Cross School

9 - The Fall of Charlie Winslow

When acting is your main expertise, you get used to rejection. Charlie was not someone who handled it well, especially from the romantic end. He had a steady girlfriend since seventh grade, Rebecca Ashwood. She was just like him. Dark and mysterious with a large dose of sarcasm.

She was his perfect match. They ruled drama class during the early years of high school, always nailing the leads and putting their snooty rivals to shame. But as eventually the curtains closed on another performance, so did the ones for their relationship. It ended. Badly.

Some might say it was a fight. Some might say Charlie had cheated. Some might say Rebecca had slept with every guy in eighth grade. But they were all wrong. Only Charlie knew the truth.

Rebecca was seeing someone else, but it wasn't a guy. Her name was Shelly Brookes, a pretty enough girl, not one that stood out. They had been dating for a whole year behind Charlie's back, and he was none the wiser as it went on.

Rebecca moved away soon after it was revealed, along with Shelly. Toronto, she said, and Toronto she stayed. Charlie had done well to hide his sadness. His whole persona revolved around acting, so he used those skills in his own life. A trend that continued forth up until his move to Vancouver.

He was training himself twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. He knew he was the best in the city, at least, at his age level. Which is why he fully expected the assault of sneers and groans when he walked into Theatre Club for the first time.

A few of the girls were in the middle of rehearsal, but they aptly stopped when a crossdressing Gothic Lolita walked in. Especially one with an attitude as lethal as Charlie's. 'Did somebody die in here or is your talent that groan worthy?' The girls said nothing but whispered in unison. One of the girls on stage, the lead Charlie guessed by her extravagant dress and air of pompous arrogance, hopped down to confront him.

'What are you doing here? This club is reserved for "girls" only. All I see is a freak in a dress.'

Charlie chuckled. 'Can't argue with that. I signed up for this club fair and square, and I doubt taking it up with the principal will get you far. I think you're stuck with me, as I to you.'

The girl glared. She reminded Charlie of his old girlfriend. Long, dark hair, angry around the eyes but playful with her smile. Same deep brown eyes as well, minus the flare that Rebecca's occasionally expressed whenever Charlie theatrically entered the room.

'I've just met you, but I can tell we won't get along,' she said, staring him in the eye, judging for any mistakes, any cracks. She found none, and Charlie revealed none.

'What are you performing if you don't mind me asking?' Charlie ignored her comment, much to her surprise.

'A play one of my classmates wrote,' she answered. 'It's called Romance of a Thousand Moons. We're auditioning it now.'

Charlie eyed the stage. The rest of the girls looked down on him, laughing. They were also dressed in somewhat Victorian clothing, very high end for a school production, especially an audition.

'May I try my hand? For the lead, of course. I could never settle for anything below that, simply isn't how I roll.'

The girl smiled, as if she knew he would fail. 'Why not. Break a leg.'

Charlie winked. 'In these shoes, I might just do that.' He held up the ends of his skirt and walked up to the stage. One of the girls handed him the script.

He scanned it. The writing was amateurish at best, but nothing he couldn't spice up. He was known for going off-script on school productions, but for the sake of proving these girls wrong, he would have to reign it in. A little, at least.

The room was silent for a moment. Charlie stood still. He thrust down the script. He felt all of the judgmental eyes on him, ready to be proven wrong in a dazzling display of raw, untouched talent.

'Felice, are you my groom to be?' he said to the girl in front of him. She was playing a man, a very cute man. Even in her suit, she didn't look the part.

'Is that a problem, my Charlotte?' she recited. Charlie looked away, as the script stated. Then he let his emotions run free. He laughed, cried, and expressed any feeling he could muster and poured it into his audition.

The girl he was on stage with slipped up a few times due to his...his...display, that's all she could call it. It was unlike anything before, anything the snooty club leader had seen. Charlie was proud of himself. It was some of his best work in ages. But like his life with his girlfriend, it all came crashing down.

Caught up in the moment, with a little help from his shoes, Charlie slipped off the stage and onto the piano below. It didn't break, but it sure hurt. The girls laughed, cried, and expressed any feeling they could muster towards him. The sight was hilarious, to everyone but Charlie. He tried to roll off as gracefully as possible, but it only turned into yet another fall, this time to the feet of the Theatre Club's leader.

'You've got a lot to learn, show-off,' she said viciously. The girls above him were smiling with the same devious intent in all of their eyes. 'This isn't like the public school's you're used to. This is where the real cream of the crop lies. We will break you, Charlie Winslow. It'll take no effort to out-act a chump like you.'

Charlie felt like curling up and dying. But his dress wouldn't allow it. Everything was too tight. Too hard. Too mean. This was not as fun as he thought. This was Hell, and he was the freshest corpse.