The first performance of a show is always nerve-wracking. Kim had all of her crew arrive an hour early so they would have time to settle in, use the washroom, get a snack and she could address them. She wore her black track pants with a thin black hoodie like the rest of her crew.
"Ok troops! This is the real deal. Everyone should know down to the minute where they need to be and what they need to be doing yes?" She looked around for nodding heads. "Perfect. I will be available on the head set if anyone needs me. The alterations stations are for QUICK FIX problems only! Do not clog them up with issues beyond their control or used items. All used wardrobe can go in the labeled bins once we are done with them. Props, you guys know what to do with your stuff. I believe in you guys, we are going to have a great show." She felt her nerves vibrate with tension.
"It's only the student showing." She over heard one of the youngest crew members say as they went to take their positions.
Kim's face showed that she was about to rage.
"I got this." Aneese assured her. "HEY JUNIOR!" She called after the kid and took off to correct him before Kim had a nervous breakdown.
"Show times by the clock people!" Kim yelled to remind them to be checking the time.
*
The show was running smoothly and Kim was anxious that it was about to fall apart. No show ran with out hiccups.
Aneese stayed back stage helping and directing the stage crew. Kim stayed in the drama room wardrobe area helping where ever she was needed.
"Kim?" A hushed voice came over the head set.
"Go ahead." She responded.
"The chairs are missing." A shakey voice said.
"What chairs?" She asked confused momentarily.
"The CHAIRS! For the Cafe scene!" The crew member whispered harshly.
"Can you rearrange the tables a little? Use the chairs you have?" Kim asked.
"The chairs are MISSING, ALL OF THEM!" The voice sounded panicked.
"Shit! Time?" She asked.
"Six?" The voice replied.
"All standby crew, all stand by crew. We need twelve chairs to the back stage entrance in four, twelve chairs to the back door in FOUR minutes." Kim called loudly opening the mic up to all channels.
She rushed out the back exit of the drama room to see students in black scurrying down the halls.
"Where are the Cafe chairs? They were all their last night!" Kim asked but got no response.
"Chairs incoming!" A voice called down the hall. The two stage hands dragged the classroom chairs to the door where Kim handed them off with one minute to spare.
"Go make a note where those need to get returned to, and to find the actual Cafe chairs!" She directed a girl huffing and puffing from running.
"Cafe scene a go." She heard Aneese say, making her shoulders relax. Kim looked around as the crew returned to their stations.
She turned to go find a moment to sit and check her list and timelines. She sat on the edge of her favorite chair in the lounge and took a giant gulp of her now Luke warm Iced coffee.
They were a little over half way done. She checked in with each lead for a status update and asked that all items were checked and accounted for before they were needed.
She had thought that was why they had done a full dress rehearsal the night before, but apparently she had missed something somewhere.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she jumped, her nerves were frazzled and she wasn't expecting it.
W- break a leg or something more supportive. Thinking of you being all bossy is making me hot.
He sent a message along with a picture. The picture loaded and it was him in the steamy sauna with a towel slung low on his hips.
"Well hello there!" She said out loud and then blushed furiously. She did not have time to flirt, she was in the middle of the play. She glanced at the picture one more time before tucking her phone back away.
"Kim!" A girl came up looking frantic. "Tim has to go to the bathroom but his quick change is up in like a minute!"
Kim hoisted herself up and went to help her crew.
By the time the curtain closed, Kim was weirdly exhilarated. She expected to be tired but she wasn't. There were a few hiccups along the way but her team was amazing. They had handled every problem like professionals and the audience was completely unaware of anything amiss back stage.
"Kim! You were amazing!" Mr. Rossi said hugging her.
"Thank you sir!" She smiled.
"Cast and crew luncheon in the cafeteria when you are done." He gestured to the room that was in organized chaos.
She didn't want to make her crew hold back from the celebration so she made an executive decision.
"All stage crew dismissed, check your schedules for call times. Enjoy the luncheon." She called over all channels. She would stay after school and finish up any additional responsibilities that were left.
