Chapter 68: The Agony of Waiting

~ Jaden paced up and down, attempting to disguise his nervousness for restlessness, or maybe even excitement. He didn't figure he was probably doing that great of a job.

"You ok there, Jay?" Andrew asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm cool," said Jaden absently, beginning another trip to the far wall.

"Cause you look a little..."

"Nervous?"

"Well I wasn't going to say it. But since you did..."

"I don't know, Andy... I've never really been around a lot of people like this. I didn't think that I minded audiences, but the truth is I really don't know. And this show... Andy, I've seen it and those questions they use are hard!" Jaden looked at Andrew for some bit of reassurance, or maybe just acknowledgement. Takyle spoke up from down the hall, where she was looking at a rack full of props.

"Dude, it'll be fine. Just ignore the people, and if you know an answer give it. You're a smart guy; you'll do great." She went back to what she had been doing, as if that completely settled the matter. Andrew tilted his head a little.

"Yeah she's right you know. It'll be fine." Jaden wasn't really convinced, but he did stop pacing. He tried his best to lean casually against the wall like Andrew was doing.

"I knew this girl one time," said Andrew. "It was back in high school. We went on a couple of dates actually. I am completely serious when I tell you, she had a trench in her back yard. She would always go out there to talk on the phone and stuff and she would pace up and down. I'm not exaggerating one bit, this thing was a good 10 feet long and at least a foot deep. You could like, break a leg in it if you didn't know it was there. She was a little OCD."

Joel came running back over and the three members of Team 6 regrouped in front of him to hear what he had to say.

"Ok guys, we're almost ready for you. They're just bringing in the new studio audience, and we'll start taping just as soon as we get everybody set. Now, you know what to do right? Remember what I said about the introductions? Fantastic." He paused for a minute to fuss with Takyle's bangs, then stood back and looked them all up and down.

"Oh, I really wish you people would have gone for the wardrobe change, but that's cool. It's ok. It'll be fine." The look on his face said that his definition of "fine" was probably a good deal less optimistic than the dictionary's.

A woman with a headset and clipboard came out from the passage that was labeled "Stage, Left Wing", and strode over to them.

"Team 6? Are they all set?" she asked Joel. He nodded, pausing to pick a speck of lint off of the sleeve of Andrew's jacket.

"As ready as they'll ever be," he informed her with a sigh. She gave a curt nod, checked something off on her clipboard, then addressed the trio.

"Great. Follow me please, we're ready for you on stage." ~