Diva by Alex Flinn
Authors: Alex Flinn
Tags: General, Juvenile Fiction, Social Issues, Performing Arts, New Experience, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
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cute!) when we 1st met. But ever since the day
w/LA TRAVIATA, he hasn't even talked to me. He just hangs w/his friends…esp. the evil Barnacle
Girl…so I guess he doesn't think I'm as good as wonderful him. Oh, well.
When I saw Rowena, I asked her why—O, why—she put us together.
She let me know the faculty wasn't exactly thrilled w/my audition (thx, Misty) but that she told them I'd
done really well w/La Traviata (!) "You 2 sound good together…it'll be great."
Great. She gave me Sean's phone # and suggested I call to talk abt. our duet. I left a message on his ans.
machine hours ago, and he hasn't called back.
Also on the upside (the 2nd good news, I guess): Misty didn't get a solo @ all! She has some solo lines in
group #'s and that is IT!
I think I understand the term "poetic justice" now.
The next day, Sean passes me a note in Davis's class.
Any ideas? Opera's not my "aria" of expertise (Haha)
The joke surprises me. So does his asking my advice. I write back:
Rigoletto?
The note comes back almost immediately: Do I get to play a hunchback???
I write back:
Hunchback = Rigoletto = baritone. Duke of Mantua = tenor = you
Bummer! he writes back.
The Duke in Rigoletto is also a big jerk, so that sounds perfect for Sean.
After class, I stand outside waiting for Act Two with Sean. He shows up with, as usual, Misty hanging on
him. I say, "Hey."
Misty keeps talking. "So unfair," she's saying. "They obviously knew who they were going to pick before the auditions. It's all favoritism."
I go through this little dream sequence in my head: I push her out of the way, she topples, propelled
downward by her enormous chest, and can't get up but, instead, lies there, kicking like a cockroach on its
back. And I say, "Excuse me? May I interrupt?"
In real life, I just say, "Excuse me? May I interrupt?"
Misty's face is all, Please die ! but Sean says, "Catch you in class, Mist."
She stomps off. I stand there a minute, and when Sean doesn't say anything, I say, "Can we get together
after school maybe? I have lots of CDs."
"Um, today's difficult."
"Tomorrow, then."
"No, not tomorrow either."
"Well, they're going to start rehearsals soon. Do you plan on being there?"
"When I have to."
"When you have to?"
He looks at me. "You know some people do have other responsibilities in life. We can't all be
princesses."
" Excuse me?"
"Nothing. Forget I said anything."
But I heard him. My throat's all hardening up like it does when I'm about to cry. Tres embarrassing. I try to say something else, I don't know what, something about how I am anything but a princess, or I just want to
do what I'm supposed to, and what's up his butt that he acts like that's a bad thing, but I just walk away.
He follows me. Don't follow me . "Hey, look, I can't do it today. Why don't you bring your CDs tomorrow, and I'll try and listen to them if I get a chance?"
I don't look at him, because I don't want him to see how red my face is. I say, "If you get a chance?"
"Yeah. If I get a chance."
Unreal. I reach my History class. I stand there, and think for a minute, gulping a few times. That's when the
bell starts to ring. I say, "If I get a chance, I'll bring them."
I don't know if he heard me, and I don't care.
Opera_Grrrl's Online Journal
Subject: Un-Stinkin'-Real
Date: September 23
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Listening to: Duets to Die For …searching for a duet w/a great soprano part for me and a sucky tenor part for Sean
Feeling: Angry
Weight: Didn't weigh myself
Where does he get off calling *me* a princess? I'm sooo not a princess. Peyton & Ashley, maybe, but not
me. Just b/c he's PO'd that he doesn't get to sing w/his fat girlfriend doesn't mean he has to take it out on
me. What a SNOT!
After going through every CD I have, I call Rowena.
"What a coincidence. I just got off the phone with Sean about the same thing."
