Page 79

“What is it now?” she asked.

My cheeks flushed. “I, um…I’ll need your master key to let me out. This door just locked me in. Again.”

I had known about this stupid broken door for years and was told to always keep it propped open. According to Grandma, they had fixed it a few years ago, but the “fix” didn’t last. Like most superstitious thespians, the locals all believed it was some kind of theater ghost.

I didn’t believe anything evil haunted this place, but a big part of me hoped Grandma still visited it in some way.

The updates continued throughout the rest of the act and rehearsal. Nothing looked more pathetic than a dead Mercutio being dragged off the stage in plain sight, but the board was out of my control till it finished.

Theater kids were notoriously superstitious, but the way they pressed themselves against the wall as I passed them after rehearsal made me wonder if I had come down with a sudden case of theater plague.

By the time I reached the kitchen, the armpits on my T-shirt were soaked through. Ms. Sparrow sat alone at the old green-tinted table with two cups of coffee and two blueberry muffins in front of her. I choked back a gasp.

My brother told me once that you knew you were going to be fired if your boss wanted to speak to you alone and if that boss brought food. He had said food was meant for the immediate mourning process.

“Come in. Sit, sit.” She waved to the empty chair opposite of her. “Have a muffin and some coffee.”

Yep. I’m screwed.

The seat let out a squeak when I sat. The plastic, ripped in three places, pinched my bare thighs.

“I’m sorry about the board,” I mumbled, my eyes focused on the muffin.

She drummed her fingernails on the sides of her plate. “Nothing you can do about a board that needs updates. But we can do something about that sticky door. I’ll put another work order in today. Hopefully they take care of it before the end of the summer. Maintenance is hard to reach this time of year.”

Ms. Sparrow unwrapped her muffin and continued. “I know it must be hard reading a new manual and dealing with a board that’s entirely different from the one at the high school.”

I took a sip of the coffee and winced as it burned the top of my mouth. “It is, but I do think I’m finally making some headway.”

“I’m sure you are, but missing a cast and crew meeting before rehearsal and then arriving late—”

“There was a meeting?” I pulled out my phone and opened to my Google Calendar. I could’ve sworn there wasn’t one. I wouldn’t have missed it…

Yet there it was, in the bright orange color I used for all things related to the show season.

“Cast Meeting: 10:00 AM.”

“I…” My throat squeezed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see that. Ms. Sparrow, I never miss meetings or run late. You know me—”

“I do, which is why I agreed to you running the lights for such a big show for this summer troupe.” She broke off a piece of her muffin. “But to be honest, Eliza, you have seemed a bit…distracted over the last two weeks.”

I sighed and took a big bite of my muffin, forcing it down.

She smiled sadly. “I know how much you have on your plate this summer, what with this show and then that big tournament with your father’s team. It must be a lot to manage.”

You forgot the part about a secret relationship with the grandson of the team trying to beat my father’s, and the fact that if we lose, we also move, and then I’d have to start over with a new school, new friends, an entirely new theater program…

My head fell into my hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“With the board? Sure, you do.”

“No, not with the board. With…” I swallowed over an achy lump. “With everything else.”

She pushed the coffee closer to me. “Something tells me you’ll figure it out in time.”

“I’m not so sure.” How do you choose between loyalty to your family and loyalty to something new that feels so right? Reed made me feel different, better than I had in a long time. I didn’t know I needed that feeling, needed him, until this summer.

“Did I ever tell you that I had the privilege of watching your grandmother perform at the regional thespian conference a couple of times when I was younger?” she asked.