Gregory Girls Gone Wild - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

It was a cold, dreadful week in late winter, when the trees were still black and a single bud had yet to bloom for spring. It also happened to be audition week for Fiona's new play: Rapunzel and the Commander of the Kingdom.
After Rainey's less than stellar background sets, Fiona had booted her off of set design as nicely as she could and commissioned an art major to finish the gray castle background. Grateful, Rainey was now in charge of gathering the props and listening to the musings of her director-girlfriend in bed.
"In the first scene, I wanted to convey the feeling of longing between the two characters," Fiona said, lying on Rainey's chest. It was the night before auditions and they were both high, talking about anything and everything.
"Interesting," Rainey commented, twirling Fiona's pink hair between her fingers. She was listening to a lot of Theater shop talk nowadays, but she didn't mind. She liked how passionate her girlfriend became on the subject. As Fiona straddled her, excited by her ideas for the night, Rainey reflected that she could get used to dating a creative person.
On the first day of auditions, Rainey walked into the auditorium, carrying a bundle of props. Nakir was accompanying her, in order to show support for Fiona's new endeavor.
"Is that Mariah?" Nakir asked anxiously, as they crossed the aisle to the stage. There was a brunette in the second row who strongly reminded Rainey of herself.
"No, she's in class." Rainey glanced at her. "Why are you avoiding my sister, by the way?"
"I'm not," Nakir said nervously. "Why? Did Mariah say something to you?"
"Uh, yeah. She totally thinks you're going to break up with her."
"What?" Nakir frowned. "That's crazy."
"So you guys are okay?"
"Yeah," Nakir said distractedly. Rainey narrowed her eyes.
He looked around. "Is it just me or are there a lot of people auditioning for the play?"
Rainey glanced at the other actresses. He was right, she noticed, there were packs of girls gathered in the aisles and onstage, reciting from sample scripts printed fresh from the Computer Lab. She was surprised.
Fiona's play must be pretty popular, she thought proudly.
"Boo!"
Rainey jumped, and saw that Jessica, the bombshell blonde, thrower of awesome parties—not to mention, mischievous flirt—had sneaked up behind them.
"Jess, what are you doing here?" Rainey asked, exasperated.
"No hello?" Jessica said, posing glamorously. "Rainey, I'm hurt. You haven't answered a single one of my texts since you started dating Fiona."
"That's because you keep sending me inappropriate pictures," Rainey remarked. "You're lucky I haven't shown Fiona your text messages."
"Oh, Fi' knows I'm joking," Jessica smiled cheekily. "After all, I brought all these aspiring little actresses to her audition."
"You brought them?" Rainey asked, astonished. "Why?"
"Because it's Fiona's debut as director, that's why!" Jessica exclaimed. "I posted it on my Instagram story. I wanted Fiona to have the pick of the lot. By the way, your friend Danika, she's acting too, isn't she?"
Rainey frowned. "She's the lead."
"Really?" Jessica asked, sweet like candy acid. "Guess, she's going to have a tough time kissing all these girls, then." She gestured to a girl applying on a fresh coat of lip-gloss.
Rainey glared at Jessica suspiciously as she scampered away to scare Fiona on stage, who screamed, dropped her microphone, and proceeded to chastise Jessica for her immaturity.
"What was that about?" Rainey muttered.
Nakir looked resigned. "I think I know."
"What?"
Nakir sighed. "You're going to hate me. But there's a video going around with you and Danika."
"What video?" Rainey demanded.
"You know," Nakir said cautiously. "That night, at the hot tub..."
Rainey felt her heart sink through her ribcage. "No way, don't tell me—"
Nakir nodded. "It shows Danika kissing Mariah, and some other dumb stuff. I think there's also footage of her saying something stupid. I forget now. Something about kissing guys is better...I don't really remember."
"Actually, there was something like that going around at Cordelia's party," Rainey remembered suddenly. "People thought Danika was homophobic. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Nakir looked apologetic. "I didn't think it was a big deal. But now I'm not sure. I think there are some people that haven't forgotten." He looked around the auditorium where Rainey dimly recognized a few hostile faces from Theater and campus queer clubs.
Worried, she went backstage to find Danika. She was sitting on a stool, pouring over her script intensely. She looked up.
