Eli took a long, slow drag from his cigarette. He needed to steady his nerves, after what he’d seen: the green-eyed woman walking into the building.

It’s her. It has to be. I mean, I know her name wasn’t on the cast list, but it’s definitely her, he thought. Same hair, same face… it’s Iris. A slow smile crossed his face. And with no Dunstan around… but wait, if I manage to get involved with her, I can throw it into Dunstan’s smirking face. Even after all those years, I still can’t help but be ticked at that jerk…

He stopped in mid-thought when his attention was drawn to a trio heading towards the building: an attractive woman with short black hair and carefully applied makeup, a dark-haired man with blue eyes, and a bespectacled teenager with rather long hair worn in two braids. All three of them were dressed in exercise-type clothing, as required by the directors. He had to admit, the woman was definitely hot, and the girl beside her was cute, in an awkward, nerdy librarian type of way.

The woman noticed him gawking at them and said sharply, as they passed, “You’re not my type, and she’s jailbait. So, don’t even think about it.” She placed a protective hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “Come on, Emily. Let’s get inside to rehearsal.”

“Relax, Tacita,” the blue-eyed guy said. “Emily’s stressed out enough without you doing the whole No Scrubs routine.”

“Real funny, S,” Tacita grumbled.

“Yeah, I try,” S replied, as they entered the building. Eli took another long drag from his cigarette, then raised his eyebrow at the strange sight of a teenager with long black hair, wearing a black leotard and black stockings hurrying past him into the building. What’s with the kids showing up for this? he thought. I thought this was a college student thing, not High School Musical, Part Whatever.

He finished his cigarette, then ground it out into the nearby ashtray. He rose, then walked into the building, but not without some trepidation. If it’s her, then what? he thought.


“I totally have to get Tacita to work with me on this,” Gideon muttered to himself, scribbling notes down at a frantic pace. “She’s the only one who could pull this off without looking ridiculous.”

He walked over to the boom box nearby and popped the CD inside. He pressed a few buttons, and strains of Killer Queen came through the small speakers. He listened for a few seconds, then scribbled down some more notes. “If I show this… and then… yes… and then that…” he muttered to himself, as he listened and wrote.

This is going to be awesome, Gideon thought. The others won’t know what hit them! Bet they’ll wish they’d gone with my idea!


Sheridon reread his ideas, smiling with pleasure at his brilliance. This is going to be great, he thought. I just need some volunteers, and a few sets. Maybe Tacita or Charise can help out with this. He smoothed out the paper and read the intended plot for his music video:

Teen couple. Very much in love. Guy is unpopular. One of guy’s bullies tries to violate guy’s g/f, guy shoots bully. Guy goes to jail. Girl is very upset. Guy writes girl tons of letters, but never gets any back. Years pass. Guy has given up on girl. Guy is in prison library, looking up old newspaper articles. Finds out that girl died in a car accident the day after he was put in jail. Guy feels lousy about his years of anger at the girl. That night, guy is visited by girl’s ghost. Next morning, wardens find guy dead, no apparent cause.

“I am a freaking genius,” Sheridon muttered to himself. “Just would be nice if everyone else would admit it.”


“Quiet, please,” Cleo called out. “Quiet!” The clamor in the room quieted quickly. “Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, you are here because you showed enough ability in the auditions to convince Clayton and me that you are worthy enough to perform in our production of Cats. I am very happy to see that you’ve all come wearing the clothing we’ve requested. I’m sure you’re all wondering why; you see, we want you to wear slim-fitting clothes, kind of like the costumes. That way, when the time comes for you all to wear the costumes, it won’t feel nearly as odd.”

“Also, this production is a very special one, as we have two students from Oakdale High performing in our play,” Clayton added. “Ophelia Foley and Emily Desjardin. Emily will be Jemima, and Ophelia will be Grizabella. Now--”


“Excuse me,” Eli called out, “but are you saying that a high school student will be playing one of the major roles?”

“That is correct,” Clayton replied.

“But why? I’m sure there are lots of college-aged students who are just as capable, if not more so, of portraying that character.”

“Are you questioning our decisions, Eli?” Cleo asked. “Tell me, Eli, were you put in charge of choosing actors for the play?”

“No,” he replied sulkily.

“Were you asked for your opinion?”

“No.”

“Then don’t complain about the choices Clayton and I made.”

“I’m merely arguing in favor of authenticity--”

“If you want to split hairs like that, then for authenticity, perhaps we should have chosen a sexier guy to play your role, Eli. Or, even better, get actual cats to portray the characters. Clayton and I chose the actors who we felt were best suited to play their roles. This discussion is over.”


“Now that the argument is through,” Clayton interrupted, “I’d like to introduce you to the chain of command, for those of you who don’t know it. Cleo is going to be the primary director. I’m Clayton, the secondary director and choreographer. Oh, and this is Valo, who will be in charge of costumes, and Charise, who will be in charge of props.”

“Damn it,” Ophelia muttered. “I didn’t know my cousin was working on this play too.”

“Hey,” Tacita whispered, lightly elbowing S in the side, “better pay attention to the play instead of Charise.” She peered more closely at Charise. “She looks pretty worn out.”

“Yeah… she hasn’t been at the house much lately,” S replied quietly. “She’s been at Dunstan’s most of the time.”