Rachel Berry Ishii☆ (sg_rachel) wrote in supergleerpg, @ 2011-11-02 17:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !type: narrative, -2011: november, character: rachel berry, npc: shelby cocoran, ~complete |
Narrative: Rachel and Shelby Reach a Boiling Point
Who: Rachel, Shelby (NPC)
When: 11/2, after school
Where: McKinley auditorium, Into the Woods rehearsals
What: Rachel reaches the end of her rope with Shelby
Rachel watched critically as Kurt and that girl with purple hair whose name she could never remember rehearsed It Takes Two. The two obviously had talent, but their chemistry was lackluster at best. Kurt was a very good actor, but everyone had their limits. Had she not known that they were supposed to be in love, she would have thought that they were related in some way. It was a problem that was repairable, sure, but they clearly had a long way to go. But, judging by the way the past two rehearsals had gone...
"Very nice you two. Kat, your blocking was a little off; if you need to, have Kurt go over it with you again. Do that, run through the preceding scene a few times, and we'll put it all together in an hour. Rachel, you're up. On the Steps of the Palace in two."
Rachel rolled her eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. Just as she expected. Shelby was an excellent director, she knew, but as of late, the woman seemed to be focusing on the trivial things and completely missing major flaws in her fellow castmates' performances. At this rate, their show was going to look like it was put on by a special needs school. She just hoped that she could give her valuable critique on her performance.
Moving up to the stage, she grabbed her prop slippers and rehearsal gown, preparing herself for her song. She'd spent the majority of her vocal rehearsal time on this song; it was proving to be her most difficult.
As Brad began the intro, she made herself focus completely on the song, and the character she had worked so hard to build. She had gotten to the halfway point of the short song when she heard Shelby from her seat in the audience.
"Stop! Just stop for a minute. Rachel, if I didn't know what emotions you were supposed to be conveying, I would think you just came from a funeral. You've just come from a castle after having a prince show an interest in you. This after years living as a servant in your own household. You're dismayed, not depressed. Run it again."
Rachel grit her teeth in frustration. She was aware that her acting was what needed to be her focus, but there was no way she was as off as Shelby had just made it seem. Still, she took a few deep breaths, and started again as the music played. This time, she tried to focus less on the music and more on the words, putting everything she had into being Cinderella.
It was to no avail, though. Before she made it out of the second verse, she heard Shelby yelling for them to cut the music again.
"Now I'm not even sure you and I were in the same room just then. If you're not going to focus-"
"I am focused!" She yelled, frustrated. Normally her fuse was a lot longer than this, but Shelby had been grating on her nerves all week, and it had took all she had to keep her mouth shut during Monday's rehearsal.
"I can tell when you're on Rachel, and today you're not on. Now, do you want mindless praise, or do you want me to direct? Run it again." Shelby sighed and sat back, clearly frustrated.
Rachel felt tears prick the back of her eyes, and fought to keep her composure. What, so suddenly the lack of chemistry between the main protagonists is not a big deal, but she has an off day and suddenly is a disgrace? She felt like she was rejected, and although her head was telling her that it was just business, that Shelby's actions had nothing to do with her personal feelings toward Rachel, the wound the woman had left was much too fresh for the logic to stick.
Especially since that past Sunday, when her dads had invited Shelby over for dinner. It was clear that there was still bad blood between them, but after seeing Rachel working so well with her on the musical and in Drama class, they had decided to make an effort. If Rachel could mend fences, never having met the woman Shelby used to be, then they could too. Rachel had been reluctant, to say the least, but after her trip to the past she had been feeling less animosity towards Shelby, and was more willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
That was, until she met Beth.
The baby was adorable; she was walking by now, getting into everything, and babbling at constant rate. In any other situation, Rachel would have lapped her up. But seeing how wonderful Shelby was with her - how, despite being a single mother with no experience with children, she'd managed just fine and adored her adopted daughter as if she'd birthed her herself - and how her fathers seemed to dote on her as well, Rachel couldn't see her as anything as a replacement.
Shelby had forced her way back into her life, only to decide that Rachel wasn't really what she wanted and adopt her baby from her rejected daughter's direct circle of friends. Now, she was back again, barely giving Rachel a second glance despite seeing her every day, but still managing to drive home the fact that she'd found something better. And if that wasn't bad enough, introducing her upgrade to Rachel's parents and making sure that they loved her too? What kind of woman did that to their own flesh and blood?
The anger that had flared up then, covering up the raw hurt and protecting it like steel, flared up now, making it hard for Rachel to focus even as the intro to her song played behind her.
