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“Hamilton does that too!” Lauryn squealed.

“Yes, they do.” I winked at her and then went back to my drawing. “The one thing I’m not sure about is sound. How could we mic people and run that—”

“I think I can take care of it.” Ms. Sparrow crouched down near us. “I have a friend at UNC who owes me a favor.”

And there you go.

Jack raised his hand. “Not to be a buzzkill, but how do we pay for the new lights and costumes?”

Right. Money.

Crud.

Hadn’t gotten that far.

“What about one of those GoFundMe things?” Cara asked. “We can promote the hell out of it on social media too.”

“Oh!” Katie’s head popped up out of the group. “I’ve got the best idea for a TikTok for it.”

I straightened up and did my best James Earl Jones impression: “ ‘People will come, Ray. People will definitely come.’ ”

But everyone blinked at me in silence.

Well, Reed would’ve gotten it. “What do you think, Ms. Sparrow? Can you run it by the Clairview Parks and Rec?”

“I already made the phone call while you were making the game plan.” She stood, beaming. “We’ve got the amphitheater at Clairview booked for opening night in two weeks!”

Everyone jumped up and went back and forth between hugging, crying, and cheering.

Ms. Sparrow pulled me aside and gave me a hug. “Now that, my dear, was a Doolittle moment.”

A couple of days later, the cast, crew, and some parent and town volunteers helped us move lumber, fabric, and old props from the high school to the Clairview Amphitheater. It looked worse than I had remembered but nothing that some good weeding, painting, and maybe a couple dozen prayers couldn’t fix.

I hoped.

Lauryn had gotten the GoFundMe up and running hours after our meeting at the Lyric, and we’d already raised about a thousand dollars so far. It was great, but it still wouldn’t be enough for what we really needed for lighting and costuming.

The sounds of circular saws and hammers on nails echoed through the tall trees that framed the stadium-style seating in the grass as Lauryn and I pulled up. My door opened before I could do it myself, and TJ leaned against it. Even though TJ bothered the snot out of me 99 percent of the time, I was relieved to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“Your mom thought you might need an extra hand.” He smiled.

“Watch out world, TJ Crowley is turning into a softy,” Lauryn said as she moved around to the back of my Jeep for her sketchbook and fabric she had picked up from town.

“Only for some people,” TJ added, taking the fabric from her.

The three of us made two trips back and forth from the Jeep to the stage to get the rest of the boxes.

“This place is pretty sweet.” TJ set a box down near the front row. “Didn’t they used to do a Shakespeare in the Park kinda thing here?”

“Yep. Ren Faire too.” I wiped my hands on my shorts. “Grandma performed here a few times.”

Lauryn sighed. “I would’ve killed to see that.”

Same.

Lauryn opened her sketchbook and motioned for us to come closer. “Okay, so I’ve got some ideas to run by the parent volunteers and costuming people.” She pointed to her latest designs. “Since the costumes are going to be pretty simple now, I’m thinking Montagues and Capulets can wear family-specific headpieces…Maybe Paris could wear the Capulet one at Juliet’s funeral and when he fights Romeo at the end.”

“Are those silver and gold?” TJ asked.