In their English class when they all took turns to read aloud from whichever book the teacher had chosen, Nicole threw herself into the task with voices and actions. It was after one of those lessons where the whole class had insisted she read for the entire time, because Nicole actually brought a boring book to life, that the teacher had taken her to see the head of drama.

As they’d walked into the room the teacher had pushed Nicole ahead and said, “I’ve found you a star.”

Nicole had glanced over her shoulder to see who the star was, and it had taken several moments to absorb the fact that the teacher had been talking about her. She’d soaked up the praise like a thirsty plant absorbs water, and she’d never forgotten those words or that encounter because it had been the start of everything.

The drama teacher had given Nicole several parts to read and then immediately offered her the lead in the school play.

Nicole had all but floated home on a tide of praise and approval. Finally, she’d found the thing she was good at. This was her gift.

She couldn’t wait to tell her mother and see her clap her hands as Amy’s mother had, or beam with pride like Tina Pearson’s mother had when Tina had stumbled onto the stage to receive a prize for her short story.

But Nicole’s mother hadn’t done either of those things. Instead she’d banned drama class. You won’t get your grades up by prancing around being an exhibitionist.

Nicole had understood then that she would never make her mother proud.

I’m not enough, she’d thought, I’ll never be enough.

But for the drama teacher she’d been enough, and that was all the encouragement Nicole needed. She’d discovered something she excelled at, and it gave her an alternative to being herself. She could pretend to be someone else. She could step into another person’s life, which seemed infinitely better than her own. There was no way she was giving it up.

And having made that decision, it worked to her advantage that her mother’s interest in her was limited. Thanks to the demands of her job as a surgeon, she was rarely home.

Nicole had forged her mother’s signature on the permission slip for drama classes and told her mother she was having extra tuition at school.

And that had been the beginning.

She worked hard enough at her academic classes to make sure she didn’t draw attention to herself, but the best few hours of the week were her drama classes. She paid more attention in that one class than she did in all the others put together. She absorbed every instruction.

When you’re playing a part, you don’t just pretend to be someone else, you become someone else. You are that person.