Beautiful Monster 2(39)

 
“Thanks.” I gave him a hug as we neared the front doors. “And thanks for making time to be here.”
 
“Anytime.” He squeezed me tightly. “I’ll text you when I’m done tonight and we can go out for food?”
 
“For sure.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him, as I pushed the door open. “I’ve got something special in mind.”
 
I had forgotten about the paparazzi outside, and Drago and I were nearly blinded by the camera flashes as we fully pushed the door open. I held up my hand to shield my eyes, not that it did any good.
 
“I should go,” I said, giving him a rueful smile.
 
He nodded. “See ya around. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from them soon.”
 
“Yep.” I headed out the door, lowering my head to keep my face covered.
 
I now understood why stars wore sunglasses all the time. I didn’t particularly want to go back to school and go to rehearsal. I wanted to stay glued to my phone, especially now that Drago had given me hope. But I highly doubted they would even be making a choice that day, when I knew they had auditions all afternoon. So instead, I grabbed a sandwich from the nearby deli for lunch and texted Liam that I was on my way back. Neither of them had responded to my invite for Sites, which annoyed me, but I assumed they would tell me when I got there.
 
When I got to school, however, it appeared the chaos had followed me. Under no circumstances had I wanted to go into the Red Theater alone again, the white mist still on my mind. As I approached the theater, I saw that there was no way I would be alone in there. The theater was bedlam, with actors, costume designers, tech people and department heads running to and fro. I managed to find Connor in the crowd and I poked his arm.
 
“What’s happening? I thought we were just doing a dress rehearsal for the leads?”#p#分页标题#e#
 
“Liam has decided he wants a full run-through.”
 
“Uh…” was the only word that would come out of my mouth. Liam never wanted a full run-through this early. Last year, he focused on individual scenes again and again. But this year, every opportunity we got seemed to be a full run-through. “Is he crazy?”
 
Connor managed a smirk at that. “He is the love of your life, Amy. You tell me.”
 
“Oh, I know the answer to that one,” I responded, leaving my book bag on a chair and going towards the stage.
 
The theater felt much different than when I was alone in it this morning. The energy was positive and busy, not dark and eerie. I decided not to mention what I saw until Sites aired tomorrow. I wanted to see what they had captured with their cameras.
 
“Why the run-through?” I asked Liam as he stood on the stage, waving his arms at the set people and directing them to various places.
 
“Amy.” His smile was tight and I assumed he wasn’t over our fight this morning. “Can you just get into costume?”
 
“I barely know which costume I need for what act yet, Liam,” I replied. “And my audition went great, thanks. Why are we running through so early?”
 
“I’ll tell you later.” He barely looked at me. “Please get into costume. We’ll be rehearsing until at least dusk.”
 
“Ok, ok.” I gave him a look that expressed how unimpressed I was, but he didn’t seem to react.
 
Just as I was about to ask another question, Nina appeared from nowhere, gently tugging on his arm. “Liam, can you help?”
 
I didn’t bother to stay to hear the rest of the conversation. I turned on my heel, going backstage to the costume room. I couldn’t even say hello to my boyfriend without her hanging around, and it was getting on my last nerve.
 
If there was one thing I would admit that Liam was right about, it was the length of rehearsal. We stumbled through two run-throughs and were nearing dinner time when Liam called for everyone in the party scene to meet him in the west wing.
 
“Finally,” I said to Sarah, as we went towards the wing. “An explanation.”
 
She didn’t say anything and her face was pale, contorted with pain. I took her arm as she stumbled slightly.
 
“Hey, you ok?”
 
She nodded, her jaw tightening and I wondered if she was about to be sick again. Dusk was nearing and I assumed we would be continuing on with just the supernatural creatures. In my opinion, Liam was obsessing over the scene. It was perfect now and the show was still months away. I expressed those thoughts in Sarah’s ear, but she merely shrugged. Dropping her elbow, I moved farther into the crowd. Fine, if Sarah didn’t want to talk to me, I might as well bury myself away.