“So, what you got in that cooler, Big Bro?” First Base asked. He, his older brother Flash Sentry, and his best friend Button Mash were walking down the hallway of Canterlot High towards the chemistry lab. It was after school, so the hallways were empty.
“Nothing you need to see,” his brother said to him, positioning himself so that the his body was between First Base and the cooler.
The three boys entered the lab where three young women in lab coats and goggles were waiting. The lavender one with her hair tied back looked up as they entered and smiled.
“Hey, Flash,” she said. She frowned slightly when she noticed the two younger boys in Flash’s company. “Umm, what’s going on?”
“Hey, Twilight,” Flash replied. “I’m so sorry about this. Little Bro and Button were supposed to have baseball practice today, but the coach cancelled at the last minute.”
“His wife went into labor,” First Base added before pursing his lips in thought. “I’ve never seen a man freak out that bad before. It’s kinda terrifying.”
Twilight laughed in response. “Oh boy,” she muttered to herself with a knowing smile.
“I didn’t know where else to take them. Aunt Flare and Button’s parents are still at work, and Grandma’s rehearsing with the church choir for Old Church Choir Sunday this week,” Flash further explained.
“I see. By the way, did you bring the—?”
“Yes, I did,” Flash interrupted, setting the cooler on one of the lab tables while making panicked shushing motions with his arms and hands.
Twilight’s face twisted in confusion. “Okay, then.”
Flash sighed in relief as he walked away from the cooler to put on his personal protective equipment.
“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have just used only a potato,” Rarity griped as she measured out the peroxide. “Remind me again why we need the, ahem, additional materials.”
“I thought it’d be nice to see which one causes a stronger reaction,” Twilight replied as she opened the cooler.
“Wait, don’t!” Flash cried, but it was too late. Twilight had already taken out a plastic container with a thick maroon liquid from the cooler.
“Is that blood?!” exclaimed First Base with wide eyes.
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but before an answer could come out, a loud, nauseating retching sound filled the room, no, the entire hallway. Thankfully, Flash had quickly slid a trash can to his younger brother before Base could unload the contents of his stomach onto the floor.
Flash gave Twilight a stern glare while his brother continued to vomit into the trash can. Twilight could only smile sheepishly and shrug her shoulders.
“Umm, maybe you should put that where Base can’t see it,” Derpy suggested.
“Good idea,” Twilight replied, placing the pork blood back into the cooler.
First Base threw up for a solid 15 seconds before he finally stopped.
“You good, Little Bro?” Flash asked.
“Uh-huh.” First Base shakily got up from his hunched position.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but I really gotta take care of this. I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Flash said to the girls.
“Don’t worry. We won’t start without you,” Twilight assured him.
“Come on, you two. I’ll take you to the nurse’s office.”
One trip to Nurse Redheart’s office later, First Base was sitting on the exam table sipping on a bottle of Buffaloade and munching on saltines.
“Feeling better now?” Nurse Redheart asked.
“Much better,” Base replied before chomping down on five crackers at once.
“How exactly did this happen?”
“He tends to throw up at the sight of blood and/or organs,” Flash replied before sighing in exasperation, “which means I won’t be able to bring him back into the chemistry lab.” He gave the nurse the most charming smile he could and asked, “Ma’am, if it isn’t too much trouble, do you mind watching my brother and his friend for me?”
Nurse Redheart looked at him sternly. “I am a school nurse, not a babysitter, and no, you can’t just leave them here at my office. Since your brother is clearly feeling better, I suggest that you three leave my office.”
“Hey, before we go, can I have a Buffaloade too?” Button asked.
“NO! Now, get going, you freeloaders.”
Flash stood in the hallway outside the chemistry lab with First Base and Button Mash.
“Just what am I going to do with you guys?” Flash bemoaned.
“You could just leave us by ourselves like what I suggested earlier,” Button Mash replied, rapidly blinking his eyes while shining the most innocent-looking set of pearly whites he could muster.
“You know I’m no longer allowed to do that, especially after what happened the last time you guys were left alone.”
“Come on, Big Bro,” First Base pleaded. “It wasn’t that bad, and we’ve grown a lot since then.”
