Parents in the Past

"There is no way I am doing that!" I argued. Both my parents,  professors on King Arthur and all his many adventures,  sat across from me on the, waving a pamphlet that announced Joyful Falls's first annual theater production. Of course, the play that was chosen had to be the story of King Arthur. People might think that I don't wanna do the play because of stage fright, but truth be told the thing holding me back was my parent's obsession with this play. I knew that if they made me do this, they would be hounding me about it the entire three months that followed.  My parents spend almost all their time reading King Arthur, acting out King Arthur, eating like him, even decorating our house with very, very old furniture. Truth be told, I'm surprised we even have indoor plumbing. "Please Genny you would make a great Guinevere! Besides you never have done an Arthur play before, just Disney,” my dad urged me on. “I have my reasons,” I whispered under my breath. “Oh Genny just this once, if you do, we will never bug you about a play again!” my mom pushed. Well that statement I had to think about, I mean my parents pledging to bug me less when it came to my theater choices was just too good to neglect. “Fine I will try out! But you two better stay true to your promise and not drive me crazy about Arthur plays got it?” “Deal!” my parents said eagerly, clapping like a bunch of maniacs. “When are tryouts?” I said unenthusiastically. “Oh my tryouts! We better get you there!” my dad said jumping up and running to grab his keys. “Wait, the audition is today as it is right now?!” I shrieked. “Sorry honey! When you weren’t saying anything about the flyers we kept pushing under your door, we decided this last minute approach and it clearly worked!” “Mom I don’t even have a song or monologue to perform!” I argued. “It’s ok Genny, they supply everything all you have to bring is yourself!” my dad said, heading out the front door. “Ugh fine,” I said, stomping out the door behind him. 

 Ten minutes later we arrived at a crowded community theater. My parents drop me off(I have a policy about auditioning alone) and I walk into the theater. I have done many performances at this particular theater, but it has been a while since I have been back. I push past all the parents pressuring their kids and head to the sign-up table. I quickly jot down my name and the role I would like to audition for(Guinevere obviously) and take a seat to wait for my name to be called.  

 2 hours later after all the minor characters, the Lancelots, and the Merlins had gone, and my brain fried from too many games of Candy Crush, those auditioning for Guinevere and Arthur were called in. The few kids left got up and walked into the auditorium. We sat in the first few rows and waited for further instruction. “Alright guys thank you for being so patient with us, now we are just waiting for one more person then we will begin.” The auditorium doors burst open and a tall boy with dark hair rushed in. “Sorry, I’m late! The traffic was awful” “That's ok Adam just take a seat,” the director urged. The boy, Adam, took a seat by me and was quiet. Taking a closer look I knew I never had seen him before, which was kinda weird because we live in a relatively small town. Up close though, he was kinda cute. He had bright green eyes and dimples that showed without him needing to even smile. It didn’t help that he was pretty tall, around 6’2 I would guess. “Pull yourself together Genny you're here to audition not to stare at strange cute boys!” I urged myself. “Ok so to begin with I am going to pair up one Arthur and one. Guinevere and have you sing a song together and go over some lines,” the director said, then he began to call out my names. When he called my name I let a little happy sigh come out of me. Not only was I last, but I got to perform with the new kid Adam, I could tell by looking at him he had to be somewhat talented, and I got to scope out the competition of course. 

I watched group after group, some were quite talented, and some I could see were just forced to try out by their parents. Finally, after urging my confidence level one last time, Adam and I took to the stage. “What song would you like to sing?” the pianist asked, showing us the list. Adam took the list and we began scanning over the titles. “This one?” he asked, pointing to Love is an Open Door. “Not serious enough,” I said with a shake of my head. “How about this one?” I said, pointing to Helpless from Hamilton. “Eh, not the best duet,” he said. We scanned the list and our eyes finally landed on the song. “This one would be perfect, admit it!” I pushed. “Your right, we should do it,” he agreed, allowing a small smile to shine through. I smiled back then turned to the pianist. “We would like to do The Start of Something New,” I told him. “Good choice,” he said. Adam and I grabbed the two mikes and stood mid-stage. The pianist then began to play.  Adam opened his mouth and a deep, but sweet voice flowed out of him. 

“Living in my own world didn’t understand that anything can happen if you take a chance”

He sang I got so caught up I almost missed my part. I opened my mouth and closed my eyes, pretending that I was alone in my room. 

“I never believed in what I couldn’t see, I never opened my eyes to all the possibilities”

 We then turned toward each other and started belting out the song with all that we had. After it ended, we were both struggling to catch our breaths. “Very well done you two! The passion you both out in was quite admirable,” the director said. “Now please grab the script and read the ending page, where Arthur vows his forever love,” “Great a cute stranger gets to say that he loves me,” I thought, palms beginning to sweat at the thought. “Ready Genny?” the director asked. Oh man, my daydreams distracted me! “Uh yes, yes I am” I mustered. 

 “Oh my dear Guinevere we have struggled through thick and thin yet my love for thee remains strong every time your beautiful grace reveals itself. Tell me will you still accept me for who I am, a king trying to strengthen his country and will?” Adam, acting as King Arthur asked.

