lights, camera, action - if only it was simple

The show was in less than a week, and a lead broke his leg. Sam rolled her eyes, sometimes people could be really stupid, but that wasn't any business of hers. Of course, Sam cared about the show, and she'd rather not have to deal with the extra stress, but that didn't stop her from rolling her eyes at the idea of Mark in a cast up to his thigh. The seventeen-year-old shrugged it off for the moment, she was busy hooking up the school's dandy new sound synthesizer, and that was a lot more interesting than trying to figure out who would replace Mark. Then again, it didn't occur to her that nobody else would bother to memorize the entire script, so finding a replacement would be a lot harder than just pointing at a boy and saying “you.”

Crawling under the sound mixer, Sam found herself in a mess of cables and wires. She pulled a cable through into an open space, about to plug it in, but unfortunately, she seemed to run out of cable about two inches away from the sound plug. “Damnit...” Now she'd have to go and find a longer cable, bring it back through the mess of wires all over again.

“Samantha Flint.” That was the Assistant Director's voice.

Uh, yes, that was her name. Sam crawled out from under the sound mixer, fixing her short, brown hair, which had become unruly due to her running and climbing around everywhere. She poked her head up from the sound booth, looking down to see the entire cast and crew down by the stage.

“Yes?” What did she do? Oh...was it that meeting already? Sam looked at her watch. Oops, she really needs to learn to keep track of time more, but who could when there was just so much to do?

“Can you come down here, please?” Without another word, Sam scrambled out of the booth and down to the stage, dusting herself off while doing so.

“Can I help you?” Sam asked when she reached the stage.

"How would you like to take Mark's place?" The Assistant smiled.

Sam's eyes looked almost as if they were to pop out of her head. "I can't."

The Director stepped up to her, "Sure you can. You're the only one who knows all the lines, and knows the blocking. We know you do. Not to mention...You can pull off looking like a man."

"Eh!?"

ooc; Sorry! Omg. I just had some home-life issues. D; anyways! Full replies coming from now on!

A snicker escaped her before she could think of how rude that may have sounded to the people surrounding her. No, she was just making a slight noise because of the 'man' comment set against Sam. It was, after all, highly funny and somewhat true. Not that Sam was ugly, actually she was quite attractive. For once, Lilline scanned the woman she had never fully looked at before. Pretty, not just a name with a face. She did have a slightly manly appearance but that only added to the unique looks. Very attractive...

What the Hell was wrong with her? Now she was finding women attractive? Well, the woman wasn't terribly surprised. Often times she found men annoying and women twenty times more...lovely. Was she gay? No! Just a bit curious and confused, as most high school students ended up.

"Okay, wait." she began, uncurling her legs in order to stand and step over th the Director and Sam. The rest of the cast was silent, it seemed, swallowing down the information of a woman playing a man. "So, she is going to play the lead?" It really didn't bother her until she realized hat was going to end up happening. "You all know that acting is my favorite thing and I take a bunch of crap and work with it..." She paused, scratching at her temple. "But I have to kiss her? A woman? Don't you think it's a bit wrong to make women kiss each other?"

"Men kissed each other during Shakespeare's plays...they didn't let females play the female roles so they had little boys doing it." Someone said, one of the women in the cast.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing...I just didn't think she would like it." Lilline gestured towards Sam with a helpless look. "What will people think of this entire cast and play if they know her gender?!"

ooc: No worries! I'm a patient person. (: I hope your house issues are all better though!!

Sam almost flinched at the wave of giggles and snickers that escaped various people from the 'man' comment. The teen felt a blush creep up into her cheeks, her eyes falling down to stare at her Converse shoes. So what if she was a little boyish? It wasn't that bad...was it?

Before she could think more on the subject, someone spoke up. Sam turned to see the Lilline come forward. Good, maybe she could talk some sense into the director and the assistant. Sam paused, listening to the other woman. She seemed fine with Sam playing the part, to which the techie had an urge to groan about. Was there at least one person on her side?! She kept her comment to herself as Lilline continued to talk. Wait...There WAS a kiss scene in this play, wasn't there?! Although Sam had already been blushing, her face grew more red at the idea of kissing another girl. "Wouldn't that be offensive to some people in this day and age?" She replied softly in reply to Shakespeare comment. As Lilline stated that she didn't think Sam would like it, the techie kept quiet. It wasn't really the biggest issue with Sam, she just didn't enjoy the idea of acting, and kissing a girl made matters worse.