“One, it was two weeks ago, and two, you guys blew up a microwave. If you guys hadn’t known how to use a fire extinguisher, Button and his family would be homeless.” Flash didn’t even want to think about, let alone say out loud, what the worst-case scenario could have been.
“We swear we won’t get into any trouble this time. Really!”
“Yeah, besides, what are the odds that we’d actually be dumb enough to copy a super dangerous internet challenge with a ‘Do Not Try This at Home’ disclaimer a second time?” Button added.
“You shouldn’t have been dumb enough to try it the first time,” Flash thought to himself while rolling his eyes.
Flash sighed before looking up and down the hallway as if the solution to his predicament was just going to suddenly come barreling down the hall. No such solution appeared, so he began to massage his temples as if attempting to coax the solution out of his brain. If only he had a totally safe, non-destructive way to keep his brother and Button Mash occupied. Then, he remembered.
“Guys, follow me,” Flash said to the younger boys as he led them to the band room which is currently being used by the Drama Club. (Confused yet?)
Flash opened the door to the band room and was greeted by a pale pink girl with short, two-toned green hair wearing a black top and red skirt.
“Ah, Sir Sentry,” she said with an exaggerated bow. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“Hey, Drama Letter,” he replied. “I’m really sorry to bother you guys with this, but my brother’s baseball practice got cancelled, and I can’t bring him and his friend to my Chemistry Club meeting because reasons, and thanks to an incident I’m not going to detail, I’m not allowed to leave them unsupervised. I know I’m asking for a lot, but do you guys mind entertaining them for me until Chemistry Club is over?”
“I don’t see why not,” replied a pastel green girl with a brown bun wearing a royal purple blazer. “We don’t mind having a slightly bigger audience.”
“Thanks, Sophisticata. I owe you guys one,” said Flash before turning to First Base and Button Mash. “No trouble, okay, you two?”
“No trouble,” the two boys mumbled before Flash left the room.
“Alright, places everyone. Let’s bring this scene to life,” the girl identified as Sophisticata called out before turning to the younger boys and pointing to some chairs. “You two can take a seat over there.”
First Base and Button Mash grudgingly took their seats as everyone else in the room set the scene. Shortly after, the raised area was set up with a fake well and some fake clotheslines. Drama Letter, Sophisticata, and a girl with thick, orange, curly hair entered the scene wearing aprons and headcovers.
“Tzeitel, you’re the oldest,” Drama Letter said to Sophisticata, “they have to make a match for you before they can make one for me.”
“And after her one for me,” chimed in the other girl.
Before they could continue the rest of the scene, they were interrupted by a loud and long groan, courtesy of First Base.
“Could you please skip to the fun part?” he whined.
“Oh, would you stop whining? How do you know you won’t enjoy it if you haven’t even seen it before?” Sophisticata huffed with arms crossed.
“Oh, I HAVE seen it before. My grandma loves musicals,” Base deadpanned before he got up, walked up to the scene, and yanked a cloth off one of the clotheslines. “Why don’t I show you ladies the only part of that movie that I liked?”
He covered his head with the cloth and got uncomfortably close to Drama Letter and sang in a frighteningly accurate old lady impression, “Hodel, oh Hodel/Have I made a match for you!/He's handsome, he's young!/Alright, he's 62/But he's a nice man, a good catch, true?/True//I promise you'll be happy/And even if you're not/There's more to life than that—/Don't ask me what”
All the high school kids in the room just stared at him with mouths agape. They were all so stunned that they couldn’t even react to the sound of the clotheslines spontaneously crashing to the floor one by one. Then, a purple-haired boy in a green sweater and another boy with shoulder-length dark red hair stood up and began clapping. All the other high schoolers in the room got up and began applauding as well. First Base looked around the room in bewilderment before sharing an utterly confused look with Button.
“That was amazing!” exclaimed the purple-haired boy. “Just how did you get your voice to sound so much like an old Yiddish woman?”
First Base shrugged. “I don’t know. I just saw a guy doing impressions online and thought I’d try it myself. I’m still nowhere near as good as that guy, but I’m not too shabby if I say so myself.”
“Not too shabby?!” exclaimed Drama Letter. “Remarkable youngling, that was a truly moving performance worthy of the stage. Dost thou knoweth any other imitations?”
