“This is it,” the voice on the other end said cheerfully. “Can I help you?” I narrowed my eyes. Were we being robbed? By someone very polite?

“This is Kat Thompson,” I said. “I live there and I need to talk to my parents. Who is this?”

“Oh, gotcha,” the voice said. “This is Willa, I go to the high school? I’m babysitting for Grady tonight, you want to talk to him?”

“No,” I said quickly, since I was on the clock here and Grady would probably just tell me the day the first pay phone had been invented. Why had my parents gotten a babysitter? When I’d left them, everyone had been talking about getting pizza and staying in for the night. “I need to talk to—” I started, but Willa was talking over me, her words coming out in a rush.

“I’m actually—I don’t know if you remember me? I auditioned last year for Noises Off? I actually read with you in a scene? I didn’t get cast, but I ended up helping out with concessions during the show. You guys all did such a good job.”

“Oh. Okay. Um—”

“And I auditioned for Lear, too, and I’m hoping to just get ensemble. But I’m sure you’ll get a big part. You’re one of the stars—you’re Kat Thompson!” I couldn’t help but notice she said my name the way I said Amy Curry’s. “Anyway, I guess we’ll find out on Monday?”

All at once, it was like my fog of panic vanished and I could suddenly see myself clearly. What was I doing? If I told my parents where I was—and what I had done—I wouldn’t be allowed to be in Lear, even if I did get Cordelia. And I’d have to tell Mr. Campbell the reason why. And he’d be so disappointed in me.…

My mind was racing, now that I’d moved beyond run to my parents for help. Maybe I could still make this work. Yes, I’d panicked, but finding out that your best friend has just abandoned you in a subway station can do that to a person.

“So, want me to tell them that you called?”

I blinked, trying to focus. “Oh—um. No. Where are they, anyway? Did they go get dinner?”

“No, they went into New York for the night,” Willa said cheerfully, clearly not realizing that she’d just given me terrible news on multiple fronts, like it was suddenly the Napoleonic war over here.

“They—what?”

“I think they said they were going to an engagement party? They gave me the address where they’ll be… just hold on a second.” There was a pause, then three beeps sounded through the phone. What did that mean? Was the phone about to explode or something? Or, even worse, was I running out of time?