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I peered at her curiously. “You want to stay?”
She shrugged, rubbed her chin with her shoulder. “I don’t know. Maybe. I like it better than I thought I would. It’s quiet here. Peaceful.”
“There’s nothing for me here.”
“No, I suppose not,” she said. “Your talent is too big for this little town.”
I’m counting on it. It’s all I have.
A silence fell, and then she said, “Okay, well. I’m supposed to meet a friend. Mr. Ford will tell us what comes next?”
“He’ll email the callback list,” I said. “You’ll need to be back here tomorrow night at seven.”
“If I get called back.”
I smirked. “See you tomorrow night, Willow.”
“See you tomorrow night, Isaac,” she said. “If you get called back.”
I smothered the chuckle that bubbled up my chest, watching until Willow got to the street safely. Then I pushed off the wall and walked out of the alley, away from the theater. Away from my real home. It was good practice for when I left Harmony for good. I’d walk away from all the shit memories. My mother’s ghost and my father’s rage. The poverty and the cold and the constant hunger for something more than I had. I’d leave it behind and never look back.
&nbs
p; Willow could stay here if she wanted. More power to her.
I’d walk away from her, too.
Willow
Getting ready for school Monday morning, I stopped to read the email on my phone for the hundredth time since it arrived on Saturday morning.
Date: January 28th
Re: Hamlet, Final Cast List
Congratulations and thank you for being a part of the Harmony Community Theater’s production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Please find the rehearsal schedule at the bottom of the list, and notify myself or Assistant Director, Rebecca Mills, or Stage Manager, Frank Darian if you have conflicts and can no longer participate.
Thank you, and I look forward to creating stage magic with you!
Hamlet: Isaac Pearce
Gertrude: Lorraine Embry
Claudius: Len Hostetler
Polonius: Martin Ford
Ophelia: Willow Holloway
Laertes: Justin Baker
Other roles and names scrolled on and on, but my gaze kept stuttering and jumping back up to Ophelia and my name across from it.
“Holy shit.”
The shock kept slamming me from one side while a flicker of pride burned the other side. I’d been happy with my audition and relieved I didn’t embarrass myself during the callbacks, but I still didn’t think I’d get the part. Now I had the kind-hearted Martin Ford trusting me with a small but pivotal role in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. A play that would be performed in front of the entire goddamn town.
“And the school,” I muttered. “They’ll come to see Isaac…”
