Exit Stage Left Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t show it. Besides, I don’t think I have as much riding on this as you and Harrison.” That’s true. Amanda’s got plans for studying classical piano at NYU. No important-theater-people recommendations needed for that. Just big-deal-pianist recommendations, which she already has. “But I really want to be in the play. It’s always such a blast. And no party beats a cast party, right? Look, you don’t have any reason to be worried. And hey, on the bright side, if you don’t get in, you’ll finally have enough time to take your driving test.”
    I smile. Just a tiny bit. Only because Amanda bugs me pretty much every day to get my license already so she won’t have to drive me everywhere like she’s been doing for months. It’s not my fault that her birthday is six months earlier than mine. And that parallel parking freaks me out. And that I was crazy busy memorizing an entire play this summer. And that I kind of like riding to school with her in the mornings. It sure beats getting a ride with my brother.
    Amanda checks her phone. “Only two minutes left. She should be here soon. Um . . . Harrison?”
    I give the zipper one final tug before I look up at Harrison. He’ssitting with his head between his knees.
    “Dude, are you going to puke?” Chris squats in front of Harrison.
    “Go away.” Harrison’s voice is muffled.
    “Yeah, just don’t puke, okay? I have a weak stomach.”
    Amanda laughs. I manage another faint smile as Gabby wafts into the crowd. She looks more like she’s arrived to accept a crown and scepter than to check a casting list. Trevor follows with the Grimaldis. I swear I can smell Johnny Grimaldi’s hair gel from clear over here, and it’s not helping my stomach. Or maybe it’s the way that Trevor is talking to Gabby. I squeeze my eyes shut. Nothing matters right now except the cast list.
    “Here she comes!” The Perk Monster jumps up and down. A crowd of students follows Ms. Sharp down the hallway. She’s like the Pied Piper of the theater program. Amanda and I stand, and then reach down to pull Harrison up. He gets to his feet, swaying slightly.
    Ms. Sharp fights her way through the crowd. “Excuse me. Ex- cuse me!” Brushing students aside with her elbows, she reaches the bulletin board. “First rehearsal, which is a read-through only, is tomorrow after school.” With that, she turns around, tacks the cast list to the board right smack over the Throw-In notice, and pushes her way out. Everyone swarms the bulletin board.
    Gabby’s right in the front. She checks the list, and when she turns around, she’s not smiling. My heart does a leap. That’s good.
    “Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. I will never ever in my entire life ask for anything else.” I say something that resembles a prayer under my breath as we move toward the board. I spot Trevor’s head near thefront of the crowd. He reaches the bulletin board, reads it, and breaks into a smile. Johnny Grimaldi slaps him on the back.
    “Oh no,” Harrison mumbles.
    We continue to push our way forward. I grab Amanda’s hand as we get closer. I squint, but I still can’t see the names. Finally, after what seems like hours, we get to the board. Amanda puts her finger up to the list.
    “Oh wow,” she says.
    I look over her shoulder and read:
    Holland Performing and Visual Arts High School’s Production of
    The Sound of Music
    CAST
    Maria: Amanda Reynolds
    Wait, what?

Chapter Six
    This is not happening. I blink hard and look at the list again. My name is not next to “Maria.” Amanda is Maria. Then where in the world am I? My eyes fly down the list:
    Captain von Trapp: Trevor Blakeman
    Baroness Schraeder: Gabby Butler
    Max: Oliver West
    Liesl: Kelly Hutchinson
    Rolf: Harrison Kaelin
    Mother Abbess: Casey Fitzgerald
    No. Wait a minute. No. Mother Abbess? Mother freaking Abbess? I’m cast as a nun. Is Ms. Sharp insane? I’m not Mother Abbess, I’m Maria!
    “Case, I didn’t expect . . .” Amanda says. She