My Invented Life Read Online Free PDF

my back teeth to prevent unsightly spots when I smile. The bar is gritty and doesn’t satisfy my real hunger. Two freshman girls whisper in the seats in front of me, oblivious to my presence.
    “God, he’s cute.”
    “He has a girlfriend.”
    And a better girlfriend waiting in the wings
.
    “Besides, I saw him at the movies last weekend
with his parents
.”
    “That’s so gay!”
    I wait until Bryan finishes his reading to drop my notebooks on their heads. They shriek appropriately.
    “Oops.” I gather up my scattered things. “I didn’t see you there.”
    I slip outside to review my lines one last time. We don’t have to memorize for tryouts, but acting tends to go better if you aren’t forced to squint down at a paper and stumble over complex phrasings. Besides, Eva always memorizes the scene ahead of time. Learn from the master, I say. When I hear Jonathan’s voice carry across the theater, I hurry back in.
    Jonathan is good, terrifyingly good. His voice has authority without being loud. He moves across the stagewith an athletic grace, drawing me in with a quiet magnetism. If he were reading for the lead role, he would snag it in a heartbeat. I notice Bryan’s jaw hanging down to the floorboards. Poor boy.
    Nico reads next. His straight black hair cascades over his face and twitches every time he blinks. I feel bad for him because nobody could look good up there after Jonathan. It doesn’t help, though, that he stands like an oak tree bent from years of battering winds. And that no one can see his eyes. He usually goes for roles that don’t require much emoting.
    After Nico reads, Sapphire calls for Rosalind hopefuls. That’s when I notice Eva’s absence. Omigod. Maybe she wants to give us mere mortals a chance at glory. A more likely theory? She was abducted by aliens. Carmen hastens onto the stage because she always wants to read first. Today it will be her undoing. She takes
my
handout from the top of the stack and runs her fingers through her hair. After a few well-delivered lines, she falls headfirst into my trap.
    “So was I when your Highness took his pukedom,” she says. Amid snorts of laughter, she repeats the line. “So was I when your Highness took his
dukedom
.” She continues reading, her voice infused with indignation. “My father was no
prostitute
.” We erupt again.
    “Cut,” Sapphire says. She passes a fresh handout to Carmen. “From the top.”
    Carmen plows through the rest of the scene without error, though she fails to capture Rosalind’s gentle humor. She gives me a triumphant look as we pass on the side stairs, me on my way up, her on her way down.
    “Sweet revenge will be mine,
fen-sucked ratsbane
,” she says in a low voice. Her face is a mask of pleasantry. Translation? Copycat Girl thinks she can outwit
me
.
    I shrug it off and take center stage. Immediately my body goes rigid. Think Popsicle with a cute quasi-masculine haircut. Every audition is the same. I jump off the cliff and plummet toward the sharp rocks below. Before I hit the ground, my wings unfurl and I can fly.
    “You’re on, Roz,” Sapphire says.
    I fix my gaze on the empty seats in the middle of the theater. The only flying that occurs is that of my lines flying right out of my head.
    Sapphire cues me. “Why, cousin, why, Rosalind! Cupid have mercy, not a word?” She fans herself with the handout I refused. I look at it longingly.
    Carmen heightens the humiliation by reciting my first line from the peanut gallery. “Not one to throw at a dog.”
    “Not one to throw at a dog,” I repeat.
    Carmen would make a perfect yip-yap dog, the kind that lives on her owner’s lap. Thankfully, the image cheers me up, and my lines come back in a rush. Soon I am Rosalind, daughter of the banished king, telling off my overbearing uncle. When I finish, Sapphire leaps to her feet.
    “We’ve found our Rosalind!” she bellows amid appreciative hoots from the audience.
    I bow to the thunder of stamping feet.
    Hit