Beautiful Monster 2(6)

 
“Liam! Just in time!”
 
“For what?” I asked, confused.
 
Katya, my lead drama instructor, raised her eyebrow. “Aren’t you here for the vote on the final show?”
 
“What?... uh, yes, of course.” I tried to make it seem like I had remembered that today they would decide what the year-end show would be, and they needed my approval. I knew there was a reason I was getting frigidity in my office. “So, what are the choices?”
 
“We’ve narrowed it down to three: Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. Unless you wanted to do a straight play, in which case we unanimously agreed on Gatsby.”
 
I shook my head. “There’s a national tour of Gatsby going on right now. We don’t need to do it at the school too. Amy’s in it.”
 
“Right, Amy,” Katya teased me.
 
I rolled my eyes. “Well, what are we waiting for? Vote. Vote.”
 
“Alright, open ballot. Everyone gets one vote. I’ll call it out, you raise your hands.”
 
I saw instantly why they needed me. In a stroke of madness, each production came out as a tie, and I could see why. Cats meant that the dancers would be the stars, while Les Miserables called more for strong singers. Phantom, however, meant that there needed to be acting beyond the other two, with more text than singing. We had just done a straight play last year: Beauty and the Beast starring Amy, and myself, a production that had won us rave reviews. It was a publicity stunt for the scholarship winner and the former superstar. But this year, there was no need for another publicity stunt, and sadly, no real need for me to act either. Everyone would audition fair and square for their parts. Still, I couldn’t help but err on the side of Amy, the best actor I had seen in years.
 
“Well then, my tie breaker vote is Phantom,” I said, and it was met with simultaneous groans and cheers. “School-wide auditions, Friday of the first week. Everyone knows the music. They don’t need time to practice.”
 
“School-wide?” Katya asked, confused.
 
Usually, I limited it to the upper years, and the lower years were assigned parts by their teachers, based on their already known schedule. But I wanted this to be different.
 
“Kindergarten to graduate programs. And I want two guest judges so the panel isn’t completely biased to students we already know.”
 
“You want a lot, Liam,” Devon, one of the technical instructors, joked.
 
I held up my hands. ‘What can I say? I’m a diva. Everyone good?”
 
They looked at each other and then nodded. I was about to leave when suddenly I remembered Talon.
 
“Oh, by the way. Along with school rules, I want you to all give your students a good talk about respecting other performers, and not act like groupies. I nearly got mauled out in the hall by a new senior, and I can’t run classes if they are asking me for autographs.”
 
“Poor groupies,” Devon said.
 
I turned to leave on that note. It was a casual environment at the school. The instructors had the freedom to make their own curriculums and credited themselves with their students’ success.
 
I didn’t get too much work done the rest of the day. I wandered about quite a bit, and pretended to contribute or oversee, but the truth was, I was constantly watching the clock. Amy had texted at 4:55 saying that she had just gotten off the train and would call me when she was in the driveway. As the minutes ticked by, I could feel my heart rate increase and my mouth go dry. After months, I could finally have her in my arms. I could finally wrap my arms around her, bury my nose in her soft hair and feel her body warm against mine.#p#分页标题#e#
 
I hadn’t wanted to fall in love with a student. I had never been in love in all my life. In lust, yes, but never in love. But Amy was irresistible, adorable and attractive, with her sweet smile and sparkling eyes. The connection that we made the first time our eyes met was unshakable. Of course, it helped that her blood was rotten, tainted with HIV and did not tempt me at any stage in my transformation. Amy was a breath of fresh air, and now that Porsche was gone, she was my only salvation.
 
Finally my cell phone rang with Amy’s ringtone, when I was in the dorms, sorting out a housing problem.
 
“Hey, I’m here. I’ll meet you in the lobby.”
 
“I’ll be right there,” I said, snapping the phone shut and turning to the two students and dorm mother who stood before me with a grumpy body language. “Sorry, guys, emergency. Just um… flip a coin.”