Ava

 

I was still shocked. I was shocked at recess, the next few periods, and at the end of school. How did Amy, out of all people, get the part? I know I should’ve been happy for her, but...a part of me is just irritated at her. How will I even talk to her for the rest of the day? Will the horrible part of me want to unleash my hidden fury, or will I just congratulate her? How do people even deal with moments like this?

 

-

 

A few days had passed ever since the cast was chosen. Ever since then, Amy and I haven’t said a word to each other. I thought of speaking to her, but I couldn’t come up with what to say.

And now, we’re forced to talk.

Today was the first day of rehearsals, and I was wildly nervous. At least Mila was by my side, even though rehearsals were strictly for cast only. Well, maybe not strictly. Mrs. Richards doesn’t usually notice, or even do anything about it in the first place.

“I’m so nervous!” I said to Mila as we walked to the auditorium. Do I even have the guts to walk through those doors?
“Uh-huh.” she answered absentmindedly, carrying not one, but two notebooks. She jotted down some notes in one of them, but it didn’t seem to be anything CS-related.

“What’s that?” I asked her, partly because I’m curious and partly because I’m stalling.

“I’m taking notes for really cool hairstyles. Who knows?” she mumbled, “Maybe Mrs. Richards will let me be in charge of hairstyles or something.”
I shrugged as we walked through the doors of the auditorium, where the cast greeted us.

I waved at all of them while a few waved back, including that girl, Bianca, from social studies class. Mila walked in the other direction and went backstage. She tripped over something on the floor and fell with a loud crash. How did no one notice her?

“I’M OKAY!” Mila shouted, getting up. Again, how did no one notice her?!

Mrs. Richards started talking about how we were going to do the play, while Mila was standing quietly in the corner. Bianca turned around and saw her. “What are you doing here?”
She threw her free hand up in the air and scoffed. “Oh, so now you notice!”

 

Amy

 

I was sitting next to Sandy at rehearsal. I can’t imagine doing this every day for two whole weeks. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice Ava and her friend Mila come in or that Mrs. Richards had started speaking. Sandy shook my shoulder, “Earth to Amy,” she said. I perked up. Did I miss anything important? While I was thinking, did the aliens start to invade Earth? (just kidding) 

“What?” I asked plainly. 

“Ava’s friend, Mila, came to practice, and we’ve got to give our clothing size to Xander,” Sandy replied. “Who’s Xander?” I asked. 

“The one with the funny hair; remember last year everyone thought he was dating Olivia,” Sandy said. I had no idea who she was talking about. I looked around and it became clear who she was talking about. There was one kid who probably had the weirdest hair I have ever seen. I’ll give you a description: he had a blob of hair on his head that was blond, red, and brown at the same time. It looked as though he hadn’t cut it since the Stone Age. 

“Okay, everyone, quiet down,” said Mrs. Richards with so much authority in her voice that it made me jolt. “I’m going to go around the circle and each of you are going to say your clothing size, so Xander here can make your costume. Xander, take note of the sizes with my pennnnn... Where’d my pen go?! It must be here somewhere…” Mrs. Richards said, the confidence in her voice draining. 

“It’s okay, I have one, Mrs. Richards,” said Xander, waving a pen in the air. “Okay, let’s go, first Bianca Patterson,” Mrs. Richards said. Everyone said their size. “Everyone, find a buddy and start practicing lines. I want them memorized by Friday, so we’ve got two weeks to perfect this play!” Everyone found a buddy, and Sandy went with Bianca. Why?! I knew no one here! How could she do this to me?! “I know I should go with you because it’s your first time, but Bianca doesn’t know anyone here; you can go with your sister,” Sandy said. I guess she was right, but Sandy didn’t know how awkward it was! I’m sure if she knew, Sandy wouldn’t be buddies with Bianca. I looked around the room and everyone had a buddy except Ava and I (and also Mila, Xander, and Olivia, but they weren’t memorizing any lines. Olivia was in charge of makeup, so she was working with Xander.) I sort of walked over to Ava; she knew there was no one left...but me. 

“Should I say my lines first or should you?” I mumbled. “Huh?” Ava said. 

“Should I say my lines first or should you?” I asked, a little louder this time. “Oh, okay, umm... You can go first,” Ava said. I could tell she was a bit out of it. I wasn’t much different, I mean I’m paying more attention to her than to my lines. Was she mad at me? With Ava, it’s easy to tell if she’s feeling any emotions; it’s just hard to tell which one.

 

Ava

 

The last few minutes were some of the most awkward minutes of my life. Amy and I just stood there, practicing our lines. We didn’t know what to say to each other. Moments later, we were finished practicing all of our lines.

