(no subject)
Jun. 1st, 2013 11:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coral_sandhuIt's going to be difficult to top Gil's play from last night, but Coral has been excited and nervous all day. Her one big chance, the lead role as Elpheba. Well, alongside Candy, who is playing Galinda.
"Break a leg." she says to Candy, who is getting make up next to her.
"Why would I want to do that?" Candy asks, blinking at her. Coral, knowing her 'secret', translates without taking the mickey.
"It means good luck, in the theatre. According to Gil, anyway." she says.
"Oh. Thanks." Candy smiles slightly, and as her make up gets finished, goes abruptly to talk to Heidi.
Coral watches after her, sighing slightly. Heidi has retained her role as Queen Bee, most 'popular' girl in the class, and of course that attracted Candy to her like a moth to a flame. When Candy had been at Fry's school, she'd longed to hang out with 'normal' girls, to be 'popular'. Since joining Coral's school earlier in the year, Candy has struggled to make friends with anyone, yet has largely shunned Coral's attempts to be nice.
"Look, if I know you, they'll know I went to special school. So you don't know me, Coral. And since you're not exactly in the cool group, there's not really much reason for us to hang out here."
Well whatever. Coral maintained her default level of nice towards Candy, and was more than happy to hang out with her own friends. She had hoped the play might bring them a little closer together, like their characters.
The first part of the play goes flawlessly. That is, until Coral mounts the broomstick at the end of the first half. When she was picked for the part, Faye from the sixth form had said how lucky they were that they'd found someone who was actually small enough to use the stage's hoist. Faye is set in position tonight, and lifts Coral up at the right moment.
It's Candy's job to turn on the wind machine just below her. As she does so, Coral notices Candy pushing the machine way too far forward, with an amused smirk on her face. Coral is mid-song, so she hasn't long to wonder about this, before the machine turns on and blows her skirt right up.
A laugh breaks out from the audience, all the more so from some of the girls when they realise Coral is wearing a pair of pink little girl knickers with bunnies on.
"Turn it off!" Coral covers her mike and hisses at Candy, fighting with her skirt, but the girl is laughing too much. She steps back on the broom, her foot catching it behind the second wire that hoists it to the ceiling. The front of the broom shoots up, smacking her full in the face and knocking her glasses off onto the floor.
Everything stops. The laughing stops, except for Candy, who continues for an awkward few seconds until she realises everyone is staring. She turns the wind machine off.
Coral freezes just for a second. Her right eye is watering and can't see anything, the left is so short-sighted normally that she can't see anything through that either... but there's only one thing she can do. She holds the broom upright, as though that is how it is meant to be, and sings her line with all her heart.
"And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever going to bring me down!"
The spell is broken. The pianist plays, the chorus sings, and she carries on. As she finishes her song, the audience breaks into a standing ovation, not that she can see it, and the stage hands quickly close the curtains.
Faye lowers her down, and she gropes for her glasses. Heidi, for once not playing the mean girl, finds them and hands them to her.
"I think they're broken." she whispers awkwardly. "Are you okay? Your lip is bleeding... you're pretty blind without these aren't you, stage door is over here."
Things must be bad if Heidi is being kind. Coral thanks her and sits down backstage, examining her glasses. Everyone is talking at her at once. She puts her wonky glasses on and makes a beeline to just one person.
"You. Complete. Bitch." she says, standing square up to Candy, albeit a lot smaller. There is a slight stunned silence around her. Nobody has ever heard her swear before. "I saw you do that on purpose, how could you do that? I thought we were friends!"
"I didn't know you were going to smack yourself in the face." Candy says, defensively. "It was just a joke."
"Well why couldn't you do it during rehearsal, then?" Coral asks, feeling her temper rising. "You humiliated me in front of everyone!"
"Is this true?" Faye demands. "Did you do it on purpose?"
Candy, beginning to realise that she's in trouble, points a finger at Heidi.
"She told me to do it."
