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Marley and Unique had developed a rather close friendship. It made sense, after all. Marley was pretty much the only person who fully accepted Unique as a girl. Sure, some of the other kids would at least gender her correctly, but Marley was the only one who really saw her for who she was, rather than getting hung up on the trans thing. And, on the other side of things, Unique didn't comment on Marley's body or say anything about her mother.
Really, their friendship formed based on the fact that they showed each other basic decency, but over time they found that they quite enjoyed each other's company, and would spend time together, even outside of school. It was nice for both of them, being able to have a friend they could just exist around without having to worry about being judged. They didn't really have that with anyone else.
They decided to audition for the musical together. For one, it would help with their confidence, making it less nerve-wracking for both of them. Marley was generally pretty unconfident (even though she was easily one of the better girl singers in the Glee club that year), and Unique, while typically very confident, was quite nervous about auditioning for a female role. It helped for them to be able to go on that stage together and bounce off each other's energy. And, secondly, it would help showcase not only their individual talents but also their ability to hold down strong harmonies, something which is quite important in a musical.
When they decided to audition together, they immediately began to send song ideas back and forth. Ideally, it would be a song that could showcase both their higher and lower ranges. Sure, the casting team already knew what their voices sounded like individually, but that hardly meant they should throw away their auditions with a mediocre performance. They wanted to stand out.
They went back and forth on a few songs but, after some discussion, they eventually landed on "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" by P!NK. It was a pretty high-energy song, which would help in terms of maintaining that energy in their audition, it was easy to cut down due to the repetitiveness of it, and they wouldn't have to edit too many of the lyrics in order for it to be school-appropriate. And, after a quick test run, they found that it suited both of their voices very well.
They considered their options when it came to practicing. Unique's home was a hard no. She didn't feel that comfortable around her parents and she also didn't want to potentially get a noise complaint. She was pushing it enough as it was just with her booming voice. Sure, Marley didn't project as much as she did, but it didn't seem worth the risk, especially considering all of the other factors at play.
They could also just practice in the Glee Club's designated room when it wasn't being used, but that would greatly limit how much time they could spend on this, which wasn't ideally, especially considering that they were both sort-of perfectionists when it came to this sort of stuff.
Eventually, they decided to practice at Marley's house, for a few reasons. First off, while the girl's household income was working class, her house was actually pretty nice, and they wouldn't have to worry about a noise complaint, no matter how late they stayed up working on it. Marley's mom was also really nice. She never minded Marley's singing carrying through the walls, regardless of the hour (she could always just use white noise if it was disrupting her sleep), and she had never been disrespectful about Unique's gender.
So, they went to Marley's house one day after school. It was leading into the weekend, so they decided to spend the night together and were going to stay up as late as they felt like, both to work on the song and just to hang out. They'd had a couple sleepovers together prior (again, it was nice to have a real, true friend), so there wasn't any awkwardness over that.
"I was thinking we could alternate who does the lower harmonies" Marley suggested. Unique nodded in agreement. "I'd like to do them most of the time just because I think that suits my voice better and it would be good if you could show off of your higher register considering the character that you're going for"
"I absolutely agree, girl" Unique nodded. "You could even do the melody an octave down during some of the choruses and I can do a higher harmony"
"That's a really good idea" Marley smiled. Then, suddenly, her insecurities took hold and she began doubting herself. Unique could tell based on Marley's expression that something was up, but she decided to give her a moment to speak up before she said anything about it. "Do you think they won't cast me since I'm more of an alto than a soprano?" she asked. "I know Sandy is a soprano"
"Girl, I have a penis" Unique deadpanned. "The ball is in your court. Besides, even if you don't get Sandy, most of the ladies in the cast are altos. Besides, you can hit the higher notes anyway"
"I know" Marley shook her head. "Sorry, you're right" she managed a small smile. Unique wasn't quite sure how to make her feel better, so she just redirected the attention back on their audition song.
"How good are you with harmonies?" Unique asked. "Cause you're probably going to be doing a lot of alto harmonies while I'm off doing my higher shit"
"True" Marley nodded. Unique was a really strong countertenor, so it made sense for her to be holding down the melody for more of it, since the song was in that upper octave most of the time. "I think I've got it, I'll just need practice" she confirmed. Unique smiled. "Before we get into all that, though, we should probably figure out where to make cuts" she continued. "Our audition really should not be four and a half minutes long"
"You're right, you're right..."
Marley had a rare confidence about her while she performed, and she couldn't help but credit it to Unique, for auditioning alongside her. Their performance went really well, too.
Huh, she thought. Maybe I actually have a shot.