Free Snap by Ellie Rollins

were anchored over the catwalk, then she leaned backward until she was hanging upside down above the spotlight. She reached out as far as her arms would go. . . .
    â€œKevin?”
    The voice came from the other side of the stage, where a woman had just stepped out from behind the curtains. Her hair was pinned back in cascading blond curls, and she wore a long purple gown.
    â€œWhat are you doing out here?” she asked, her voice thick with a Southern accent. “The show is about to start!”
    â€œOh . . . uh . . . hi, Lola.” Kevin straightened his bow tie and took off his cowboy hat, giving the girl a sheepish smile. Danya glanced up at the rafters. Pia’s fingers were two inches away from the ring. One inch . . .
    Â . . . and suddenly she was falling, cartwheeling through the air like some sort of giant Frisbee. Danya screamed, and Sancho reared back. Pia grabbed onto a rope at the last second—the rope that controlled the curtains, which swept open with a
whoosh
, revealing Danya, Sancho, Western Kevin, and Lovelorn Lola, all standing together onstage. Sancho snorted and trotted in place, suddenly shy. He pawed at the wooden stage, like he was trying to dig a hole to hide in. An audience of several hundred people blinked and stared.
    â€œKevin,” Lovelorn Lola said through a wide, forced smile. “What is going on?”
    Kevin was so white he actually did look a little like a ghost. His eyes darted over to the audience below and, for a moment, Danya worried he might faint.
    â€œI . . .” Hiccup, hiccup. “I mean . . .”
    â€œPsst!” Pia hissed from the rafters. Kevin glanced up and she tossed him something, which he caught in one hand. It glittered from his palm, and Danya gasped.
The ring!
    Gripping the ring tightly, Kevin held up the banjo and launched into song. . . .
    â€œBefore we grow one moment older
 . . .
I need your hand in marriage, my Lovelorn Lola. . . .”
    Danya tried not to cringe. Kevin’s voice was
bad
. It cracked a little, sounding off-key. A few members of the audience snickered and giggled. Danya looked over at Lola, wondering whether her reaction would be the same.
    For a long moment, Lola stood frozen, staring at Kevin with eyes as wide as two silver dollars.
    Someone watching shouted, “Kiss him!” Sancho’s ears twitched, and Danya put a hand on his nose. Her heart beat quickly in her chest. Finally, Lola’s lips curled into a smile.
    â€œYou always were tone deaf, you know that?” she said.
    Kevin stood up and held out his hand. “Maybe you could show me how it’s done?”
    As if on cue, Lola swept out into the center of the stage, facing the audience. She held her head back and took a deep breath . . . then let out the clearest, sweetest, most beautiful note that Danya had ever heard. Lola’s voice floated past the catwalk and the rafters, filling the entire space with music. Kevin was so excited he started to dance. Danya’s mouth fell open as he moved his skinny limbs across the stage, spinning and twirling around Lola with the grace of a ballerina. He held the banjo close to his chest, like it was part of the dance, too.
    Lola’s smile held firm as she sang. She spread her arms wide, like she could stretch that note as easily as stretching her back after a nap.
    When she’d finished, the note hung in the air all around them. Kevin stopped dancing and dropped down to one knee.
    â€œCan I take that as a yes?” he asked with a crooked smile.
    Instead of answering, Lola threw her arms around his neck. He lifted her off her feet and swept her in a wide circle across the stage.
    Danya stared, moon-eyed, her heart welling inside her. It was so romantic! Like a fairy tale. She looked up at Pia, and her cousin winked, as if to say,
I told you so
 . . .
    Danya would never admit