Sleeping Beauty
.
a story for Valentine. happy late Valentine !
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The prince gave a kiss on Sleeping Beauty to wake her from her sleep..
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"I know you," a girl sang in the spotlight, her light brown dress lifted high as she danced around, "I walk with you once.. upon.. a dreaaamm."
Dawn's mouth fell open as her purple-outlined glasses fell to her nose. She was kind of frightened of this.. figure singing in front of her. She had to look twice to make sure that the girl's eyelashes weren't artificial. The girl's hair was shiny brown, and again Dawn insisted herself that it was not a result of hair-dying, which was not really allowed in the school.
Dawn rolled her eyes at Kelly, who was sitting beside her. Kelly grinned widely. Dawn, afraid that her best friend would burst to her unstoppable (and often offensive) laugh like she usually did, waved her hand at the girl who was still singing, saying, "Enough."
The girl stopped. Her big blue eyes stared at Dawn like a little kitten begging for milk. "S-so?" she said. "How did I do there?"
"Hmm," replied Dawn, holding back her straightforward personality that often became too hurting in times like this. "Your name?"
"Maureen Wanda Folle," she said fast, pronouncing Wanda Folle like Wonder-Ful, and Dawn frowned. "Wanda Folle?" she repeated unbelievingly, seeing her list that clearly mentioned, Maureen Brown. "This is not a pun contest," she snorted sharply. "And.. your singing that you just did there, is so not the quality we're looking for."
"N-not the.. q-quality?" the wanda folle girl bursted into tears. "B-but Mommy said that my singing is--"
"Mommy is not a vocal teacher, Mommy can't understand notes, Mommy don't know music!!" cut Dawn. "Maureen," said Kelly, more gently, "what Dawn is trying to tell you, is--"
"Whatever!" Maureen sobbed, lifting up her long dress and went out of the auditorium.
-
"Seriously," said Dawn. "Does she really think that her dress makes her look like Aurora?"
"Don't be too rude, Dawn," warned Kelly.
"Ergggh," she said. Being not rude, was not her thing. Dawn was born with probably the honestest tongue in the world, she could not help holding what she thought without spitting it out of her mouth. She was too straightforward, and this kind of attitude was her only weakness in being the head of the school production team.
"How many more should we go?" she asked Kelly, who was too diligent and checked the long list of auditioners.
"So that Maureen girl is number 47," said Kelly. "We have 70 auditioners."
"No way," moaned Dawn. "Is it so hard just to find a perfect Aurora?"
Dawn, as the head of the school productions, was given a task to direct a play for the school's Valentine event. At first she suggested some plays (that involved a lot of fighting and blood), but it was Valentine. She first thought about having a Sleeping Beauty play when she was reminded of what Dawn means : aurora. So she began auditions to find perfect roles. So far, she had got the perfect Maleficient, and then Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. And also Prince Phillip. The hardest part was finding the perfect Aurora.
"If auditioner number 48 fails, that's it," she threatened. "We'll change the play. I don't care how much I've strived to type the script, so--"
"Okay, Dawn," smiled Kelly. With a louder voice, she shouted, "Number 48!!"
A girl entered the auditorium without a voice, her footsteps so graceful and silent, as she bowed politely to Dawn and Kelly. Dawn checked her list. Alexis Brooke, 11C. Geez, the same level as her, although they were in different class! But this Alexis girl was too small and too timid to be an 11th grader. Her body was slim, but short, her pale brown hair and gray eyes were beautiful, but she kept on looking down.
"So you auditioned for Aurora?" asked Dawn. Alexis nodded.
"Sally, music!" commanded Dawn fast, to Sally, who had been patiently sitting in front of the piano for 2 hours.
Alexis opened her mouth to sing. Once Upon A Dream, just like the wanda-folle Maureen sang before. But this time, it was different. Dawn and Kelly were left breathless with her singing. Her voice was so soft, so alive, as if she was really in the forest, dancing with the morning breeze, in Aurora's forest dress. Dawn winked at Kelly. Now this is what I'm looking for, she thought.
