Quad by Carrie Gordon Watson

Author:Carrie Gordon Watson [Watson, Carrie Gordon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1595141383
Amazon: B0043RTAX4
Publisher: Razorbill
Published: 2007-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

FRIDAY, MARCH 27

DRAMA QUEENS

THE THEATER WAS MOSTLY dark inside. Paisley caressed the black velvet curtains as she walked down the aisle that led up to the audience seating. It smelled like her Gram’s closet in there: musty, almost wet, like maybe it had just rained. Paisley loved that smell.

Hot bright lights, covered in red and blue cellophanes, cast a purple hue onto the stage, and Paisley stood for a moment, trying to imagine herself under them. . . .

But she couldn’t. All she could hear was Nicole McClintock in her head.

You’ll never be in a movie.

You’re just not pretty.

There were several groups of kids clustered together in the auditorium, waiting for their turn to audition. They were the hard-core theater and music kids, the ones who practically lived between the PAB and choir room.

As much as she longed to be part of them, they were their own little world, like Oz, and Paisley had never learned the secret handshake or whatever it apparently took to get in.

Paisley was surprised to spot Perry Reynolds and Christopher Jakes there too. This wasn’t their usual crowd. Every now and then, her eyes darted over to them.

Perry didn’t seem to notice her, but she thought she saw Christopher smiling in her direction.

As she sank into a red upholstered seat, she began to wonder why she had decided to brave the audition alone.

“Can I come with you?” Sage had asked as they sat in Paisley’s car a few days earlier at lunch.

Paisley was trying to grab a soybean with her chopsticks. It was harder than it looked. “I don’t need an escort. I promised I’d go, and I never break my promises.”

“I know, sweetie,” Sage said. “I just thought you might like someone to—”

“I’ll be fine,” Paisley snapped. “I said I’d do it and I will.”

Now, sitting in the shadows of the theater, Paisley was consumed by guilt. She had sent her best friend away and when Sage had asked her why, Paisley couldn’t tell her the truth. Couldn’t say what she suspected—that maybe Sage had been the cause of her bad luck so many times before.

That maybe Paisley was better off without her.

As she arranged herself in the middle section of the auditorium, she strained toward the group of true drama queens across the aisle from her. She couldn’t quite pick out their whispered conversations, but she could sense a hushed puzzlement over her presence there.

A moment later, Ms. Howland and Mr. Jeffers stepped forward to introduce themselves. “As you all know, I’m Mr. Jeffers. I teach English and supervise the drama club. This is Ms. Howland, the choir teacher. We’ll be conducting today’s auditions.” They gave a brief explanation of the process: first there would be the reading, then the song, and finally a short dance routine. “Everyone ready to begin?”

Mr. Jeffers called students out by name, and one by one the drama court took center stage. Comfortable and poised, they read their lines, hit each note, and landed each step in their dance routines.

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