By:
R G
It was a
normal day at Greenville High and Eric was rushing to English class. Eric is
usually late to every single class except Math as this was his favorite
subject. 10th Grade English was a hard class, and as he ran, Eric thought
what they were doing today in class. He sat down next to Joey and Connor and
started to talk like crazy. The end of day bell rang and Eric walked to the
locker room for sports.
Eric
disliked all available sports choices at Grenville High. Of these choices, he
chose to play football. He changed into gear and left for the field. Today was
a big game and the Greenville High Geckos lost to the Franklin High Frogs. He
walked home and was upset at losing the game.
The next
day as Joey and Eric joked around in the Arts Hall, Eric saw a sign about a
play informing students that five people could participate from Greenville
High. The play was Shakespeare’s, Hamlet
and Eric was excited about the opportunity of playing the lead part. He had
seen the play with his family before and loved it. As he thought more about the
lead part, he was scared that people would make fun of him if he didn’t do well.
He had never acted before and he wanted the lead part.
For the
rest of the day, he was all excited and the Geckos won the second football game
in a row. He ran home and told his dad, Jake, about all the good news. Jake
thought of how funny it would be to see Eric playing the part of Hamlet in one
of Shakespeare’s original plays. “Eric has no acting career and is aiming for
the part of Hamlet,” muttered Jake. “That’s crazy!” Jake thought of how much of
a failure his son would be so he decided to abandon helping Eric.
The
auditions were tomorrow so he begged Joey and Connor to come with him and try
out. They didn’t care for anything having to do with acting, but they followed
Eric. The auditions took up the whole sports practice and about 30 minutes of free
time. Sadly, the producers needed time to think about who was going to be
chosen. Eric couldn’t get the results for a for a few days. He got home and his
mom started asking Eric how the auditions went. Eric told his mother that the
results would be mailed to them.
A whole week
went by with no news of the auditions. Then on October 24, mail came from
Highland Studios. The results said that he had earned the lead part with his perfect
movement, accent, and prepared costume. Eric was overjoyed at learning this. He
was glad about this great news and knew he was going to have a great time with
this experience.
When he arrived
at school, he heard the most depressing and saddening news of his life. Both of
his friends didn’t get a part in the play. He felt like the loneliest person on
Earth. He thought they were perfect for the part they tried out for. Instead,
Sally Scooter and Jerry Jester got those parts. He was going to complain to the
producers why they didn’t get in.
Eric just
was just about ready to drop out of the play because of his sadness. He needed
to choose between two important things: dropping out to be with his friends, or
taking the lead part in the biggest play of the year. Eric chose the once in a
lifetime experience, taking the lead part. After he made this decision, his
friends were avoiding him all over school.
Even
though he couldn’t be with his friends, he felt like he made the right
decision. He did not know what to do after making the hard decision. His
football performance and participation percentage were becoming very low, as
Eric didn’t go to practices. All his grades (especially Math) were being
lowered and everything was turning horrible in Eric’s life. He was a mess.
Finally,
one day, his mom noticed that he was extremely sad. She promised that he would
get his friends back, but he didn’t think so at all. His friends were totally
avoiding him. For example, they would sit on the other side of the classroom as
far as they could get. Neither liked the mess. He didn’t think that he and his
friends would be back together. Eric thought that it was hopeless. That was not
true.
To help him
solve this problem, she thought of something that she couldn’t afford. She decided
to buy Broadway tickets. His mom searched everywhere for tickets to Broadway
but couldn’t find any. Finally, their next-door neighbor didn’t want tickets
she bought for a show. She gave them away to Eric’s Mom for free. They were
going to the Lion King, the perfect
play to show Eric and get him inspired and excited.
Finally,
the day of the Broadway show came and his mother surprised him with the tickets.
That evening, they left at 5:30 so they were not late. When Eric got there, he noticed
how beautiful Broadway was. When the play started, Eric was ready to enjoy his
surprise. Eric fell in love with the play. At the end, he clapped really hard
and noticed that everyone was clapping for the lead actor. Suddenly, he was
driven to do his best.
That
night he couldn’t stop dreaming about that show. Everyday he practiced and
practiced with his mom to remember the lines of the lead part. Opening night
was in one week so the producers and director were having rehearsals literally
everyday. He couldn’t contain his excitement with all the preparation going on
of all this. He would finally start a new dream of an acting career.
Everyone
was so excited and willing to help him. Eventually, he got a costume and he
practiced his movement. Everyday at least four hours of practice and he would
remember his part. Finally, it was showtime and he was ready. He arrived two
hours early to help set up the sets and get the props ready. One hour before
show time, he put on his costume and started reciting his lines. He was ready
to do his best so he practiced his parts in the back of the stage.
With one
minute before show time, the producers went on and introduced everyone.
Finally, the curtain dropped and he took a deep breath. Eric smiled and went on
stage for his part. He did a great job as Hamlet and everyone else didn’t mess
up. The show was fabulous and people were laughing at the funny parts, clapping
all over, and crying when someone died.
At the
end, Eric and his peers took a bow. Eric felt so happy and complete! Surprised,
he saw Joey and Conner running up to him with his mom. They were all so happy
to be back with each other again. They explained that they came back because they
realized that Eric needed time to practice so he couldn’t talk to them all the
time. It was a great reunion. They were all friends again and everyone was
happy! Then his mom and dad walked up to him, smiled, and were pleased with his
hard work! Eric smiled back and they all had a family hug! His dad told him how
much he regretted not helping Eric and thinking how horrible Eric was going to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment