Page 65 of Claim to Fame

The song ended and Molly leaned over to Hannah, whispering, “What did you think?”

“She’s great. She just needs to get out of her own way.” Molly nodded. “Do you mind if I pull her while you run the next scene?”

“Please, pull away!”

Amelia trotted down the stairs at the side of the stage, her head bowed and eyes focused on her feet, but Hannah headed her off at the pass, meeting her at the bottom of the stairs. “Amelia, right?” The girl’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. “I’m Hannah. You were great up there.”

“I was late on my second entrance,” she said, dropping her gaze.

“Yeah, but so were half the kids up there. You’ll get it. You have time.” Hannah walked with Amelia towards the back of the gym where one bank of bleachers had been pulled out to allow for seating.

Hannah took a seat on the bleachers and waited for Amelia to join her. The girl eyed her cautiously. “Were you really on Broadway?”

“I was, and I did national tours for years before that.”

“Anything that came through Providence?” Amelia took a seat next to Hannah, her hands pulled into the sleeves of her sweatshirt and her shoulders hunched, like she would disappear inside the oversized clothing if she could.

“I was here withThe Little Mermaida few years back. I played Ursula.”

Amelia’s face brightened. “I saw that! You were so good!”

Hannah smiled. “Thanks. It’s a fun part.”

“Is that what you played on Broadway?”

“No. I was in the original cast ofBridget Jones’ Musical.”

“The one that’s coming to the movie theaters next month? With Jackson Hayes?”

Hannah’s smile faltered. She hadn’t planned on teenagers knowing who Jackson was. His usual fan base was closer to her age. “That’s the one.”

“Wait.” Amelia’s eyes narrowed. “You’rethatHannah? The one—” She reached inside her pocket for her cell phone, but Hannah pressed a hand to her forearm, stopping her.

“No cell phones in rehearsal,” she said, her mouth suddenly dry.

Had this been a mistake? How long would it take before word spread across whatever app these kids were using that Hannah Matthews had been spotted at a high school musical rehearsal?

Amelia lowered her voice. “What they wrote about you online was fucked up.”

Hannah wasn’t sure which specific fucked up thing Amelia was referring to, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She definitely didn’t want to hash it out in the middle of a high school drama club rehearsal. “Let’s talk about you, Amelia. How excited are you to be playing Audrey?”

A shy smile flickered across Amelia’s face before she schooled it into submission, twisting the cuffs of the sweatshirt with fingers still hidden inside her sleeves. “I only got the part because of seniority. We were supposed to doHairspraythis year so I could play Tracy but Mr. Day, the principal, said we couldn’t put a boy in a dress to play Edna, so Miss. Proulx pickedLittle Shopinstead.”

Hannah debated diving into the transphobic bullshit that was denying high schoolers the chance to doHairspray, but decided it was not the time. She’d talk to Molly and Caleb about it later. Instead she asked, “Were you excited to play Tracy?”

Amelia shrugged. “It’s a good part.”

“It’s a great part. So is Audrey.”

Amelia shrugged again, focusing her attention on her cuffs. Hannah leaned back against the row of bleachers behind them, which, for the record, was much easier and more comfortable when she was seventeen than it was now at thirty-two. “You know, I always wanted to play Audrey.”

“You did?”

“Mmhmm. When they did a production in New Jersey a few years back I wanted to audition, but my manager wouldn’t let me. He said I didn’t look the part.” Amelia exhaled, her shoulders rounding even further. “Which I think was a bunch of bullshit.” Amelia’s eyes snapped to Hannah’s. “Did you know the only description of Audrey in the script is ‘honest, sweet, vulnerable, insecure. Attractive but not well educated.’ Nothing specific about what she looks like.”

“Attractive,” Amelia repeated.

“Right, but attractive to who? Do you and your best friend find the same people attractive?”

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