A Moment in Time

by Pixie L. Rigsby

Chapter One

My name is Theresa Matthews, known to people as Tessa. I am 16 years old. I wasn’t really considered a normal teenage girl. I mean, I’m all right as far as looks go. My best friend, Shay Anderson, tells me I am crazy when I say it like that. I can almost hear her now. “My God, Tessa! You’re beautiful! Long flowing blonde hair, heart shaped face, and an astonishing figure! You could be the life of the party if you weren’t so self-conscious!”

For most of my life, I have been enormously, painfully shy. I have a tested IQ of 168, and I feel set apart from a lot of my peers. It’s something I had grown to accept, and for the most part I was happy when I wasn’t being noticed. Shay and I had met pretty late in life. We were both 14, freshmen in high school, and she simply would not let my silence prevail. I liked her personality. She was everything I wasn’t, and didn’t think I could ever be. She was passionate, dynamic, and outgoing. Shay would have been very popular if she could be a little more tactful. But that’s another thing I admired about her. She said whatever was on her mind no matter the consequences. It never really bothered her to offend people. As a result, she was magnificent on our school’s debate team. She tried for nearly 6 months to get me to join.

On that, at least, I was unyielding. There was no way I was joining the debate team, end of story. Shay did have a way of talking me into many things I initially didn’t want to do. Last summer, our first summer together, she actually talked me into gate crashing a party with her. While she was flirting with a senior, the boyfriend of our school’s head cheerleader no less, I spent the entire night in the bathroom, leaving it only when somebody who had been drinking heavily had to use the toilet, presumably to vomit up the night’s excess consumption. Neither one of us drank anything that night. I didn’t even drink the cola that was available. I was grounded for a week. Surprisingly, however, my parents seemed to like Shay despite her sometimes outlandish behavior. My father said it was about time I did something more than go to school, come home and do homework. My mother insisted on the punishment, but because I was on the whole a good girl, neither one of my parents gave me too hard of a time. And Shay’s mother adored me. She said I kept Shay out of real trouble.

On this particular afternoon, during last period English, I was daydreaming in class. It was the very last day of our sophomore year and I was wondering how I was going to spend my summer vacation. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I mean, most of the time at least, my life consisted of going to school, doing homework and hanging out with Shay. With no school, there wasn’t much for me to do. Daydreaming maybe wasn’t the word I meant; probably brooding was more like it.

All of a sudden, I felt a sharp tap on my shoulder. I jumped what felt like a mile, seriously startled, and found myself staring my English teacher, Mr. Chancery, directly in the eyes. “Wake up, Miss Matthews!” he said sternly, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Now I knew he was kidding, he loved to provoke the quieter kids in the class. It was really hard for me to know how to take him at times, however, and in my haste to say something, I said the only thing that popped into my head. “I-I’m sorry,” I stammered, a blush rising to stain my cheeks at how tinny my voice sounded.

He laughed in earnest, not in a mean way, but in a jovial, well-intentioned way. “Tessa, no one is awake, silly girl. Why do you feel the need to apologize for everything?”

I found myself desperately wishing that Shay shared this class with me as I couldn’t seem to untie my tongue long enough to explain myself. She could both understand me and deflect attention away from me.

“Anyway,” Mr. Chancery said briskly, interrupting my wild train of thought, “Come with me, dear. I have something to show you.” With that, he took my arm, gently but insistently and led me up to his desk.

He shot me an impish grin and handed me a sheet of paper that looked like an advertisement. I looked at him, confused and he said, “Take it, kitten, take it!” He loved to come up with nicknames for people, mine was “kitten” he said, because I was small and quiet with a tiny little voice. Blushing furiously, I read the paper.

A Moment in Time

Inexperienced or amateur actors and actresses are needed for fun, free public performance August 21st.

Tryouts are June 3rd at Starlet Theatre.

We want people who are willing to work hard and put in many hours.

Guaranteed to be a growing experience.

