Drama (graphic novel)
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Drama is a 2012 graphic novel by Raina Telgemier.
It's another semester, and time for a school play. Callie is on the tech crew, loving the selected musical Moonlight Over Missisipi. She asks if she can build a cannon for it, in addition to working on sets. The tech crew is a nice distraction from the fact that her crush Greg is ghosting her, and Greg's brother Matt has become a jerk towards Callie.
Then Callie meets the identical twins Jesse and Justin. Justin wants to audition for the play, while Jesse is too shy and opts to join tech crew with Callie. It seems that Jesse forms a bond with Callie, as new leading lady Bonnie starts an affair with her costar West and berates Jesse since he's tutoring her in math. Can Callie survive the drama, and get that cannon working in time for opening night?
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- Bittersweet Ending: In the end, Callie gets neither guy. Jesse turns out to be interested in West, and she turns out Greg's attempts to hook up with her after Bonnie dumps him at the dance. She takes it well after Jesse apologizes for leading her on, and helps her make up with Liz. The play, itself, goes on without a hitch, and Loren is so impressed by how dedicated Callie was that he nominates her to take his place as stage manager next year. It's a unanimous vote and Callie says that she has lots of ideas for next year.
- Could Have Avoided This Plot: Callie has spent most of the book sending signals at Jesse, which he responds to and parries at the same time. When she learns that he's gay and has feelings for West, it's after he ditched her at the dance for several hours to talk to West. Callie yells at Jesse, among other things, that she would have accepted if he had been upfront with her about not being interested in her or being incompatible. What hurts is that he essentially led her on and lied about it. Jesse apologizes the next day.
- Incompatible Orientation: This is why Jesse is not interested in Callie. He tried, but realized that he wasn't attracted to her.
- Reality Ensues: Most works of media have it as a protagonist's shining achievement when they step in to take the place of someone during a play. While Jesse saves the show and gets a standing ovation from the crowd, the entire crew, teachers included, yell at Bonnie for her selfishness in refusing to perform for Act Two.