In the Spotlight (7 page)

Josh gave her an easy grin. “I had to change around some of my classes.”

“That is so great!” she said. “I think I’ll be in drama class with you,” Josh said, again all too easily.

Claudia actually clapped her hands in excitement before dropping into a seat on the other side of Josh. “Do you think you’ll get a part in the musical?” she asked him.

Josh cast me a sidelong glance that bordered on conspiratorial, and I felt a rush of excitement. We did share a secret, at least until Friday, and it was pretty cool if I let myself think about it for a minute.

“I hope so,” he said.

Claudia nodded seriously, but before she could say anything more, the bell rang.

Chapter Seven

As I stepped into the auditorium, I shivered with pleasure.

All the house lights were up, giving the theater a warm glow. Ms.

Bard sat on the stage waiting for the cast to arrive. Kaylee sat to her right leafing through the assistant director’s binder. The role was perfect for Kaylee. She loved being in charge. Being assistant director gave her an excuse to be bossy. I climbed the stairs to the stage and took a seat beside Kaylee. Pulling my script out of my backpack, I couldn’t even say hi to her. I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up.

When the cast list had gone up on Friday, there was much congratulating and much sniping. Kaylee and Maggie had danced around the Commons alerting non-‐-drama types to the amazing events transpiring in our world. Claudia had been cranky with me for a while, but by third period, she’d come around because, as she noted, we were playing sisters in the show and we needed to act like them. Josh had tried to be supportive of me, but I hadn’t let him. I was too upset that Kyle wasn’t speaking to me.

Other people clattered in soon enough. This was only a read through for the primary cast, so only the people with speaking parts, and their understudies. The rehearsals with the full ensemble cast would start next week, but for now, it would be small and intimate. Maggie flopped down next to me. She had won the role of my character’s best friend, how fitting. Kyle and Claudia entered together, arguing, sending me further into my spiral of confusion about how I felt about Kyle. I didn’t see Josh come in, but suddenly he was there sitting roughly across the circle from me.

“I think we’ve all assembled,” Ms. Bard announced, cutting through the din. “I’d like to go through the play from start to finish today. A true cold read. No stopping. No questions. There’ll be plenty of time for questions later. Understudies, please read along silently. Do not bother the leads. I repeat, do not bother the leads.

We want pure creativity today. Come now, people, and let us get started.”

And so we read. The basic gist of the story was that my character, Kelly, had a crush on a boy who had just moved to town.

The boy, Eric, played by Kyle, turned out to be a player who was romancing not only Kelly, but her sister, Tiffany, played by Claudia. All the while Chad, Josh’s character, was secretly in love with Kelly. He waited and watched from afar until he got the chance to get close to her. By the end of the first act, Eric’s character has been shown as a jerk, and while he tries desperately to blame Kelly for his downfall, she begins to see Chad as the true love of her life. Kelly and Chad share a sizzling kiss at the end of the first act, as well. As we moved through the script, I could tell that Kyle had been sure he would play Chad. The cadence of the lines fit him so well, and they sounded forced coming from Josh. The more I thought about it, even the songs sounded like an ego burst for Kyle.

About halfway through the first act, Josh stopped abruptly.

“Ms. Bard, this is ridiculous,” he said.

“Hey, no stopping,” Kaylee piped up quickly.

“Wait, Kaylee dear, let’s hear what Joshua has to say,” Ms.

Bard said gently. “Please share with us, Joshua.”

“These lines are just so…cliché,” Josh complained. “I would never say anything like this.”

“That’s why it’s called acting,” I said. Then gasped. Had I actually said that out loud? From the way everyone was looking at me, I was pretty sure the words had left my mouth.

“Excuse me,” Josh said, more annoyed than surprised, judging from the tone of his voice. “You can’t act with badly written lines. I think they need to be rewritten. I’m sorry but that’s just my opinion.”

I glanced over at Kyle, who was glowering sullenly at Josh.

As muddled as my feelings toward Kyle had become over the past few days, I still felt some loyalty that I couldn’t quite name. I was even more irritated that an outsider had come in and won a lead role, and now thought he could criticize the play.

“Maybe if you think it needs to be rewritten, you should reconsider taking the part,” I challenged him with a slight raising of my eyebrows.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Josh replied, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.