I don’t completely know why, but I can’t help feeling a little bit...mad at Amy. I really wanted the part, and to see her doing so well at it made me feel miserable and furious at the same time. What bothered me the most was how good Amy was at playing Callie’s role. Maybe I was afraid that I’d no longer be the actress in the family.

Amy noticed my lack of responding to what she just said and asked, “Are you okay, Ava?”

I shrugged, contemplating whether or not I should tell her my emotions.

She ran her fingers through a part of her hair. “Are you...mad at me?” Amy mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

I took a deep breath, staring at the floor. “Well, maybe a little,”

She looked at me, rambling, “Well, I don’t even want the part in the first place, Ava! I mean, you deserve it! And plus, there'll always be other chances.”

I sighed. “I know. It’s just—what if you enjoy playing Callie? What if you try out for the lead part next time...and you get it? And what if that happens all the time?”
Amy took a deep breath. “Ava! You know I won’t do that.”

“But...what if you do?” I questioned.

Annoyed, she shook her head. She started to deny any fact that she’d steal my title, raising her voice this time. I, in return, released my worries and furies at her. In a matter of three minutes, we started talking—well, shouting, to be exact—over each other. I was not really sure if either of us completely understood what we were saying. All I can say is that it was really loud.

For some reason, no one really noticed our bickering (just like with the Mila situation). That went on for a few minutes, until Bianca came over, crossing her arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What in the world is going on?!”

That still didn’t silence us, which annoyed Bianca. Mila, rolling her eyes, walked over to us and blew a whistle (Why did she even have that?!) so loud (I think she blew it extra loud on purpose) that it didn’t only silence Amy and me, but the whole cast along with us. Everyone turned their attention to Mila. “That’s what you all get when you leave me standing awkwardly when everyone is talking with a buddy!” she said, racing through the words.

All of the members of the cast were still staring, probably having their minds filled with questions...or maybe they’re just having trouble getting the ringing of the whistle out of their ears. Silence filled the room until everyone decided to continue practicing their lines.

“Oh, come on! No one will even ask me why I carry a whistle around?!” Mila groaned, retreating to the corner to silently continue writing in her notebook.

 

Amy

 

Why was Ava mad?! It’s not even my fault that I got the part! I know it’s stupid, but I’m mad that she’s mad. It’s just so stupid! I was even considering quitting, so she could have the part! I guess I’m going to try out for all the parts she wants in every play she ever tries out for. “Guys,” Bianca said to us, “you’re not the only ones in the room. You’re partners whether you like it or not, so stop arguing and practice your lines.” She then turned to Mila. “You can help Xander and Olivia with costume designs,” Bianca said, then walked away. I saw Mila open her notebook to a page with a bunch of hairstyles on it and walked swiftly to Xander and Olivia. Ava and I practiced our lines again in angry mumbles. After about twenty minutes, our practice was finally over. We got on the bus and headed home. Our dad could tell we were mad at each other, but his parenting policy was: “If they're arguing, it’s important; they figure it out themselves.” So, he did nothing about it. Our mom is usually more direct about our fighting, but she’s designing that skyscraper and was super busy. The next couple days went by slowly. Even though practice was constantly ending in fights, Ava and I had both memorized our lines by Friday, as Mrs. Richards had instructed. We were about to do our first rehearsal. I was going to make sure I was doing my best acting, because Ava was being super annoying lately about me getting the part. I know it sounds petty, but it’s not! If you were in this situation, you’d be frustrated too! We started our first rehearsal. Things went smoothly at first; the zombies rising from the dead, Callie getting pushed away from the battles, and so on. It came to the part where Amelia ran into Callie for the first time. I thought I might explain what happened better if I showed the lines.

“Is that you, sister?” Ava asked with melancholy in her voice. I could tell she was doing her best acting just to annoy me. 

“Amelia, it has been many years,” I said with the same sadness and confusion. I wasn’t going to let her be better than me.

“I thought you were dead all this time,” Ava said with a bit of excitement this time.

“I was dead and continue to be,” I said.

“But yet you stand here before me, talking in your sweet voice,” Ava said. It was becoming more obvious that we were competing to be better than each other now.

“Haven’t you heard the news?” I said, “The dead walk among the living now, still dead as forever we shall remain.” 

“But the zombies that have come from their graves all have unfinished business. You hadn’t started anything that needed to be finished,” Ava said with such denial and sadness, it could’ve convinced anybody this scene was real.

“I never said goodbye to you or my friends, that is why you see me here now,” I remarked with melancholy and regret.

“I’ve got to go, but sister, meet me here tomorrow,” Ava said. You could see fake tears in her eyes.

“I will if I can,” I responded. “Goodbye, Amelia.”