"And it's not like I can act." The teen added into the argument, hoping the overload of negativity towards this idea would sway the director to change his mind.

"We'll see about that." The director smiled, nothing seemed to stop him. "The audience will be able to accept it, this is theatre, after all. If anything, they should expect half the cast to be openly gay already." Another giggle from the crowd. "Now, everyone, go about your business, we'll start rehearsal in twenty minutes! Samantha, Lilline, stay here."

The students started to wander off, most talking of the idea as Sam as a lead, and what would happen if things didn't work out. The director crossed his arms, looking at the two girls in front of him. "Sam, we need you to do this, otherwise we will have to cancel the show."

ooc; they are much, much better now! c:
Lilline was between feelings on the subject of Sam taking over the role for Mark. In her head she began to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. Con, she was forced to kiss another female. Pro, Sam wasn't exactly the wrst looking woman in the world. Con, she had never rehearsed with Sam, ever. Pro, she still had time before the show in order to run it a few times. There were a few days left, after all. Finally she decided on the best form of action.

"Alright, I agree." The woman finally murmured, turning away from the director to face the girl opposite her. "Look, they obviously picked you for a reason. If you were terrible, the show would have just been cancelled. I mean, you didn't just choose her for the fact that she knows the lines and blocking..." She gestured towards the director before turning back to Sam. Lilline honestly had no idea why they chose Sam but she was taking her best guess.

She sighed, turned and stalked back towards her seat. "We should probably practice, right? If you're fine with this entire thing. I mean, it is up to you." She picked up her script, turning back to the two in the room. "I doubt the cast would be too angry if you made the desicion to not do this. I know I wont." Her words were soft, trying to let the girl know that she didn't mind whatever choice was chosen. If she said yes, they needed to work. If not, then she wanted to go home and, well, eat a tub of comfort ice cream. This play was the best thing that had happened to her in quite some time...but, Hell, she couldn't force Sam into anything.

ooc: good to hear. ^_^ by the way, should we figure out what play they're doing? XD

When the director threatened to cancel the show, Sam's eyes widened slightly. "Cancel...?" She murmured, even she would do almost anything to stop that. Sam glanced over to Lilline, almost as if asking for help, but the woman beside her seemed to agree to the whole idea. And not to mention, the actress had a good point. The assistant had connections with a certain mother who was eager to see her daughter on stage instead of in the shadows so it wouldn't be shocking if he knew of Sam's acting experience.

"I'm lucky I know your mother, Sam." The assistant pipped up after a moment. "She showed me videos of when you acted as a child." Sam held back the urge to smack herself in the forehead, she knew she should have burned those tapes. Those videos were from years ago before Sam had moved here, and before she had a choice whether or not to act. Nonetheless, it was true, she remembered all the basics of acting, and knew all the lines of the show. Not to mention, Sam hated the idea of canceling the show just as much as the person next to her. The teen sucked in a breath; she'd just have to take one for the team... at least, that's how she put it in her mind.

"I have no excuse not to... Both Corey and Micheal are trained on sound, they should be able to pull through without me." She stated in defeat. Both the director and assistant grinned, happy to see that things were starting to work out. "I guess we should get started." She nodded to Lilline. This was going to be the longest three days of her life.

As Sam made the decision, Lilline chewed on her bottom lip nervously. They all had worked so hard to get to that point and Mark had blown it for them all! Now Sam was their only choice, their last resort. Without her, all would be done and quit. Still, she was going to be forced to fall in love with this woman on stage...another woman. Oh, Jesus. But, she was playing a man. It couldn't be wrong, it just couldn't! Oh, gosh, she almost forgot about her frail, little grandmother who was coming to see the show. It would kill her to see her granddaughter kiss another woman. That was the reason they had never told Rosie that Lilline was, well, curious.

"Y-yes, we should begin. Uhm, maybe we can get to know each other first? How about we take a walk...the vending machines are still open and I'm starving." The woman pulled out a crumple of bills totalling three dollars, from her pocket. "C'mon. I only know your name, after all." She nodded slightly towards the director, who seemed almost pleased that she was going along with this ridiculous idea. She hooked arms with the other teen, dragging her away from the auditorium and into the hall. Near the cafetaria there were three machines vending all sorts of junk food and drinks. Unhooking Sam's arm, Lilline opted for water and a bag of chips before moving to sit at a table.

"Would you like anything? I have another dollar in my back pocket." She pulled it out and tossed it on the table for Sam to take if she would like. "Are you a senior? I have no idea but I know I've seen you around outside of this whole play thing." She had been so busy acting that she never really noticed the technical crew. After shows she always thanked them but, during the making of it, she barely noticed them at all.

Before she could even blink, Lilline had dragged Sam off and out of the auditorium and into the cafeteria. It had caught the girl off guard, and she almost tripped in the process of trying to catch up to the actress. "Uh, alright." Sam nodded, getting to know each other would be a good place to start. When they had reached the cafe, Sam watched Lilline choose her food and drink from a vending machine, and pulled out her wallet from her back pocket, taking a dollar from it. "Oh, no. I have money, but thank you anyway." Sam rejected the money politely as she inserted the dollar into a juice machine. After deciding to get an apple juice, she punched in the correct number and watched it get vended. Sam bent over, fetching it from the machine before sitting down across from Lilline.

"Yeah...I'm a senior." She nodded softly, opening her apple juice and taking a sip before continuing, "We're in some of the same classes, methinks." She pondered for a moment, her nose wrinkling in thought, "Parker's Physics class? Block four?" She wasn't positive, but she thought she might've seen Lilline in there. Not that Sam actually paid much attention to who was in her classes, she was much more focused on doing the work.

Sam took another sip of her apple juice, glancing around the empty cafeteria. She would think that more actors hung out in here during breaks, but she supposed she was wrong. Her thoughts drifted back to the idea of taking over Mark's part...and eventually to that damn kissing scene. The techie brought her attention quickly back to Lilline. "You really don't mind kissing me?" she practically blurted out. Immediately, she felt her cheeks redden again, "I...uh...didn't mean it to come out like that..." God, why was talking so hard? Things never come out the right way!

ooc; OHMYGOD! I totally forgot to write about what play xD So sorry. Uhm...I'm not sure 'cause I really only know musical stuff. We could do something like a student written work and make it up as we go? Orrr...if you had something in mind? c:

"Oh, right!" Lilline yelped, sitting a bit straighter in her chair. "I think I have seen you in that class. Normally I try and force my way to the back of the class but usually he forces me towards the front so I'll pay attention. It's not seriously like I try and goof off or anything...physics just isn't my subject!" She laughed, taking a sip and her water before ripping open the bag of chips. "So sometimes I sit near you, sometimes I don't. Wow, I'm really surprised I never talked to you before." Lilline always tried her hardest to reach out and speak to everybody around her, especially people in or working on the play.

Silence followed shortly after and Lilline took to chewing and munching on her mini bag of a snack. Snorting a bit in response to Sam, the woman held up her hand and began to shake her head. "Listen, sweetie...I don't mind at all but people in my family will." She sighed, dropping the bag to the table and picking up her forgotten dollar. "Not to be rude at all...I really don't mind...in fact, I kind of think it would be more exciting than the simple kiss between a guy and a girl. I' ve never kissed a chick before." But the family part she would hve to get over.

They were going to hate this.

ooc: No worries! A student written play is fine by me! I was just wondering! ^_^

Sam nodded, and now that she mentioned it, she recalled Mr. Parker making Lilline move up to the front, right next to Sam a couple of times. Odd that they had never paid attention to each other before this moment, Sam thought to herself before pulling herself back into the conversation at hand. She was surprised that Lilline was so...okay with kissing another female. It sure made Sam uncomfortable, but maybe not as uncomfortable as it should. She'd much rather kiss a girl than a guy, after all. As for family, her mom could care less about her kissing a girl, and her father... it's not like he'd show up for the play anyway, so it didn't matter.

"Sucks 'bout your family." She said, leaning her head on her hand and fiddling with her bottle with her free hand. "Hopefully the entire audience wont have an issue with it..." She wondered aloud, her eyes focusing on Lilline. "I've never kissed a girl either," Sam confessed, "but it can't be any different, right?" Honestly, the techie wished it would be quite different, considering every time she had ever kissed a boy, she wanted to throw up. "Are we going to have to kiss in practice, too?" She questioned, knowing that Mark and Lilline kissed during rehearsals, but considering the situation, would they have to as well?

ooc; Alright, dearie

Lilline watched her curiously. Did Sam feel nervous over the kiss or the play in general? Maybe it was both! She felt nervous about the play, not so much the kiss. Would she be able to remember her lines and the blocking? Something always went wrong on the stage, what would happen opening night? The kiss, however, was not on the top of her worry meter. Yes, it was a female to female kiss instead of the traditional straight thing people expected. Who cared, though? Lilline was slowly beginning to realize that worrying about little things like lips touching, would be dumb in comparison to everything else.

