Page 22 of The Perfect Hit

I inadvertently got a whiff of his body wash and had to mentally pull myself away, the fresh scent making me want to cuddle up to him.

I finished passing out the scripts and sat in my seat next to Mrs. Sanderson. After a quick sweep of my gaze over the students, I smiled and said, “I know a lot of us have been in theater for a while, or we performed in the one in the fall, but why don’t we do a little get-to-know-you game.”

“We only have eight weeks until the performance,” Ellie, the female lead, said. “Are you sure you want to waste time with games like this?”

My brain went blank again, and I could only blink at her.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Colt said. “I don’t know much about you all, so at least I’ll get a sense of how we are together.”

“Why don’t you just stay on the court?” Scott said, focusing on the script.

“It’s a field, Scott,” Colt said, leaning back in his chair. “And you might find that I have a few other talents than just on the baseball diamond.”

I swallowed hard and gave Colt a smile. How was he so at ease sitting here? I figured he’d be feeling out of his comfort zone a lot like I was. Man, directing was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

“Okay, start thinking of what you’ll say. I’ll start. I’m Hazel Miller, and I’ve lived in five different states.” Not something totally out of the ordinary, but it was the best I could come up with in such a short amount of time.

“I’m Mrs. Sanderson, and I’ve been working on plays and musicals since I was in high school. I know, I’m old to you all, but something about opening a fresh script brings back all those memories of a new adventure we’re embarking on.”

We continued around the circle, and Scott and Ellie even participated, although theirs seemed a bit more show-offy than most, but I should’ve suspected that would happen.

Marcy said, “I love the smell after rain.” She looked over at Colt like she was waiting for his reaction. Was she trying to impress him?

I knew she’d been excited about him trying out, but I was surprised to find my theater friend had a crush on Colt. Maybe it was because she was the first to mention him, or that I’d never heard girls talking about him like they did some of his friends, but irritation flared, and I wanted to sit between them.

Colt gave her a short smile. “I know it’s a shock for all of you, but I’ve never been in a play or a musical before. I haven’t even participated in choir.”

“Great,” Scott said under his breath. “Are you expecting me to teach him everything there is to know about theater in eight weeks?”

There was a long pause, and again I couldn’t think of anything to say.

I glanced down at the script and then tapped it. “Let’s get going on the read-through of this. If anyone has thoughts while we read, please let me know. I’d like any notes to help me block out the scenes before we start rehearsing.”

I overheard Colt lean over and ask Marcy what blocking was. Maybe we were in over our head with all this.

A brutal hour and a half later, as we packed up to go at the end of the night, Mrs. Sanderson stopped me. “I’m so proud of you. It’s hard when you have your first directing position, but you did a great job of keeping the momentum going, even with Scott’s comments. Now we just need to keep them there to work in harmony.”

I nodded. “Yeah, what do I do with Scott, though? I mean, if he’s going to be like this for the entire time, I don’t know if I’ll survive it.”

She gave me a warm smile and pulled me in for a hug. “Oh, Hazel. This is another part of theater. The drama behind the scenes. I know you haven’t had much to deal with, having been the lead in most of your experience, but learning how to communicate is a skill you can use across every aspect of your life. Managing people needs communication more than you might think. You just need to stand up for yourself and know how much time you put into writing this thing. This script is one of the best I’ve ever had the privilege of working on at the school level, and I think it’s going to be a hit.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Mrs. Sanderson. I’ll work on that. Was there anything else you thought we needed?”

She tapped her chin for a few seconds and then shook her head. “I think we’re doing well for now. We’ll dive into the bigger details when we get to set design and costumes. Go home, relax, and come back fresh tomorrow.”

I walked out the door and saw Colt leaning against the wall, chatting for a minute with Marcy. A pang of jealousy hit me, and I had to shake it off. She and Colt were going to be working together a lot, and I hadn’t realized that until tonight. Marcy was practically dancing with excitement, and I had to contain my frustration.But as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t just coddle Colt throughout the entire production.

“Are you ready?” he asked, glancing over at me with a big grin.

I nodded and glanced at Marcy. “Great job today. Thanks for the part about emphasizing the dark moment.”

She nodded. “No problem. I’ll see you both tomorrow. Have a good night.” She batted her eyes at Colt a few times and then turned to leave.

Breathe in, breathe out. At least that helped a little with my irritation.

“How do you think it went?” Colt asked, taking the small stack of notebooks and papers from me as we walked down the hallway.

I shrugged. “Good, I guess. It’s weird being on this side of things. I know; I’ve said that a lot already, but it’s true. There is so much pressure, but it’s different from being the lead. I can’t really describe it better than that.”

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