony asked.
"What? Yeah, whatever."
As they came together, Tony breathed in deep and when his mouth was by her ear, he whispered as quietly as he possibly as he could, "I think I'm gay."
The moment the words came out of his mouth, Jessie grabbed Tony's shoulders and pulled him out in front of her. Her hands were holding tightly onto his shoulders. She looked into his deep brown eyes. A look of confusion, loss and hopelessness was what she saw, and after a few moments, the beginnings of tears began to pool, ready to run down the smooth, tanned face of her best friend. She pulled him back to her, holding him tight, praying that the sobbing would stop before anyone took notice. "Shhh, calm down," she cajoled. "Breathe and let's talk about this. Everything is okay."
Tony breathed in deep, wiping his eyes while still in the comforting grip of his friend. Tony composed himself and pulled himself, gently, from Jessie's comforting hold. "So, you don't hate me then?" he asked, somewhat sheepishly, which was odd for him. Tony usually was able to compose himself in a way that exuded confidence and strength.
"Of course I don't hate you," she responded after a short silence. "How could I hate you for something like that?"
"Well, I don't know. I can't believe I was able to tell you. No one knows yet."
"Well, aren't I just so special?" Jessie said, laughing.
"Oh shut up!" Tony exclaimed. "I'm only telling you `cause I don't have anyone else to go to. Please don't tell anyone! No one can know."
"Well, how do you even know? I mean, it's not like you've had sex with anyone. Have you?"
"No, no. I wish, `cause then I would know for sure."
"Well, yeah, I suppose you could look at it that way," she said. "So, you like boys... like, like boys. That is so weird!"
"Quiet down! Shit, with you knowing, I won't have to keep it a secret. The whole school will know before I even start going to it!"
"Yeah, I'm sorry," Jessie said, now more in control of herself. "So, any hot boys in here right now then?" she continued with a more calm countenance to her words.
"What? Maybe," Tony said, somewhat embarrassed at the prospect of his crush being known.
"Well, who is he?" Jessie asked after she realized Tony wasn't going to let the information out willingly.
"Promise not to laugh?" Tony asked. Jessie nodded her head, so Tony began to look about the sea of students for his new crush. "Over there, sitting in the chair in the middle playing the cello. It is the big thing in between his legs."
"Wow, he's cute. You think he's gay then?" Jessie asked.
"I have no idea, but I hope so. We talked a bit before we came inside. He's a runner too."
"And a damn good cello player by the look of it."
"How can you tell that? I didn't even know what a cello was before he told me."
"God you are a moron Ton! Just look around him. Everyone near him is listening, and some are even staring at him. He has no idea though, I can tell that much. His eyes are closed tight shut. Maybe he's thinking of you," she teased.
"Oh whatever," Tony said, but deep inside he desperately hoped that Alex was thinking of him.
A voice shot over the commotion of the students, "everyone, we shall now begin. Please be quiet so we can begin."
Tony turned his head in the direction of the loud, piercing voice. Slowly, starting at the front of the large auditorium, the voices died away, all attention turned to the large woman standing front stage. She was a woman who was greatly respected by the older students, made evident by their immediate silence. Tony wondered who this woman was and guessed she was to be one of the directors for the show.
"Good, now we can begin. David and Vanessa, can you break the singers into voice groups for me. And Anthony, could you get the pit kids ready for Mr. Palmer. They will be going in one at a time. Get them the proper music. Okay, move."
Immediately after she was done talking, people started moving, breaking the hopeful vocalists into groups based on their range. Tony was separated from Jessie, but they were able to say bye. Alex, on the other hand, had his tuning checked after a bit of a wait, which was perfectly fine, and garnered some praise from the older string player. They both warmed up with their respective groups, awaiting the end of try outs to hopefully see their crushes once more. Little did they know, they were thinking of each other almost at exactly the same moment.
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That is the end of Chapter 2. Look forward to chapter 3.