You were great!” Addy rushed backstage after the show finished.
“What about the other groups?” Kara led Addy to a corner.
“What other groups?” Addy smiled. “Seriously, you were so funny! Everyone was laughing so hard at you. I had tears in my eyes.”
“Thanks, Addy.” Kara hugged her friend. “It was so much fun. You have no idea.”
“I could tell. Was there a big fight over who’d get to play the Laguna part?”
“Oh no.” Kara’s eyes widened. “From the beginning, we’ve been given a script with our parts highlighted. I don’t know who picks the roles, but we do not get to question which ones they are. We memorize the part we’re given. A couple of the girls have complained about that, but Ashley nips it right away.”
Kara watched as Anna Grace grabbed Ashley for a one-on-one conversation. “I wonder what that’s about?”
Addy looked over. “That’s the casting director, right? ”
“Yes.” Kara tried to interpret Ashley’s body language. “She’s pretty no-nonsense. She just tells us what to do and that’s it.”
“So?”
“So she’s having a conversation with Anna Grace.” Kara watched as Anna Grace pulled out her cell phone and showed it to Ashley. “She doesn’t have conversations with us.”
Addy grabbed Kara’s face with both her hands. “Stop spying. You’re being paranoid.”
“I’m just a couple auditions away from the decision.” Kara took a deep breath. “How can I not be paranoid? ”
“You did a great job tonight.”
“But so did Anna Grace.” Kara looked back at Anna Grace and Ashley. “And I’m sure the other girls did too. Kylie is an acting machine. And Ava—”
“Kara, relax.” Addy pulled her from their corner to the door leading outside. “Let’s go out here.”
“Fine.”
The girls exited the building and Kara tried to calm her knotted stomach.
“So, what’s it like to perform in front of a live audience? ”
“Oh, Addy.” Kara beamed. “It’s so amazing. I know I was worried about an audience and cameras being there, but it just worked. I can’t even explain it.”
“You looked very natural out there.”
“Do you really think so?”
“No.” Addy smirked. “Of course. You’re really good. I’d never be able to do that.”
“Sure you could.”
“No way.” Addy crossed her arms. “You couldn’t pay me enough to act in front of a bunch of people. Or remember lines. How do you do that?”
Kara shrugged. “I don’t know. I just do it. It’s fun.”
“I’m praying it works out. I’ve enjoyed having you in the same state.”
“And I’m still waiting for you to take me waterskiing.”
“I can arrange that,” Addy said.
The door opened and Anna Grace stuck her head out. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
“You found me.” Kara leaned against the wall as Anna Grace came outside.
“Addy Davidson.” Anna Grace’s eyes narrowed. “Still trying to find that fifteen minutes of fame?”
“Addy is here to support me, her friend. Not that you’d know anything about friendships.”
“Who needs friends when you’ve got talent?” Anna Grace glared at Kara. “I just got word I’ve been offered a role in a new movie. Starring Devlin Tyne, no less.”
“Really?” Addy said. “That’s so exciting.”
“I bet you think it is,” Anna Grace said. “Get me out of the way so your little friend can get this role? Well, too bad. I just talked to Ashley. I can do both.”
“And you came out here because . . . ?” Kara asked.
“Because it’s all over, missy. Pack up your toys and go on home.”
“The audition isn’t over.”
Anna Grace opened the door, walked through, then turned back. “Oh yes it is.”
The door shut and Kara rolled her eyes. “Could she be any more dramatic?”
“Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry that she’s being offered a part in a movie? Or don’t worry that Ashley told her she could do both? Or don’t worry that with a part in a movie, she’ll get a leg up on all the rest of us? What should I not worry about, Addy? ”
“Breathe, Kara. You’re getting way too nervous. Don’t worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself.”
“What?”
“It’s a Bible verse,” Addy said. “It means that worrying about the future is pointless. Just focus on getting through today.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Addy opened the door. “You can do it. Are you all done with the show?”
“It sure looks like it.”
“Kara, I meant are you done with today’s show?”
Kara sighed. “Yes.”
“Do you have to go straight back to the house?”
“I don’t know.”
Addy walked behind the set. “Let’s find Flora. I’ll ask her if I can take you home. We can stop at that yogurt place you liked.”
“Yogurt sounds good.” Kara exhaled loudly.
“There you go.” Addy patted Kara on the back. “Keep breathing.”
Kara pointed to Flora, standing by the fake door to the set, talking with Jillian. “Flora, can I ask you a question? ”
“‘Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.’”
Kara wrinkled her eyebrows. “Another Bible verse? ”
Flora shook her head. “Oh no. Francis Bacon, the philosopher.”
“Of course.” Kara smiled.
“So what was your question, my dear?”
“What was my question, Addy?”
“Yogurt.”
“Yes.” Kara clapped her hands together. “I would like to get yogurt with Addy so I don’t get an ulcer from worrying.”
“Yogurt is quite healthy,” Flora said. “Its cultures do help the digestion, but I don’t know if it can prevent an ulcer.”
Kara looked at Addy and laughed.
Flora smiled. “Of course you may go. And thank you for asking. But be sure to return by eleven.”
“No problem,” Kara said.
Kara went to the green room, grabbed her purse, and met Addy at her car.
I want this part so much, but I’m not going to get it. Anna Grace has it in the bag. She knows it. I know it. The show’s producers would be crazy not to pick her. She’s going to be in a movie. Kara slammed the door harder than necessary. I knew I should have stayed in New York and auditioned for Broadway Bound.
Looking out the window, Kara watched the soundstage fade away in the distance. Just like my dreams.