“Maybe,” I snapped. “I’m sure there are plenty of guys who’d be totally willing to play your part.”

“Hannah! Josh!” Ms. Bard clapped her hands to get our attention like we were in second grade. Josh and I continued to glare at each other across the circle. I had no idea where the sudden, fierce animosity had come from. Part of me wanted to start screaming at Kyle too. Why did guys think the world should come to a grinding halt just because they were slightly inconvenienced?

“Sorry,” I grumbled. “I’ve had a long week.”

“I still think it needs to be rewritten,” Josh said pointedly.

“But, I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to interrupt rehearsal.”

“Apologies accepted,” Ms. Bard smiled. “I’ll consider ordering a rewrite, but first let us finish this read through so I can gauge the best direction to take.”

After that, Josh and I glared at each other every chance we got. Well, I glared at him. He sort of regarded me with bewildered curiosity. Not that I could blame him. One day I was tentatively flirting with him and the next I was challenging him to a duel.

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

I could see what he meant by the end of the read through, even if I was irritated with him. The lines were written by Kyle for Kyle. Coming out of Josh’s mouth, they seemed insincere, and I honestly couldn’t see why Kelly wanted to fall in love with Chad when he seemed so self-‐-possessed.

“I would like everyone to take a five minute break,” Ms.

Bard announced at the end of the read through. “I need to confer with my assistant director and the playwright. We’ll gather for notes promptly at five-‐-fifteen.”

We all headed out to the Commons. I did my best to avoid Josh, Claudia, and anyone who might demand a rationale for my behavior. Maggie followed me to a table on the far side of the cafeteria. As she sat down she said, “What gives? It’s not like you to act that way.”

“I know,” I agreed. “I just…I don’t know. This week has been so…I just don’t know.”

“Can I tell you something?” Maggie whispered conspiratorially.

“Sure, Mags,” I smiled, thankful for Maggie’s gossip to distract me.

“Kyle told Claudia that he’s interested in another girl,”

Maggie said proudly.

I waited for her news to sink in. There should be a feeling of elation, right? I mean, I might be that other girl. No moment of bliss arrived, though.

“Well,” Maggie prompted. “Aren’t you excited? I’m almost seventy-‐-seven percent sure the other girl is you.”

“Seventy-‐-seven percent, huh?” I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Not all of my sources are currently reporting,” Maggie shrugged.

“I’m not sure I want Kyle to like me,” I admitted.

Maggie’s eyes widened cartoonishly. “Are you serious?

You’ve been in love with him since we were freshman.”

“It’s complicated,” I said, shaking my head.

Before I had a chance to elaborate, Kaylee appeared at the auditorium doors. “Break’s over!”

As we were settled back in our circle, Ms. Bard began to pace around us, tapping her clipboard with her long purple nails.

“As you all know, Josh has made an unusual request,” she began.

“Normally we wouldn’t even consider rewrites, but due to the…unique nature of this year’s show, I’m going to allow it.

However, as Kyle has already done a significant amount of work on the show, he has declined to do the rewrites himself. Therefore, Joshua, you are going to have to do the rewrites yourself. You may not change the intention of the lines, but you may make them flow better for your acting style.”

“Thank you, Ms. Bard,” Josh said quietly.

“I’ll expect you to preview your rewrites in drama class on Monday morning. That gives you the entire weekend. I trust that’ll be sufficient,” Ms. Bard nodded. “Have a good weekend, and start memorizing those lines!”

Leaving rehearsal without talking to anyone felt supremely childish to me, but I didn’t care. This past week had turned me upside down. There was too much going on for me to process. So when I got to my car with my phone ringing, I almost didn’t answer it. At the last moment, I glanced at the caller ID. Harlow. I flipped the phone open.

“Hey, sis,” Harlow said in her annoying singsong voice.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Homework and sleeping,” I replied automatically.

“Bo-‐-oring,” Harlow sing-‐-songed again.

I shrugged, and then said, “Maybe, but I have a long shift at Jimmy’s tomorrow.”

“I have a better idea.” Harlow dropped the phone. She quickly scooped it up. “You’re coming to a party with me.”

