Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (7 page)

“
All right
,
all right
.”

She moved towards the living room but didn’t sit. Instead she paced the floor, mouthing her lines.

Sebastien opened the door.
“Hey Leon, Frankie.”

“Hi Sebastien!” she exclaimed happily and bounced into the room. Leon nodded politely and walked quietly behind her.

“Great! We’re all here,” Elena said. “How about we do monologues first and give each other feedback and then we can swap for the duologues?”

“Maybe a glass of water or drink for everyone before we get started?”
Sebastien said, glancing at Elena.

“Oh yeah.
S
orry
.”

Sebastien went to the kitchen and brought back the carton of cranberry juice and a bottle of Evian.

“So, have we all memorized our lines?”

“Oh yeah sort of,” Frankie said.

“I thought we all agreed?”

“Elena, Elena. Teacher said it was about performance. Let’s just worry about that, OK?”

“Fine.
Let’s
get started
.
Maybe do the monologues first and then go into the duologues?”

Everyone nodded.

“I’ll go first,” Frankie said.

Frankie stood and without delay presented her the monologue for the comedy, with enthusiasm. She looked at her audience at all the right places and her facial expressions were vivid. Everyone in that room knew exactly what the character was feeling on each line of the monologue.

“That was great
,
Frankie! You really seemed to understand the character,” Elena said.

“Can’t fault it,” Sebastien said.

“Can I suggest you vary the tone at the end to give it more variety?” Leon said.
“
Like at the beginning be more serious but then become chirpier as it goes on and the character gets drunker.” 

“Good idea, Leon,” Elena said. He seemed to know his stuff. Frankie smiled at him. He looked down at his trousers, pretending to flick away some dirt.

“I should probably go next,” Sebastien said. He directed Frankie to the sofa where Leon and Elena sat, so that he could use the other one as a prop.

Sebastien melted into the sofa and talked about the woman ruining his life with incredible wit
.
“I thought I was in charge when I gave her my credit card as a symbol of our unity. What a fool! I might as well have given her a noose to hang me with!” Sebastien began. He continued throughout the rest of the speech in that same wistful tone, bringing them all to tears of laughter. And he never smiled once!

“Oh Sebastien, were you even acting
?“
Elena said, applauding loudly.

“You owned that!” Frankie exclaimed, giving him a high-five. Leon nodded agreement. No one could even critique him.

“Your turn, Elena,” Sebastien said.

Elena began her
monologue,
the same one Frankie had just performed. She tried to be as perky as Frankie, using exaggerated hand gestures to express herself.

Elena could see Sebastien was trying to contain his laughter, but it wasn’t the kind of laughter she’d been hoping for. “Okay, stop Elena. You’re trying too hard! Pretend you’re gossiping with Frankie. Do it like that.”

She frowned at Sebastien but tried again, imagining a conversation with Frankie.

“How was that?”

“Definitely better,” Frankie said. “Maybe you should think about how gaga
you get when you see Jay.”

”Ha ha, very funny.”

“Who’s Jay?” Sebastien said.

“Some guy who plays the piano at show choir,” Elena said.

“Elena almost fell off her seat when she saw him!” Frankie said. 

“Leon, your turn!”
Elena said.

Sebastien looked at her questioningly but she just shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t really want to explain it to Sebastien. It was embarrassing enough as it was.

Leon began the monologue showing a man deep in thought. But while the speech was witty, Leon seemed tormented. Elena wanted to cry with him rather than laugh at him.

“Leon honey, it’s a light comedy. You look like you’re dying of a broken heart,” Frankie said.

“Sorry. Not my usual thing,” he muttered.

“Maybe take Sebastien’s approach and slouch?” Elena said.

Leon tried that and it did help but it still didn’t hit the mark. He slumped back to his spot on the floor.

“There’s still time,” Elena said. “It will be easier with the duologues.
Watch
.”

Elena rose to perform the duologue with Sebastien. She could feel herself relax instinctively as she fed off his energy.

“Very nice
,
guys,” Frankie said. “Better Elena, but you still haven’t quite gotten that ditsy
airhead
innocence happening.” Elena nodded. What else could she do?

“Maybe if I was Jay
…
” Sebastien said. Elena rolled her eyes. So she drooled a little. What was the big deal?

“You try it, Frankie,” Elena said.

Frankie and Sebastien performed the comedy duologue together. In this scene, the couple
flirted
outrageously, playing games with each other. Sebastien was perfect as the cool, distant man, making ambiguous comments about this girl he was trying to win. Frankie made sure she positioned herself to the front right of Sebastien, slightly turned away so that it looked like she was disinterested, but she could still see him from the corner of her eye. The dialogue flowed effortlessly between them
.
Elena was totally captivated.

“You guys were perfect! I see what you mean, Frankie, but don’t know if I would ever be able to pull it off the way you can.”

“Let’s move onto Shakespeare,” Leon suggested.

