Chapter 3: Auditions and Propositions

Waverly froze in her seat at the mention of Champ the boy-man Hardy. She knew she had to stand and go on stage to run lines with him since she was chosen to be Meg. Part of her thought that Champ was auditioning just so he could get out of detention, but part of her knew that he was there because of her. Wynonna nudged Waverly with her elbow and leaned in close to her.

"You alright?" Wynonna whispered. Waverly just nodded. "You want me to kick his ass?"

"N-No," Waverly struggled to get the word out. "I haven't faced him since that party. I think it's time that I do. I just hope that Bobo sees that this is how every audition is going to go today so that he considers your idea for a female Hercules even more," Waverly rose from her seat and marched onto the stage.

"Finally!" Champ smiled as he locked eyes with the smaller girl. "You ready to start this audition, hot stuff?"

"I hope you know your lines," Waverly stated simply. "This is a big audition. A major part. The biggest role."

"Oh I know," he winked at her and she shuttered. "And I can't to nail this audition so I can kiss you."

Nicole poked her head out from behind the curtains at Champ's comment and narrowed her eyes at him. She caught Wynonna's eye and rolled her eyes indicating that their thoughts on Champ were mutual at the moment.

"Right," Waverly cleared her throat and took a step away from the boy as he took a step closer to her, "well that all depends on if you know what you're doing. You may begin whenever you're ready."

Champ cleared his throat and turn towards Bobo. Waverly rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, keeping a good distance between the two of them. Champ started rambling off a long speech that was anything but the lines he was supposed to know for the audition. After a minute of thinking to herself, Waverly realized that Champ was reciting the famous 'To be or not to be' soliloquy from Shakespeare's . He was reciting the words in the most terrible British accent Waverly had ever heard and he was messing up every other word, delivering an extremely poorly executed attempt at the powerful speech.

Champ finished the soliloquy and immediately jumped into another speech about love and romance. He turned towards Waverly and grabbed her hand, kissing the top of it. The action made Nicole's blood boil when she saw how Waverly was still cowering away from the jock. She gritted her teeth and tried to keep herself from rushing onto the stage and decking Champ in the face. Bobo took notice to Nicole watching the scene unfold before them from the right wing of the stage. He made a mental note about the fiery orange color of her hair and the muscular build of her body; both things he wants the actor playing Hercules to have. He scribbled something down about talking to her after auditions and was soon brought back to the audition on stage when Champ fell dramatically to his knees. Somehow his audition has turned into a proclamation of his "feelings" for the youngest Earp.

"I love you, Waverly Earp!" He yelled. "Your big brain is a major turn off, but your sexy body makes up for it."

"Excuse me?" Waverly stares down at Champ.

"Nobody wants to bang a know-it-all," Champ laughed. "Especially not a know-it-all that also happens to be an . But I'm able to see past that. You're hot as hell and that's all I need."

"Step off, dickhead! That's my sister you're talking to. If you wanted to get your ass kicked today, you could have just asked me," Wynonna snarled as she stood up from her chair.

"Quiet, Wynonna. I'm in the middle of something important here," Champ turned back to Waverly who now donned a face of fear and anxiety. "So what do you say, Waves? Wanna hit up Stephanie's party tonight and then bang it out at my place afterwards?" He winked at her.

"Oh that it, you little..." Wynonna took off towards the stage before Bobo could stop her and grabbed Champ by the collar of his shirt. "I told you to step off," Wynonna swung at Champ and hit him with a sharp right hook to the jaw. The boy-man fell to the floor with a and Wynonna smiled proudly at herself. "Stay away from my baby sister, or there's more where that came from."

"Ms. Earp! My office! Now!" Wynonna's head shot up and met the angry eyes of the head of the school.

"Yes, Principal Lucado," she said respectfully before glancing at Waverly and winking at her. "Think you can catch a ride home with Rosita or Chrissy?" Waverly nodded and gave her sister an appreciative smile before watching her leave the auditorium with Lucado.

A few of Champ's football buddies came running in to retrieve the unconscious corpse of their star quarterback. Dragging his body out of the room, they threw insults at Waverly about being weak and not being able to handle Champ's "package." Waverly scoffed and shook her head. Nicole kept her eyes trained on the tiny girl as she made her way back to her seat. She noticed that Waverly was holding her wrist, rubbing it. Champ must have had a tighter grip on her than it seemed. Nicole shook her head and sighed before going back to work moving things around to make room for the new set pieces.

"I think I've made up my mind," Bobo said when Waverly took her seat.

"What do you mean?" Waverly's brow knit with confusion as she looked at the director. "We've only had one audition today. Please don't tell me you're choosing Champ," her eyes became wide with fear.

"No," Bobo shook his head and rested a hand on Waverly's shoulder. "No, I've made up my mind about what your sister said. After Mr. Hardy's performance it came to my attention that the rest of the boys auditioning are also from the football team. Purgatory High is going to break gender norms and have two female leads this year."

"Really?" Waverly's smile grew wide. "Oh, Bobo this is going to be so much fun!" She threw her arms around Bobo and hugged him tightly. "How are we going to go about auditions for that?"

"Oh I already have someone in mind," Bobo smiled down at his clipboard. "Do you think you could run to get us some coffee from the teacher's lounge, Waverly? We still have a few others auditioning for other parts today and I want to give them my full attention."

"Of course," Waverly's whole demeanor had changed. She jumped up and hurried out of the auditorium to grab a coffee for herself and Bobo.

The director took advantage of this time and walked backstage. He found Nicole quickly since she was the only one on the team that was actually doing any work. Nicole's hair was pulled back and Bobo could see the sweat forming on her forehead from moving things around. Currently the redhead was carrying a massive box from one end of the space to the other, her flexed muscles standing out against her pale skin. With a grunt, Nicole sat the box down on top of another one that was similar in size. Bobo cleared his throat to gain her attention.

"Mr. Del Rey," Nicole paused her music and used the back of her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually, it's something that may be able to do for ," Nicole raised an eyebrow at Bobo, pressing him to continue. "I know that history isn't your strong suit. And I know that my class is your lowest grade."

"Yeah, I've never been this close to failing a class in my life," Nicole picked up another box. "But I don't see where you're going with this."

"Well, it has come to my attention that the boys who have signed up to audition for the role of Hercules are all just as bad as Champ Hardy's. I saw you watching when he grabbed onto Waverly."