"You too boss lady!" Aneese called over the radio.
"Yeah, yeah." Kim replied before taking off her head set and putting it on the charging station.
The luncheon was a celebration put on by the drama department for the theater club after the day time performances. They got to have a snack and talk about the show rather than rushing back to last period.
Kim entered the cafeteria and noticed the banners and table cloths and streamers put together by the ninth grade drama classes.
Then out of the corner of her eye she spotted something.
"Where did you get those chairs?" She asked a ninth grader handing out punch.
"I don't know, ask Ms. Murray." The boy pointed at his teacher.
"Ms. Murray? Where did you get those chairs?" Kim asked astonished that she had found them.
"I got a note asking us to decorate and saying the tables and chairs were in the right wing. The tables were far to small but the chairs were cute. Why?" She asked confused.
"Those were the missing chairs for the Cafe scene. I wonder who told you to use those?" Kim pondered.
"Oh no! What happened?" The teacher looked shocked.
"Nothing really, we just grabbed some classroom chairs and used them instead." Kim said still looking at the chairs confused.
"I am so sorry I would have never taken them had I known!" Ms. Murray said also studying the chairs.
"No worries, we just have to make sure they get put back." Kim smiled and patted her arm.
"I wish I knew who was messing with the play. It is actually getting pretty annoying." Aneese said coming up behind Kim.
"I don't think it's an on purpose thing." Kim dismissed it.
"After talking to the lighting and sound guys and the director and cast? I totally do." Aneese shook her head.
"What? Why?" Kim's intrest was piqued.
"Have you talked to them?" Aneese asked looking at Kim. "Ok, so obviously you have, but about this?" She asked as they served themselves food and found a place to sit.
"Obviously I have not." Kim prompted her friend to continue.
"So like, remember when the cast met in the dance room rather than on stage?" Kim nodded. "Remember when all the lighting filters were off or the speakers all needed to be readjusted? That isn't normal stuff. Someone had to actually do those things." Aneese said.
"But who would do that? And why?" Kim was lost.
"You know how like some of the old theater kids would like prank the newbies? Someone was saying it was that, but this seems more like sabotage." Aneese said lowering her voice and looking around.
"The theater pranks were usually like mis labeling the prop boxes or like switching the sheet music. Not ruining props and physically altering the auditorium sound systems." Kim agreed. "Something is definitely weird here."
"Let me handle the case of the theater saboteur. You have enough on your plate." Aneese chuckled.
"Meh, it's not so bad." Kim said.
"Don't forget to add time for your new boyfriend in there." Aneese winked.
"Oh! Did you want me to go find Hannah?" Kim sat up and looked around. "Hannah! Hammnnmmnnahh!" Kim yelled as Aneese put her hand over Kim's mouth.
"Ok, but you can't deny that someone has your attention lately." Aneese grinned with a wicked smile.
"I simply have No idea what you could be talking about." Kim said but couldn't hide her smile.
"Uh huh, right." Aneese grinned.
Kim thought of the picture West had sent earlier in the day and started to blush.
"Oh no! Nothing going on there." Aneese nodded with sarcasm dripping from her words and her face.
"This is the part where you shut up." Kim said lightly making Aneese laugh
"And what does over protective brother think of this?" Aneese asked.
"There is nothing to think about the nothing in question. BUUUUTTTT if there was a something to think anything about, he wouldn't have any thoughts because, he wouldn't know anything of the maybe something that there would be to know!" Kim said before popping a loaded cracker in her mouth.
"Ahh, I see! So Grey is in the dark about the absolute nothing that makes you blush and picks you up sometimes. Got it." She nodded.
"Yep Grey can keep his eyes on his own page." Kim cheersed Aneese.
Once the bell rang dismissing classes the party was over. People disappeared quickly.
Kim helped the drama class clean up before moving on to the back stage and drama rooms.
