Excerpt from the Short Story - Riya's Backstory

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Excerpt from

Riya's Backstory

Seventh Grade

A week later, Riya paced anxiously in front of the auditorium waiting for the director to post the cast list. She frequently looked over her shoulders for the girls. She had auditioned in secret, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Finally, the director emerged from the auditorium and taped a single sheet of paper to the door. Riya nearly danced in anticipation while she waited for him to leave. Then she rushed over.

A wave of excitement washed over her.

I made it! I actually made it!

It wasn’t a big part, but she had a solo.

Then her smile fell.

She had acted on impulse when she had secretly auditioned, but she knew that if she accepted the role, her entire life would change. And she wasn’t ready for that.

When she went to class that morning, she tried to act as if nothing had changed.

Maybe I’ll quietly quit later today, she thought, though the idea was like a knife to her heart.

She decided she would take the rest of the day to weigh her options. But then the director ruined everything by broadcasting the audition results during the morning announcements.

Her heart tightened as soon as he started. Her pulse hammered in her ears as her mind raced to find a way to make this okay.

Then her name and part were announced.

Riya winced.

The girls turned with looks of disgust.

She hung her head.

“You have to drop out,” Kari demanded.

It felt like a punch to her gut.

“Why?” Riya asked softly.

“Because everyone will make fun of you,” Ellie added.

“Everyone?” She met their eyes defiantly. “Or just you guys?”

Then Sydney delivered the ultimatum with a casual air, “Drop out or you don’t sit with us anymore.”

Riya felt heat rising to her neck and face. She was sick of pretending. She was sick of playing their games.

“Who said I want to sit with you anymore?”

Then, in a dramatic gesture, she moved to an empty desk at the back of the room and tried to ignore their death glares.

All morning long, and into the lunch hour, she held her tears in and tried to avoid watching the girls as they gossiped about her. But the loneliness was overwhelming.

She didn’t know what she had been thinking. She had acted out of pride and defiance, and now she had ruined everything. All of her hard work to gain acceptance – the games she had played, the rules she had followed. Years of sacrifices, and in the blink of an eye, she had destroyed it all. Now she had nothing. No status. No friends.

“Congratulations,” Chiara’s voice called her attention. She stood next to Riya’s lonely lunch table. “For your first audition, it’s pretty amazing to get a part, right?”

“Why are you talking to me?” Riya snapped.

She couldn’t help but be rude. That was the role she had rehearsed for years. She immediately regretted it so she forced her tone to a softer one.

“I said all that mean stuff to you.”

Chiara simply shrugged. “I’ve heard meaner. Anyway, wanna sit with us?”

Riya’s heart leapt at the invitation, but her mouth moved against her will.

“Who’d want to sit with you freak shows?”

She instantly regretted it, recalling her prior vow to stop name calling.

Chiara nodded with her mouth in a hard, straight line, then said, “Well, the offer stands if you change your mind.”

As she turned to walk away, a part of Riya desperately wanted to call her back. She glanced over at Sydney’s table and saw them all watching. If she called Chiara back, it would be the point of no return.

“Or maybe I can undo the destruction,” the thought came to her. “Maybe I can still salvage my broken social life. I’d definitely earn some points by berating Chiara in front of the entire cafeteria.”

But do I even want that? she wondered. Immediately, her heart screamed, No!

She had sacrificed so much for people who didn’t care about her. She had hidden her beliefs, her heritage, and her talents just to be accepted. And now, they had cast her out because of one false move.

She didn’t want to go back to her old life. She wanted to destroy and obliterate her old life.

“Wait!” she called out, springing to her feet.

Chiara turned back with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

“Maybe I’ll sit with you,” Riya feigned confidence. “Just this once.”

The smile Chiara gave her was pure sunshine.

Riya’s steps became easier and more natural as they got closer to Chiara’s friends.

As they approached the table, the science geek was lecturing the sloppy, Jewish girl.

“So after decades of using low frequencies for things like radio communications, earth actually has a cocoon or bubble around it. In theory, it might even be protecting us from solar radiation.”

“Get out of town!” Mac exclaimed. “No, get out of the solar system! Dude! That is so… In fact, what if… hang on a sec!”

She pulled out a notebook and started scribbling furiously.

Chiara chuckled as she and Riya sat down.

“They’re always like this,” she said. “Cosmo knows a lot about science and Mac is always writing some awesome story.”

