Play the Game (14 page)

But then we were on to the next scene, and the next, and before I knew it, it was
time for the death scene, where Mel nervously checked and rechecked that the bottles
of poison were in place. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. ‘Good job, Edie.’

I squeezed back. ‘You too.’

‘Glad it’s almost over,’ she whispered, as Freddy kissed Zoe on stage and then lay
down to die.

But that was the weird thing. I didn’t want the play to finish. I’d loved working
backstage and building things and being part of something amazing with an amazing
group of people. And then there was Jackson.

As the curtain came up and the audience started cheering madly, I watched the cast
take their bows. Zoe and Freddy were presented with huge bunches of roses, and then
suddenly Mel and I were being dragged out to join the others. Somehow I ended up
in the front row, standing next to Jackson. He took my hand and we all bowed. As
I stood up, I looked down into the audience and saw Mum and Dad and Jean, and Tess,
standing there grinning at me, holding out a bunch of daffodils. She’d brought me
flowers, even though I wasn’t in the cast. I grinned back at her. I was the happiest
set-builder in the world.

I sat in the foyer, trying to get my head around being the Nurse. Okay, so it wasn’t
the part I wanted, but it was better than nothing, right? I wanted to be an actor,
and actors were cast in all sorts of roles – including some they didn’t want.

‘Edie?’ someone said. ‘You okay?’

I glanced up to see Jackson looking down at me with a concerned expression. I wondered
if Kerry had sent him to check on me. How embarrassing. They’d probably already started
doing a read-through while I was sitting out in the foyer feeling sorry for myself.
I managed to shrug as he sat down next to me.

‘I’m fine,’ I said, trying to keep it together.

He eyed me suspiciously. ‘You’re not exactly jumping with joy.’

I shrugged again. ‘I just really wanted to play Juliet. I turned down state netball
with my best friend for this. And now I’m just the stupid Nurse.’

‘Are you kidding? The Nurse is an awesome part. Okay, it might not be the lead, but
it’s great.’

‘You think?’ I said, surprised. I hadn’t even noticed the Nurse when I was reading
the play. Then again, I’d been totally focused on Juliet.

‘How many movies have you seen where the character that makes the biggest impact
on you isn’t the lead?’ asked Jackson. I thought about it for a second and realised
he was right. Heaps of my favourite characters weren’t major parts.

Then Jackson nudged me. ‘That little girl in
E.T.
? The witches in
Macbeth
? They totally
steal it from the leads. Juliet isn’t everything, you know.’

‘I guess. The witches
are
pretty amazing. But I haven’t seen
E.T.
’

Jackson looked horrified. ‘What? That’s one of the best films ever made!’

I laughed at his reaction. ‘Okay, okay, I’ll go home and watch it, I promise.’

‘I’ve got it at home. You can borrow it if you like,’ he said, smiling at me. ‘Now,
are you coming in?’

Just because I’d agreed to play the Nurse didn’t mean I wanted to face Belle or Freddy
right now. I still felt like Belle had been given my part.

As if he was reading my mind, Jackson said quietly, ‘You know I auditioned for Romeo
even though I knew Freddy would probably get it?’

‘Really?’I said, wondering if he felt the same way I did. ‘But you don’t seem upset.’

He shook his head, and that cute floppy fringe dropped down over his eye.

‘It’s okay. I’m playing Friar Lawrence. Another great “not lead” role. It looks like
you and I will be spending a
lot
of time together,’ he said, laughing. Then he blushed
and added, ‘You know, because they’re in lots of scenes together.’

I smiled. He was really nice, and really cute, and I liked that he understood how
bad I felt about it all. Even the fact that he blushed was sweet.

‘I can’t wait to see how old they make you look, Nurse,’ said Jackson, grinning at
me.

‘My sister won’t be happy. She thought she was going to get the chance to play hairdresser
on Juliet. Now I’ll be some ancient old crone.’

Jackson laughed. ‘You’ll make a great crone.’

‘Hey!’ I said, hitting him playfully on the arm and feeling more like myself again.
I stood up. ‘Come on, let’s go and upstage those star-crossed lovers!’

