***
My predictions all come true:
Jasmine does have a crush.
Liam does make the callback list.
And the senior actors arepissed mutinousconcerned.
“He’s never been in a show before,” Cameron tells Jenny, this sophomore who did tech for one show before falling in with the actorsand turning into a monster. “He doesn’t have the chops for a lead.”
I keep quiet. None of them saw Liam’s audition. He does have the chops.
“You never know,” Jenny says. “Sometimes Dr. Lochley does weird stuff. I mean, rememberThe Bad Seed?”
“I guess.” Cam catches me watching. “What do you think, Jackson?”
“I can’t talk about auditions. You know that.”
“Whatever.” He keeps talking to Jenny but turns away, and I lose the thread of the conversation.
I sigh and turn back to the Theatre Board, this huge corkboard to the right of Dr. Lochley’s office, covered with flyers for shows in town, news about alumni, release forms, and of course, right in the middle, the callback list, with Liam’s name near the top.
I pull down the old audition sign-ups and replace them with a small flyer I designed advertising tech crew: how it’s fun, how it’s cool, how you can earn Thespian points, how it goes toward lettering in Theatre.
Most people just want to act, though. If it weren’t for Dr. Lochley’s Theatre I students who have to volunteer for one show during the year to pass the class, we wouldn’t have crews at all.
Last year I had to beg Bowie to run a followspot for the musical, but they drove a hard bargain: In exchange, I had to design a flyer for the GSA’s annual drag show fundraiser.
It’s not that I don’t like drag shows—they’re great—it’s that Bowie knows I don’t like the GSA. Ever since first year, when they didRocky Horror Picture Showin the Main Theatre and managed to damage lineset 5. No one’s even sure how they did it, but what used to be a straight steel pipe came out ofRocky Horrorwith a pronounced bend right in the center.
And since the GSA doesn’t have any budget—all the funds they raise go to charity—the Theatre budget had to eat the costs. Granted, the GSA has been banned from using the theatre ever since, and granted, the charities are all important ones, like the Trevor Project, but still. I just don’t trust them.
It probably doesn’t help that Cam used to be in the GSA, too.
***
Dr. Lochley and Mr. Cartwright are huddled together at their table once more, heads bowed and muttering. I watch from my usual spot and wait for them to decide who they want to see next. Mr. Cartwright keeps shaking his head, but Dr. L does her karate-chop-for-emphasis every other sentence.
Finally they split apart. Dr. L calls out, “Jackson, could you ask Liam and Cameron to come in?”
Gross.
“Copy that.”
I pop my head out the backstage doors. Liam’s staying well clear this time, sitting on the floor against the opposite wall, but his head snaps up. His hair flops into his eyes for a second before he shakes it off and stares at me, his blue eyes looking guarded but hopeful.
I nod at him and clear my throat. “Liam? Cameron?”
While they settle onstage, I run out to grab their sides from Dr. L.
“For Liam.” She passes me a couple pages with Jesus’s part highlighted. “Cameron.” Cam’s sides are for Judas.
I stare at the sides. Is she really thinking of giving Liam the title role? On his first audition? Without ever being in a show before?
I knew he was good, but wow. I run the sides up and hand them over.
“Thanks.” Liam looks over his script and then back at me, aweirdly endearingmix of panic and excitement in his eyes.