The curtains closed as we walked in opposite directions. “That was simply wonderful!” Mrs. Richards exclaimed. “Now, that’s all we have time for. Go home, everyone!” Mrs. Richards said.

 

Ava

 

I went off the stage and made my way to Mila, who was watching our rehearsals. “So, how’d I do?” I asked her, hoping for an honest response.

She shrugged. “I could tell that both of you were trying to outdo each other. You can decide whether that’s good or bad,” Mila snapped, grabbing her notebook from the seat she left it on.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” I questioned, since it wasn’t normal for her to act this way to me (for other people, she can definitely be like that). “Lighten up. There’s no way your situation is gonna be worse than mine.”

She shook her head and grumbled, “Four words: Chase is tutoring me.”
I gasped. Well, that took a turn of events. Mila and I had always hated Chase (you can say that we’re enemies), and sometimes we all (but mostly just Mila and Chase) get into verbal fights. And, oh boy, Mila is freakishly amazing at those verbal fights (or not serious trash talk, you can say). “We’ll talk more about this tomorrow; I gotta go home. Honestly, I rather talk to you than have another awkward dinner.”
Mila nodded as I took off in the other direction. I walked out of the school and went to the bus station, where Amy was already there. Was the conversation that long that Amy had time to walk all the way there?
We didn’t say anything to each other on the bus or at home. And before we knew it, it was the next day: Saturday. 

The entire cast decided that we would all meet up on weekdays and weekends for rehearsals and practice. So there would be another round of—you guessed it!—awkward moments and fighting with Amy.

We all planned to meet up at 1:00, and it’s 12:20 right now. We decided to go to the school a little earlier, so we took a bus and got to the school in a matter of minutes with enough time to spare. Mila was already there with two of her notebooks, writing something in one of them.

“Hey,” she said, not looking up at us.

“Hi,” I replied, not knowing what to say. We all stood there in awkward silence, until I started a conversation. “So...guess what? I’m doing well in advanced science!”
“Cool, but I wish you didn’t leave me alone in regular science,” Mila groaned.  “Now when I have to choose a new lab partner, I have to categorize the people from people who don’t know me and people who think I’m weird. Then there’s someone annoying and another one that I rather pass on. But Pass,”—I think she’s referring to their labels as a name—“is wayy better than Annoying, but she always has a partner! So I’m stuck with Annoying!” I glanced at Amy to check if she knew what Mila was talking about. As if she could read my mind, she shook her head.

“Hey! I was your lab partner last time!” A voice behind us commented.

Mila crossed her arms. “Shut it, Chase,”—He was the voice—“we’re talking about Annoying.”

“I’m Annoying!”
She held up her phone. “Hah! Joke’s on you: I just recorded that! It’ll be my new ringtone for you.”
“You don’t have my number...” Chase’s voice trailed off. 

Mila nodded and replied in a singsong voice, “But I do have your Instagram account!”

Bianca—since when did she even get here?—turned to Amy and me and said, “See? They’re showing you that fighting is silly! That’s why you two should stop.”
Mila opened her mouth to protest (we all know they weren’t trying to teach us a lesson; it’s just the typical quarrels between Mila and Chase), but Mrs. Richards walked up to us. “Okay, everyone, let’s go inside the school for rehearsals!”

 

Amy

 

“Okay, I think we’ll continue from where we left off yesterday,” Mrs. Richards said, “so we’re at the scene where Callie meets up with Amelia.” Ava and I got into our positions. 

“Callie, there is something I just have to know...what side are you on?” Ava asked.

“Whatever do you mean?” I replied, sounding confused.

“You’re dead and I’m alive; there’s a war between the dead and the living—” Ava started to say.

“Oh, you mean that. Well, neither,” I interrupted. “The zombies and the humans are fighting each other for absolutely no reason.”

“Then why don’t you try to stop them?” Ava questioned. “I mean, Callie, you’re already dead; you can’t die again.” 

“Zombies can die, as you said yesterday; zombies come to life because they have unfinished business. When we finished this business, we’d go back to being dead,” I said.

“But you said that your unfinished business was not saying goodbye to the people you loved, didn’t you say goodbye to me just yesterday,” Ava remarked, “Why aren’t you dead now?”

“I think it has to be a final goodbye, I’m not sure; the rules of being dead are confusing,” I said.

“Well, why don’t you and I stop the fighting?! We can do it, I know we can!” Ava said excitedly.

“I suppose we could, but how?” I asked skeptically.

“We could stand between the armies they wouldn’t charge if it would hurt us, I’m sure of it!” Ava declared.

“I’ll do it, but if you die, it’s not my fault,” I said.

