Starlet

15. Theater Tour

I'm busy all week. This schedule is exhausting. Now Nadine, Coral, and Thora decided I should learn belly dancing. They are teaching me that during the break between ballet and aerial. I'm happy it's Friday. I sit on the porch with Lindsay.

"Any parties tonight?"

"None that I know of. I have play practice left tonight and then the weekend off. Do you think anyone would let me take a vacation? I asked at the vacation building, but they said I'm too young to reserve anything."

"You can ask. But I wouldn't right now, they're all freaked out."

"Why?"

"Nadine figured out she has another mate. Well, it's Jacks, mate. Only Jack was never meant to stay around. We were only going to play with Jack and Oliver for a little while. Everything is a mess with that."

"So, she gets another mate?"

"Not really. She has to make the girl fall in love with her as Nadine. Only then would the bond really connect. And Nadine doesn't want another mate anyway. I don't know what's going to happen. It's a mess. Might want to hold off a few weeks before you ask about a vacation."

"Good idea."

"Oh, the rumors. I forgot all about them. Basically, Tye's a dumbass. Nadine has a girl like me. We get to visit the village this way. I'm Lindsay. I forget her damn name. But she's got a girl too. Well, the dumbass Tye keeps following her around. Now people are spreading rumors about them. So, naturally, people think every time Tye says hello to someone, he's cheating on Nadine. Marcus is trying to get him to stop following you around. But really he's only protective of you. We all know this, but rumors are not kind. We don't want any starting about you and him. Then we keep finding him at the theater."

"So, Tye is Nadine's mate?"

"Yes, I'll get you into a meeting and introduce them. She has 8. Well, 9 if you count Jack's mate. I don't know if we're going to count her or not though. We'll wait and see. Her name is Mary. She's a blonde. Always with the f*****g blondes."

"Was it that 1 at the party?"

"Yes. I forgot you went to that. That's her. She's annoying, but Nadine won't leave her alone. She sees her every damn day with Jack."

"It'll be interesting to see if they can make it work."

"I guess. I'll be back later. Have fun at practice."

"I'll try."

I watch people walking around for a while. Then the girl that tried to cause problems last time comes onto the porch.

"I'm Ann. Do you know if your brother is coming to the village this weekend?"

"I have no idea."

"If he shows up, will you tell him Ann's having a party on Saturday? It would be cool if he could stop by."

"I'll let him know."

"Thank you."

Now Jack has girl problems and 8 mates. I can't help but laugh. I'm sad for myself though. I can't even get 1 boy to see me.

I shake it off and go to the theater.

Bayden gets on the stage and gives his normal 5-minute beginning talk. It's about 'going loose' when you're on the stage. Being 1 with the character.

Nadine, Dipak, and Elek come from backstage somewhere.

Bayden turns around. "Welcome princess, commander, prince. That's quite a lot for 1 day. What can we do for you?"

Nadine smiles. "Thank you sir. We're sorry to cut in like this, but I have been placed in charge of upgrading the theater. I have absolutely 0 ideas for this project. I'm hoping that maybe you or the theater group will have some."

Someone yells, "Music."

"Could you please clarify that? Do you want to sing in here?"

"No, the music you play, ma'am. It comes from everywhere and sounds amazing."

"Sound system. You want a sound system in here. That's a good idea. Are there any brains in here?" Dipak motions for 1. It's standing off to the side. "Can you bring me a headset then space yourselves out around the seats and up in the royal box."

"Of course."

"I'm looking into that. What else do you have for me?"

"A place for a band. Bigger theaters have them."

"Some of the lighting you have. That is amazing."

"Can you get 1 of those platform stages in here?"

"Yes."

"Do that."

"Sure."

"More seating. This isn't very big."

"This isn't big enough for the village?"

"For a village this size, I would think you could double it. But it's not bad sized."

A brain hands her something.

"Are they spaced out?"

"Yes."

