Stepping Out Read Online Free PDF

of my jokes since I was ten. Anyway, Hunter believes I’m funny. I think about that when he honks his horn to pick me up for school Monday morning. Carly does too. They wouldn’t have nominated me for the ITCF otherwise.
    “Hey,” he says when I open his car door. The smell of dark roast wraps around me like a hug.
    “Hey, yourself.” I slide into the passenger seat, toss my knapsack on the floor and buckle up.
    He gestures to the cups in the holder between us. “I bought you an Americano when I bought mine.” He shoves his rusty old Hyundai into reverse and backs out of our driveway.
    “Thanks.” I pop the lid on my coffee and wait for the steam to subside.
    “How was your weekend?”
    “Good.” I look at him, and my heart does a tiny somersault. Hunter has the profile of a Roman god: perfect cheekbones, full lips, those overgrown bushy brows. Okay, so maybe the Roman gods were manscaped, but two out of three isn’t bad. “How about you?”
    There’s a nasty grind when he puts the car into first and steps on the gas. “The same.” And then he clears his throat.
    Oh geez. I clutch my coffee. When he did that on Friday, he dropped a bombshell. “What?” I ask.
    The light turns amber. He coasts to a stop and picks up his coffee. “You weren’t at Molly’s party Saturday night.”
    He noticed! “Nope. I was kinda busy, thanks to you and Carly.” I flick a piece of lint from my jeans. “April 3rd is is only two weeks away. Do the math. That’s something like 330 hours. Take away sleeping and school, and that doesn’t leave much time to prep my material, figure out my clothes or work on my act.” Plus, Brooke was going to that party. I didn’t need that kind of hassle.
    He studies me over the rim of his cup. “I figured it was because Brooke was there.”
    I can’t lie to Hunter. He sees through me every time. “That was part of it,” I admit. “But honestly, the whole idea of this competition is freaking me out. I really need to focus.”
    “You’ll be great.” The light turns green. He sticks his coffee back in the holder and steps on the gas. “I totally believe in you, Paige. I wouldn’t have nominated you if I didn’t.”
    “I’m glad.” And I am. But honestly? If I had to choose between Hunter MacRae believing in me or being into me—in that you make me want to explode kind of way—it’d be no contest. I’d go with the explosion any day of the week.

    Apparently Hunter isn’t the only one who believes in me. When I get to school, I’m shocked to see a huge red-and-blue See Paige Win banner hanging in the foyer. And by the time I get to my locker, at least a dozen people have stopped to congratulate me.
    “You’re a star,” Carly says when I see her on the way to math. “The whole school is behind you.”
    The whole school minus one. My sister.
    I have drama after math, and the mood in that class is over-the-top excited.
    “I can’t believe you’ll get a one-year contract with Endless Field,” says Annalise as she sprawls on the risers, waiting for the teacher to call the class to order.
    “ If I win,” I remind her.
    “Of course you’ll win,” she says.
    “And that means ten grand for the drama department too,” says Liam. “Don’t forget that.”
    “I know, right?” But as we break into small groups to refine the short pantomimed scenes we’re working on, I can’t miss the envy in their eyes. I get it. This is my tribe. We share the same need to step into another person’s shoes, to get a reaction from an audience, to be in the spotlight. In their position, I’d be envious of my opportunity too.
    “Paige,” Mr. Roskinski calls when the class ends. “Can I have a word?”
    “Sure.”
    “I don’t have to tell you how thrilled I am for you,” he says when he pulls up a chair beside me. With his shiny, bald head and spindly arms and legs, Mr. Roskinski has an unfortunate frog-like appearance.
    “Thanks.”
    “But two weeks isn’t much time.