Free I'm With Cupid by Anna Staniszewski Page B

Alice.
    Lena watched her, mesmerized, along with everyone else in the auditorium. Abigail was amazing. She even looked the part with her long, blond hair and bright-blue eyes. This was a far cry from the self-conscious girl who’d practically whispered her lines at last year’s audition.
    â€œWow!” Mr. Jackson said when she was finished. “You’ve come a long way!”
    â€œThanks,” Abigail said with a shy glance up from the stage. “I’ve been practicing a lot.”
    Mr. Jackson scribbled something on his clipboard and then called out, “Finally, Lena Perris!”
    Lena got to her feet and passed by Abigail, who seemed to be floating to her seat. Her friend didn’t even look at her, as if she were still lost in Wonderland.
    Don’t think about her , Lena told herself. Focus on your own audition.
    When she got to the center of the stage, her heart started bouncing off the sides of her chest like a basketball. She hadn’t felt nervous before, but now she could barely breathe.
    She glanced out at the crowd, and suddenly she noticed the colors shifting around her. Oh no. Please, don’t let this happen now.
    But it was too late. Suddenly, two eighth graders in the back of the auditorium were glowing yellow, sparks fluttering between them. Had Marcus zapped them recently? And a sixth-grade girl in the middle row had a pale gray aura around her as she stared at a skinny seventh grader with an odd, hungry look on her face.
    Lena closed her eyes. Stop it.
    â€œIs everything all right?” Mr. Jackson called.
    Lena forced her eyes open and sighed in relief when she saw the auras were gone. “Fine,” she said. “Sorry. I’m ready.”
    Then she cleared her throat and pushed Alice’s words out of her mouth. They oozed out slowly at first, like molasses, but then they began to pour out more quickly until finally she wasn’t thinking about them anymore, she was just saying them. Before she knew it, the monologue was over.
    She expected Mr. Jackson to tell her “good job” or at least to say “thank you” like he had to all the other kids, but he only glanced at the sign-up sheet and said, “Looks like that’s it for today. I’ll have the cast list posted tomorrow morning.”
    As Lena staggered to her seat, she spotted Eddie in the back of the auditorium, waving to her. Then he ducked out into the hall. Why was he here?
    She quickly told Abigail “good job” and then rushed outside. She found Eddie examining the trophy case near the main office.
    â€œDo you think one day they will give trophies for hover-boarding?” he asked dreamily. “Imagine a whole team of kids flying around a track.”
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” Lena asked.
    Eddie turned to her, his face growing serious. “The boss lady called me. She said the situation has gotten worse?”
    Lena nodded. “Our powers are acting up for no reason. I mean, Marcus killed a rosebush just by touching it!”
    Eddie gave her a skeptical look. “Things like that should not happen. It’s not possible.”
    â€œBut they are happening. I kept seeing auras during my Alice audition, and you don’t even want to know what’s going on with my dad.”
    â€œIt has to be from you two getting your wires crossed.” Eddie shook his head. “This is serious. If your powers are flaring up when they are not supposed to, that could throw off the whole balance of things.”
    â€œYou mean we’re going to cause a black hole or something?”
    â€œNot exactly, but there is an order to how things are supposed to happen. The more you change that order, the harder it is to make everything right again. Next time you feel your powers acting up, the two of you need to control them, okay? Take deep breaths and focus on calming the energy.”
    â€œThat’s it? We could accidentally make the world explode,