"Hey, Rainey, you made it!" Danika beamed.
"Of course," Rainey said. She cleared her throat. "Have you seen how many people showed up?"
Danika looked down at her script, distracted. "Crazy, isn't it? I'm just going over my lines so I don't mess up."
Rainey paused for a second. "Are you sure you're up for this, Dani? I mean, there's a lot of girls to audition with."
"Don't worry about it," Danika said dismissively.
"I mean, I don't want you to do something you're uncomfortable with—"
Danika gave her a piercing look. "And I told you I was fine, Rainey."
"This is a lesbian play after all and I wanted to warn you about—"
Danika's jaw tightened. For some reason Rainey couldn't understand, she looked upset.
"If you don't mind," Danika said carefully. "I need a minute to be alone."
"Why are you getting mad at me?"
Danika put her hand up as if to block her from her view. Rainey tried to talk around her hand, but Danika steadily ignored her. Finally, Rainey stomped away, irritated beyond measure.
"I'm just trying to look out for that idiot," she muttered under breath. "And this is the thanks I get."
She caught up with Fiona on stage.
"Hi, baby." Fiona kissed her. "We were going to start earlier, but I didn't anticipate so many people. Isn't it fantastic?"
"About that," Rainey said, grateful that she had brought it up. "What scene are you planning on rehearsing for the audition? Because Jessica was talking about a kissing scene."
"Jess is right. We're going to rehearse the scene when Commander Sam finally climbs up the tower to meet Rapunzel."
"Okay, well, maybe we should pick another one?" Rainey suggested. "There's a lot of girls here today, and Jessica said something that made me worry about Danika—"
Fiona blinked. "Oh. Well, wouldn't want you to worry about your precious Danika. Not that this is my first day as director or anything."
Rainey backtracked. "That's not what I meant—"
She was beginning to realize that she had made a mistake of some sort, because Fiona's expression had turned sour.
"I think Danika will be fine," Fiona said coldly. "It's just a scene, Rainey. She's an actress in my play."
Fiona turned away and clapped, capturing the attention of the auditorium. "Hey, girls! If you could sit in the first two or three rows, and wait for your turn, we're about to get started!"
Rainey was at a complete loss. She had managed to piss off both Danika and Fiona in a matter of five minutes. All she had done was voice one measly concern. It didn't help matters when she spotted her background sets, the ones she had spent all week painting, lying by the side of the stage, discarded. Her temple throbbed. Fuming, she departed to the seating aisles where she threw herself against the seat next to Nakir's.
"No luck?" Nakir asked sympathetically.
"Freaking actresses," Rainey muttered. "Directors...they're all drama queens with attitudes, the whole freaking lot of them."
She took back her opinion on dating creative people. Sensitive babies...you have to tiptoe around their feelings in order not to hurt them. Especially when it came to their art.
"Is that Mariah?" Nakir slid down his seat quickly.
Rainey looked around vaguely; a girl with dyed brown hair rushed down the aisle.
"No," she said, irritated. Onstage, Danika sat on a perfectly placed stool. Her hair was silky black and longer than ever, perhaps in the likeness of Rapunzel's. She wore a tight, ankle-length skirt, a low-cut V-neck, and a yellow necklace that sparkled under the dazzling light. The script was balanced on her thigh, but she barely gave it a glance.
Nakir sat up and composed himself. "Good. What's this scene about anyway?"
Fiona bellowed from the table, "Number one!"
Startled, a girl hopped from her seat and scampered up stage. She was a pale, timid looking girl with long red hair. She stood besides Danika awkwardly.
"Okay, so the audition's for Commander Sam," Rainey explained quietly, recalling Fiona's meandering musings about the play. "She was a fearsome commander of the kingdom, second only to the king, until he found out she had been disguising herself as a man. Banished, she wanders the forests, driftlessly and without purpose, when she finds a beautiful princess locked in a lonely tower."
"Dear lady, your name nor title I know not, but your lonely face I know well," the girl said, reading the script.
"Pray tell how you know it, for this face has been locked in this tower for many years," Danika recited seductively.
