Free Times Squared by Julia DeVillers Page B

girl . . .” Ashlynn looked around.
    â€œMe!” Sydney waved her hand. “Over here!”
    â€œOver there . . . ,” Ashlynn said. “Okay, girl in the black shirt.”
    â€œI’m wearing floral.” Sydney looked confused.
    But I was wearing black. I tried to see if Ashlynn was just randomly calling me, or if she recognized me, while at the same time pretending not to hear her. La la la. Just pick someone else.
    â€œGirl in the cute black with the rhinestones!” Ashlynn said.
    â€œOh, ick, she means you,” Sydney said to me.
    â€œGo up instead of me,” I muttered. “Go ahead. Now’s your chance.”
    â€œIf you say so.” Sydney shrugged. She got up and stepped over me into the aisle. Unfortunately, the aisle was blocked by Mrs. Burkle.
    â€œPayton!” Mrs. Burkle said. “Your time to shine! Go on up on that stage and show your stuff!”
    This had potential to be a disaster. I turned around to catch Emma’s eye. She gave me a look. My twin telepathy could tell she was sending me sympathy thoughts for the embarrassment and humilation that was to come.
    I went up onstage. Stay calm, Payton. Stay calm.
    â€œHey,” I said as I walked past Ashlynn.
    â€œHello,” she said.
    She didn’t recognize me! She didn’t recognize me! It must be because I look so much different now. At summer camp I was tanner and, well, the showers were gross so I often wore a ponytail.
    Wheeeewwww!
    I quickly went to the end of the line of people, as far away from Ashlynn as possible. That left me next to Ox, who looked really uncomfortable.
    â€œYou don’t look too happy about this,” I whispered to Ox. “Me either.”
    â€œBut you like acting,” he whispered back. “Hopefully she’ll just ask me a challenging math question and I’ll be done.”
    I looked out into the crowd. Everyone was looking at me, Ox, Reilly, and Jazmine onstage. Well, probably everyone was looking at Ashlynn. Especially the guys.
    â€œTime for some improv!” Ashlynn announced. “I’ll assign each of my actors a role and a scene. And when I say go, you will interact with each other based on the role.”
    â€œYou, girl in the yellow?” Ashlynn said. “You are a witch.”
    â€œExcuse me?” Jazmine glared at her.
    â€œThe Evil Witch,” Ashlynn said. “Don’t take it personally. Remember? It’s a fairy-tale mash-up. Zoe-Marguerite, our star, plays the witch.”
    Jazmine looked slightly less mad. But still suspicious.
    â€œYou could be one of the three little pigs,” Ashlynn said. Everyone cracked up.
    â€œWitch is fine.” Jazmine gave her the death glare again. I thought that was a good look for her character.
    Reilly was Prince Charming.
    Ashlynn told Ox he was the Beast, from Beauty and the Beast .
    â€œNot that you’re beastly,” she pointed out. “But you’re big and strong.”
    Good thing I couldn’t see Emma’s face for that one!
    â€œAnd you.” Ashlynn came over and stood in front of me. “You are a servant girl.”
    Hey. And wait. A servant girl? I looked closely at Ashlynn, but she smiled back kindly.
    â€œIn the play, the servant girl turns into Cinderella,” Ashlynn told the audience.
    Okay, that made sense. I guess it was just random that she assigned me that. At least I’d end up a princess.
    â€œHowever, that’s later. Now you’re just a servant girl doing the bidding of the queen,” Ashlynn continued.“The rest of the story is yours to make up. Ready? Go!”
    Ashlynn went to the side of the stage to watch. Okay, I needed to be a servant girl. I hunched down and pretended to be scrubbing the floor.
    Reilly went up to Ox. “Beast, I have a terrible task ahead of me. I need your help. I need to find my true love and slay dragons. Will you help me,