"Okay stop," said Dawn. "Alexis?"
"Uhuh?" asked the girl shyly.
"Why are you so shy?" asked Dawn. "You have a wandafolle--sorry I mean wonderful--voice! You're the Aurora we're looking for!"
"Really?" Alexis's cloudy eyes widened, she stared at Dawn and Kelly happily. Kelly nodded. "Finally, after all this time sitting on this chair, there's something worth to watch!"
"Welcome to the school productions," Dawn stood up and shook Alexis's hand. "You'll receive the playscript soon, so.. way to go!"
---
Dawn was in the computer room, her laptop on the table, her eyes were focused on the screen. School was out half an hour ago, and the school was nearly empty (the only room still noisy was the detention room), but she had tonnes of job to do. One of them, was redoing some parts of her Sleeping Beauty script which was not too satisfying for the school.
"Busy?" a voice greeted her.
Dawn turned her head to the open door. "Jared.."
Jared took a stool and sat beside Dawn, peeking her work. "Ah, Miss Director is busy, I suppose," he said with a made-up royal accent.
"Oh, so now that I've chosen you as Prince, you began to act like one," Dawn slapped his back jokingly. "Shut up."
"Wow, the romance," Jared read Dawn's typings on the scene where Prince Phillip and Aurora first met, in the forest. "So you have a romantic side too, girl?"
"You kidding me," muttered Dawn. "If not, than who else could be the key to success in the school's High School Musical play last Christmas, or Romeo and Juliet last summer, or--"
"Yeah right," cut Jared. "I have the answer. Moi!!"
Dawn laughed. If there was a handsome dreamy guy at school who could steal hearts of the audiences in every school plays, it was Jared. Jared was an active member of the school productions team, often being the main role in every play. He could perfectly recite the dialogues Dawn had arranged for him--painful ones, romantic ones, wrathful ones, everything.
"So, who's the Aurora?'' he asked, because this time he was chosen as Prince Phillip. "I don't want those sweet words to be said if I have to say it to a dork or something."
"I've directed 13 school plays," said Dawn. "How could I choose a dork to be Aurora? You'll like your princess. Alexis Brooke from 11C, know her?"
"Alexis.." he paused for a minute. "Oh yea, isn't she that new girl who always stays in the corner?"
"Yep," agreed Dawn. "The shy type. But she has amazing skills, and you and her--perfect image!"
"Let's just see," Jared shrugged, and left the room. Dawn closed her Microsoft Word and tidied her laptop, before running out of the room with him.
---
"Uh!!"
Dawn drowned herself in her blanket and screamed as loud as her heart could. It was the sixth practice, and Valentine would be in two days.
No, it was not her major director dilemma. In fact, everything had been going perfectly fine. As everybody predicted, Alexis could soon enough forget her shy attitude and turn into a flawless Aurora as Dawn and Kelly wanted. She was also a quick-witted one, she did not take long to memorize the script Dawn had written for her, not like that stupid Flora or King Stephen who took a week just to memorize them.
And Jared--why ask? He was doing excellent as usual. Maybe he was the playful, loud kind of guy on the outside, but when he stepped on stage and the spotlight shone on him, he would morph into a captivating prince, amazing Dawn and all the other crews. But mostly Dawn.
This was not a surprise, really. Dawn had spent every school production moment with him, seen him becoming different dreamy figures she always wanted, so how could she not fall for this guy? She had always enjoyed having him as company, and surely some had said that she just chose Jared again, this time, because of her feelings.
That was partly right, but Dawn was a fair director.
But things weren't really going well for Dawn now.
It had been three weeks of practise, twice in a week, and Alexis had been closer and closer to Jared day by day. Every recess they would sit on one table and recite dialogues together, and every time school was out Jared offered Alexis a drive home. Dawn could only watch. And slowly, a new feeling crept into her heart.