"I doubt it's very different. I mean, it's just one pair of lips touching another! We don't have to make out or anything." The kiss wasn't a make out session for longer than a minute. Yes, it was heated...and a bit sad, considering it was the moment the two main characters parted ways, but it was nothing different. "I doubt the audience will care. Yes, they'll be a bit scared at first but I'm sure the director will make it known that we started off with a guy." Or maybe not, either way, it didn't matter.

"I don't want you to be strung up on this kissing thing, alright?" And, to help her get used to it, Lilline leaned across the table, brushing her lips across Sam's. "There. We kissed...albeit, not as long as in the play but we did it and it's not that terrible." She smiled at her attempt to make the other woman comfortable...it wasn't exactly the best method.

Sam listened carefully to Lilline, nodding along in attempt to convince herself. The other girl did have a point; it wasn't like they were snogging one another, just a simple kiss. Not so hard, right? She knew she had other things to worry about, such as making sure she had all the lines down and remembered all the blocking, but that wasn't exactly hard. She did worry about her techies working without her to guide them, they were Freshmen, and just started getting the hang of things around the sound board. There were so many more important things to care about rather than a silly kiss!

"Right." She gave a nod, "It's--" She was cut off by Lilline's lips brushing gently against her own, and her words got caught in her throat momentarily. More than anything, Sam was mostly just caught off guard. Her cheeks flared bright pink again; she was doing more blushing that day than she had in the four years it seemed. "...just a kiss." Sam finally finished her sentence, her eyes diverting away from Lilline.

She cleared her throat before slowly standing up, "Maybe we should head back into the auditorium." She suggested, "Practice will probably be starting soon. Not to mention, I should probably check in with costuming to see if I fit right in Mark's clothes." Honestly, she just wanted to take a walk, that kiss made her a lot more flustered than she ever expected to be. Not that she hated it, no, that was definitely not the problem.

Honestly Lilline thought the kiss would bring them far beyond the stage of being awkward. Clearly it was doing the complete opposite of what she had hoped. Yes, it was a bad idea but normally confronting the thing a person was afraid of made that person not so nervous! As Sam stood and began to excuse herself, Lilline attempted to get her to stay put. They could talk it out, everything could be talked out if given the chance.

"No!" The young woman jumped to her feet, grasping at the other girl's arm with one of her hands. "Please, Sam, stay. I didn't mean for it to make you uncomfortable. I seriously thought it would help our situation..." Lilline was pleading, something she rarely felt the need to do. It felt almost weak of her. That was a scary feeling, being weak and helpless. Not that this was an extreme moment of helplessness....she just didn't want Sam to feel, well, upset with her.

"I mean, yes, we should go." She sighed. "I want to be able to talk about it. We should...please, tell me what you're thinking. You can go if you want but eventually you need to tell me what you thought, what you're thinking now...It'll show on stage if you hate me or feel nervous around me..." Lilline felt terrible for putting the other woman into this situation.

Sam had already started to walk off, but was brought to a halt from a hand grabbing her arm. She turned to look at Lilline, who was pleading for her to just stay. She started to feel bad for making Lilline do that. "I don't hate you." Sam finally spoke after Lilline said everything. "Really, don't think that..." she explained, "It's just...so much of this is new to me, and I don't know what to do." She let out a sigh. "It's just a lot to take in at once, you know?" Honestly, she wasn't sure if Lilline would understand, but she could at least try and be cooperative and get her point across.

"And I guess you're right." She nodded, "I'll just have to get used to it all. I mean...I can't exactly be all uncomfortable over a kiss if I'm supposed to be deeply in love with you." Sam paused for a moment, in thought of how to arrange her words. "I guess that just means... a lot of practice." She wasn't sure if that came out the way she wanted to or not, but she hoped that Lilline would understand what she meant.

Her eyes glanced up at the cafeteria clock, "But really...we should get going. I'm sure everybody is gathering to get ready soon. They might panic if the two leads weren't there, right?" Sam gave a smile, trying to prove to the other girl that she wouldn't let her down.

