It was his mother.
"Jon, I am very upset with you!"
"But, I can explain, you see. . ."
And he was cut off.
"I do not want to hear your excuses. That was Mr. Phillips on the line. He wondered why you were not at practice. He told me that someone said they saw you getting on the bus. You knew the deal. If you did not want to be suspended, you had to be in the play. The only opening as you know was the Dorothy Understudy. Just because you are the understudy does not give you the right to ditch practice. They said you had 20 minutes to get there, or you will be suspended for a week for your punishment. I will drive you up there, but this is the last time. You better be ready, you might end up on that stage, have you even studied your lines?"
Jon was floored! To make sense out of him wearing the same clothes as Natasha, he was her understudy. That meant, if anything happened to her, he would have to go on stage, pretending to be a girl, and worse, SING! However, he did not have any more time to think about this as his mother dragged him to her car. He was about to get in like a normal guy when his mother stopped him.
"Honestly, Jon, you better start practicing more. You know how a lady gets into the car, well right now, you are dressed as a lady, so act appropriately and slide in properly. You do not want your dress to get messed up or to expose yourself do you?"
Jon did as instructed and tried to hide his beet red face. Nothing else was said between them on the short ride back to school.