She somehow managed to start on time, despite her distraction. She picked up her cues and walked through the blocking perfectly, but even she could knew that she had completely checked out of her performance.
Shelby let her get through the whole song this time, remaining quiet even after the music died out. Rachel imagined that if she could see her face, she would see a frustrated scowl very similar to her own. that thought just made her angrier.
"I don't know what's going on with you Rachel, but I will get more out of you than I have so far today. When you come to rehearsal, I expect you to be at rehearsal. I need your head, not just your voice. Now take a minute, get a drink of water if you need it, and let's run it again."
Rachel only hesitated for a moment, before saying, "No."
When Shelby replied again, she seemed taken aback, if angry. "I beg your pardon."
"I'm not running it again. We should move on." Rachel stood firm, crossing her arms and making it clear her determination.
"We will move on when I say we move on, and not a second sooner." Shelby said, standing and making her way down the aisle. "If you can't take criticism-"
"I can take criticism just fine, I just question the credibility of my director when I'm the only one getting it, when clearly I'm not the only problem."
Shelby looked infuriated, and Rachel had a hard time caring. "Stop being a child. You're not the only one whose flaws are being pointed out, and you know it."
"Do I? Do I really? So it's my imagination that the two leads have the romantic chemistry of two earthworms, but are constantly being told to work on minor things? I'm completely making up the fact that our Witch can't hold a note for more than five seconds at a time, and sounds like she has emphysema by the end of every song, but is told to 'be funnier'? That I've been working harder than anyone else here, but I have an off day and I'm suddenly going to tank the entire production?"
"Rachel, my office. Now." Shelby seethed, clearly having taken in the shocked and irritated faces of the cast and crew surrounding them. Rachel took off like a shot at Shelby's words, throwing open the auditorium doors and storming down the hallway with clear anger.
Shelby walked quickly, catching up with Rachel in a few long strides and stopping her in the middle of the deserted hallway. "I know you're frustrated me, but that was completely uncalled for. How I direct my show is none of your business. Your job is to listen."
"Frustrated? Frustrated? No, I was frustrated when you spent less than a half an hour with me and decided that we could never have a relationship. I was frustrated when, after spending an entire day together making my Gaga costume and actually bonding you decided that we were better to each other from 'afar.' I'm angry, now. You come back without warning, insert yourself into activities you know I'm involved in, and expect me to listen to you without question. Just because you've chosen to ignore our history and erase my very existence from your memory doesn't mean that I have done the same. I've acted like you were nothing more than a teacher for this long. I will not do it anymore."
All the fight seemed to drain out of Shelby at those words. She stepped closer to Rachel, wincing when the girl took a pronounced step back at the action. "Rachel, I'm not trying to erase you. I know I've handled things badly between us, and I've been unfair to you, but I'm trying. I haven't talked to you outside of class because I didn't think you'd want to. The only reason I accepted the invitation to dinner this Sunday is because we've been civil, and I thought things were getting better I thought that if we were to get to know each other this time, it was only fair that it be done the right way. I really do care about you, I promise. More than you'll ever know. I always have."
"And you replaced me!" Rachel practically screeched. Tears made it almost impossible for her to see Shelby's face clearly now, and she was almost grateful. "If you cared about me at all, then you would have waited. You would have discussed it with me, or you would have let me know, or you would have picked a different baby. But you did none of those things, and I refuse to pretend that it's okay. I'm so tired of pretending that things are okay just because it'll make someone else happy."
"Rachel, no, that's not-" Shelby looked horrified at the conclusion Rachel had come to. "Beth is not your replacement. She could never replace you, I promise. She's my baby, but you were my baby first." She said gently, clearly trying to reach the angry girl in front of her.
Rachel just shook her head, eyes grazing the floor, completely done. "No, that's not going to work. I've tried to be patient in rehearsal, and I've tried to be civil in class, and all this has taught me is that it's no use. I just don't want to see you anymore. I'm dropping your class. As for the musical," she looked up at Shelby then, locking eyes with her, "it's you or me. Either you step down as director, or I'm quitting."
Shelby's mouth dropped open, stunned and horrified. After a moment, she seemed to gather herself. After wiping her eyes quickly, she met Rachel's gaze once again, and nervously called her bluff. "I can't do that, Rachel. It'd be unfair to the students and completely unprofessional. I can't leave this close to the show."
Rachel just nodded, as if she'd expected. "Okay, I understand. I'll return my script and the props I've taken home for practice tomorrow. I hope you find a suitable replacement."
Having made her point, she turned on her heel, steadily walking back to the auditorium to collect her things.