Free The Boy I Love by Nina de Gramont

by myself when I looked at the list. Ididn’t even go see it right after it was posted, because I didn’t want to have to stand in a crowd the way Allie had done for cheerleading. Instead, on Wednesday afternoon I skipped the early bus and waited till everyone had either gone home or headed off to their after-school activity. Just as I hoped, the auditorium was empty. I walked over to the list and ran my finger down to find Sharon. Sure enough, another girl’s name was listed.
    Next, I skipped straight to the chorus. My name wasn’t there. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t make the play at all! Allie and I might just as well have stayed at Cutty River.
    I took a deep breath and raised one of my good fingers to the top of the list. Very carefully and slowly I ran it down the piece of paper until it stopped—right there in black and white—on my name. Wren Piner.
    I walked over to the couch and sat down to call my mother. I tried not to let my voice sound too excited. “I got a part,” I told her. “I’m a ‘Necessity’ girl. There are three of them. I don’t even know what that means.”
    â€œWren, that’s a great part!” Mom said. “In my production just one girl sang it, but they must be staging it as a trio. It’s a great song, a real showstopper. That’s wonderful, Wren; I’m so proud of you.” She told me to hang on, went to her computer, and looked it up on YouTube, then held up the phone so I could hear it. Those singers were really belting it out to the rafters.
    â€œWhat do you think, Wren? Isn’t it a great song?”
    â€œIt really is,” I said.
    Mom was so excited she drove in from Leeville to take me out for ice cream. I didn’t tell her that the boy who’d rescued me from the fire would also be playing her favorite part: Og the leprechaun.

Six
    On Friday afternoon we had our first rehearsal. Tim had a few big numbers, and I sat watching him with another guy who usually played football, Tyler Caldwell. At one point in the play this evil, racist senator gets turned into an African-American man, and Tyler was playing him after the transformation. Tyler agreed that Tim sang great, but still couldn’t understand why anyone would voluntarily give up football to be a leprechaun. Tyler himself had some kind of knee injury, which was the only reason he was sitting out this season.
    The role of Og was very silly and cute, and the way Tim acted him out was just hilarious. Sitting next to Tyler, watching Tim up onstage, I felt this longing in my gut that I knew made me nothing but a big fat traitor.
    That longing also made it extremely fun to ride home on the late bus with Tim. What else could I do, anyway?Tell him he couldn’t sit next to me? Because that’s exactly what he did—he got onto the bus and beelined right for the seat beside me. I was starting to agree with Allie’s earlier suspicions. It seemed like maybe Tim liked me, though that seemed pretty crazy. Maybe he hadn’t figured out Allie had a crush on him.
    When the bus stopped at the end of my driveway, he said, “Hey, can I come up and see your horses?”
    I sure loved the idea of spending more time with Tim, but I had to think about this for a moment. Allie was already ticked at me for lying about when the play results were posted, and even though she’d never admit it, I was pretty sure she was also mad at me for getting a part when she hadn’t made cheerleading. Plus, she looked at me funny anytime Tim came near. So I knew I should make an excuse. A good friend would, wouldn’t she? But there was Tim, waiting for me to answer, and out of my mouth came, “Sure. Do you like horses?”
    â€œYeah,” he said. “I wanted one when I was a kid, but we didn’t have the money for it.”
    â€œMy parents don’t have the money for it either,” I said.
    Tim laughed like he