71 Backstage (1/2)

We made our way over to the gym when it was a few minutes past 4 PM. Since the play was supposed to start at 5, the entrance to the gym wasn't opened yet and theater club members were still setting up the front desk beside the entrance to sell tickets to the play. However, since we had nothing else to do, we came anyway.

There were some people that streamed out of the lecture building's side entrance and towards the gym, but not that many when compared to the large population still present in the lecture building as well as the road filled with food stalls leading from the school entrance gates to the front entrance of the lecture building. A small portion of the people that were waiting outside the gym were mostly students from our school who were done with their shift and were here to support their friends. However, the majority of them has got to be Irina's fans since they wore her merchandise and talked openly about her and their anticipation for her work. It seemed that Irina's involvement as one of the two protagonists of the play had indeed drawn many people to the play.

”People sure are excited,” I muttered to myself as I saw the crowd that was slowly building up. ”Does the gym even have enough seats for all of them?”

”I would hope so,” Luna answered me as she looked over her shoulder at me. ”But that's why the play will be on for two days: today and tomorrow.”

”I guess,” I sighed. ”But with this number today, I really think tomorrow will be packed as well.”

”Ms. President!” a theater club member saw Luna approaching and called out to her. He then walked towards us with a brisk pace, smiling as he greeted us. ”Are you here to see the play?”

”Yeah,” Luna responded.

”Then we can get you in for free,” the boy then said.

”It's fine,” Luna declined his offer. ”Besides, if Alevian and I were to enter together, that would mean two fewer seats for the guests that came all the way here to watch the play.”

”Alevian?” the student displayed a confused countenance as he looked towards me. Then, the confusion seemed to have gone away after he recognized me. ”You're the manager of Irina and Muria!”

Manager? I frowned.

Then, he looked back at Luna and smiled. ”If that's what you're worried about, then the two of you can come watch backstage if you don't mind.”

”That would be perfect,” Luna nodded.

”Then you can enter through the back entrance of the gym.” The student looked towards the paved road that led around the gym and to the back of the building. ”I'm sure they'll let you enter.”

”Thank you Jordan.” Luna smiled at the boy and started down the road that the student, Jordan, had pointed to us. So she does know the name of everybody...

Although the front of the gym has become extremely lively, the back of it was extremely quiet since it was just the two of us facing the closed door. Luna approached the door, knocked on it without any hesitations, and not too long later, the door opened. Once the theater club saw that it was the student council president, they allowed her to enter. As for me, the male student that was in charge of making the props for the play recognized me since we shared a brief conversation when I was watching them practicing their lines in the theater club room so he allowed me to enter without any other issues.

It was my first time being backstage since this area is usually off limits to students unless you're in the theater club or you're charged with retrieving equipment for Physical Education or for a sport. Therefore, the backstage area of the gym was extremely refreshing for me to see. It was quite clean and quite open as well in order to fit the many theater club members. Entering through the back entrance, we arrived in the area where the background objects were stored. There were plenty of them in fact, and nearby was a wheeled stand that the club members can just place the objects onto it and roll out onto the stage when the scenes change.

After greeting everybody in the storage area for the props and background, Luna decided that we were going to greet the actors and actresses of the play. Therefore, she brought me to the dressing room. Lines of tables with mirrors lined both sides of the rectangular shaped dressing room, and at the far end of it were two changing rooms. Within the dressing room, actors and actresses had all changed into the costumes for their characters and were applying makeup.

”Alevian!”

I heard Irina's voice calling out to me and after a simple scan of the room, I found her. It wasn't that hard, really, since her costume and Muria's were both the most extravagant of them all. They were seated next to each other at a dressing table near the end of the room on chairs before illuminated mirrors as female club members applied makeup onto them and did their hair. Because of this, Irina wasn't able to stand up and could only see me from the corner of her eyes.

”Why're you here backstage?” she then asked as I stood behind her so that her and Muria can both see me in the mirror before them.

”That's...” I wasn't sure how to respond to that question, but lucky for me, Luna was there to answer for me.

”Ah, the President is also here!” Irina noticed Luna as she walked over to stand next to me after she finished her simple greetings with the other performers.

”I ran into Alevian this morning,” she started explaining why we were together, ”so we decided to walk around before we come to see the play, and since the line is piling up at the front, we were allowed to watch the play from backstage.”

”Oh,” Irina said as she accepted Luna's explanations.

”The two of you walked around for the entirety of the day?” Muria then asked.

”Yeah,” I responded, feeling somewhat embarrassed and nervous from the glare that she directed towards the mirror that reflected onto me. Afterwards, she let out a silent sigh.