As the dog days of summer came to an end, Sloane felt sad because it meant she would have to go back to school soon. Going back to school meant that the long summer days that she spent at the pool were coming to an end, and she would have to spend the next nine months in a sad, boring classroom. She liked most of her classes, such as English, history, art, music, and theater, but she really disliked math and science because they were both too difficult for her. This year, she was starting her senior year of high school, and she was both nervous and excited for the first day because at least she would have a few classes with her best friend, Emerson.
Emerson and Sloane had known each other since second grade, when their art teacher, Mrs. Bellamy, sat them next to each other. Emerson was always way better at drawing and painting than Sloane was, so her art projects always looked way better. Emerson won their local art show at the Cartwright Museum of Art numerous times and even won a scholarship to Les Beaux Arts de Paris, the finest art school in Paris, France. After high school, Emerson’s dream was to study art and live in Paris for the rest of her life. However, Sloane was just hoping to do enough to impress her theatre teacher, Mr. Clements, to get a role in the spring musical this year. They were planning on doing The Little Mermaid, which had always been Sloane’s favorite Disney movie. Sloane had red hair and blue eyes, just like Ariel. The only difference between her and Ariel was that her hair was more orangish-red, but imagine how fun it would be if she got to wear a bright red wig and play her dream role. As for her college aspirations, Sloane was hoping to get into the musical theatre program at Carnegie Mellon University.
Sloane decided that her audition song for The Little Mermaid would be “Beyond My Wildest Dreams” from the musical, rather than “Part Of Your World.” In order to do great at your audition, you needed to choose a song that would make you stand out from the crowd, and she knew that nearly every girl auditioning for the role of Ariel was going to sing it because it was the most popular song from the entire movie. Sloane’s boyfriend, who coincidentally was named Eric, was hoping to get the role of Prince Eric, too, in the musical. Since this was their senior year, they both knew that getting those roles would definitely look great on their college applications.
The first day of school had finally arrived, and Sloane had picked out the perfect back-to-school outfit to wear. It included her favorite light pink t-shirt, a soft pink cardigan to keep her warm in class if she got cold, her favorite light blue jeans, and her favorite pink-and-white Adidas sneakers. Sloane’s dad made her a stack of French toast with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, and as she sipped her chai latte, which she had just brewed in her Keurig, her dad asked if she was excited about her audition today. Sloane smiled up at her father and said that she was definitely really excited about it, but also a bit nervous, too, since she hadn’t seen Mr. Clements since school ended last year and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to impress him enough to get the role. “You’re going to do wonderful, Sloane,” her dad said. Sloane smiled at her dad and thanked him. After breakfast, it was time for her dad to drive her to school for her last day of high school, but before they left the house, he reminded her that they needed to take their yearly first day of school photo, and after he took several of her, it was finally time to get in the car and head off to school.
After her dad dropped her off at school, Sloane walked to her locker, and that’s where she met up with Emerson. Emerson hugged her because she was so happy to see her. Sloane hadn’t seen Emerson all summer, so it was nice that she got to be around her best friend again. Emerson had been away at a summer art intensive camp, and she got to embrace her artistic side. After being reunited, they walked to class together. Their first class of the day was math, unfortunately, and Sloane never looked forward to it. As a girl who excelled in every subject except math and science, she thought that starting the day at 8 A.M. by sitting in a math class was not a great way to begin.
After class ended, Sloane and Emerson continued to attend the rest of their classes, and before they knew it, the first day of school had ended. Sloane had auditions for The Little Mermaid after school, so her dad probably wouldn’t pick her up until 6 P.M. Auditions normally lasted three hours because there were singing, acting, and dance auditions. The singing audition was first, and after seeing forty other people try their best to sing their hearts out, it was finally Sloane’s turn to audition. As she stepped onstage with the sheet music she handed to Mrs. Jenkins, the choir teacher, she took a deep breath and, as she sang her heart out, she knew she had nailed her audition. After she was finished, Mr. Clements gave her a huge smile and told her that she did a wonderful job.
After the auditions were over, Sloane’s boyfriend, Eric, kissed her on the cheek and told her she had an amazing audition. They both stayed very hopeful that they would both get their dream roles when the cast list was announced tomorrow. Working on the musical was a full-year commitment because their school only had enough money in the drama department’s budget for one production a year. Because of that, Sloane stayed hopeful that tomorrow morning she would learn she had gotten the role of Ariel and that Eric would be playing Prince Eric.
The next morning, Sloane checked her email on her phone and found out that the cast list for The Little Mermaid had been emailed out. She was so excited because she got her dream role and would get to play Ariel. Of course, Eric got the role of Prince Eric, too, and she was so proud of him. She couldn’t wait for rehearsals to start next week because she knew the show would be wonderful.
This was written by our founder and editor-in-chief, Hanna Peters.
Image Source: Pexels, KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA
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