"With Sean?" Seems like I'm all about repeating other people today.
"Yeah, I'm so excited about you two
w/LA TRAVIATA, he hasn't even talked to me. He just hangs w/his friends…esp. the evil Barnacle
Girl…so I guess he doesn't think I'm as good as wonderful him. Oh, well.
When I saw Rowena, I asked her why—O, why—she put us together.
She let me know the faculty wasn't exactly thrilled w/my audition (thx, Misty) but that she told them I'd
done really well w/La Traviata (!) "You 2 sound good together…it'll be great."
Great. She gave me Sean's phone # and suggested I call to talk abt. our duet. I left a message on his ans.
machine hours ago, and he hasn't called back.
Also on the upside (the 2nd good news, I guess): Misty didn't get a solo @ all! She has some solo lines in
group #'s and that is IT!
I think I understand the term "poetic justice" now.
The next day, Sean passes me a note in Davis's class.
Any ideas? Opera's not my "aria" of expertise (Haha)
The joke surprises me. So does his asking my advice. I write back:
Rigoletto?
The note comes back almost immediately: Do I get to play a hunchback???
I write back:
Hunchback = Rigoletto = baritone. Duke of Mantua = tenor = you
Bummer! he writes back.
The Duke in Rigoletto is also a big jerk, so that sounds perfect for Sean.
After class, I stand outside waiting for Act Two with Sean. He shows up with, as usual, Misty hanging on
him. I say, "Hey."
Misty keeps talking. "So unfair," she's saying. "They obviously knew who they were going to pick before the auditions. It's all favoritism."
I go through this little dream sequence in my head: I push her out of the way, she topples, propelled
downward by her enormous chest, and can't get up but, instead, lies there, kicking like a cockroach on its
back. And I say, "Excuse me? May I interrupt?"
In real life, I just say, "Excuse me? May I interrupt?"
Misty's face is all, Please die ! but Sean says, "Catch you in class, Mist."
She stomps off. I stand there a minute, and when Sean doesn't say anything, I say, "Can we get together
after school maybe? I have lots of CDs."
"Um, today's difficult."
"Tomorrow, then."
"No, not tomorrow either."
"Well, they're going to start rehearsals soon. Do you plan on being there?"
"When I have to."
"When you have to?"
He looks at me. "You know some people do have other responsibilities in life. We can't all be
princesses."
" Excuse me?"
"Nothing. Forget I said anything."
But I heard him. My throat's all hardening up like it does when I'm about to cry. Tres embarrassing. I try to say something else, I don't know what, something about how I am anything but a princess, or I just want to
do what I'm supposed to, and what's up his butt that he acts like that's a bad thing, but I just walk away.
He follows me. Don't follow me . "Hey, look, I can't do it today. Why don't you bring your CDs tomorrow, and I'll try and listen to them if I get a chance?"
I don't look at him, because I don't want him to see how red my face is. I say, "If you get a chance?"
"Yeah. If I get a chance."
Unreal. I reach my History class. I stand there, and think for a minute, gulping a few times. That's when the
bell starts to ring. I say, "If I get a chance, I'll bring them."
I don't know if he heard me, and I don't care.
Opera_Grrrl's Online Journal
Subject: Un-Stinkin'-Real
Date: September 23
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Listening to: Duets to Die For …searching for a duet w/a great soprano part for me and a sucky tenor part for Sean
Feeling: Angry
Weight: Didn't weigh myself
Where does he get off calling *me* a princess? I'm sooo not a princess. Peyton & Ashley, maybe, but not
me. Just b/c he's PO'd that he doesn't get to sing w/his fat girlfriend doesn't mean he has to take it out on
me. What a SNOT!
After going through every CD I have, I call Rowena.
"What a coincidence. I just got off the phone with Sean about the same thing."
"With Sean?" Seems like I'm all about repeating other people today.
"Yeah, I'm so excited about you two
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