Despite the fact that a good deal of her cast was dead, Mrs. Bailey was determined to have opening night, as usual. She spent most of the night rewriting the play, but she was convinced that it could--and would--be done. The cast, when given the updated script, wasn't so sure, but they weren't going to say anything.
Act One went off reasonably well, considering that three of the main actors were, well, dead, and unable to perform their parts. At intermission, everybody went down to the locker rooms to enjoy punch and cookies, only to find Darrell stapled to the wall and also dead, presumably from staple-inflicted wounds. Blood was dripping down the walls, making it a rather gruesome sight.
"Great," Melissa said. "You'd think that since it's opening night, and there's about 300 people in the audience, that the killer wouldn't strike tonight. But, of course, this person is insane and doesn't care about the number of witnesses."
"What are we going to do without Elmo?" Megan wondered. Everybody glared at her again. "What? It's a perfectly reasonable question."
"Pretty soon, we'll be out of seniors," Christina said.
"And they'll just be so missed," Megan muttered.
"I heard that!" Lindsay exclaimed.
"Heard what? I said that...err..." Megan couldn't think of an excuse, so she changed the subject. "Hey! White chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies! My favorite!"
"I made those," Jenny said proudly.
"I didn't know you could cook," Susan said to her.
"Well, actually, the cute guys at Schnucks baked them."
"There are cute guys at Schnucks?"
Megan gave Shelly a weird look. "Of course! Don't you know who works there?"
Shelly thought for a moment. "Ohhhh...now I remember...Yeah, there are cute guys at Schnucks."
"The second act's about to start," James announced, sticking his head in the locker room. "Get ready!"
"Okay, so who'll take Darrell's part?" Amanda wondered.
"I guess I will," said Ryan.
That having been settled, the principal actors went up to start the next act. The extras, people with really small parts, and anybody who wasn't on at the moment hung around and ate cookies, listening to the dialogue on a baby monitor.
Just before the last scene was due to start, everybody crept upstairs and backstage, waiting for their cue.
"Look!" Kristy whispered. "Somebody must have spilled the bottle of fake blood on the floor. I feel sorry for whoever it was if James finds out. Where is he, anyway?"
"There's something blocking the entrance," Lindsay said quietly. "I'll check to see what it is." She walked over to it, examining it closely in the dim light. "Okay, not to freak everybody out, but it looks like James's body. I think he's dead, too."
"And we have to be on now, too," Jenny pointed out. She stepped gingerly over the corpse and walked onstage. Everybody else followed her, trying to hide just how scared they all were and pretending they were at a prom.
"I have bloodstains on my dress," Susan whispered very quietly as everybody danced to the music. "Not cool."
"I have trouble sympathizing," Megan whispered just before she walked off.
The play ended, and everybody took their bows, nicely covering the fact that four cast members were missing from the curtain call. Instead of standing around and talking, the cast went home and locked their doors, deciding that they'd like to live to act in another play.
***