The woman was trying to understand this entire thing from Sam's point of view. Alright, so she needed to practice and get used to it. There was a lot of stuff happening at once that she had never been faced with. Suddenly becoming the lead and basically having no choice, having to kiss a woman...acting in general. It was far too much and it was perfectly understandable. A nod and Lilline stepped back to allow Sam to walk away if she chose to. Turning, the woman stepped back to the table to gather what was left of her drink and crumple her bag of chips, quickly tossing it out.

"Right. You're absolutely right." She said, mostly to herself as she made her way back to the auditorium. Most of the cast was there, as Sam had predicted. Waving to a close friend who had spent most of the break time finishing painting the set. The other woman was playing a small role, which she didn't mind because originally she had signed up for set design. Grabbing her bag and script, Lilline moved to sit on the floor in between Maria's feet, resting her head backwards onto the other woman's lap. In return, she recieved in light head massage.

"You okay, hun?"

"Fine, Maria. Just stressed over this play." Lilline closed her eyes as she waited for the director to say they were about to rehearse. She was just so exhausted and she couldn't get Sam out f her head.

Sam smiled softly at Lilline, glad that she seemed to understand. As they made their way back to the auditorium, Sam departed and headed to costuming. She wasn't lying when she said that she should go there, and the costume crew was more than glad to see her show up. Although tall, Sam was a few inches short of reaching Mark's height, and obviously, her figure was slightly more...feminine, which proved to bring up a slight problem.

"Isn't this going to be uncomfortable? Can't we just hide them under baggy clothes?" Sam knew the answer to the question already, but had to make sure. She felt her cheeks redden as one of the costumers started to wrap the ace bandage around her chest.

"I'm sorry, but no." She explained, "His attire is supposed to be somewhat tight. Don't worry, we'll make sure you can still breathe." Sam highly doubted that.

"Oooh, Sam, looking hot~" One of the costumers, who happened to be a friend of Sam's, commented. Obviously, he was having too much fun with the idea of this. Although Sam was only half dressed, she didn't care much that he was in the room, considering he was gay. All other boys had to evacuate the room. "Here, let me do your hair."

She pulled on the character's shirt. Luckily, it fit well, only the shoulders needed to be adjusted to her. "I don't need my hair done for this." She stated flatly. He didn't care.

It wasn't long before the director called places, and Sam was still in costuming. Slipping on her sneakers, she muttered a variety of curses as she started to run into the auditorium. Somehow, mostly with luck, she made it on stage in time for her first line. Her hair was slicked back loosely, a few bangs falling out of place, and she had Mark's white button up shirt on, it was a little big, but still fit nicely and went especially well with her jeans. She really looked like a boy.

"Where is Sam?" Lilline found herself groaning as she was forced to stand up and take her place off to the right, behind the curtain. Despite being the lead female, she didn't go on first, not that she really minded. She felt she needed some time to think and worry and fret about Sam being on time for rehearsal. It wasn't even her business...and yet there she was, biting her fingernails clean off. Finally the other woman jumped on stage just in time for her first line. Dropping the script she usually held as a safety blanket, Lilline waited for her cue while watching Sam closely.

No wonder they chose her. Well, aside from the fact that she knew all the lines and blocking, she fit the boy character quite well. The cast enjoyed having a bit of a sneak peak into the costume they would see the next night at their dress rehearsal. Although it wasn't a full costume, they still liked seeing that she could pull off the character quite well. Maybe this would work after all!

Lilline was shoved forwards, Maria whispering hurriedly that she was about to miss her cue. She had been so busy thinking, she had tuned all other voices out. Stepping out with Maria closely holding her arm, Lilline spoke her first line of play. "No. No! You can't even think about doing this to her." The boy she spoke to was playing a much older man, a Dean or Principle of sorts. "She didn't do anything. It was that boy." She spoke with venom as she turned her head towards Sam.

"Please." Maria whimpered. "You can't kick me out...I have nowhere else to go!" But her words were much too quiet for the directors liking and he soon stopped them, lecturing them on 'what if the mics stop working?'. Lilline tuned it out again.
This was going to be a long rehearsal.

As the scene continued, Sam gave a chuckle as Lilline's character accused her of wrongdoing. She readied herself to say her lines and move to her next blocking spot right next to Lilline, but the director had stopped Maria for talking too softly.

Sam was grateful that the director decided to cut in just before her line, because now she had a chance to catch her breath. The teen listened carefully to the director. The lavs better not stop working... She thought, her mind drifting to think of all the technical things that could happen to cause a lav to stop working. Sam let out a soft sigh, starting to worry about her techies. She hoped they would be able to figure it out without her, but if not, Eric, the TD, would fix it... she couldn't afford to worry about things like that now! She had to just trust the fact that they would be able to handle it.

