Sunnydale High School Drama Presents...
by Ben: The Vampire Hunter
b_church@yahoo.com
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Chapter 9: Closing Night
"God dammit! Son of a-!!!"
Crash.
Buffy had been in school all day, training and basically
hanging out, then had come to the auditorium to get ready for tonight.
Only to find Willow hyperventilating in the pit, and Micky standing
guard at the door of the Wood room, with Joe shouting, and loudly
breaking things inside. Micky had told her it just wasn't safe for
anyone else to be in there.
"This is nothing." he said. "There was nothing left intact
when Theresa died."
"What?"
A few moments earlier
"But, but, but," Willow whimpered. Then she let out a Willow
Whimper.
Back to the present
"Andrea's dead?"
"Fraid so." Ben said sadly. "So not only do we lose another
good friend, but Willow has to go on for her."
"Do you think she can handle it?"
"Yes. But it's not up to me. The question is, does she think
she can handle it?"
"We need to get out of this town." Joe said quietly, sitting
in the costume loft, calming from his earlier rage.
"We are." Micky reminded him. "All of us remember? We're all
escaping to non-Hellmouth areas."
"I don't mean Run Away escape." Joe told him. "I mean James
Bond escape. Where you come back and wipe out all the bad guys."
"Oh."
Willow took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror.
She'd received pep talks from just about everyone in the cast and crew,
even Cordelia had offered a vote of confidence.
"I can do this." she told herself. "I can."
The mood in Green Room was much more somber than it had been
the previous night.
"Okay," Joe said. "You all know by now that Andrea is no
longer with us. I now call for a moment of silence, after which, I
want everyone who knew her, to tell a pleasant memory they have of
her."
After the silence, and the memories, Joe spoke up again.
"There's already been an addendum made to the program, so all that's
left is this. Andrea gave this show her all, and I know she would want
us to give our all tonight. So tonight's performance is dedicated to
Andrea, as well as Theresa. Let's kick ass for them!"
Willow took a deep breath, and practiced the calming techniques
that Micky had taught her. She'd gotten through nearly the entire
show, and now only one scene remained, not counting the finale.
"Oh my God!" she whispered. "I don't know how to get out of
the plant!"
"There's nothing to it." Sam calmed her. "You just crawl
towards the back. The plant crew will help you."
It was over. The Audience went wild as each of the actor's
came on stage, Xander got the most applause of all, Willow got the second
loudest ovation.
It was one of the most gratifying feelings that Willow and
Xander had ever felt.
"Is this why you do it?" Willow asked Joe, as they bowed.
"Part of the reason." he said. "But you don't really get this
in the movies, which is what I want to do."
"How do you know you don't get this?"
"I've been a production assistant, and an extra."
"Oh, so that's what you did last summer."
"And the summer before that me and Micky were in a Reenactment
company. We reenacted Irish and Scottish battles. I even got to be
William Wallace's understudy."
Joe leaped to the stage, the light's coming up on him. The
cast party on closing night was always at the bronze. Mr. Dean had a
deal with the manager so they had the place to themselves.
"To kick off tonight's festivities," he said. "I'd like you
all to welcome back to Sunnydale, Graduate of our dear old Sunnydale
High, and now a Music Performance major at UCLA, Chris "Fiddler"
Sexton!"
Buffy and her friends applauded politely, though they didn't
know Chris. He turned out to be a very tall skinny man with glasses.
He whipped out a violin and looked expectedly at Joe.
Joe obliged by singing. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia..."
Everyone was impressed by Chris' skill on the Violin.
Oz, Joe and Micky played a few songs while others danced. Then
Joe went to Oz and said. "There's a young girl who needs to be danced
with. Take care of it." Oz smiled. He left the stage and extended
his hand to Willow. Joe played DJ, choosing songs from the huge
collection of CD's.
Micky tapped him on the shoulder while a techno song played.
He held up a cd and pointed to Buffy. "There's a girl who looks like
she needs to be cheered up."
Buffy sighed. Willow and Oz, Xander and Cordelia, and a
hundred other couples. "Sulk." she sighed again.
"Buffy." Joe said, coming up to the table.
"Joe." Buffy acknowledged.
"Dance?" Joe grinned, continuing the theme of single words.
Buffy sighed again. "Why not."
"Thanks for the enthusiasm." Joe smiled. He nodded to the
stage.
"All right," Micky said. "Now let's have some real dance
music." He slipped in the CD he and Joe had made of their favorite big
band.
"Oh my God!" Buffy was not sure whether she was surprised or
not. She hadn't done swing dancing since the mandatory dance class in
L.A. In which she'd gotten an A.
It turned out to be like riding a bike. Joe proved to be a
skilled dance partner, and in the midst of the dance, she forgot to
be unhappy.
"Ha." Joe grinned. "I knew I could make you smile."
The End