“Huh?”
“She wants to know if you know other impressions,” the red-haired boy translated.
“Umm, I can do Sincero de Verdad from that PicsArt movie pretty well.” Base cleared his throat a few times before he warped his voice into a deep, bombastic Spanish accent. “Remember me/Though I have to say goodbye/Remember me/Don't let it make you cry”
“Wow! That’s pretty good. Do more,” cheered the orange-haired girl, clapping in delight.
Roughly an hour later, Flash and Twilight were walking down the hallway towards the band room.
“Man, I feel terrible for dumping Little Bro and Button on the Drama Club. I just hope that no one is too upset,” Flash said to his girlfriend.
“I’m sure they’re fine. I mean, what’s the worst thing that those two could have done?” Twilight replied.
The two of them stopped walking when they heard laughter coming from the band room.
“Hey, Base, show them how you do ‘Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride,’” Flash and Twilight heard Button say as the two of them silently approached the band room door and cracked it open.
“Okay, here I go.” First Base took a deep breath and then began to sing, “ʻĀwikiwiki, mai lohilohi/Lawe mai i ko papa heʻe nalu/Piʻi nā nalu lā lahalaha/ʻO ka moana hānupanupa/Lalala i ka lā hanahana/Me ke kai hoene i ka puʻe one/Hele, hele mai kākou ē”
“Hawaiian roller coaster ride,” Button chimed in at the last second.
“Woo!” Base cheered, sharing a high five with his best friend. “Nailed it!”
“Did you know he could do that?” Twilight whispered to Flash.
Flash nodded and whispered back, “And it still freaks me out every time.”
“I don’t actually know Hawaiian,” Base explained to the Drama Club kids. “I’m just good at making the sounds.”
“Could have fooled me,” said Golden Hazel, the curly-haired girl.
“Dude, I’ve been telling you. We need to put up a video of you doing impressions on our UTube channel,” Button Mash exclaimed. “We’d be able to get a lot more views. On top of that, it’s a lot safer than the last thing we tried.”
“B. Mash, no one is going to want to watch a video of me making mouth noises,” Base scoffed. “And what about our trick shot series?”
“No much of a series when you’re only good at one sport.”
Can’t argue with that.
“Besides, if no one wants to see your impressions, then everyone in this room plus our families and friends are no one.”
Base couldn’t argue with that either.
“Hey, which middle school do you kids go to?” asked the purple-haired boy, Indigo Wreath.
“Trottingham Middle, why?” Base answered.
“Well, I just happen to be helping the Trottingham Middle Theater Department with their production of Goossical the Musical, and you’d be perfect for the part of Jojo. You should totally audition.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, what do you say?”
“Oh, gee, that,” Base paused, pressing his lips together in thought, “that actually sounds pretty fun.” He hesitated again as his face twisted nervously. “But maybe I shouldn’t?”
“Why not?” cried Button.
First Base shot him a look. “You know why.”
Button’s eyes widened in realization. “Oh.”
“I think you should go for it,” Flash butted in as he and Twilight entered the room. “If you really want to audition, then go ahead.”
“Oh, hey, Big Bro, uh,” Base stammered, “how much of that did you see?”
“Enough to see how much fun you were having,” his older brother answered with a smile. “Looks like you were entertaining the Drama Club instead of the other way around.”
“Eh, yeah.” Base shrugged. “I really liked doing it too. Hmm, maybe I should audition.” First Base suddenly frowned and shook his head. “No, no, I shouldn’t’.”
“But the gift of theater is strong in you, young one,” Drama Letter protested. “You simply cannot let it go to waste.”
“I can, and I will,” Base muttered before seating himself and crossing his arms, “and there’s no way you’re going to change my mind.”
“No way to change his mind, huh?” Flash thought to himself before internally cringing. He sighed.
“Button, shut the door,” he said to Button Mash. While Button got up and did as he was told, Flash looked at everyone else in the room and emphasized, “Nothing I’m about to do leaves this room. Got it?”
After getting confused nods and agreements from Twilight and the Drama Club, Flash approached the girl who was sitting at a small upright piano and whispered something to her. He returned to the group and sat next to his brother before giving the pianist a nod, signaling her to start playing.
