Pushing the bathroom door open, I step back out into the hall. “Trent stepped down.” My heart jumps, taking my body along with it.
“Why aren’t you in class?” I ask Lars.
Pushing himself off the wall that his foot was kicked up on, he walks alongside me. “Trent stepped down from the audition. Rhys wants me to take it.”
I don’t mean to laugh. But I do. “You’re kidding me? You? In a play? As a lead role. Good one, Mrs. Rhys.”
“I’m dead serious.”
“Trent wants this more than anything. There’s no way he’d step down.” I stop walking and drop my tone down a few octaves. “What did you do, Lars?”
“I didn’t do a damn thing. You think I want this? No fucking way.”
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re right it doesn’t. But as of right now, no one will step up and take the part.”
“Then you have to do it. The show must go on.”
“Spoken like a true actress.” He bites his lip and it does something to my insides. Shooting tiny bolts of lightning through my entire body. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll audition, if you do, too.”
My head shakes instantly. “No. I can’t compete with Madison. She was born a star. I’m just..I’m just stardust.”
“We’re all stardust, Willa.” He throws an arm around my shoulders and leads me back into class. Even with everyone watching, he keeps his arm around me and for a brief moment, I feel proud—acknowledged. I feel seen.
That is until I see Madison. She’s front and center. The melody begins and she taps the mic in front of her. All eyes are on her, including Lars. Without even looking at me, he whispers, “It’s your call. Do we have a deal?”
She begins her solo and it’s good. I knew it would be. She talks a big game, but she’s backing it up. Not only does she have the beauty, she also has a perfect pitch. The only thing lacking is the emotion. Her vocals are spot on, but I don’t feel the passion behind it.
The music stop and so does she. Everyone claps, including Mrs. Rhys, who thinks she deserves a standing ovation. Though, she’s the only one standing. “That was lovely, Madison,” Mrs. Rhys says, before turning her attention to the class seated behind her. “This is the last call for auditions. Is there anyone else who would like to audition before my decision is made?”
Lars steps forward and speaks up. “Scene two. You know, the one where I cue the fireplace sounds. Willa and I would like to give it a shot.”
“What? No.” Madison huffs while she stands in the middle of the stage.
I grab him from the back of his T-shirt and give it a tug. “What are you doing?”
“We had a deal. Let’s do this.” He takes my hand in his and leads me out to the stage. My hand trembles in his and it feels like this is all happening too fast. I’m not a spontaneous person. Everything I do is generally well-thought-out and planned for. I’m not ready for this. Sure, I’ve had every line and song in this play memorized since I was eight years old, but there is no way that Lars knows this off the top of his head. I’ve never even seen him with a script in his hands.
“Do you even know the lines?” I mutter under my breath.
“I do now.” He pulls out a paper from his back pocket that’s rolled up like a newspaper.
I’ll never understand why he’s doing this for me. This is a side of Lars that I haven’t seen before. I’m not sure anyone has. I still hate him for what he did to me. But right now, he’s reminding me why I once loved him in secret.
Madison comes to my side and leans forward, whispering in my ear with a clenched jaw. “You agreed you’d be Enchantress. What the hell are you doing?”
“I never agreed to anything,” I say in a hushed tone. Lars smirks as if he knew that this would upset Madison. Is that why he’s doing this? Because of their sibling rivalry?
Madison stomps away and takes a seat next to Mrs. Rhys, making her displeasure apparent with a pouty face and her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
Lars sidesteps and faces me. Puffing out his chest, he forces a stern look on his face, much like a beast, and I can’t help but laugh. “Lars, you’re supposed to be injured, not beastly,” I whisper with a cracked smile.
He straightens the papers in his hands. “Oh, right.” He begins reading over them then grabs his arm. “Uggh, my arm. It hurts,” he shouts, all too loudly.
When I just stand there, sorting through lines in my head, because the one he just said is not anywhere in the play, he turns the paper toward me. “Umm, let me see. Just hold still.” I pretend to dab at the invisible wound with an invisible washcloth.
“Ouch.” He shrieks.
“Well, if you’d hold still it wouldn’t hurt so bad.”
“You should have never run away. If you hadn’t, this wouldn’t have happened.”
I look up and our eyes catch fire. I begin to choke. “You frightened me. That’s why I ran away.”
Holding my gaze, he continues without even looking at the paper. “You shouldn’t have come. You should have stayed away.” Wait. That’s not a line. My eyes widen as we both stand there frozen. He looks at the paper. “Temper,” he whispers.
“You need to learn to control your temper.”
“I’m learning. Be patient with me,” he says quietly. That’s not in the script, either. I turn to look at the crowd who is dumbfounded. Mrs. Rhys looks like she’s ready to end this entire thing.
We just stand there, totally screwing this up. Skipping a few lines that are lost in my memory right now, I continue, “Thank you for