"What are you, four?!" Heidi explodes. "I was clearly joking! I'm not that mean."
"Enough." Faye says, irate. "Candy, even if Heidi told you to do it, you're not a baby, you chose to do it yourself. You haven't even apologised to Coral for getting her hurt. Go and get changed."
"What?" Candy gasps slightly. "But what about the rest of the play?"
"Lucy has understudied you just fine, she can take your role." Faye says.
Candy looks at the hostile faces, bursts into tears and runs off. Coral looks uncomfortable.
"I don't want to spoil the play, I can still work with her." she says to Faye.
Faye puts a hand gently on her shoulder and leads her to one side.
"Coral, if you are nice to people who are horrible to you, they will take and take and take. I know you're the forgiving type but don't let her push you around, okay? I'm not going to kick her out of the play completely - even if I ought to - so let's get you cleaned up and back out there."
***
But Coral knew it wasn't going to be over that easy, even if Lucy did just fine and her performance was, apparently, stunning. Gil had videoed the whole thing and promised to give her the £250 for selling it to Home Video Show.
***
The atmosphere in school is awkward. On one hand, everyone is crowding Coral to ask about the black eye and to support her. On the other, she feels terrible seeing Candy ostracised and miserable.
It gets worse when her form tutor tells her the headmistress wants to see them both at break.
"Did you sneak?" Candy whispers, as they wait outside the office.
Coral shakes her head.
"Do you really think I'm a bitch?" Candy asks, sounding genuinely upset now.
Coral hesitates. Then replies honestly.
"No. I don't think anyone is a bitch really, and I'm sorry I called you that. There's just people who sometimes do bitchy things."
Then, the headmistress calls her in. Suddenly, she's very afraid. She called Candy a swear word in front of everyone... but the head doesn't seem angry with her, just asking her questions.
"Am I in trouble?" she asks timidly, after a minute.
"No no, we don't tolerate bullying of any sort in this school." the head says. "And certainly not of the public display Candice admitted to."
"I swore at her." Coral admits.
"Not something to be proud of, but you were clearly very much provoked." the head says. "You can go now."
Coral goes back to the classroom and tries to avoid questions. Candy is being an awfully long time.
"I bet she gets expelled." Claire says, swinging her legs on the desk.
"Are you serious? For a prank?" Coral asks, in alarm.
"I heard the governors were at that play, and members of the public." Claire says. "You can't arse around when you're representing the school, the governors will have gone nuts... geez, don't look so worried, it's not your fault, she was the one who chose to do it."
Candy appears back in the classroom the minute before the bell goes, giving Coral no chance to talk to her until later. She follows her out the school gate and stops her before she can escape.
"Um, Candy?"
"Get lost." Candy says, miserably.
"Look, I don't want you expelled..."
"They're not expelling me." Candy says, then lowering her voice. "They said if I didn't have Asperger's they would have."
"Well, I'm glad, that would have been too far."
"It's nothing to do with you any more." Candy says.
"I've asked everyone to drop the hostility." Coral says. "Everyone screws up."
"You don't get it!" Candy says, raising her voice now. "You're not the only person who's been nice to me. A whole bunch of people have. Pretty much everyone welcomed me here. It was like a wonderful high. And what did I do? I struck straight for the people I saw as being top of the social ladder, everyone else I rejected. And now I have nobody."
Fry, who has come to pick Coral up, appears nearby.
"You should come back to Jackson Street." he says. "I don't know why you left in the first place."
"To be normal?" Candy says.
"But you're not normal. Neither's Coral, neither's Rahne or Brooke. Not even Heidi. Nobody is normal." Fry says. "There's no such thing. And even typical popularity is a myth. Coral might be the geekiest teacher's pet in her class but the others soon stuck up for her when you hurt her. We liked having you in the band, and Nimesh missed you a lot."
"Jo hates me. So does Kathy. And I can't bear Jordan. I don't have any girl friends."
"They haven't seen you for a year, just make a fresh start and don't insult them." Fry shrugs. "We have a couple of new people anyway."
