A day later, the stage manager called the entire cast backstage before their places.

"As you all know, awards season is approaching. In fact, it's already here. Today we have several judges from the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards who will be checking the eligibility of all our cast and crew," he announced. "I wanted you to be aware of this so that you aren't caught off guard if any one of them approach you."

Kasey exchanged glances with Jess. 

Even though Kasey knew that her performance wouldn't change just because judges were in the audience, she guessed that there were at least a few cast members who would over-act to try and get in good favor with the judges.

Mainly Jacob and Quentin Steel, who played the troll king and Duke Weselton.

This would be an interesting show. She wished that the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards did their nominations like the Tony's did- they never told the cast that they were there. Not even afterward. 

Potentially, the Tony judges could have already been at the show. Kasey and Jess would never know.

After places were called, Kasey sat backstage with Sebastian to wait while the ensemble did their first couple songs.

"You know Jacob's going to mess the whole show up, just to try and get his eligibility confirmed," Sebastian told Kasey.

"I'm fully aware that Jacob will try and suck up to the Broadway.com judges," Kasey said, rolling her eyes. "It's so pathetic- they're not even the official nominations. It's just to narrow down the field. And usually most shows get at least one or two."

"I kind of hope that he doesn't get one," Sebastian whispered conspiratorially. 

"Same."

Then, Kasey's cue came, so she hurried onstage to finish 'Do You Want to Build A Snowman' with Jess. 

~~~~~~~~~

Things went smoothly at first- Jess and Sebastian weren't over exaggerating or randomly changing blocking. The ensemble seemed extremely enthusiastic, which wasn't a bad thing, either. And of course, the younger girls were bouncing off the walls on and off stage.

Kasey's awkward dance with Quentin was made even more awkward by the fact that he was trying to be even more flashy than normal. 

It wasn't too bad until he hit her in the eye. It wasn't a gentle smack- it was more of a punch, really.  

The rest of the first act, Kasey could not see. Her eye was watering so badly she was sure that it looked like she was sobbing from the audience. She tried not to broadcast the fact that Quentin had hit her- she didn't want to ruin the act for the people in the audience. 

The worst part was that she didn't even step off the stage until a minute before 'Let it Go', which was still three songs away.

That meant she had to dance 'Love is an Open Door' while she was trying not to start crying outright. 

Sebastian did his best to lead Kasey around the stage so that she wouldn't trip on anything, and they managed to stumble through the rest of their duet with only a few near-mishaps. 

Jess gave Kasey a sympathetic look during their duet. At this point, Kasey was starting to get double vision from what she could see out of the eye that Quentin had hit. Jess tried as much as possible to stay in one spot instead of doing her blocking, just so that Kasey could keep track of where Jess was actually standing.

As soon as Kasey stepped offstage, the stage manager, was there. Kaira, Kasey's understudy, was already in her Anna costume.

"You need to go to the doctor and get your eye checked out. You could have some serious damage, and I won't risk letting you onstage. We called Jace and he's going to take you. Kaira's going on for you for act two," the stage manager said. "Just sit down, I don't want you to run into anything."

Kasey obediently sat- her dresser brought her a change of clothes and helped her take her mic and makeup off. One of the techies gave her a bag of ice to put on her eye. 

Just as the entr'acte was sounding, Jace strode onstage.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Someone just hit me in the eye by accident," Kasey explained. "I'll be fine."

"I'm taking you to the doctor," Jace said, taking Kasey's hand. "I don't want your eye to be permanently damaged."

"Honestly, it's not a big deal."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After two hours at the doctor, Kasey was finally allowed to leave. The doctor said her eye would probably get better within a week or two. 

The downside was that Kasey wasn't allowed to  perform in any of the shows until she was cleared by the doctor. 

Jace took Kasey back to the loft after calling Carleigh. 

"She's supposed to keep ice on it for at least thirty minutes every two hours," Jace told Carleigh when they arrived. "No performing, and activities that she could potentially get hit in the face."

"Sounds good, thanks for taking her," Carleigh said. 

"You know I'm right here," Kasey protested.

"Well, I have to do my evening show soon, so goodbye," Jace said. "Feel better, Kase."

"Bye, Jace."

Kasey could still see out of her other eye, so it wasn't like she was completely dependent on Carleigh and Jace to walk around. She guessed that Jace and Carleigh were just making sure she didn't do something stupid.

"What even happened?" Carleigh asked once she'd gotten Kasey more ice from the fridge. "Jace texted me a while ago to say that he was picking you up to take you to the doctor. Obviously you got hit in the eye, but how did this happen?"

"Quentin was getting a little too excited during the Arendelle Waltz and hit me in the eye," Kasey explained. 

"Does he know?" 

"Probably, by now at least. He might not have even realized it until after act one," Kasey said, shrugging. "It's not a big deal."

"Kasey, he could have hurt you badly. Getting hit in the face in any show is always a big deal. Remember when Thayne elbowed me in the head during 'Yorktown?' They pulled me out the very next song."

"I know, but it's different when you're a leading actor. I don't think anyone noticed until Sebastian got onstage," Kasey defended. 

"Still, they need to be more careful. I don't care if Audience Choice awards are on the line. Nothing is worth risking something like your eye."

"I'll be fine, Carleigh, you don't have to worry," Kasey said gently.

Carleigh sighed deeply. "I know, I just worry, you know? Being in different shows now is tough. I'm so used to sharing the stage with you."

"Me too, don't worry."