Jackson held the door open for me and we walked into the theatre together. My stomach
was all nervy. I took a deep breath. Acting classes came in handy for all sorts of
things, and this was going to be one of those times. I had to pretend I was fine
with not playing Juliet. My hurt and disappointment would just have to wait until
I got home.

The rest of the cast was already sitting in a circle on stage doing a read-through. They
stopped reading as Jackson jumped up onto the stage and held out his hand to pull
me up. It felt weird holding his hand in front of everyone, and as soon as I was
on the stage, I let go and found a spare seat. Jackson squeezed an extra chair in
beside me, and I wondered if he was trying to look after me.

‘Edie, just in time for your first big speech,’ said Kerry warmly. The girl next to
me passed me a photocopied version of the script and I held it across so Jackson
and I could share it. His arm bumped against mine and for a second I imagined I wasn’t
on stage, but just hanging out with Jackson.

Then I made myself stop thinking, looked down at the speech on the page and started
to read. I stumbled over quite a few of the words because they were old and unfamiliar.

‘Even or odd, of all days in the year,

Come Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.

Susan and she – God rest all Christian souls! –

Were of an age: well, Susan is with God;

She was too good for me: but, as I said,

On Lammas-eve at night shall she be fourteen.’

Even though I knew Jackson was right about smaller parts being amazing and memorable,
I really loved some of Juliet’s speeches, and I couldn’t shake that thought from
my head. Then Belle started reading and I realised how closely we would have to work
together – my part was all about supporting her character.
Great.

After the read-through, Kerry told us she wanted us to have our lines down by week
three. Belle started complaining about how many lines she had to learn compared to
everyone else, and Jackson shot me a look, checking in to see if I was okay. I was
sort of touched that he was looking out for me.

As I was packing up my stuff, trying to escape before I had to talk to anyone, Freddy
came up behind me.

‘Edie, you happy with your part?’

‘Yeah, I guess. Congratulations on playing Romeo,’ I said.

Before Freddy could reply, Belle flounced over, touching him on the arm. ‘You ready
to go?’

He looked at me and then at Belle. He seemed a little embarrassed as he nodded at
her. ‘Yeah.’

I watched as they walked off together, and felt even more miserable than I had a
couple of hours ago.

‘Edie?’ said Jackson quietly. He was looking at me funny – I must have been staring
after Freddy.

‘Yeah?’

‘You okay?’

I nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

Jackson didn’t leave straight away. He looked like he wanted to say something, but
I was distracted by my thoughts about Freddy as I grabbed my bag and left the theatre.

Usually after a day like that, I’d ride straight to Tess’s for a debrief over ice-cream,
but since she still wasn’t talking to me, I had no choice but to go home. To Jean
and a bowl of reheated macaroni and cheese. Bleuch.

‘Hey, Juliet,’ Jean said, moving her feet so I could sit down.

I’d totally forgotten I was going to have to tell her that I wasn’t playing Juliet
after all. ‘Um, about that …’ I said.

‘Didn’t get the part?’

‘How do you know?’
Oh god, what if everyone knows?
But nobody really knew how much
I’d wanted the role, and Tess and Jean were the only ones I’d told about it.

‘It happened to me once. I thought the director was telling me I had the lead, and
I told everyone. At least you were smart enough not to tell everyone,’ she said,
looking sympathetic.

‘Yeah, but I did pull out of the state netball team because I thought I was Juliet. That
wasn’t very smart,’ I said, relieved that I could be honest with Jean, and that she
understood.

She made a face. ‘Yeah. That’s rough. But you can still make something of this, you
know. Sometimes the smaller parts are easier to make yours, and even though you don’t
realise it at the time, it’s an awesome role and you can make it incredible,’ she
said, smiling. ‘That’s what I did that year. I blew the lead girl off the stage!’

I laughed. I’d seen Jean act a few times, and she’d been amazing. That’s why it was
so weird when she stopped.

‘Huh. Not sure I can do much with the Nurse,’ I sighed.

‘Edie, the Nurse is a great character,’ Jean said knowingly.

I frowned at her. I wasn’t quite ready to celebrate yet. ‘No, she’s old. And – not
Juliet.’