"Alright, let's move on!" The director announced after he finished his little lecture. "Start from the top of the scene." Sam nodded, walking off stage right, at least this time she wouldn't have to run to be able to make her cue. Someone politely offered her a script to read, and she declined the offer, having already know the lines. Luckily, Sam had a great memory when it came to certain things, so it wasn't hard for her to know the script down by heart... Then again, she also knew every line in all the Star Wars movies by heart. She watched the other actors carefully, and when the time was right, she walked onto stage, hands shoved into her pockets and a smirk playing about her lips - just as the character was supposed to.

As the Director spoke, Lilline found herself staring at Sam. The other woman looked a bit worried, possibly over her role or whatever the Director was saying, she would never know. Stepping forwards, the woman was about to offer a calming hand to Sam's shoulder when they were told to start from the top. Hooking arms with Maria, she led the way to their spots behind the curtain. "Don't miss your cue this time." Lilline nodded quickly in response, choosing to focus on the man giving the cue rather than Sam.

Once on stage again, Lilline fell straight into her role as the young woman who felt it was her duty to be the 'hero' of her friends. At least that was her take of the character and nobody else seemed to have an issue with it. In the first scene she defends her friend who is about to be expelled from the school she attends, her home, trying to blame whatever happened on Sam's character even though it is never clear if he did it or not. Turning to Sam, she continued on with her speech about convicting somebody without evidence, despite the fact that that was what her character was doing in the first place.

Irony.

"What proof do you have? This little...rat of a man...uhm...crap, line!" The change of Mark to Sam was seriously throwing her off. A line was called out and Lilline continued, trying to completely stay in character. This was not good.

Sam had no idea that Lilline had been watching her; she was quite oblivious to things of that sort...always has been. Although, when they got back to acting, Sam did turn her full attention towards Lilline, trying to put herself in her character's shoes. She was supposed to be portraying a boy who had a somewhat bad reputation at the school. The typical bad ass, one could say, but deep down, she (or he?) was just a bit misunderstood. If Sam's character ever committed the crime, it was unknown, but later the play does reveal that she is in love with Lilline's character. Just from reviewing the play in her mind, Sam's facial expression changed as Lilline started to accuse her. She tried her best to give off the initial expression of not caring, but the little gestures she did suggested that it bugged her to be blamed.

Sam didn't bother to pay attention to Lilline asking for a line, sometimes that happened. It was normal. She took a couple of steps up to the group, interjecting. "I'd like to see some proof myself." She said to Lilline sternly, "Here you are, saying your friend here has no evidence against her, but you blame me? Do you have any proof to show that it was me?" Her voice was cool, collected, and even a little deeper than normal, to sound like a male. Honestly, she sounded like the asshole her character seemed to be. She did have six years of acting school forced upon her by her mother, after all. It was clear she was a little rusty, but considering it was her first run, she was doing alright.

"Sir..." Sam turned to the other man on stage, accidentally angling herself more towards him than the audience. The Director stopped once again, explaining to Sam how to angle herself better so she wouldn't be turned away from the viewers.

"Sorry, sir." Sam nodded quickly, feeling bad for stopping the scene.

"It's always you, you little runt!" Lilline yelped deep from within her character. She had a momentary issue with her lines and it was over now. People always made mistakes. Now the woman was back in her characters shoes, seeing through the other woman's eyes. Despite her hatred towards Sam's character, it turns out that she had always been quite fond of him, as the play goes on. Something about how he acted had always compelled her. Enough about that, Lilline needed to focus on her lines. "You have to believe that she would never do this, sir. She could never, ever do something so vulgar." Her nose crinkled as she said the last word and the man she was talking to quickly dismissed her, going into a monologue about how Maria's character was expelled.

After a crying session from Maria, who ran offstage, Lilline turned to Sam with anger in her eyes. "You will pay for this. She has nowhere to go and now she's expelled because of you! This is unfair and you deserve to be....struck by lightening or something just as terrible." A delayed grunt of annoyance and Lilline was offstage as well. She wasn't back in for a few minutes, so she found herself sitting on the ground, stretching out.

Sam was good at this and playing a man seemed to come naturally to her. Lilline would have to ask her about background experience when she got the chance.