Candy hesitates.
"I'll think about it." she says.
"Break a leg." she says to Candy, who is getting make up next to her.
"Why would I want to do that?" Candy asks, blinking at her. Coral, knowing her 'secret', translates without taking the mickey.
"It means good luck, in the theatre. According to Gil, anyway." she says.
"Oh. Thanks." Candy smiles slightly, and as her make up gets finished, goes abruptly to talk to Heidi.
Coral watches after her, sighing slightly. Heidi has retained her role as Queen Bee, most 'popular' girl in the class, and of course that attracted Candy to her like a moth to a flame. When Candy had been at Fry's school, she'd longed to hang out with 'normal' girls, to be 'popular'. Since joining Coral's school earlier in the year, Candy has struggled to make friends with anyone, yet has largely shunned Coral's attempts to be nice.
"Look, if I know you, they'll know I went to special school. So you don't know me, Coral. And since you're not exactly in the cool group, there's not really much reason for us to hang out here."
Well whatever. Coral maintained her default level of nice towards Candy, and was more than happy to hang out with her own friends. She had hoped the play might bring them a little closer together, like their characters.
The first part of the play goes flawlessly. That is, until Coral mounts the broomstick at the end of the first half. When she was picked for the part, Faye from the sixth form had said how lucky they were that they'd found someone who was actually small enough to use the stage's hoist. Faye is set in position tonight, and lifts Coral up at the right moment.
It's Candy's job to turn on the wind machine just below her. As she does so, Coral notices Candy pushing the machine way too far forward, with an amused smirk on her face. Coral is mid-song, so she hasn't long to wonder about this, before the machine turns on and blows her skirt right up.
A laugh breaks out from the audience, all the more so from some of the girls when they realise Coral is wearing a pair of pink little girl knickers with bunnies on.
"Turn it off!" Coral covers her mike and hisses at Candy, fighting with her skirt, but the girl is laughing too much. She steps back on the broom, her foot catching it behind the second wire that hoists it to the ceiling. The front of the broom shoots up, smacking her full in the face and knocking her glasses off onto the floor.
Everything stops. The laughing stops, except for Candy, who continues for an awkward few seconds until she realises everyone is staring. She turns the wind machine off.
Coral freezes just for a second. Her right eye is watering and can't see anything, the left is so short-sighted normally that she can't see anything through that either... but there's only one thing she can do. She holds the broom upright, as though that is how it is meant to be, and sings her line with all her heart.
"And nobody in all of Oz
No wizard that there is or was
Is ever going to bring me down!"
The spell is broken. The pianist plays, the chorus sings, and she carries on. As she finishes her song, the audience breaks into a standing ovation, not that she can see it, and the stage hands quickly close the curtains.
Faye lowers her down, and she gropes for her glasses. Heidi, for once not playing the mean girl, finds them and hands them to her.
"I think they're broken." she whispers awkwardly. "Are you okay? Your lip is bleeding... you're pretty blind without these aren't you, stage door is over here."
Things must be bad if Heidi is being kind. Coral thanks her and sits down backstage, examining her glasses. Everyone is talking at her at once. She puts her wonky glasses on and makes a beeline to just one person.
"You. Complete. Bitch." she says, standing square up to Candy, albeit a lot smaller. There is a slight stunned silence around her. Nobody has ever heard her swear before. "I saw you do that on purpose, how could you do that? I thought we were friends!"
"I didn't know you were going to smack yourself in the face." Candy says, defensively. "It was just a joke."
"Well why couldn't you do it during rehearsal, then?" Coral asks, feeling her temper rising. "You humiliated me in front of everyone!"
"Is this true?" Faye demands. "Did you do it on purpose?"
Candy, beginning to realise that she's in trouble, points a finger at Heidi.
"She told me to do it."
"What are you, four?!" Heidi explodes. "I was clearly joking! I'm not that mean."
