13

Parker sat with his friends at lunch the next day. The first performance was that night, only a few hours away, and Parker was a bag of nerves.

“Would you relax?” Yuan insisted. “Nothing is going to happen.”

“If you say so,” Parker said.

“I do. You guys are coming tonight, right?” she said to Cole and Drew. “The show starts at seven.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Drew said.

Cole grinned at her. “Break a leg.”

The rest of the day seemed to go too quickly and too slowly at the same time. Parker had trouble focusing on anything in class. He couldn’t stop watching the clock.

That afternoon, the cast and crew sped through a final run-through. Then Parker helped put the set pieces in their correct places for the beginning of the play. After that, the actors headed off to their dressing rooms. The kids handling light and sound stayed in the tech booth, while the other crew members hung around backstage. There was nothing for Parker to do but wait for the performance to begin. He found himself fidgeting, unable to sit still and shifting from foot to foot with anticipation.

At 6:30, the doors opened, and the crowd started filing in. Parker peeked around the curtain to get a look at the audience. The auditorium was filling up quickly. It looked as if this would be a sold-out show.

Backstage, the actors had come out of the dressing rooms in costume, ready for the performance to begin. Caroline was on the other side of the stage from Parker. He watched her closely, but she just appeared to be mouthing her lines to herself. Parker didn’t take his eyes off her. If she tried to pull something, he wanted to see it. Although once the show started, he knew that keeping an eye on her would be harder. There were a few scenes that she wasn’t in—scenes when Parker had to focus on getting props and set pieces ready for the next scene change. He could only do so much.

The lights went down. Please, Parker thought. Just let this go well.

The show started.