“Great idea!”
Elena agreed. This was the part she really wanted.
Needed.
“I’ll go first!” Elena volunteered. She stood confidently and performed the entire monologue, word-perfect.  She was attempting to portray an innocent teenager caught in a difficult situation
-
to choose between her lover and her parents.
She scrunched her shirt as she considered her options, furrowing her eyebrows in frustration.

“Letitia’s got a lot of work to do!” Sebastien said. “You killed that!”

“Really?
Thank you!” she said, lightly swinging her body from side to side.

“I agree. You really presented Juliet’s anguish and innocence well,” Leon said.

Pleased with herself, Elena returned to her spot on the sofa.

“You know what?” Frankie said. “I’m not going to audition for Shakespeare. I think I’ll stick to the comedy. I hate the old English.”

“I’ll go next,” Leon said.

Leon stood and looked over the coffee table as if it were Juliet’s coffin. He turned to his audience, his face etched with pain.

“O here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
“
This vault a
feasting presence
full of light.
             

My love! My wife! Forgive me, dear Julie
t…
”

After his monologue there was silence. Elena sniffed.  ”That was intense
,
Leon
.
”

“Thanks, I think.”

“That was great
,
Leon. The only thing I can say is to be careful about going too low in volume as you get towards the end,” Sebastien said.

Leon nodded and sat back down again.

“Your turn, Seb,” Elena said.

“Um, I haven’t worked on the monologue, so how about we go straight to the duologues?”

“Sebastien!”

“Don’t
worry,
I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“Hmm.”
You better be,
I need you
, Elena thought.

Sebastien and Elena went first as Romeo and Juliet. It was the scene where Romeo climbs into Juliet’s chambers to tempt her to be with him. Elena was playing the virtuous girl, resisting his advances but secretly delighted. Sebastien continued to flirt and chase her, coming close to her, whispering in her ear and then switching to making grand declarations of his love.

“Sizzling
,
guys!”
Frankie said.

Leon laughed.
“Maybe a little more intensity.”

“Any more intense and he would be taking Elena right there on the stage!” Frankie said.

“Romeo is supposed to be obsessed with Juliet,” he retorted.

“We felt that
all right
,” Frankie said.

“Okay, Leon and Elena now,” Sebastien said glaring at Frankie.

Leon glanced briefly at Elena before starting. But Elena was drawn to him instantly. He was more
subtle than Sebastien, pleading rather than flirting. At times, Elena was so caught up in his performance that she lost her place in the scene. 

“Leon, that was amazing,” Frankie said.

Elena hugged him lightly. “I’ve never felt that before. That was incredible!”

“Thanks. I like this play,” he whispered.

“I’m exhausted!” Elena said.

“Me too!”
Frankie said. “Let’s head down to Ciao Bella café, Leon.”

“Yeah sure.
E
—
”         

“I’m sure Elena is going to hang out and help Seb learn Romeo.”

“Um, yeah,” Elena said.

“Thanks for the help,” Leon said when his phone rang.
“Sorry, it’s my dad. Have to get this.” He walked towards the dining room but they could all hear him.

“Yes, my homework’s done.
”
Pause. “It’s the first
week,
I’m on top of it.”
A longer pause.
“I’ll be home soon. Bye
.
”

He turned back towards them, embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“What was that about?” Elena asked.

“My dad’s not too
enthused about
this whole acting thing
,
so he’s always keeping a close eye on me. We come from a family of doctors so we kind of negotiated a deal. I go to Montacrue on
the
condition it’s a scholarship and I maintain a 3.8
gpa
.”

“Whoa. That’s tough. My mom insists on good grades, but 3.8?” Elena said.

He shrugged. “It’s worth it if it means I can do what I love and make my parents happy
,
but they need to give
me
a chance.”

“My dad is happy for me to just to be at school and out of his way. He always says that he’ll help me make it when the time comes
,” said Frankie.

“Honored you made time to rehearse with us,” Sebastien said.

“It was fun! Now, time for an ice-cream,” she said as she linked her arm through Leon’s and dragged him to the front door.
“Che
e
rio,” she
called
out
as they left.

“Well that was interesting,” Sebastien said.

“Yeah.
I think I’m ready for tomorrow.”

“You should be by now.” He picked up the dirty glasses to take to the kitchen.

“So, you want to stay and watch a movie or something?”

“I can’t. I have a lot of homework to do and help out at home
-
make dinner, laundry. You know.”

He nodded, his blue eyes reflecting his disappointment. Elena hated when he looked at her like that. It made it so hard to say no.

“Besides, you need to learn your lines,” she added.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“
’
Til
tomorrow!”
She exited with a dramatic flourish of her right hand, leaving him smiling.

Seven

Monday morning
. A
s Elena and Seb separated to go to class, Elena clasped Sebastien’s shoulder.
“
It’s
been so intense all week. I’m so nervous. It’s our first real audition.”

“If you do what you did yesterday, you’ll kill it!”

“What if Letitia is better?”

“You’ll have to make sure she’s not,” he said.

“Not helpful, Seb.”
 

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

Later that day, a
s they gathered in the auditorium at 3
p
.
m
.
for their auditions, Elena closed her eyes and went through some relaxation breathing.