What was this? Dawn had never felt like this before. Dawn was not a jealous type. Why should she be? She had a lot of true friends in school, she achieved good marks, she had such a strong position in school as the head of school productions.. but it was not easy to watch the guy whom she had been spending time with all along, slowly drifting away from her and got into a 'friendly' relationship with Alexis. They were always together, every second. Uh, why did she choose Alexis to be Aurora in the first place?
-
It was all her fault. Dawn sat still on her bed, plugging her earphones on the loudest possible volume, her heart still burning with envy. That afternoon, they were finally practising the finale, where the prince would wake the princess with his true love kiss.
Damn that Alexis girl..
Dawn closed her eyes, as a song was played on the radio. Taylor Swift. She used to love this song so much, she used to scream along to this song as Jared slammed his guitar, but now? She could only stay still as cold droplets roll through her cheek, and then to her chin. Was she crying? She did not even remember the last time she cried and now? She was crying, just over a guy?
Dawn, you crybaby..
She drowned her mind into the lyrics of the song, which seemed louder and louder every second.
If you could see that I'm the one who understands you.. been here all along, so why can't you see? You belong with me.. Standing there and waiting at your back door, all this time, how could you not know, baby? You belong with me.. You belong with me..
"Jared, I'm right here.." Dawn's hand moved to her cellphone. It was a pic of her, Jared and Kelly, which she took last year when they went on a vacation together. "How could you not notice me at all? I've been here all along, Jared.."
Have you ever thought, just maybe, you belong with me?
-
"It's show day!!" shouted Kelly excitedly, all the crew gathered in the backstage, all thrilled and controlled by nervousness. The decoration team had finished decorating the stage for the first scene--a palace, where Aurora was first born. Together, they gathered to help the actors to dress up.
Alexis was ready for her first appearance. She looked amazing, Aurora's blue gown fit perfectly on her. Dawn watched in disgust. She hated that Alexis girl more than ever now.
Dawn peeped the auditorium. It was different now, with fluffy, pink hearts all over the walls. The ushers were already there, their heads 'beautified' (at least Kelly thought it's beautiful) with a heart-patterned hairband. Dawn walked to one of the dressing rooms, where she heard Jared's voice.
"Hey."
Jared was sitting in front of a mirror. He was also all dressed up, with his knightly suit for the first appearance where he walked through the forest and met Aurora. This time, his princely face was blanketed by nervousness.
"What if I can't do this?" he asked Dawn. Dawn sat beside him and circled her hands around him. "C'mon buddy," she said. "We've been through a lot together. I trust you.."
"Thanks," he smiled. "Dawn.. you're like the writer of my life. And this," he pointed at the Sleeping Beauty script on his table, "this is one of the greatest stories you've set up in my life."
Dawn smiled. "Honestly I don't really like this story," she admitted.
"So what do you like?"
"Prince Phillip left the forest after meeting Aurora," Dawn said, "and on his way, he met another princess..
"And when he saw her, he thought, this is the Sleeping Beauty I'm supposed to be with.. this is the girl I've been looking for my whole life.
"So he fell for her, and took her as his princess. Forever.."
After that, a very long silence clouded the room. Jared stared at her. "You know what?" His voice broke the silence. "I like that one better."
Dawn was startled. "What?"
"Aurora, I.. I love you."
And then, he slided closer to her and kissed her.
-
But everything faded away with that kiss, and now Dawn found herself standing behind the stage, a thousand applouses flooded the auditorium. Jared and Dawn were dancing on the palace ballroom. It was already the finale?
So it was just her daydreaming..
And finally, the dancing ended. Everyone stood up as all the cast came forward to give their one last bow.. but Dawn did not move from her spot. She felt tears collecting in her eyes, as she remembered one of the sentences she had written on her script.
The prince gave a kiss on Sleeping Beauty to wake her from her sleep..
"And you did wake me up, Jared," she whispered in tears, as she remembered her dream before. "You wake me up from my aimless, endless dream about you.. You wake me up and make me realize, that it's not meant to be.."
She watched as Jared and Alexis held hands and bowed together. Yea, Alexis was much more worthed than herself. And maybe, she would be so much better without him.
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14/02/10