“Oh Arthur, your bravery and courage are known throughout all the lands, yet your heart is known only to me, of course, I will accept you. You push me dear Arthur to be a better person, to have stronger feelings, to love. As long as I shall remain, I will always love you.” I replied, feeling pretty good about myself. “Well thank you Adam and Genny, you were both excellent! You may now go, the cast list will be released at seven o'clock tonight, so I hope to see you two back here Monday for the first rehearsal. I glanced down at my phone, I was already 4 so I only had three hours left to wait. “Hey, Genny is it?” Adam said coming up to me as I was grabbing my bag. “Yup that’s me!” I said cheerfully. “I’m Adam as you might have gotten already, I’m new in town and I’m supposed to meet my mom at the coffee shop at 7:15 is there any way you know where that is?” he asked nervously. “Of course! I can take you there if you want! 7:15? Why so late?” I asked, hoping that I hadn’t sounded too eager. “Well I wasn’t sure how long auditions would go,” he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. “It is a small town, this audition was considered long, but hey I’ll be happy to give you some company at the coffee shop if you want it” I offered, wanting to seem like a nice person. “Won’t your parents want you home or something?” he questioned. “Neh they are teaching a late class at the college” I reassured. “Okay then let’s go get some caffeine!” he said enthusiastically. I sent a quick text to my parents telling them where I then led him out onto the main road. “C’mon it's just a couple of blocks!” I said, then just claiming a random moment started to run. Adam throwing his head back let out a laugh then started racing he quickly caught up with me then we jogged the rest of the way together. “Here we are Caffeine Cares, the best and only coffee shop in town,” I said waving my arms around proudly. “Well let's see if it’s really the best!” Adam challenged. “It is!” I claimed. We walked in and stood in line. “What can I get you, two young folks?” Mary, the owner asked. “I’ll take a pumpkin spice latte please!” I replied, their pumpkin spice latte was the most delicious thing in my opinion. “Make that two” Adam said. We paid then grabbed a small table in the corner. “So what grade are you going into?” I questioned. “I’m gonna be a tenth grader at the high school after the New Year,” he said. “Wow what a coincidence, I’m a tenth grader as well,” I replied. “Well guess you're gonna be seeing me on the stage and in the classroom” he chuckled. “Um we don’t even know if we got the parts yet,” I said. “Hey I have a good feeling we did, not only did we work well together, but one could tell that the director was somewhat impressed” he argued, sporting a big dimpled grin. “Okay yeah you are kinda right, oh look here come our drinks!” I said, spotting the waiter coming our way. After getting our drinks I took a big sip. MMM pure warm pumpkiny goodness. “C’mon you know you wanna try it” I urged a skeptical-looking Adam. He raised his mug and took a small sip, then a bigger one. “Oh my you are right this is amazing!” he said with wide eyes. “Small towns keep it real I say!” I replied being silly. “Okay I will never doubt you again!” he promised. “Yay! So why did you wanna do this show?” I asked. “Um, c’mon it's King Arthur those tales are like the best ever, the history plus music it's gonna be epic. Sorry if I’m fanboying, I just love the era of King Arthur,” he said, acting all animated. “Not you too!” I cringed. “Wait a second what do you mean not me too? Are you not a King Arthur fan?” he asked. “Well, it's kinda hard to like the era when you live with my parents. They are professors who do nothing but eat sleep and live that era” I’m constantly bombarded with Arthur talk, so it is kinda hard to appreciate an era when it seems your parents would rather live then, then now,” I said, saying way more than I expected to. “Hey I know it must be hard, but hey you must appreciate them somewhat I mean you are doing this play after all! Maybe, you just need to have a different approach when it comes to dear old Arthur. I could help widen your perspective a bit?” he asked. I glanced down at my phone. It was 5:30, well you have an hour and a half. Amuse me!” I said, having nothing better to do. 

The next hour Adam went on and on about the story of King Arthur.

His tales were filled with sword fights, helpless maidens, and scandalous acts. It was more like a fairy tale than a professional study, which is how my parents made it sound. He went on and on about round tables, Holy Grails, and Guinevere's torn heart. Before I knew it an hour had passed, and for once I was starting to become interested in Adam’s version of Arthur's era. “Well that's all I’m gonna say, for now, I don’t wanna bore you,” said Adam, taking a drink of water. “Oh no, actually I was quite into it! Honest! Your view of the era is so much better than my parents boring educational version! That hour was quite a treat!” I said honestly. “Well, I am glad you enjoyed it, and don’t think I am gonna totally give up on changing your negative view! I have quite a few tricks up my sleeve still” he said, pretending to be serious. “Does that mean we get to hang out again?” I questioned, raising my eyebrow. “Oh definitely!” he said with a big goofy grin. “Oh my gosh, it’s seven!” I said, glancing at my phone. “Oh yeah, it's revelation time!” Adam exclaimed. “You look! I’m too nervous.” Aam grabbed his phone and logged onto his email. His face remained blank as he clicked onto the list. “Oh man we didn’t get the parts,” I said softly, really disappointed. “Actually we did!” he said jumping up and smiling. I jumped up and started to do a happy dance, then I reached out and gave Adam a hug. “Congrats,” I whispered. “We are gonna make the best Arthur and Guinevere ever,” he whispered. “That we are” I agreed quietly.