"Put a spotlight on me and cut other lights."

"Sure."

The place goes dark, and she gets a spotlight on her. "Everyone disappeared."

Bayden chuckles. "Bring the house lights back to 25%. Spotlight down to 75%."

"That's so much better."

"Yea, that was bright."

Dipak rubs his eyes. "I still got a spot."

She puts a thing on her head. "It's so nice to see you again. Give me red lasers and point at my feet. Now explode them up. Dance." Lasers shoot everywhere. It's so neat to watch. "I don't know what all it does, but you can keep that in here."

Baden stands up. "4 spotlights, 1 on each of us." The 4 of them get a spotlight on them. He walks off. The spotlight follows him to the side of the stage and back.

"You were going to request 4 of them, weren't you?"

"Yea."

"What else?"

"A red curtain."

"It's supposed to be red?"

Bayden shakes his head. "They can be any color. But there are 4 layers of curtains. Most of the time, the back 3 are black, and the front is red."

"Back to the bigger. Does anyone know of a theater that I could visit that would show me? It is so much better for me if I can see it. I understand better that way."

"I went to Rome on holiday. They have a massive theater. And it would be perfect here."

"Rome with the coliseum?"

"Yes."

"Omar is coming to make a door. Want to go on a field trip?"

"Sure I guess."

"Thank you. It'll be easier if I have you to explain what the hell I'm looking at."

Omar steps on the stage. "I'm going to put you on their stage. They don't have anything on Wednesdays. You should be the only people there."

"Well, I sure as hell hope so if we're on stage."

"I'll put you in the back instead."

"Thank you."

He looks at Dipak. "You can get back right?"

"Well, I sure as hell hope so."

Omar nods. "Everyone up here."

I leave my stuff and run up. I want to go too.

We're standing in a big room that doesn't look like a theater.

Nadine is looking around. "Did he send us to the right place?"

"Yes, this is the entry. Those 3 sets of double doors go outside. These 2 boxes are for people to buy tickets." Bayden goes in a box and pulls out a ticket. "Say a ticket costs 20g. You give me 20g, and I will give you a ticket. That ticket has your seat number on it. Sometimes they're not numbered. It'll say floor or something for the main seating."

Some girl says, "Over here is where you buy your popcorn, snacks, drinks. Whatever they have. A lot of them sell flowers too. People throw flowers at actors sometimes if the performance was amazing."

Andy opens a door. "I'll be an usher. Ticket please."

"I want to keep that."

"What does it say? 20A. So your seat is 20A. An usher would know where that is. They would take your ticket and offer you a program book." He picks it up. "You are going to see... f**k if I know. I don't know that language." I crack up laughing with everyone. "Ok got 1. You're here to see 'The Truth'. Right this way ma'am." We get halfway down the aisle and he smiles. "I have no idea where 20A is. We're going to pretend it's here. Enjoy the show."

"That was really convenient."

He nods. "Yea, they try to make it easy and if you get up for a drink or something, they'll help you back to your seat."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

There's a guard coming at us. Nadine stands up. "I'm redoing our theater and this 1 came up as perfect. I was hoping to count the seats."

"You're not supposed to be in here."

"Can I leave after I count the seats?"

"There's 803 seats."

"Now are they in these 3 sections of seating down here?"

"No, this is floor level seating. Right this way."

He leads us up to the stage and I about fall over. It has a second row of seating above the first. "Oh my."

"There's 501 on floor level seating. 32 seats in the side boxes. Then there are 270 on the balcony seating."

"Thank you. And they were asking for a place to put the band?"

2 hours later, I had an amazing tour. I understand a bit more about how it goes together.

We get back to our theater and Nadine smiles from the stage. "I can fix it now. Thank you all so much."

Everyone claps. I clap too, but I don't know why. It was a nice tour though.

I go to the castle and eat dinner. Then I pass out in my apartment. Today was exhausting.