When First Base heard the opening bars of the song, his eyes widened in recognition before he got up and shouted, “No! No! Bro, that’s cheating. That is cheating!”
Flash, however, ignored his protests and began to sing, “Right here, right now/I put the offer out/I don't want to chase you down/I know you see it/You run with me/And I can cut you free/Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in”
“Bro, stop! I’m not doing it. Nuh-uh! No!”
Flash wasn’t stopping. “So trade that typical for something colorful/And if it's crazy, live a little crazy/You can play it sensible, a king of conventional/Or you can risk it all and see”
“Do you have any idea how weird that is coming from you? On a normal day, you’re the sensible one.”
“Don't you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play,” Flash continued to sing as he got up and began to execute some rather wooden-looking dance moves. He wasn’t a terrible dancer by any means, but he’d definitely have trouble finding work in Broadway. “'Cause I got what you need/So come with me and take the ride/It'll take you to the other side/'Cause you can do like you do/Or you can do like me/Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key/Oh, dang! Suddenly you're free to fly/It'll take you to the other side”
“Ugh, fine! I’ll play along,” cried First Base, throwing his hands in the air. “Okay, my friend, you want to cut me in/Well I hate to tell you, but it just won't happen/So thanks, but no/I think I'm good to go/'Cause I quite enjoy the life you say I'm trapped in/Now I admire you, and that whole show you do/You're onto something, really it's something/But I live among the swells, and we don't pick up peanut shells/I'll have to leave that up to you”
When Base began dancing to the chorus like his brother did earlier, one thing quickly became evident to everybody in the room. First Base was a much better dancer. His movements were much smoother and more expressive, and Flash couldn’t help but beam with pride at that.
“Don't you know that I'm okay with this uptown part I get to play/'Cause I got what I need and I don't want to take the ride/I don't need to see the other side/So go and do like you do/I'm good to do like me/Ain't in a cage, so I don't need to take the key/Oh, dang! Can't you see I'm doing fine/I don't need to see the other side”
Flash put a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder and knelt down so that the two of them were eye-level. “Now is this really how you like to spend your days?/Whiskey and misery, and parties and plays”
First Base shrugged him off and took a few steps back. “If I were mixed up with you, I'd be the talk of the town/Disgraced and disowned, another one of the clowns”
Flash closed the distance and put his arm around the younger boy. “But you would finally live a little, finally laugh a little/Just let me give you the freedom to dream and it'll/Wake you up and cure your aching/Take your walls and start ‘em breaking/Now that's a deal that seems worth taking/But I guess I'll leave that up to you”
Flash held up his hand, signaling the pianist to stop playing. He once again positioned himself so that he was looking his brother in the eye and said, “Bro, I know you really want to try this, and considering that it doesn’t involve recklessly endangering yours and other people’s lives, I’ve totally got your back. I don’t know what’s stopping you from going for it, but you’ve got until I walk out that door to decide. You can either walk out the door with me or start the music back up again. Your call.”
Flash straightened and began walking towards the band room door.
“Hey!” First Base cried in protest. “Wait a minute. You can’t just start up a musical number and leave it hanging.”
“Can and will,” Flash replied without looking back.
Base growled in frustration as he put a hand to his face. Stupid older brother and stupid catchy show tune from stupidly awesome musical movie!
Flash’s foot was about to cross the threshold when First Base shouted, “Wait.” Flash left his foot hanging in the air as the corners of his mouth curled into a knowing smirk.
“Piano lady,” Based turned to face the girl on the piano with a serious look on his face, “start that music back up.”
“I can’t believe my brother talked me into this,” First Base muttered. It was after school, and he and Button Mash were standing just outside of the Trottingham Middle School gymnasium which was currently being used as an auditorium. (Confused yet?)
“Oh, come on. You’re going to be great,” Button reassured him. “I mean, your brother’s not the only one who’s got your back.”
First Base smiled at that. “I’m just glad you-know-who doesn’t know about me doing this.”
“Hey, Base!” a voice called out. First Base and Button turned towards the voice and saw two boys their age running towards them. One had brown hair, brown eyes, and a brown birthmark over his left eye; the other had orange skin and bright purple, slicked-back hair.
