Free The Fall Musical by Peter Lerangis Page B

staring straight ahead. Her eyes were wide, her skin pale. Beads of sweat clung to her forehead.
    â€œHey, are you all right?” Brianna asked.
    â€œFine,” Casey said, mopping her forehead with the back of her hand. “Let’s just park and get out of the car.”
    Brianna nodded. The light turned green. Another car blared its horn. Brianna glanced in the rearview mirror but did not respond.
    Turning left, she drove to the mall. Casey was still clutching the armrest, at twenty-six miles per hour. Brianna wanted to scream.
    In the parking lot, a bus was unloading white-haired ladies in pantsuits at the mall entrance. Brianna bit her lip, pulled into a spot, and managed not to ask Casey if she wanted to join them for the ride home.

9
    YaLeBiRd: BRI, I GOT IT! I AM STAGE MGRING A PLAYYY!!!!!!
    YaLeBiRd: called caucasian chalk circle
    dramakween: woo-hoooo rachel kolodzny is hot. watch out yale!!! never hoid of ccc. is it like harold & the purple crayon?
    dramakween: that would make a good play.
    YaLeBiRd: maybe in 2 years, when ur here
    dramakween: lol
    dramakween: hey, guess what! we found a new sm!
    YaLeBiRd: whaaaat??? you replaced me? impossible! ☺ rofl . . .
    dramakween: well shes not as brainy and bootilicious as you.
    dramakween: in fact, shes a little weird. i thought she was going to turn us down.
    YaLeBiRd : is she crazy??? what did you do??????
    dramakween: took her to taft field, bought her clothes, fed her a mochacino (sp?) and brownie and half of my carrot cake.
    YaLeBiRd : then she said yes? because of carrot cake?
    dramakween: nope. she kept saying no. i couldn’t believe it.
    dramakween: i tried to act like siobhan the super-nanny. the way she deals with colter when he’s annoying. She just listens.
    dramakween: so i listened. and listened and listened.
    YaLeBiRd : mmmm
    dramakween: she sez she has this fear of cars, & that explained her behavior, i guess. casey, not siobhan.
    dramakween: big tearfest. she was all wound up about it.
    dramakween: then she said yes. tada. instant sm!
    YaLeBiRd : uh-huh. so ur happy?
    dramakween: yes!!!! can u imagine no sm? charles was gonna have a heart attack.
    YaLeBiRd : congratz. but
    YaLeBiRd : FEAR OF CARS? where does she come from? jupiter?
    dramakween: i know. my B.S. meter goes wild with this girl. i dont know why . . .
    YaLeBiRd : b careful
    dramakween: u know me. caution is my middle name.
    dramakween: gotta go. lurve & kishkes . . .
    Â 
    â€œCrap!” said Corbin, throwing his script to the main stage floor. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
    â€œLanguage, plee-ee-eease!” Ms. Gunderson sang out sweetly from her seat at the piano.
    â€œI’m not feeling it,” Corbin fumed. “I’m supposed to be funny, but I’m not funny. Can I use an accent?”
    Sitting in the fifth row next to Casey, Brianna massaged her forehead.
    â€œShould you give him direction?” Casey asked.
    â€œI will,” Brianna said. “After Mr. Levin gets through with him.”
    She missed acting. When you were onstage, you could ignore other people’s neuroses. When you were a director, they were rubbed in your face.
    From the row behind them, Dashiell leaned forward. He had been hanging around Brianna all day, promising to give her something but never doing it or even saying what it was. Then again, Dashiell was the last of the absentminded geniuses. “Interesting,” he remarked. “I guess you can’t always predict which of the cast members will emerge as the diva.”
    â€œThey usually emerge after the first rehearsal,” Brianna said, “not during.”
    The other actors were gathered in a circle at center stage, standing around Reese, who was wearing a bright blue French-cut leotard and trying to demonstrate a dance move. She strutted across the stage, took Corbin by his shirt collar, and dragged him into the circle. “Corbin, we just had a read-through. We’re not