Over the Top by Alison Hughes

Author:Alison Hughes [Hughes, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

A Roadmap to Humiliation

“… and our final announcement: the results of the auditions are in, ahhh… and the cast of our play, The Wizard of Oz, has been selected. At recess or at lunch only, and in an orderly fashion, ahhh… students may check the list posted outside the theater to see if they, ahhh… made the cut, as it were.”

Our principal, Mr. Harris, was the only person I knew who could suck the life out of such an exciting morning announcement. I remembered Mrs. Krantz, the principal from my old school, shrieking into the mic: “Woo-hoo! Roles for the play are out! No sniveling if you didn’t get the part you wanted. Suck it up, buttercups! We can use anybody and everybody for sets and costumes.”

My heart started to pound. The list was out. It was actually posted outside the theater at this very minute. Just a single piece of paper that could change my life at this school. Was my name on it? Did I want my name to be on it? I honestly didn’t know. I guess I did, because if I didn’t, why was I so stupidly nervous right now?

That feeling of desperately hoping for something, but telling yourself repeatedly you don’t care at all, not even one little bit.

Shaya turned and caught my eye. She crossed her fingers and smiled in a nice way, as if to say “I hope we both get parts.” I liked her. I made a mental note to try to find her at lunch recess.

I tried to concentrate on math and waited until the middle of next period, Health, to ask if I could go to the bathroom. The bonus was that I got a break from a cringey video on “personal hygiene” narrated by some enthusiastic nurse. She was going on about acne care when I left.

The hallways were completely empty—exactly what I wanted. The very last thing on earth I could bear was to stand with a crowd of other kids, all of us jostling to see whether we made the list, everyone else knowing who made it, the ones who did shrieking and high-fiving, the ones who didn’t trying to act like they didn’t really care. All of that would happen at recess. Right now, the coast was clear.

I had to hurry. The theater was way farther away than the bathrooms, on the other side of the school from my classroom. I ran-walked down the long, empty hall, my footsteps slapping loudly. Finally I turned the corner to the theater doors. There was a long piece of paper taped to the right door.

My heart did this weird squishy thump, which under other circumstances might have worried me. I took a deep breath.

I’ll take a quick peek, see that I’m not on the list, then I can just relax and get on with my life.

I looked at the sheet, headed “The Wizard of Oz Production: Cast List.” On the left, a column of names, linked by a line of dots to their role listed in a column on the right.

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