“Pip, Tender Taps,” First Base greeted back, trying not to look or sound nervous. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We came to see your audition,” said Pipsqueak.
“And totally cheer you on,” added Tender.
“Wait. What?!” Base cried. “How did you know I was auditioning?”
“We saw your name on the sign-up sheet,” Tender Taps answered matter-of-factly.
“Oh gosh! Oh my gosh!” First Base fretted, looking like he was about to start pulling out his hair. “Please tell me no one else on the team knows.”
“I don’t see how they wouldn’t know,” Pip rambled, oblivious to just how badly his friend was freaking out. “The sign-up is out in the open for everyone and anyone to see, after all.”
“Maybe you-know-who hasn’t looked at the list,” Button attempted to mollify.
“Hey, Last Place!” a loud and cruel voice shouted from behind First Base and Button, sending chills of terror down both their spines.
Base shot Button a look that said, “You were saying?”
“Quick, inside,” exclaimed Button. “Maybe he won’t follow us.”
“Fat chance,” First Base thought dismally to himself but entered the gym with his friends anyway.
“Five minutes,” sing-songed a bespectacled woman with a flowing scarf and a messy blonde updo holding a clipboard. “The auditions start in five minutes. Auditionees, please sit in the front row. Spectators can sit in the back.”
“Break a leg,” Tender Taps said to First Base with a friendly shoulder punch as he and the rest of their group took their seats.
First Base gulped as he made his way to the front row and sat down. He turned back to see where his friends were sitting and saw three tall, well-muscled teen boys with mean faces enter the room. The boy with the meanest face had wheat-colored skin with black-streaked, copper-colored hair. Great.
Base slumped down in his seat, trying to become as invisible as possible. He was trying so heard to disappear that he didn’t notice his brother and his brother’s girlfriend enter the gym.
“Are you sure we need to be here?” Twilight asked. “I mean, I know there’s no rule against people outside of the school showing up as spectators, but none of the auditionees for our fall play brought outside spectators.”
“I know, and maybe I am being a little overprotective, but I just have this weird feeling that my brother just needs me here,” Flash replied. “I can’t explain it.”
“You think it might have something to do with the ‘You know why’ he said to Button last week?”
“Probably,” Flash replied as he helped Twilight into her seat and sat down next to her.
First Base felt his gut lurch inside of him as he took the sheet music for his audition song out of his pocket and handed it to the pianist. He had hoped against all reasonable hope that the auditions before his would drag on so long that Ms. Bombshell would postpone the rest of the auditions, but no such luck. Besides, having his audition postponed would have only delayed the inevitable, and Base knew it.
Base timidly walked onto the stage. He could see the other auditionees sitting in the front row while Ms. Bombshell sat right in the middle. He thought about looking for his friends in the back row but decided against it in favor of avoiding those three gorillas who had followed him and his friends here.
“Uh, hi,” First Base managed to squeak out. “I’m—”
“Boo!” jeered the cruel voice from the hallway, which was quickly joined by the voices of his two flunkies. “You stink!”
Flash and Twilight whipped their heads toward the sound of the taunts. The taunts were coming from three muscly teens standing on top of their chairs. The loudest one appeared to be the boy with black-streaked hair.
“Get off the stage!” the leader continued to yell. “What’s the matter, Last Place? You goinna throw up?”
Twilight gulped when she saw Flash’s face twist into a scowl and his ears burn red. Flash was about to get up from his seat and give those three a piece of his mind when the theater teacher beat him to the punch.
“Boys!” Ms. Bombshell cried, making the three bullies stop. “Where are your manners? How dare you mock an aspiring thespian? If you don’t settle down and behave yourselves, I’m going to have to ask you to leave!”
The bullies’ ringleader shot his cohorts a look and jerked his head towards the door.
“We’re done here,” he said wordlessly. As he left the gym, he looked towards the stage where First Base was looking out at the audience with a deer-in-the-headlights look and smirked maliciously.
Ms. Bombshell returned to her seat and said to Base, “I’m so sorry for the interruption, First Base, but now, that that’s out of the way, please continue.”
