Chapter One

- about two years ago -

I walked into the cold room where I'd be auditioning for the role of Nessarose Thropp in Wicked, probably the best Broadway musical ever to exist. I was armed with my voice, and the fakest smile to hide my fear. I was so afraid. This was my first big Broadway audition. I'd done community theatre for as long as I could remember. There was nothing to be afraid of.
After I handed them the papers, and the piano player the sheet music, I stood up there, smiling.

"Name and role you will be auditioning for?"
"Becca Schroeder, Nessarose," I said, still smiling.
"As in the character from Peanuts?" the man said, speaking into a microphone. I nodded.

"Yep. I'm going to be singing On the Steps of the Palace from Into the Woods," I looked to the pianist, who began to play. As I began to sing, the people at the table smiled, and spoke to each other quietly. They wrote things down, and when I hit the final last note they applauded loudly, smiling.
"Thank you, miss Schroeder. We'll call you as soon as we see everyone."

I left the audition, and had to stop at a Starbucks and get my favorite frappuccino, a vanilla bean frappuccino, grande, with java chips. I was there greeted by the barista, John.

"Well if it isn't my favorite shorty!"
"Stop it John! I'm not that short. I'll have the regular." As John wrote down my name on the cup, he chuckled.
"You're barely five feet tall, Bec! Now, that'll be 4.95, please!" I handed him five dollars.

"Keep the change," I said, and waited for my frappuccino, scrolling through Instagram. Once it was finished, I got it and went back to my apartment. I was greeted by my roommate, Kelsey.

"So how'd the audition go?" she said, with a grin. She tucked her black hair behind her ear, and took a sip of her water. I smiled.
"I did great," I said.
"Don't get too cocky," Kelsey laughed, "but I'm sure you did great. I've heard you in the shower." I rolled my eyes. "I remember when I first auditioned for the revival of Newsies…"

"You've told me a thousand times! How you were one of the only girls and you somehow managed to get a recommendation from Kara Lindsay," I rolled my eyes, "I get it. But me… it's completely different. I'm unknown, you're the only Broadway actress I know! And you're Katherine Plumber in a revival of Newsies! Not Wicked!" I found I'd walked all the way over to my bed, so I collapsed on it. "I'm screwed!"
"Bec, wanna watch Mamma Mia?"

"We don't have Mamma Mia, Kels. Wh- why?"

"We do have Netflix, and I've invited some friends over," Kelsey said. I jumped up.
"Kels! I have to be at work in the morning! At 6' AM!"

"So? It's early right now. It's only 5! That means we have all night!"

The doorbell rang.
"And that's them now!"

- a few days later -

It was about 3:30 PM when I received a call from a strange number. Kels and I both looked at each other, before she practically screamed, "ANSWER IT!" I picked up the phone, and held it up to my ear.

"Becca Schroeder?"

"Yes, that's me."

"You have a callback!"

I nearly squealed, "when, what time, and what do I need to have prepared?"

"We'll have it all ready for you. It'll be tomorrow at 4," the person on the other end said. I smiled.

"Thank you so much! Goodbye!" I hang up. I looked to Kels, and squealed. "I got a callback!"

- 3:29 PM the next day -

Breathe, Bec! It's just one callback. You'll do fine. See? You're the only one freaking out. And that's not okay. You need to buck up! I thought to myself. I smiled fakely again, as the clock on my phone turned to 3:30.

They took the group of us in, and showed us a piece of paper with our names on it. I found mine, pretty far down the list, with two character names beside it. Nessarose and Glinda.

Glinda? I'd never thought about being Glinda! Well sure I had. But I found it so… so unrealistic! And the song I auditioned with barely showed off my range!

There were packets of paper, so I grabbed the one with my name on it. There was sheet music for No One Mourns the Wicked, a selection of Glinda's part from the song; sheet music for Wicked Witch of the East, Nessarose's song in Act II; Popular sheet music, and sides. I looked over the sheet music, but I knew all three of the songs by heart. The sides were fairly simple, Glinda's being one from Act I and another from Act II, and Nessa's being from Act I and early Act II. I read over them as many times as I could while the others performed, until I peeked over in the chair next to me. It was a girl, with dark brown, curly hair, who was probably a foot taller than me. She had an Elphaba side, and a Nessarose side. She was my competition. I looked at the name on the folder, and read Lucy Richard. She was fairly pretty, but wasn't as blonde or as pretty as I was. She had almost like… a wart on her face. It was fairly disgusting to look at.

"Lucy Richard," they called, and the girl next to me got up. She had a nervous, unsure smile, and was terrible at hiding her fear.

"Should I start with the music or-"

"The music is fine. Which are you starting with?"

"Um, Wicked Witch of the East," she said, a bit unsure. I watched as she sang, the amount of pain in her voice. You could really tell that girl had lost something. But she just didn't look the part. She read the Nessarose side next, with someone feeding her the Elphaba and Boq lines. She was okay at that. I knew I'd be better. She did the sides, and was decent.

"Would someone with a callback for Glinda like to sing the part at the beginning of Defying Gravity?" one of the casting directors said. I raised my hand.

"I'd be happy to!" I offered, and walked up to where Lucy stood.

"Elphaba, why couldn't you stay calm for once, instead of flying off the handle?" I began. The two of us sang the duet part, before it was time for her to shine. She was much better at Elphaba, and amazingly hit the last note. She and I both sat down, but when they called my name literally right after my butt hit the seat, I got right back up.

"I'm going to start with Nessarose as well," I said, and the music began. I tried my best, but it was just so hard to get into character with Nessa. She was so much different from me. I began to say the lines, but…

"Will you just read and sing for Glinda?" the man said. I nodded. They fed me Elphaba's lines, and I replied. I felt like I really… understood, Glinda. I'd always been popular in school. I was a privileged only child, who most kids worshipped. I'd never been at the top of my class, but I'd never failed.

"Thank you, now would you like to start with Popular?"

"I'll start with No One Mourns the Wicked, thanks," I replied. The music started, and someone said blandly, "look, it's Glinda."

"It's good to see me, isn't it?" I said, in the perkiest voice I could do, "oh, no need to respond, that was rhetorical! Fellow Ozians!" I sang Glinda's operatic solos with as much pain as I could conquer. I tried to smile, but I couldn't. The music was just too heartbreaking for me to bear. There was a polite applause.

"Elphie, now that we're friends, I'd like to make you my new project!" Popular went by in a breeze, accompanied by my lame attempts at dancing. There were laughs throughout the song.

"Thank you very much, miss Schroeder. Now…"

And then I went home, terrified of what the results would be.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I really don't know how casting works, aside from a very helpful Quora answer and Rachel's Funny Girl audition in Glee. Also, did you catch the second Charlie Brown reference?