Free Life in the Lucky Zone (The Zone #2) by Patricia B. Tighe

and you’re my son, Arthur.”
    He just stared at me.
    I flicked my hand toward his chair. “Sit.”
    “I just don’t see—”
    “You will.” I sat in the front chair, waiting for him to follow my example.
    “Okay, okay.” Up on the riser, he wedged himself into the chair, his knees sticking out on either side of the seat in front of him. We stared at each other in the mirror.
    “Here’s the challenge,” I said. “Your lines were much better today, but let’s do some of them again.” I pointed to us in the mirror. “This is what the audience sees. Pretend there are people in the empty chairs. There’s no use acting like a kid by jiggling your right leg or scratching your foot if the audience can’t even see it.”
    He slumped a little, losing the tight look of his shoulders. “Oh.”
    I gave a short nod. “Right. So, Arthur, your older sister is sitting beside you and your father is driving. Now that you can’t run around, how do you bring out the character of a thirteen-year-old boy?”
    Berger looked at the space around us. “I can bug my sister.”
    “How?”
    “Depends on the dialogue. But I could pull her hair or elbow her.”
    “Good. Okay, let’s try a few lines.” I flipped through my script quickly, looking at Arthur’s lines. “All right. Right here, your line at the bottom of page twelve.”
    Berger turned the pages of his copy. “‘Ma, when is the next comfort station?’”
    I answered him as Ma Kirby, then had to do the lines of his character’s sister, Caroline. We’d just finished going over that section three times when light applause rang out across the room. Mrs. Mac walked into view. “Very nice. I knew it was a good idea to put you two together. I don’t need a report tomorrow; I can see how well you’re doing. Just keep up the good work.”
    My breath caught in my throat. This was not something I’d have wanted her to see. I hadn’t really been acting, just feeding Berger lines. I’d also been directing him, which was really close to stepping into her role. Did it bother her? I wasn’t sure. She still looked pleased with us, so that was good.
    Berger, on the other hand, had hopped off his chair and turned bright red at Mrs. Mac’s words. Ha. I’d never seen him blush before. I had to admit, it was kind of cute.
    “We’re all finished,” Mrs. Mac said, gesturing toward the auditorium. “So, you can call it a day as well.”
    “Oh, okay,” I said. “We’ll just put this stuff back first.”
    “See you later,” Mrs. Mac said, walking toward her office.
    When she was out of sight, Berger swung toward me, his eyes huge. “That was good, right?” he whispered.
    “I think so,” I said quietly. “Maybe it’ll make a difference in who she picks for the play.”
    He grabbed his folding chair. “If we’re chosen, it’ll be both awesome and terrifying.”
    “Yup.” He’d summed it up in a nutshell. Acting still made me nervous sometimes, even though I’d been doing it for years.
    We leaned the chairs against the wall, but then, as we moved the riser, Berger’s gaze fell on my wrist. “Your bracelets look nice together.”
    “Thanks.” That was sweet, but I didn’t want him to examine them too closely. He’d probably ask what the words on each bracelet’s charm meant, and I really didn’t want to go there.
    I couldn’t suppress a smile, though. The bracelets had totally worked. Today was the best day I’d had in two weeks. In fact—I checked the time on my phone—it was 4:15. I was supposed to meet Jeremy Farina in the auditorium in five minutes, and I needed to be there so I could watch where he sat. If it was anywhere near Adam’s old seat, it would be more confirmation that my luck had changed. Hopefully for good.
    Berger and I started walking toward the wings. “Oh,” he said, “do you mind if we rehearse at my house tomorrow afternoon?”
    That might be interesting. I could find out what Dragon Boy’s lair looked like. “Sure.