I wiggled around the kid tulips and bumped them on their heads to help them grow. Then the sun danced over but he went to the wrong place. I tripped on my ribbons and the tulips all giggled. The sun tapped his foot because I had to say something. I looked out at Gloria. She kept sticking her thumb up. My heart was racing like crazy. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say. Something about saying goodbye to spring or hello to summer. I’d practiced and practiced, and my teacher told me when we practiced all together “You’re ready!” but I wasn’t ready. The sun stared at me with his spike paper thing around his head. I looked out at the front row and Gloria’s thumb was gone. Telly was nodding his head, but Gloria’s smile fell off her face. I blinked. All the tulips laughed louder and louder. The people watching the show were laughing too. There was a lot of roaring in my ears. The sun stuck his elbow in my neck. One of his paper spikes poked in my eye. “Outta my way, stupid.” I got out of his way. I put a hand over my hurt eye. I held my breath. Everyone in their chairs made an aww sound.

After it was all over, Gloria and Telly and Rowan all came to the classroom to pick me up. Telly gave me a giant hug and said, “You did an amazing job, Bids. I was so proud.” I wiped my nose real hard. Then he got down on one knee. “Now, you listen to me. Don’t you feel one bit bad about yourself. Every single actress you see in movies had stage fright. Forgot a line or two. It’s part of learning.”

“Really?” I said. I couldn’t stop looking at his teeth. They were white like a camera flash.

“Absolutely,” he said back. “In fact, if you didn’t have it, I’d say you weren’t a serious actress at all. Feeling nervous, having a few good slip-ups, that’s par for the course. How do you think you grow?”

He hugged me again, and the bad pain in my middle went away.

“And you’re coming back for cake, Telly,” Gloria said. She stood in front of me. “I insist. Maisy and me made cherry and chocolate.”

His voice turned strange then. Not nice no more. “Can’t.”

“What?”

“We got something on, Glow.”

“We?”

“Yep. Can’t manage it.”

“You got to be kidding me. Now’s the time to celebrate your daughter’s achievements.”

“And I will. Just not tonight. You understand don’t you, Bids?”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“It’s okay,” Gloria said in a silly way.

Rowan tapped his shoulder. “But I got to talk to you, Telly. I really got to talk to you about stuff.”