“Carmen,” I called, jogging to
catch up to her. She turned on the sidewalk, searching for me. The moment her hazel
eyes found me, she pulled her blond hair over her shoulder.
“Johnathan. What a surprise.” The
way she said it revealed how little of a surprise it was. I suspected she’d
been looking for me, hoping to discuss auditioning for the lead.
“Not really. I need your help
with something.”
“What?” she asked, cocking her head
to the side, her doe eyes wide and innocent.
“I want Gisele to audition.”
At first, she stared, her brow
furrowed and her lips slightly pressed. Slowly, she realized I wasn’t joking
and she smiled secretively. “I’ve told you she won’t. She doesn’t like to
perform.”
“Why not?”
“She’s convinced herself she
has stage fright.”
“Do you know why?”
Carmen shrugged, and examined
her cuticles. “It was before I met her. Supposedly she was really great, at
least according to half our town, but I never knew that side of her. By the
time I came around, she refused to perform and blamed it on this fictitious
fear of hers.”
The only way I would figure out
what had caused her to stop was if Gisele told me, but she wasn’t likely to
come to me. “Is there any way you could help me get her to audition?” I asked,
trying to avoid sounding too desperate.
She thought a moment, shifting
the bag on her shoulder up more and pulling her hair around and over the
opposite shoulder. “I can try, I guess. She won’t come, though.”
“Thank you.”
“I’d better get to class. I’ll
be way late,” she said, glancing in the direction she had been travelling
before our conversation, but not leaving.
Had I been interested in her, I
would have been tempted to ask her elsewhere, maybe lunch or something. But
Carmen was a means to an end. “Have a good class.”
She forced a cordial smile
before turning and gliding away.
After she left, I went in
search of Gisele. I made her nervous for whatever reason, so I needed to plan
my approach. It wouldn’t do to scare her. Observation was key to a good plan,
though. Not stalk, observe. Perhaps I would find my answers in her mannerisms. If
she really had convinced herself she had stage fright, I could offer her a
private audition. I already knew she had the part, and she knew I wanted her to
have it. The audition was a formality to say she went through it.
She was leaving the art
building when I finally found her. Her thumb was hooked on her bag and her eyes
were diverted downward. She walked alone until Baron appeared. Gisele’s
features lit up as he walked alongside her, telling her something that made her
laugh. Her smile was radiant; it was impossible to see why anyone would want to
hurt her.
I followed their progress
across campus as they walked to another building, completely entranced by her. The
way she moved next to him revealed a confidence she didn’t otherwise show. Her
violet-blue eyes were bright with laughter and she seemed to have a little more
liveliness in her step.
I would need to speak with
Baron, obviously, as well. From the quality of his voice, he could be a fabulous
singer. Having him on board—at least as an understudy—would help convince her,
and that’s all that really mattered. I needed her…this her, who she was when
she was around Baron and Carmen. Who she couldn’t seem to be otherwise. Whatever
I had to do, I’d do it. Without her, there could be no musical.
With her, this her, it could
only be a success.
I refused to think I may not
find the her I wanted. It was a possibility, but one I didn’t wish to entertain.
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