should you." "Right," Steph said to Katy. "I don't mind competing against you." "What makes either of you think the lead parts are a sure thing?" Gil asked. "Maybe some sophomore will come in and blow Bingry away and you'll both be stuck working on props." "Yeah," Ethan said. "It's called hubris." "Bingry wouldn't do that," Katy said. "Seniors get the best parts. We've earned it." "Why don't you try out for both parts, Katy?" I suggested. "Fine, I will. Excuse me." She picked up her lunch and moved to a table of her tennis friends. Junior Dave shook his head. "She won't." They all went on to talk about past evidence of Katy's insecurity and cowardice. I obediently ate my low-fat, low-cal, low-carb lunch. "Steph," I said, looking down the table, "let's go to the gym after school." Ethan looked at me in disbelief. "Urn, auditions? The ones we were/us? talking about?" "Oh. Yeah. After that, then?" "Sure," said Steph, eyeing me curiously. Twenty-seven kids turned out for the auditions: twenty-two girls and five boys. I sat at the back of the portable and watched while Ethan and Bingry called people in to read from the script. Junior Dave had been right about Katy -- she didn't even read for Olive, instead going for a small part. "So, when is the cast list going to be posted?" she asked after her reading. "Probably by Wednesday afternoon," Ethan said. "Thursday at the latest." She sighed. "Not that it matters." I waved at her as she walked out, giving her a thumbs-up to let her know she'd done a good job. This wasn't so hard, 1 thought, this whole being a good friend and good girlfriend thing. I was even half looking at my trig while the auditions went on. Mr. Bingry leaned outside to call in the next person, and Cameron walked in behind him, finding my eyes and locking onto them. I soaked him up -- in the day and a half since I'd seen him last, I'd already started to forget the details of how he looked. I couldn't see Ethan's face, but his voice sounded overly cheerful when he said, "Hey, hi. Didn't see you in class today. That's cool. What part are you reading for? There are only two male parts, so ..." "I don't want a part," Cameron said. "I told Jenna I'd help backstage. You need people for that stuff, right?" "Absolutely," Bingry said, excited. He twisted in his chair and looked back at me. "Jenna's the stage manager, so she's your gal. Jenna, your first crew volunteer!" Ethan asked, "Don't we usually offer crew to people who audition but don't get parts?" "We can never have too much help," Bingry said. "Especially from someone with some height and muscle for hanging lights, building flats, putting up pipe and drape -- " "And I have my own tools," Cameron said. "Fantastic. A perfect specimen. Give your contact info to Jenna and we'll let you know when we're ready to build." Cameron walked over to me in long steps while Ethan watched, leaned on my desk -- the fingers of his big hands spread wide -- and gave me his phone number. "Just got a phone this morning," he said as I wrote it down, trying to appear efficient and disinterested. "Now you can call me. Anytime." I nodded. "Thank you." He turned and walked out. Ethan scribbled something in his notepad. Bingry called in the next reader. Steph started in on me at the gym. "I heard Cameron volunteered to be on the stage crew," she said, pulling her hair back. We were in the locker room, getting ready to cardio funk. "Wow, news travels fast." "So that will be interesting." I put my bag in a locker and closed the door. "How so?" "Jenna. Stop playing dumb." She stalked off to the big mirror over the sinks. I followed and stared at the two of us. She looked incredible, with her spray-on tan and low-rise gym shorts and tank top, whereas I was a lump in faded black stretch capris and my extra-huge Utah Utes T-shirt. "What's your point?" I washed my hands. She laughed. "Anyone can see you've been a total head case since Cameron showed up. Don't let Ethan forget you're his girlfriend."
Similar Books
