“Not sure what happened to the last list,” he said, surveying the crowd for signs of guilt. “But this new one is going up now. If anyone would like to sign up for auditions, please put your name here by the end of the day.”

Berry snuck a look at me from behind her textbook.

I raised my hand. “I can put it up in the hall,” I offered.

Mr. Davidson handed me the sheet with a flourish. “Thank you, Anne.”

The bell rang just as I was pressing the last piece of tape onto the wall. I wrote my name on the top line.

“So, I don’t GET it.” Sarah stepped up behind me, her whole face a pinch. “You think because you dress like a freak you can, like, act or something?”

I swiveled on my glittery heel. “What did you say?”

“I SAID”—Sarah looked around, maybe not expecting a request for a clarification—“you think just because you dress like a freak you can act?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” I said. “Won’t we?” I held out my pen. “You signing up, too?”

Gilly and Tanner stepped into the hallway. Tanner walked up next to Sarah while Gilly leaned on a locker, looking in the other direction.

Sarah stared at my pen like it was a worm. “Uh, no. Thanks.”

“New girl bothering you?” Tanner asked, putting a protective arm around Sarah’s shoulder.

“Yes.” Sarah pouted. “She IS.”

My heart started beating in my throat.

I am a smart bird, I told myself. I am multidimensi onal.

“You know”—I twirled my pen around my thumb—“freaks invented theater. It was like the weirdest job you could have, like in England when Shakespeare was around, it was the weird job. And only freaks could do it. The grand history of theater is not a history of normal people. It’s of people who are willing to take ri sks.”

Berry emerged from class.

“See you at auditions.” I waved.

Greenville didn’t have room for me? I would make room.

Too small to push me down a hill? Was that what she said?

Like maybe it was about seeing your own weight and size, to see how much bigger you are than someone else’s small ideas.

“All good?” Berry asked, leaning into me as we exited, past Gilly, who glowered at me from lowered lids.

“All good,” I said.

After a celebratory high five, Berry split for band practice, and I skipped all the way home from school.

All the way home, I kept having this feeling, which I get from time to time. A feeling like a sparkly balloon in my chest. A slightly nervous but also good feeling.

Like something was about to happen.

TWELVE

In my up-to-then high school theatrical career, I had been in six school plays. Generally I am not the lead. But there are, as theater people know, no small parts, only small actors.