Was It A Mistake?

Maybe I should’ve agreed to talk to Josh earlier; it would’ve saved me a whole lot of trouble! It was amazing how, when he gets his own way, Josh stopped acting like a baby. He didn’t try to pick a fight with me, he didn’t make any sarcastic remarks about Jordan or anyone in his family and he actually focused his energies on the task at hand.

“What’s that about?” Cassie whispered as she stared across the room.

The kids had been briefed on what was on the schedule for the meeting that day and had scattered throughout the theatre to ‘rehearse’ a number for the ‘audition’ we were going to hold. It sucked, having to tell the kids that there was still too many people wanting to perform. I didn’t really want to tell anyone that they couldn’t but if I didn’t, the show would last more than the allotted three hours (plus an hour for ‘’breaks’).

“What’s what about?” I glanced at Cassie before looking around the room, afraid of what I’d see.

“Coach Baker,” Cassie sort of pointed off to the far right hand side of the room where Josh was deep in conversation with Eric.

“I don’t….” I trailed off as I watched an animated Josh run a hand through his hair – a move he normally did whenever he was nervous.

“Are they…?” Cassie’s eyes widened when Eric laughed and brushed his hand against Josh’s arm. “Oh my god!” She turned to stare at me. “Are they flirting?” I went to tell her ‘no’ but she didn’t give me time because at the moment, Josh moved to stand beside Eric and they both leaned over his clipboard. “I think they are!”

“They aren’t.” I told her finally but to tell the truth, I wasn’t so sure. They were deep in conversation, heads close together as they bent over Josh’s clipboard and if that wasn’t enough, both of their body language seemed to be screaming ‘flirting’!

“Hey maybe that’s why it didn’t work out with Coach,” Cassie joked. “He can’t decide which team he’s playing for!”

“Cassie!” I glared at her. “Don’t you dare say anything like that again! You don’t know what’s being said or anything, don’t start rumours!”

“Sorry,” she backed away from me. “I was just joking around; I know Coach isn’t interested in men – even if Eric is so hot!”

Rolling my eyes, I told her to get back to her group. “We are going to be starting soon.”

When Cassie left, I knelt down to tell Jenna that I had to go start the ‘auditions’. “I’ll just be over there,” I said when she slid down off the chair she was sitting in. “Just one minute.” I held up a finger to show her ‘one’ and asked her if she would be a good girl and wait there for me.

She wasn’t having any of that, she shook her head and held out her arms to me.

“It’s just one minute,” I tried to reason with her.

Her bottom lip turned out as she gave me a sad look, her hands still in the air, waiting for me to pick her up.

“Oh ok,” I scooped her up – her sad face disappearing the moment my hands curled around her sides.

With Jenna in my arms, I made my way over to where Josh and Eric, catching the end of their conversation.

“Mike is always talking about wanting to get back out on the court but he can’t seem to find anyone to play one on one with; everyone we know are into working out than anything else.”

“You don’t play?” Josh made it sound like it was the biggest crime that Eric didn’t play.

Shaking his head, Eric told him he preferred to watch sports, rather than play them. “It irritates Mike because I won’t get out on the court with him.”

Josh was nodding, as if he understood Mike’s irritation. Then he told Eric, if Mike needed someone to play ball with, he could give him a call some time. While he was telling Eric that he would enjoy going one on one with a former basketball star of the school, Josh spotted me and smiled. “Hey Beautiful, are you ready to get this show on the road?”

Ignoring his term of endearment, I informed him that the kids were ready to ‘audition’. “Oh and Eric,” I reached for Eric’s hand to get his attention away from Josh – he looked too awestruck for my liking. “Come with me, I think it is best if you tell the kids about –”

Eric gave his head a tiny shake, as if he was trying to focus on the task at hand and not Josh’s bright blue eyes, or his sparkling smile. Looking guilty, he turned to me. “Oh right the surprise for the kids.”

“What surprise?” I heard Josh ask as Eric and I made our way towards the stage.

With Jenna in my arms and Eric to my left, I pulled the microphone from its stand and waited for the kids to stop talking and for Josh to come around and stand on my right. “What surprise?” He repeated as he leaned in close to me. “Don’t you think I should be included in all aspects of the show?”

Tilting my head back, I smiled sweetly up at him. “Trust me Josh,” was all I said to him before turning back towards the kids while bringing the mic to my mouth. “Good afternoon everyone, it’s so good to see all your excited faces. On behalf of Coach Baker and myself, I would like to take this moment to thank all of you for volunteering to be a part of this show - it’s going to be a lot of work but I know that along the way we are going to have so much –“

“Iiiiiiii….”

The students laughed. I glanced downward to see Jenna angling to grab the mic out of my hand. I chuckled, “Guys, I would like you to meet Jenna, she’ll be our talent advisor today. Turning the mic towards Jenna, I asked her if she had any words of advice for the kids. As quickly as she could, Jenna shook her head and face planted against my chest.

“Lucky girl,” Josh mumbled beside me.

Ignoring that comment, I gave the kids my attention again. “Also joining us today is Mr Eric Fox from 102.5 FM.” After a brief pause for applause for Eric, I went on to tell the kids that Eric will be lending the advertising group a hand and then turned the mic over to him so he could give the kids a run down on his experience in advertising.

At the end of his little speech, Eric told the kids that besides being a wealth of advertising knowledge, he also had a little surprise for them. “What would you say,” he asked them. “If I told you that Fireball has volunteered their talents for this show? They have –“

The room erupted into screams of excitement and a million questions. The noise level was insane. I knew the kids would be thrilled about the announcement seeing that Fireball was the band around our area and they were very popular with the high school kids. I guess I never thought it would get that loud. Even Jenna had to cover her ears with her hands.

“Josh, could you ­–” I didn’t have the words out of my mouth before the whistle was between his lips and the shrill sound filled the room.

“Thank you Coach,” Eric flashed Josh a smile. “Like I was saying, Fireball heard about the show and offered to play all the music for your show!”

After Eric finished, I told the kids that we were starting ‘auditions’ right away. “When we all your names, please proceed to the stage immediately and wow us with your talents!”

Two hours later, I returned to the stage with a cranky Jenna in my arms. “Wow everyone that was great! Give yourselves a big round of applause!”
Jenna batted at the mic as the kids were applauding their efforts; she was tired and hungry. I figured that she would be ok for the couple minutes it would take me to finish up with the kids and send them on their way but I was wrong. Every time I tried to say something to them, Jenna would bat at the mic and whine loudly. At one point, she actually knocked the mic from my hands. Finally, I had enough and held the mic out to Josh.

“Someone’s cranky,” he commented. “I think that’s a sign that it’s time to get out of here. Anna and I have had a difficult job here today, it’s never easy when you have to cut someone, trust me.” Holding up a sheet of paper where I wrote the acts that we decided on, Josh told them that we would like it if everyone who didn’t make it on the stage for the show, helped us out behind the scenes.

I swayed back and forth with Jenna, trying to calm her down as Josh walked to the front of the stage and knelt down. Clipping the list to the clipboard we’ve been keeping the sign up sheets on, Josh told the kids that he was proud of them all.

The moment his hand left the list, the lids swarmed the front of the stage, everyone trying to see if they made it on the show. With a chuckle, Josh fill back to stand beside me. “You were great today.” His hand slid to the small of my back. Leaning in close, he whispered, “Thanks for giving me another chance, you won’t regret it.”