"Enough." Faye says, irate. "Candy, even if Heidi told you to do it, you're not a baby, you chose to do it yourself. You haven't even apologised to Coral for getting her hurt. Go and get changed."
"What?" Candy gasps slightly. "But what about the rest of the play?"
"Lucy has understudied you just fine, she can take your role." Faye says.
Candy looks at the hostile faces, bursts into tears and runs off. Coral looks uncomfortable.
"I don't want to spoil the play, I can still work with her." she says to Faye.
Faye puts a hand gently on her shoulder and leads her to one side.
"Coral, if you are nice to people who are horrible to you, they will take and take and take. I know you're the forgiving type but don't let her push you around, okay? I'm not going to kick her out of the play completely - even if I ought to - so let's get you cleaned up and back out there."
***
But Coral knew it wasn't going to be over that easy, even if Lucy did just fine and her performance was, apparently, stunning. Gil had videoed the whole thing and promised to give her the £250 for selling it to Home Video Show.
***
The atmosphere in school is awkward. On one hand, everyone is crowding Coral to ask about the black eye and to support her. On the other, she feels terrible seeing Candy ostracised and miserable.
It gets worse when her form tutor tells her the headmistress wants to see them both at break.
"Did you sneak?" Candy whispers, as they wait outside the office.
Coral shakes her head.
"Do you really think I'm a bitch?" Candy asks, sounding genuinely upset now.
Coral hesitates. Then replies honestly.
"No. I don't think anyone is a bitch really, and I'm sorry I called you that. There's just people who sometimes do bitchy things."
Then, the headmistress calls her in. Suddenly, she's very afraid. She called Candy a swear word in front of everyone... but the head doesn't seem angry with her, just asking her questions.
"Am I in trouble?" she asks timidly, after a minute.
"No no, we don't tolerate bullying of any sort in this school." the head says. "And certainly not of the public display Candice admitted to."
"I swore at her." Coral admits.
"Not something to be proud of, but you were clearly very much provoked." the head says. "You can go now."
Coral goes back to the classroom and tries to avoid questions. Candy is being an awfully long time.
"I bet she gets expelled." Claire says, swinging her legs on the desk.
"Are you serious? For a prank?" Coral asks, in alarm.
"I heard the governors were at that play, and members of the public." Claire says. "You can't arse around when you're representing the school, the governors will have gone nuts... geez, don't look so worried, it's not your fault, she was the one who chose to do it."
Candy appears back in the classroom the minute before the bell goes, giving Coral no chance to talk to her until later. She follows her out the school gate and stops her before she can escape.
"Um, Candy?"
"Get lost." Candy says, miserably.
"Look, I don't want you expelled..."
"They're not expelling me." Candy says, then lowering her voice. "They said if I didn't have Asperger's they would have."
"Well, I'm glad, that would have been too far."
"It's nothing to do with you any more." Candy says.
"I've asked everyone to drop the hostility." Coral says. "Everyone screws up."
"You don't get it!" Candy says, raising her voice now. "You're not the only person who's been nice to me. A whole bunch of people have. Pretty much everyone welcomed me here. It was like a wonderful high. And what did I do? I struck straight for the people I saw as being top of the social ladder, everyone else I rejected. And now I have nobody."
Fry, who has come to pick Coral up, appears nearby.
"You should come back to Jackson Street." he says. "I don't know why you left in the first place."
"To be normal?" Candy says.
"But you're not normal. Neither's Coral, neither's Rahne or Brooke. Not even Heidi. Nobody is normal." Fry says. "There's no such thing. And even typical popularity is a myth. Coral might be the geekiest teacher's pet in her class but the others soon stuck up for her when you hurt her. We liked having you in the band, and Nimesh missed you a lot."
"Jo hates me. So does Kathy. And I can't bear Jordan. I don't have any girl friends."
"They haven't seen you for a year, just make a fresh start and don't insult them." Fry shrugs. "We have a couple of new people anyway."
Candy hesitates.
"I'll think about it." she says.