K- can I have a ride home? I sent my crew home early and I have to stay to clean up and reset for tomorrow
Mom- I am working, but Grey is off at five. I will tell him to swing by and get you.
K- thanks mom!
Kim set to work and straightened. The far side of the stage first, that way she wouldn't be crossing back into clean areas.
The boys dressing room was a disaster area. She made a few quick notes hanging them on the mirrors for the cast and crew to find the following day. She gathered up costumes and replaced them on the hooks, racks or shelves, making sure the labels were visible with the characters name and scene attached.
She moved the left wing storage area and inventoried the props. Noting that all the chairs had been returned from the cafeteria and the classroom chairs were stacked neatly. She made a note to return them before classes the following morning.
The stage needed to be reset from the final scene to the opening one. She made a note.
The second on stage storage area looked as good as the first. Aneese had done a great job of leading the on stage crew.
The girls dressing room was much more organized and all Kim had to do was straighten up a few things and fix some labels.
By the time she was finished on stage she was ready for a break. The drama room needed more attention, but her body needed to sit.
G- mom said five but I'm here now. Are you almost done?
K- not yet. You can come in and sit in the AC if you want. I'm in the big drama room across from the office.
G- cool.
Kim looked over her notes and put them in her laptop so everyone who wanted to, had access.
"Reinforcements have arrived!" Greyson announced as he entered the room.
"Hey!" Kim greeted him with a smile.
"Where is everybody?" He looked around.
"Just me." She said.
"Grey?" A voice email called from the hall.
"In here!" Grey called back."I hope you don't mind, I brought West."
"Ugh, what ever!" Kim's heart skipped a beat. "But don't think the two of you are just going to mess around while I work! If you are in here, you are my HELPERS!" She looked from one to the other hoping that Grey couldn't see the flush in her cheeks.
"Yes ma'am Sargent Ma'am!" West snapped to attention.
"You can start over there. The furniture needs to be moved and reset. The map is on the wall. Just do EXACTLY that." She pointed West in the direction of the large props.
"And you can start over there, same thing follow the map." She pointed her brother to the section beside his best friend.
They all worked so well, laughing and joking as they worked that the job was done in almost no time.
"Hey, wanna help me put the stage back to one? It would be nice to be ready to go tomorrow." She smiled at them like she used to do when she was six and wanted to play nerf wars.
"Lead the way." West said before Grey could respond.
"Excellent!" She hopped up and turned to lead the way to the stage.
They moved the final scene props out into the wings, exactly where the map told them to put them. And started loading in the first scene.
"Kiki, can you tell me if this is the right thing?" West called from stage left.
"Is your friend this useless at work?" She asked her brother. She hoped dogging on him would throw Grey off any trail that would indicate that they were seeing each other.
"Don't touch anything I'm coming!" She called across the stage. "Those are the fence pieces, can you set that up like in the picture while I go save your friend from getting lost in the curtains?"
Grey laughed and gestured for her to go find West.
She marched across the stage and whipped open the curtain.
"What do you need help with?" She asked loudly.
"This." He said grabbing her and kissing her. He pulled her away from the curtains and pressed her against the black wall.
She melted in his arms as their lips and tongues danced making her dizzy.
"I only want you to greet me like that for the rest of my life." She whispered breathlessly.
"Yeah? What about like this?" He grinned and dipped his head kissing her neck.
"That's good too." She said softly. He bent down and grasped her thighs picking her up so her legs were around his waist and he was pressing her against the wall with the weight of his body.
"Did you like my picture?" He teased.
"Holy shit!" She said loudly before lowering her voice. "I was in the middle of the play when you sent that. It nearly set the drama room on fire." She said capturing his mouth with her own.
"So is that good?" He prompted with a grin.
"It was so hot." She nodded squeezing her legs tighter around him.
"Almost done?" Grey called out.
"Stupid door was stuck behind the trees!" Kim called back. She kissed West one more time as he put her back down onto her feet. He resisted letting her go.
"So you want Grey to know about this?" She asked.