“This is true,” I said, “for all the good it did me.” We didn’t have any pets, despite the fact that I’d begged for one for most of my childhood.

“Well, Ryan Camper’s in the clear,” Teri said. “He loves camping.”

Stevie smiled. “That’s great.”

“Wait, so do you have plans?” I asked, slightly annoyed that we’d gotten derailed before remembering that I was the one who derailed us. “I heard there’s going to be a party at the Orchard.…”

“I do have plans,” Teri said, shooting me an apologetic smile. “Ryan and I are going to Netflix and chill.”

Stevie just frowned; I jumped in. “You’re going to what now?”

“We’re going to watch movies together! I call him—or he calls me—and then we start the movie at the same time, so that we can talk about it as we watch.”

“I think you should call it a different name then,” I said, shaking my head. “That—means something else.”

“But you’re welcome to come Netflix and chill with us,” Teri went on, clearly not getting this. “I have a great lineup of movies tonight and all the best snacks.…”

I slowed down as we approached the theater building, my heart starting to pound again.

“What?” Stevie asked.

“Just,” I said, taking a deep, shaky breath, “about to go and meet my destiny.”

“I’m really glad that you’re keeping this in perspective,” Stevie said, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t you want to find out the casting?”

“Of course,” Stevie said a little too quickly. “Of course I do.”

I gave her a look as we started walking again. From the beginning, I’d been more focused on these auditions. I was the one suggesting we prepare our monologues and scene work; I was the one who’d wanted to debrief every night after each callback, speculating and theorizing for hours about what Mr. Campbell was thinking, which way he might be leaning. I’d just put it down to Stevie being sure she’d get Goneril and not even having to worry about it, but now I wasn’t so sure.

Emery Townshend was hurrying up behind us, doing that walk that’s almost running but not quite. “Well,” I said, letting out a long breath and nodding at Emery, “at least we’ll know soon. T minus forty-five minutes until the list.”

“Oh,” Emery said, turning to look at me, her eyebrows flying up. “Did you not hear?” We all just stared at her blankly and she smiled—Emery loved to be the one to break news. “I heard it from Erik. The list isn’t going up today.”

I grabbed Stevie’s arm and felt my stomach plunge as I stared at Emery. “Wait, what?”

CHAPTER 2

Okay, don’t panic,” Stevie said as we stepped inside the theater building.