SHAY: lol this is kind of embarrassing, but what part did I get? didn’t get to check the list before I left school.

A loud honk pierces the parking lot, and I just about jump out of my skin. When I look up from my phone, there’s a large car hovering ten feet from us. Lex waves cheerily at the driver as we run out of its way. I get into the passenger seat of her car and stare anxiously at my screen. A photo comes through from Ed. I open it and find a picture of the cast list. And there, right at the top, is my name.

Oh my god. This can’t be happening. I zoom in on my name to confirm I’m not seeing things.

“I’m the lead. Mr. B cast me as Valeria.”

“What?” Lex screeches, yanking the phone from my hands. She stares at the screen as if it’s going to tell her I was joking.

“But I didn’t get a callback,” I say numbly.

“I guess Mr. B had already decided to cast you,” Lex says, fiddling with the screen. “Wow, Ana is playing Gabriela.”

Of course Ana is playing the other female lead. That’s just my luck. There is something deeply ironic about the two of us being cast to play sisters who love each other unconditionally.

I take back the phone and scan the rest of the list. Ed is playing Hector, one of the two male leads. Mikey, even though he didn’t get a callback either, is playing the other male lead, Valeria’s love interest, Oscar. Mateo is playing Miguel, the creep who tries to run away with Valeria and Gabriela’s little sister. And that’s the end of the Black and Latinx people in the cast. Brittany is playing Oscar’s sister, who has a big number in the second act. I didn’t think Brittany would be in the show since she was choreographing it. Also, since Oscar’s sister is the only role in the show specifically written for a Black woman, that could have been a nice, smallish part for me.

“I guess you better learn how to act,” Lex says.

I sigh and slump in my seat. “I feel like I was affirmative actioned. In a bad way.”

Lex gives me an “are you kidding” look. “That’s stupid. Mr. B has cast plenty of bad white actors. Remember Wizards of Brooklyn?”

Unfortunately, I do remember seeing that heinous piece of theater last year. The two seniors playing the main guys were such mediocre singers, dancers, and actors that I fell asleep out of self-defense.

“Those two wizards were totally cast as the gangsters because they were tall white dudes who looked kind of menacing. How is that different from him casting you because he thinks you’re Latina?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I am right,” she says, starting the car. “Music?”