Free I'm With Cupid by Anna Staniszewski Page A

your property, that’s fine. We’ll back off.”
    â€œI…” For some reason, Lena couldn’t form words. Why should she care if her friends liked Marcus? Sure, only two days ago, they’d been laughing at her for kissing him, but what did it matter to her if they were suddenly interested in him? Her friends could do whatever they wanted.
    But when she tried to tell Abigail that, the words still wouldn’t come out.
    â€œOkay, never mind,” Abigail finally said, probably getting tired of watching Lena gulping air like a fish. “Obviously you like him.”
    â€œI don’t like him!” Lena cried. Everyone in the room turned to look at her. Lena felt her cheeks go bright red, but she ignored the other kids’ stares and said in a loud voice, “Are we running lines or not?”
    Abigail shrugged and fished out a copy of the monologue. “People have crushes on other people, you know. It’s totally normal.”
    Lena didn’t answer. Instead, she pretended to read over the audition scene. So much for telling Abigail about what was happening with her. Her friend clearly wouldn’t understand. It seemed that when it came to this whole supernatural mess, the only person on Lena’s team was Marcus.

Chapter 12
    By the time the bell for last period rang, Lena had her nerves under control. She’d gone over the Alice monologue in the bathroom between classes, she’d spent all of lunch in the auditorium practicing, and she’d made sure to stay nice and hydrated throughout the day so that her throat wouldn’t be dry and raspy.
    She was ready. As she waited in the auditorium for the auditions to start, she couldn’t help imagining what things would be like once she got into the play. Her dad would be so proud of her that maybe he’d finally stop being the Tin Man for a minute and show some real emotion (without the help of any fake love spells). And her mom might even come see her on opening night instead of just doing her once-a-year visit on Christmas. But most of all, Lena would know that her dream of becoming a real actress one day wasn’t just some crazy fantasy. It could really come true.
    When everyone was gathered in the auditorium, Mr. Jackson stood up on the stage, holding a clipboard and adjusting his red bow tie.
    â€œAll right!” he called out. “Put your names on this sign-up sheet, and I’ll call you one by one.”
    There was a frantic dash to the clipboard as Mr. Jackson put it on top of the piano. Lena made sure to stand back so she wouldn’t accidentally brush against anyone, which meant that by the time she got to the sign-up sheet, she was the only one left. She scrawled her name after Abigail’s and went to sit in the front row.
    Then the waiting began. Abigail spent the whole time reading the monologue over and over, but Lena watched every audition, trying to decide who Mr. Jackson would cast for all the parts. She had a feeling that Emery Higgins would be the Cheshire Cat because of the gleaming braces on his enormous smile.
    With each girl who auditioned for Alice, Lena’s confidence grew. None of them were that great. The girl who’d gotten the lead last year was now in high school, which meant that Lena might actually have a shot. But getting the lead wasn’t the point, she reminded herself. Any part in the play would do. That’s all she wanted.
    Finally, almost two hours later, it was Abigail’s turn. The auditorium was pretty empty, since most kids had left after they’d auditioned.
    â€œBreak a leg,” Lena whispered as her friend headed up to the stage. She’d given Marcus a hard time about using that phrase, but she knew Abigail would be offended if she wished her good luck.
    Abigail stood in the center of the stage with her eyes closed for a minute, like she was meditating. Then she took a deep breath and started to speak, not as herself, but as