Riya’s mouth nearly fell open. Chiara had just celebrated the unique talents of her friends. She felt like she had traveled to an alien planet.

“So are you excited about the play?” Chiara asked sweetly.

“Sort of, I guess,” Riya said with a shrug.

She didn’t know why she downplayed her excitement. But it felt like a fragile thing.

“Yeah, we saw about Sydney and the others,” Mac said absently while writing. “You can hang with us as long as you like.”

Cosmo mumbled.

“What was that?” Mac asked him, sounding like a stern mother.

He sighed. “I was just saying that it’s a horrible reason to ostracize someone – over something as inconsequential as the performance arts.”

Riya snapped her head up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged with an arrogant smirk on his face. “At the end of the day, it’s not like a play is going to make that much of a difference – good or bad. It’s just a hobby.”

Riya bristled.

“It might not cure cancer or discovering new galaxies,” she started, “but it’s just as important.” Her hands tightened into balls in her lap. “Theater has the power to bring people together. A play might seem like just a story, but it’s a story that reveals universal truths. Truths that are presented in a way that engages your senses, burning the message into your heart.”

She felt her face heating as her voice crescendoed.

“Why do you think so many religions have sacred songs, chants, and dances? It’s because the performing arts have the potential to be holy, mystical, and even life-changing!”

She stopped and caught her breath, calming enough to realize that they were all silently watching her.

In honesty, she had shocked herself by how passionate her arguments were. Apparently, she had been hiding – even from herself – just how much she really loved the theater.

She braced herself for their reactions, expecting the worst. After all, sharing her dissenting opinions was what had gotten her in this mess to begin with.

Cosmo was obviously stunned, mouth closed, but eyes wide open. Riya had no idea what he was thinking about her. The girls were too quiet, also.

Then Mac started laughing.

“Hah! She tooold you!” she said to Cosmo.

“That was beautiful, Riya,” Chiara said, with her head tilted to the side in thought. “It makes me think about how they say that the longest journey is from the head to the heart.”

Then her thumbnail rested between her teeth as she pondered the idea.

“Duuude!” Mac said on an exhale, bouncing in her chair. “So it’s like the arts are a bullet train for that journey! I think about stuff like that all the time, too, with my writing,” Mac said, using her arms as she spoke. “With anything creative, you’re imitating God. And imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, right? So when we make something out of nothing, it’s like the highest praise we can give to our Creator.”

Then, in her excited movement, Mac knocked over her water cup. It splashed onto Riya’s shirt, soaking her stomach.

Riya tensed. She knew what came next. Even though she hadn’t done anything wrong, she would be the butt of jokes.

“Oh my dude, I am so sorry!” Mac said sincerely.

Riya was not expecting that reaction.

“It’s okay, really,” she said.

Mac shook her head. “Come with me,” she said as she grabbed Riya by the wrist and dragged her to the bathroom with Chiara following closely behind.

When they reached the bathroom, Mac pulled her arms into her big, blue sweater and – with clunky, awkward movements – took off the white uniform shirt underneath. She then handed the shirt to Riya.

“Here,” Mac told her. “You can wear mine. It’s dry.”

Riya stared incredulously at the shirt. It seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort.

“Thanks. But couldn’t I have just borrowed your sweatshirt?”

“No one wears my sweatshirt,” Mac declared seriously.

As Riya changed into Mac’s shirt, she was shocked to find that it was a perfect fit. She couldn’t help but think of the proverb of walking a mile in someone’s shoes – or in this case, their shirt. Riya had always participated in mocking Mac and Chiara. And now, in a matter of a few minutes, these girls had shown her more kindness than her other friends had in years.

When Riya exited the stall in Mac’s shirt, Chiara and Mac assessed her.

“There, good as new,” Chiara pronounced.

In a strange way, Riya felt good as new. It was as if the spilled drink had washed away her old self.

She felt free. Free of her old life and free to be whoever she wanted. She could try out for plays. She could be open about her faith and her opinions. It had taken the destruction of her old life for her to realize the new life that was begging to be lived.

Out of overwhelming gratitude, she started crying.

“Are you okay?” Chiara asked sympathetically, with a warm hand on Riya’s shoulder.

Riya could almost see her glowing with kindness. It was like seeing sunshine for the first time after living in a dark cave for years. She didn’t want to ignore or bury this feeling any longer.

“Can I please stay?” Riya begged.