Can True Love Survive High School? by Natalie Standiford Read Free Book Online Page B

words upon leaving the newsroom. Her mind hadn't been on Walker. She'd hardly heard anything he'd said. How could she remember her exact words, especially when they were so mundane? But she thought she could see where the mix-up was. “I didn't mean literally ‘I will see you later.’ I just meant, you know, ‘See you. Later.’ As in, good-bye?”
    “Oh.” Walker shifted his books from his hip to his chest. “I guess I misunderstood. Sorry. I thought you'd somehow turned into the kind of person who doesn't keep her word. But I was wrong. Good to know.”
    He walked away. Lina shook her head. What was
that
all about?

8
    A Lady of the Theater
    To: mad4u
    From: your daily horoscope
    HERE IS TODAY'S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: First you're in, then you're out … quit flip-flopping and make up your mind.
----
    M ama, you've come back! Oh, Mama, I'm so glad you've come home safe and sound!” Audrey flung herself at M.C. as she came in from the supermarket, loaded up with shopping bags. Mads was beginning to miss the old Pop-Tart version of her sister. At least she talked like a real human then.
    M.C. struggled to the kitchen with Audrey wrapped around her. “You can let go, Audrey,” she said. “But guess what? The Method must really work, because you got the part, Little Mariah.”
    “What?” Mads cried.
    “What?!?” Audrey squealed. “I got the part! I did it! I did it! I got the part!” She hopped up and down, her braids bouncing. “I'm a real actress!”
    “Big shock,” Mads said. “Your mother is the playwright. You kind of had an in.”
    “Charles promised me he wouldn't play favorites, Mads,” M.C. said. “He swore he chose the best actors for each part.”
    “What about me?” Mads asked. “Am I doomed to walk the stage as Teen Mariah?”
    “They'd be mental to cast
you
,” Audrey said.
    “Audrey, that's not nice.” M.C. looked uncomfortable. “He hasn't cast that part yet, Mads. But … well, I wouldn't get your hopes up.”
    Mads wasn't surprised. She
had
really screwed up her audition. M.C. pulled a piece of paper from her bag and set it on the kitchen table. Then she started putting the groceries away.
    Mads snatched up the paper. It was the unfinished cast list. Sure enough, next to “Little Mariah” was written “Audrey Markowitz.” “Teen Mariah” was left blank. Mads scanned the list for Sean's name. No sign of it. She found the role of Buck, the boy who kisses Teen Mariah. That part was filled not by Sean but by someone named Damien Chopra. Whoever that was. But across from “Grown Mariah,” which was Mariah as a young woman, was a name Mads did recognize: Jane Cotham.
    Wo w. Sean's girlfriend was going to be in the play. As Mads' mother.
    Mads had heard about the kind of camaraderie that cropped up among actors on movie sets and in theater groups. That was what M.C. was hoping would develop between Mads and Audrey. Anyone in the play with Jane would probably get to know her pretty well. They'd spend hours together, sharing confidences, even secrets. They would talk about their boyfriends…. Think of all the things she could learn about Sean, if only she was in the play with Jane.
    Suddenly, Mads wanted to be in the play more than she'd ever wanted anything.
    Why did she have to screw up her audition so badly?
    At least her part wasn't cast yet. “Mom?” she said. “I've been thinking … I didn't prepare very well for my audition. Do you think Charles would give me another chance, if I promise to work very hard?”
    M.C. smiled at her. “Oh, Madison, I'm so proud of you!”
    Mads went upstairs to e-mail Stephen. He was very interested in her career, or non-career, in the arts.
    To: steverino
    From: mad4u
    Re: back in the saddle
    guess what? I'm going to audition for teen mariah again. I realize I was being immature about it before. This time I won't mess up on purpose, only by accident. Like you said, it could be a good experience for me. I've turned a corner. I've grown. Aren't