Someday, Someday, Maybe Read Online Free PDF

her toes forever slightly pointed, waiting for their interchangeable plastic high-heeled shoes. She’s wearing a thick stack of jangly gold bracelets, and her tiny wrist looks like it could snap under their weight. Even though it’s a bleak day in January, she’s wearing white jeans, perfectly fitted and to the ankle, as if she’s Mary Tyler Moore on a special Hawaiian-vacation episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show .
    “Um, yeah, that’s me. I’m Franny.” I feel like I’m towering over her. I suddenly feel awkward, like they gave me an extra arm by accident and I can’t figure out how to use it.
    “I knew it! Oh, God, you must think I’m so rude. Hello! I’m Penelope Schlotzsky. I know , terrible name, right? They’re probably going to make me change it.” She laughs again and swings her blanket of hair so that it all cascades over one shoulder. You can almost feel a breeze, it’s so thick.
    I’m sort of at a loss for what to say, which rarely happens. All I want to know is who “they” are and if they have any advice for things I should change about myself.
    “I’m new in class with you!” she squeals, before I can pull myself together. “I had my first class last week but I was sitting way in the back, like, petrified, so that’s why I wasn’t sure if you were you , or just someone who looks like you, but I just had to risk it and say hello because I swear to God , you were, like, the best actress . So funny . You like, really go for it. You’re going to do great in the Showcase .”
    Stavros doesn’t encourage this kind of talk among his students. “Who’s better, Pacino or DeNiro?” he’ll say to us. “Don’t waste time comparing. Keep your eyes on your own paper.” And while I’m secretly thrilled by her compliments, I’m shaken by her (very loud) mention of the Showcase: the Showcase that’s looming in exactly two weeks, the Showcase we’ve been working toward for months, the Showcase that is the one opportunity we get all year to be seen by agents and directors and casting people, who come because they respect Stavros and his taste in actors. It’s a night where anything—or at least something —could happen. Last year, Mary Grace got cast in the chorus of a Broadway musical from the Showcase, and two other people got agents, and that’s how James Franklin got the screen test that eventually led to that Arturo DeNucci movie. He’s the best example of what could happen. But he’s an amazing actor—I could never hope for something that big. All I want is to get an agent, or even a meeting with an agent. That’s all I’ll let myself hope for.
    “Wow, thanks!” I say. “And welcome to class. You’re going to love Stavros.”
    I mean what I’m saying, but something in my voice sounds strangely insincere. I’m trying to match her enthusiasm, but with less volume, and the combination makes me sound fake, like one of those ladies who sell stretchy flowered pants on that new home shopping channel. The elastic waistband is so comfortable . You’ll live in them .
    “Oh, Stavros is the best!” Penelope gushes. “So sexy , right?”
    The truth is that our acting teacher is very attractive, but it embarrasses me to hear her talk about him like he’s one of us. It doesn’t seem respectful. “Well, he certainly does talk very fast,” is as close as I can come to agreeing with her.
    “ Right? So passionate! I’m still totally shocked I got in, especially since he doesn’t usually take people right before the Showcase. But I guess he was like, she already has an agent at Absolute, and she’s got two movies in the can, so like, you know, fine—just one more beanpole to deal with!”
    This is the kind of confidence you’re supposed to have as an actress, I think. I mean, I would personally never announce that I had an agent at Absolute Artists, the best agency in town, or talk about movies I’d done, or refer to myself as a “beanpole,” especially loudly and in a room full