Swoon. Rainey's stomach lurched. She forgot how talented of an actress the sophomore was, even during an audition. She had privately thought Danika had been miscast as a princess, imagining her better as a character like Captain Hook, a powerful and spellbinding personality. She admitted now, however, that Danika blended into the role of a naïve, dignified princess quite deftly.
"Lonely face I do see, in the reflection of every river I wade beneath," the girl recited.
"What much do you have to be lonely about? Is the world so frightening for a brave young commander?" Danika asked, sounding curious.
"How can it be that there is one who knows not my disgrace? Come down, sweet lady, and brave the world with me."
"She's good," Rainey whispered.
"Yeah, that girl is great!" Nakir whispered back.
Rainey frowned. She had been talking about Danika. Although, she noticed, the red-haired girl was rising to her role quite well.
'I cannot leave this tower, nor can anyone enter," Danika explained sorrowfully.
"Who dares to keep you in?"
"An evil witch who stole me from my dear mother and father."
"Enemy of mine. I shall steal you away from her."
"Oh no," Danika said hastily. "The world is a frightening place. I shall stay in my tower forever."
"Then I shall climb its walls and penetrate its secrets."
"No!" Danika cried. "Oh, curse the commander who tries a hand at my rescue! How can I stop such a strong will?"
"Perhaps a glance of your bosom shall satisfy my eyes for now," the girl grinned deviously.
Danika gasped. "You scoundrel! You begin with romantic talks of my face and drop your eyes at a moment's notice. Wicked commander! Curses to your mother!"
"The princess shuts the window abruptly, leaving the commander to look up at the tower, alone," Fiona narrated loudly from her seat.
"Sweet princess, you know not what you miss," the girl said poignantly.
"The next day, Commander Sam returns to the tower," Fiona narrated.
"Back again, devilish rogue?" Danika said bitingly.
"My sweet princess, your insults are my only sustenance these forsaken days. Will you not come outside?"
"I cannot leave, but perhaps there's a way for you to come in."
"How?" the girl asked, feigning excitement.
"Commander Sam, have you taken notice of my long and bountiful hair?"
"Why, after your face and your bosom, your hair occupies my night's dream and my morning's longing."
"I have not cut my hair for years, for want of a knife," Danika lamented. "It takes hours to brush; my arms are like weights by the end."
"There is no one in the kingdom with a more magnificent mane," the girl flattered.
"Dear Commander, will you hurt me if I let you in?"
"It is I that will be hurt, princess, for the glory of your presence will blind me."
"Then use my hair as rope, Commander, and I will be your eyes."
After a theatrical pause,
"Aha! I have done what no one has done and climbed the beastly tower! My princess, I have come for thee!" the girl declared.
Danika placed a trembling hand against her cheek. "I have not known a visitor in years! I feel faint. Are you a man or woman, Commander?"
"I am your humble servant, my lady." The girl knelt at Danika's feet.
"You are a flatterer of the worst kind."
"Does not a flatterer gather around beauty? I am overcometh by glory—your lustrous hair which hath saved me. So shall my lips save you."
The girl hesitated and then kissed Danika tentatively on the lips.
Cheers and whistles erupted from the audience. The girl smiled guiltily, while Danika looked embarrassed.
"Go on, Danika!" Fiona said.
"Er," Danika said, out of character. "It says I have to slap her."
"Slap her!" Jessica yelled.
"Do it lightly," Fiona suggested.
Danika hesitated and then gave the girl a quick tap on the cheek. The girl stood up and bowed, while the auditorium cheered. The scene had ended. Rainey felt quite warm around her neck.
"Alright, good job," Fiona was saying. "Excellent, excellent. Next person, please!"
The next girl, a tall, lanky person by the name of Emily, emerged from her chair and climbed onstage.
"Dear lady, your name nor title I know not, but your lonely face I know well."
And so the auditions went by, with a new girl every five minutes stepping up to the stage like clockwork. The actresses kissed Danika each time, and the roars from the crowd became louder with every subsequent kiss. There was a spiky haired girl with a pink t-shirt; after kissing Danika, she commented, "Kissing girls ain't bad, huh?"
Danika looked confused by the taunt. Rainey slid down in her seat; she wanted to disappear.
"C'mon, Danika, you're kissing her like my grandma!" Jessica shouted.