If First Base had heard Ms. Bombshell at all, he didn’t show it. Everything from his neck down felt as if it had turned to solid ice, and his mouth hadn’t felt this dry since that time he and Button did the cinnamon challenge, except this was worst because the dryness was spreading down his throat.
“First Base, we’re waiting,” Ms. Bombshell scolded impatiently.
“RUN!” First Base’s brain screamed at his legs. However, before his legs could carry out his brain’s orders, the sound of a ringtone filled the gym.
“Was that a cellphone?!” Ms. Bombshell shouted, turning around so fast that Base could have sworn that he heard her scarf snap like a whip.
First Base followed her gaze, and his jaw dropped when he saw who she was looking at.
“I’m so sorry. I could have sworn that I had it on vibrate,” Twilight apologized before taking out her phone and setting it to mute. First Base looked to Twilight’s immediate left and saw his brother sitting next to her.
Ms. Bombshell growled before addressing everyone else in the gym, “The next person utterly daft enough to make another disturbance is getting kicked out of here. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, ma’am,” everyone in the audience chimed.
“First Base, please continue.”
First Base kept his eyes on his brother as if looking to him for help. Flash raised both his thumbs up in the air and gave his younger brother a reassuring grin. First Base smiled back. Flash would give him that same gesture many times whenever he went up to bat during his ball games. It was basically code for “You got this, Little Bro.”
Base took a deep breath and stood up straighter. “My name is First Base, and I’m auditioning for the part of Jojo.”
First Base turned to the pianist and nodded. After letting the pianist play the opening bars of the song, First Base began to sing, “I close my eyes and I can see/A world that's waiting up for me/That I call my own/Through the dark, through the door/Through where no one's been before/But it feels like home.”
Flash once again raised both of his thumbs as he beamed with pride.
“They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy” A confident grin grew on Base’s face as he continued to sing. “They can say, they can say I've lost my mind/I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy/We can live in a world that we design”
To the amazement of everyone in the room, he suddenly dropped his voice a few octaves into a near-perfect replica of Sharp Jackknife’s voice, “Every night I lie in bed/The brightest colors fill my head/A million dreams are keeping me awake/I think of what the world could be/A vision of the one I see/A million dreams is all it's gonna take/Oh, a million dreams for the world we're gonna make”
Just as suddenly, First Base pitched his voice higher. He couldn’t quite make his voice as feminine as the original singer’s, but it sounded feminine enough. “However big, however small/Let me be part of it all/Share your dreams with me”
As First Base continued to sing, memories and dreams began to dance across his mind to the music. His brother and grandfather teaching him how to throw twisted with hitting a home run at Fenway. He and Button Mash racing TIE fighters through a crowded asteroid belt made of chocolate cereal pirouetted with the two of them making their first Let’s Play video. Getting ice cream with the baseball team twirled with winning the World Series.
“You may be right, you may be wrong/But say that you'll bring me along/To the world you see/To the world I close my eyes to see/I close my eyes to see”
For the next portion of the song, First Base alternated between his Sharp Jackknife voice and his generic woman’s voice, “'Cause every night I lie in bed/The brightest colors fill my head/A million dreams are keeping me awake/A million dreams, a million dreams/I think of what the world could be/A vision of the one I see/A million dreams is all it's gonna take/A million dreams for the world we're gonna make”
He finished by throwing his arms wide open and belting out in his normal voice, “For the world we're gonna make”
As soon as First Base finished the last line of the song, Button Mash jumped up from his seat and whooped, “Yeah! Alright! You go, Base!”
Tender Taps and Pipsqueak began to clap and cheer for him as well, “Woo-hoo! Yeah!”
The rest of the auditionees stood up and gave him a standing ovation. However, they all quickly sat back down when Ms. Bombshell stood up with a very pronounced scowl on her face. First Base’s friends, on the other hand, continued to cheer.
“You three,” Ms. Bombshell turned and called to them, still scowling, before pointing towards the door. “Out.”
The three of them stopped cheering and looked at her in confusion.
“But we were just—,” Button tried to explain.
“Out!”
“Alright. We’re going. We’re going,” protested Pip as he, Tender, and Button got up and reluctantly left the gym.