“They’ll have a battle on top of Mikinin’s Hill tomorrow; be there at ten,” Ava said.

“PM or AM?” I asked.

“AM,” Ava confirmed.

The curtains closed, and we had a couple of minutes until our next scene.

 

Ava

 

The scene with Amy and me (or Callie and Amelia, if you want to refer to our roles) was finally over, so I hopped off the stage and went to Mila, who was sitting in one of the seats. For some reason, she was holding a large cup of some green drink.

“Now, before you ask,” she said to me. “I went across the street and saw this huge line. The place was selling boba tea! So I fell in line and got some. And this matcha is totally worth it.” she said, taking a sip of the matcha.

“Cool,” I replied. Mila got up from her seat and set the drink down. Carrying a notebook, she walked up the mini steps to the stage. Mila bumped into Mrs. Richards, and her notebook went plummeting down to the floor. When it fell, it opened to a page with a bunch of hairstyle notes with photos and website links attached. Everyone stared at the floor in silence.

“If this were a sit-com, everything would be in slow motion,” Mila commented, picking up her notebook.

Mrs. Richards stood in astonishment. “Mila...those hairstyles notes look fascinating! Is there any chance you would help us with the hairstyles for the play?”
She nodded like crazy. “Sounds like fun, so sure.”
Mrs. Richards turned to Amy (who was apparently standing next to me) and me. “Girls, you did a fabulous job!” After saying that, she walked away.

“I totally did better,” I said to Amy, whispering angrily.

“No, I did,” she whispered back to me. Three seconds later, we were fighting, though we were kinda quiet. Well, if you can say that a whisper-shouting fight is quiet.

“Oh my gosh, guys! Stop!” Mila scolded (What is going on? That’s so unlike her!) us. “Everyone knows that the key to a good fight is when you say stuff at the same time. I would demonstrate, but I have no clue where my fighting buddy is. Okay, continue.” Well, that makes sense now.

Bianca—again with the random popping up?!—groaned. “No! Ava and Amy, you guys should just stop fighting. Don’t listen to her.”

Awkward silence—by far the worst type of silence—took over, until Mila sipped her boba—when did she even get that back?!—loudly. “Well, this is awkward,” she mumbled. “I’m gonna go ask someone to tell me what I missed in the play.” Mila quickly walked to the first person she saw, the clicking sound of her boots reverberating throughout the room. After two minutes of talking, Mila went back to us, drinking her boba. And so the silence began again, not that it ever completely stopped.

Thankfully, Mrs. Richards announced that it was time for the next scene. “Break a leg, everyone!” Mila yelled, sitting down in a vacant seat. We all took our positions as the curtains opened once again.

 

Amy

 

Ughh! I feel angry at Ava, but I also feel a strange resolve. I never really hold grudges, but it’s not because I forget; it’s because I know I overreacted to the situation. I know I overreacted here, but I don’t want to make up because I don’t want her to think I forgot how annoying she was being. It’s stupid, I know but I’m fighting with her even though I’m not mad. 

I walk up to the fake hill. I stumbled through my lines. I did them well enough, but I was not great. I could tell Ava was looking at me strangely. Was I doing worse or better than usual? I know from experience it’s hard to tell. I didn’t need to say much in this scene was Ava’s. I just had to put a determined look on my face and stand there. The scene finally finished. “Okay, everyone!” Mrs. Richards yelled into her megaphone so loudly, it probably gave me permanent ear damage. “Lunch break! Good work everybody! Silena, nice job on the hill!” 

“Thanks, Mrs. Richards,” a girl I assumed was Silena said while walking out with Bianca. Sandy and I walked to the yard for a lunch break. Thank goodness, I was starving. I quickly ate my PB and J sandwich. I opened my book to show Sandy I didn’t really want to talk, but she didn’t get the message. She went on talking about all the gossip going around school and how she really wanted a jacket she saw at a clothing store. “Also,” she said, breaking me out of my half listening state, “you were a bit out of it at practice today; is something wrong?”

“No,” I lied, “I just needed to sneeze during the scene.” She nodded, “It happens.” Sandy has many talents, perception is not one of them. We walked back to the auditorium. Before I could get through the doors, Silena and Bianca confronted me. “We already talked to Ava,” Bianca said.

“Huh? About what?” I asked, confused.

“About you guys fighting. It’s no use for me to design all these awesome props if it leads to the two of you fighting all the time,” Silena said while pulling a beanie on her head.

“Okay,” I said awkwardly, ¨I’ll try to make up with her by the final show.” Bianca opened her mouth to argue, but was interrupted by Mrs. Richards screaming into her megaphone. “We’ve got two scenes with the human general and one with the zombie general, then after you can all go home!”