"You are a flatterer of the w-worst kind," Danika stuttered, distracted.
"Does not a flatterer gather around beauty? I am overcometh by glory—your lustrous hair which hath saved me. So shall my lips save you."
A rather stocky girl seized Danika from her chair and sucked at her mouth like an octopus would. Danika struggled silently until she managed to shove her off. Rainey stood up, outraged.
"Personal space much?" Danika gasped.
"It's an audition," the stocky girl said, in a deep voice. "I got to give it my all."
Rainey could hear Jessica snickering in the front row. Fiona smiled indulgently and then dismissed her for the next actress.
"Should we do something?" Rainey asked Nakir, concerned.
"No—I think she's alright," Nakir answered, although his face had contorted in disapproval at the manhandling.
He was right; Danika had composed herself and sat back down on the chair, her face blank and determined. Rainey recognized that stubbornness written across her face; she would finish this audition no matter what.
Danika glanced at Rainey fleetingly, and then looked down at her script. Rainey's conscience prickled.
There was another girl who would have been better off as an army drill sergeant, yelling her lines into Danika's ear.
"PERHAPS A GLANCE OF YOUR BOSOM SHALL SATISFY MY EYES FOR NOW!" the girl screamed.
"Oh God!" Fiona looked ruffled. "You're saying the right lines, but perhaps tone it down. You're going to give her a headache."
Jessica grinned. "Why don't you show her how it's done?"
"What?" Fiona laughed. "I can't audition!"
"Why not?" Jessica shrugged. "Show us how the Commander is supposed to act!"
"Yeah, go ahead, Fiona!"
"Show us!"
At the other's urgings, Fiona finally made her way on the stage. There were some grumblings by the girls who had already auditioned, that it wasn't fair that the director was giving tips to the others, but they were in the disgruntled minority.
"Lonely face I do see, in the reflection of every river I wade beneath." Fiona declared, melancholy.
"What much do you have to be lonely about? Is the world so frightening for a brave young commander?"
Fiona cleared her throat. "It's important to emphasize how angsty Commander Sam is, in contrast with the princess' eager interest in him."
They went back and forth with their lines. At the end, she kissed Danika on the lips perfunctorily. "And that's how you do the kiss."
Rainey groaned, amidst the clapping around her. She couldn't wait until auditions were over. Many of the girls who had already auditioned had left, but a sizable group remained in the other aisle, to gossip and hang out. Some were auditioning for the other Spring plays, and were waiting for the hour to come to an end.
"Can I audition too?" Jessica asked, in the front row.
"If you want," Fiona said, smiling. "But I can't play favorites, okay? I have to cast the best actress."
Jessica pouted and climbed onto the stage next.
"I don't need a script," she said, tossing it aside. "Princess, I'm here to rescue you."
"Oof," Danika groaned, as Jess plopped herself on her lap.
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair..."
"That's not the line," Danika protested. Jessica kissed her in response, with tongue.
It was a fun atmosphere, where everyone, even the crew, auditioned for the role of Commander Sam. Danika was sort of the butt of the joke, as she seemed oblivious to the fact that people weren't taking their auditions seriously. Rainey had to confront a few girls who were attempting to record the kiss scenes; she almost threw a girl's phone across the room.
Even Nakir was pulled out of his chair against his will. He was thrust a script onstage, looking more out of place than ever.
"Dear, uh, princess, your name I know not, but your lonely face I—what is that? Know well?" Nakir stuttered.
Rainey's lip twitched.
Nakir kneeled uncomfortably by Danika's chair. "Does not, uh, flattery gather around b-b-b-beauty? Your hair—sorry, your lustrous hair—has saved me. Er, and Imma save you."
Looking like a frightened rat in a cage, Nakir patted Danika on the head instead of kissing her, and dashed down the stage steps.
"Good job," Rainey snorted as Nakir threw himself in his seat. "You really nailed the part."
"Shut up," Nakir said, recovering. "I have stage fright. Why don't you give it a try?"
Fiona clapped her hands. "Okay, everyone, last call! Anyone else want to try out for the part of Commander Sam? Even if it's for fun?"
Rainey looked around the disinterested group of people peppering the seats, and found that she was the only one who hadn't tried out. She raised her hand uncertainly. "What about me?"