“Now, that that’s taken care of,” Ms. Bombshell muttered in annoyance before turning her attention to First Base. “Sir, you have excellent stage presence and incredible showmanship. Bravo. However, a bit of advice in case I decide to give you a callback.” She adjusted her glasses and pressed her lips into a hard line. “Stop repeatedly changing pitch. It’s a very impressive and entertaining skill to be sure, but it doesn’t help me decide if you’re right for the role you are auditioning for. Thank you for your time. Next!”
First Base sighed, walked off the stage, and went back to his seat. Ms. Bombshell’s critique wasn’t exactly the unadulterated praise he was going for, but it still had a lot of positives. Furthermore, everybody else in the audience seemed to love his performance. Maybe coming to this audition wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
Flash and Twilight got up as the middle school theater teacher dismissed the last of the auditionees, and the two of them made their way over to where First Base was sitting. When the younger boy saw them coming, he got up and pulled his older brother into a bone-crushing hug.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Base said as he broke the hug, “but thanks for convincing me to do this.”
“Hey, what are older brothers for?” Flash replied, pulling his younger brother into another hug.
“Hey, I don’t mean to ruin the moment, but,” Twilight cut in, “who were those three jerks from earlier?”
First Base sighed as his smile faded away. “That was Frank Wurst and his posse, and they were the reason why I didn’t want to audition in the first place.”
“Wait,” Flash realized, “isn’t he the captain of the baseball team?”
“Uh-huh,” First Base nodded.
Flash got down so that he was eye-level with his brother. “This isn’t the first time that he’s made fun of you, is it?”
Base shook his head.
“Just how long has this been going on?”
“Well,” Base fidgeted. “Remember that time the baseball team got caught sneaking into an R-rated movie?’
“I vaguely remember you getting grounded for that last year, yes.”
“Sneaking into that movie was Frank’s idea, and I was the one who got us caught. He never really forgave me for that.” First Base cringed as he added, “Or for throwing up on him.”
Flash and Twilight both cringed at that last part. Flash’s face became serious again as he put a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder.
“Little Bro, if that guy ever bothers you again, you tell me, and I’ll give him a piece of my mind,” Flash said as the three of them left the gym.
First Base frowned a little before giving his older brother small smile. He had already told the coach and one of his teachers about Frank’s bullying, and all that did was make Frank wary about who was watching. As soon as Frank was sure that the coach or teacher’s back was turned, BAM! Frank would, at worst, “accidentally” shoulder check him into the closest vertical hard surface or, at best, pelt him with paper balls with mean comments written on them. Base doubted the getting a piece of Flash’s mind would change that. However, he did appreciate the fact that he could count on his brother to be by his side.
“Hey!” Button, Pip, and Tender greeted as soon as they saw Base enter the hallway.
“Dude, you were awesome!” Button exclaimed.
“You really nailed it,” cheered Tender.
“Seeing you up there makes me wish I had signed up for an audition myself,” Pip added.
First Base laughed as he traded fist bumps and high fives with his friends.
“Hey, Pip,” First Base said to his friend. “I don’t think Ms. Bombshell’s held the auditions for the Things, the Wickershams, or Vlad Vladikoff yet. If you still want a role, you can try for one of those.”
“That sounds great,” Pip cheered. “Oh, but which one should I try out for?”
“How good is your evil laugh?”
Pip cleared his throat and let loose the most diabolical evil laugh he could muster, which wasn’t all that impressive. His three friends blinked at him unmoved.
“Umm, okay?” muttered Button. “Hold up. Try it this way.” Button took a deep breath and let out another rather pathetic attempt at an evil laugh.
“No, like this,” Tender exclaimed, loosing the worst-sounding evil laugh out of all of them. “Nope. That doesn’t work.”
First Base smirked and belted out a laugh so frightening that everyone near him jumped back a few steps.
“Dang!” cried Tender Taps. “You’re good.”
As their group continued to walk down the hallway, Button Mash, Pipsqueak, and Tender Taps continued to attempt to match First Base’s evil laughs while Base gave them pointers. After maybe the 15th attempt, all four of them had dissolved into genuine, non-evil laughter.
“That is one lucky kid,” Twilight whispered to Flash as the two of them watched First Base have fun with his friends.
“He sure is,” Flash agreed.