“Excuse me?” Harlow had never invited me to come to a party before, so naturally I had to be a little suspicious.

Harlow giggled. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Is it a crime that I want to spend time with my baby sister?”

I rolled my eyes. “First of all, you saw me on Sunday when you came home for dinner to beg Mom and Dad for more money.

And second of all, you never want to spend time with me.”

“Well, I do tonight,” Harlow insisted. “Please. Please. Please say you’ll come with me. We’ll have so much fun.”

“I guess so,” I agreed hesitantly. Spending time with Harlow was always risky business. “Where exactly are we going?”

“Oh, you know,” Harlow said dismissively. “This guy I know, knows a girl whose boyfriend is having a party at his best friend’s house.”

“Huh?” I don’t think Harlow could have even followed herself through that maze of linguistic dancing.

“I’ll pick you up in an hour,” Harlow said. “Wear something cute.”

Something cute turned out to be jeans and a sweater. I wasn’t going to be stupid. It was the beginning of February, for goodness sake. Harlow’s hour was also more like two and a half hours. During that time, I got all of my weekend homework done, and convince my parents that it was actually a really good idea for me to spend some quality time with my big sister. Luckily, my parents trusted me completely, even where they didn’t trust Harlow.

“You look old.” Harlow greeted me with a frowning perusal of my outfit.

“Old?” I asked. “What does that mean exactly?”

Harlow groaned. “That sweater looks like something Grandma would wear to play bingo.”

“Aw, thanks, sis, you look great too.” I laughed. “This is what I’m wearing. Get over it. And since when does our grandma play bingo?”

“Fine,” Harlow grumbled. “But don’t blame me if you don’t get any action.”

“I’m not interested in action,” I told her. This was met with eye rolling. After she had promised Mom several dozen times that she would take good care of me, we headed over to the Apartment City part of town.

Apartment City was thus named because it was where most of the college students lived, just row after row of apartment buildings. We pulled up to a building that was clearly party central for the night. Every light was on, and drunk college students were milling around the entry way even though the temperature had to be around ten degrees.

The apartment of Harlow’s friend’s boyfriend’s aunt’s grandma or whoever it was made Harlow’s dorm room look like a palace. It was a cramped studio with far too many people crammed inside. The music was blaring. The air was rank with beer and sweat. I found a place on the couch where I could watch the idiotic action of Harlow and her friends.

Harlow began the evening by doing two shots in a row off some girl’s belly button. This assured her the attention of every male in the room. Then she danced on the coffee table, shedding extraneous pieces of clothing as she made strippers look modest.

Just as I was starting to feel really embarrassed, she leapt off the coffee table into the arms of the first available male. That was the last I saw of her for the evening.

“Hey,” a smarmy guy said sidling up next to me. “Beer?”

“No thanks,” I said curtly, hoping to deter his advances.

Instead, he took it as an invitation to sit down next to me. I didn’t have the patience to deal with him, so I got up and pushed my way outside. Tugging my coat closer around me, I peered around the dark street. Where had Harlow parked the car? A sharp wind whipped down the street, and I pulled my coat tighter, shivering.

“Hannah!”

I turned at the sound of my name. There was Josh with a few other basketball players getting ready to go in to the party. He said something to the other guys and ambled over to me while the others went inside.

“What are you doing here?” We asked at the same time, and then we laughed.

“My older sister dragged me here and then disappeared with some guy,” I said. “What about you?”

Josh shrugged. “Some of us guys from the team were out celebrating, and we weren’t ready to go home yet. Mark knows the guy hosting, so we came over here.”

“What were you guys celebrating?” I asked, feeling slightly stupid for not knowing.

“That I got the lead in the musical,” Josh grinned.

“Oh, right,” I said, feeling even stupider. Why wouldn’t he celebrate that with his friends from the basketball team? They were his friends after all.

We shuffled around in the crusty snow, listening to the laughter and music from the party. I noticed that Josh was wearing hi-‐-top shoes. What was this, 1987? Okay, maybe that was a little mean. I’m sure plenty of girls found him ridiculously hot. Yes, he was ridiculously hot. I was trying not to notice that, though, because he was also still irritating me from the rehearsal that afternoon.