Producer, Douglas E. Hatfield

Director, Craig Hatfield

I looked up at my teacher, who was giving me a hopeful and querying look. “Sir,” I squeaked, “Why did you give this to me?”

“I happen to know the producer of this play, and for some reason, I thought of you, Tessa,” he said.

I know the look on my face had to be priceless, because to be honest, I was wondering what the punch line was here. “Mr. Chancery, I…I’m afraid I can’t…”

“Tessa,” he cut across me, “This really would be a great experience for you. You’re a very sweet, very smart young lady, but you’re also extremely inhibited. I’ve been your teacher for a year and have exchanged a total of maybe 2 minutes of conversation the entire school year…”

At this, my cheeks flushed so hard it felt like my entire face was on fire. I know logically, people can’t see you blush very often, but it was embarrassing all the same. “Even if you don’t get a part, I think it would be a good idea if you were involved in something extra-curricular, outside of the school system. Not only does it look good on school transcripts for college, theater is often a good tool for expanding one’s horizons. Doug’s son will be directing this play, and he’s a very gentle, yet hard working young man. Can you at least try, kitten, please? So I will know that this year getting to know you has not been a complete waste?”

My instinct, nay, my entire soul it seemed, wanted to say no, no way! Why would I spend hours of summer vacation doing something I was entirely uncomfortable with, being somewhere with a group of people I didn’t know and with whom I would undoubtedly not fit in? But looking at Mr. Chancery, I realized something. He had been trying to reach me all year. It wasn’t that he was picking on me because he felt like it, because he enjoyed making the shy ones squirm, though I still believe that was part of the motivation because he does have a very mischievous personality for a teacher, but in his way, he had helped every one in class feel comfortable and at ease with him. Everyone that is, except for me.

I couldn’t say no. It really wasn’t in my nature to refuse people anyway, despite my overwhelming timidity. Besides, I felt a little guilty. He was a very nice person, secretly; he was one of my favorite teachers. However, to expect me to have the nerve to say this would be optimistic to the point of idiocy.

“What’s the play about?” I asked.

“You’re thinking about it?” he asked incredulously.

“Well, I’ll try out. I was wondering what I was going to do with myself this summer anyway,” I volunteered, to his and my utter amazement.

“Wonderful, kitten,” he exclaimed, “Fantastic, amazing, marvelous, thank you Tessa!” he called out, making me wish I had not made this kind of commitment. I felt a weight settle to the pit of my stomach, a small knot of anxiety constricted my lungs, making it a little more difficult to breathe. “I have the script right here, actually. It’s a brilliant script, written by Doug himself. Here, take it.”

”I…well, do…” I wanted to kick myself as my voice became quieter and softer, I nearly whispered, “Do you have a copy?”

“I don’t need one, kitten. I told you, I thought of you, so I got this for you. I’ve read it though, how else could I know to give an opinion? No, dear, you keep this. Read through it tonight. Maybe your friend could try out with you?” he patted my shoulder gently. “I think you’d make a wonderful actress. And the protagonist of this play, well…you’ll see. That’s why I thought of you, after all. It’s not much of a stretch, which is great for someone just starting out in theater. I directed a few school plays, you know. The director of this play shows some promise, you know. And his dad is a wonderful producer. I think you’ll have so much fun with this.”

I smiled, thinking Shay would love to be in a play. She was all for being on stage, and being in the limelight, the center of attention. Mr. Chancery mistook that smile for pleasure at the thought of me being on stage, because he said, “See? It’s not so bad, is it? I was in quite a few plays in school and I was involved in theater for years. It’s a great experience, kitten, you’ll see.”

The bell rang just then, and I took the proffered papers he was holding in his hand. “Thank you, sir,” I said, bowing my head slightly. That was a quirk of mine, and at times, it was a little exasperating. Today was one of those days and I was just praying he wouldn’t notice.

“Good luck, Tessa, and have fun with it,” he said with a beaming smile, “How great it would be, kitten, if I were to come and see you on stage at the end of summer!”