Page 59 of Everything's Coming Up Rosie

Taylor:Brilliant women make their own luck. <3

Maya:Go get ’em, queen!

Things Icouldtell my friends but don’t:

That I’ve met some really fun friends.

That the theatre smells familiar.

That I’m helping save elderly theatre. My brain thinksresuscitateelderly theatre,but that sounds cruel. And hilarious.

That having my own cottage makes me feel more like an adult.

That I don’t need Maya’s stupid dating app because there is amanhere who is making my stomach flutter.

And that I have very mixed feelings about that last one.

Chapter 15

Monday morning, I sit straight up in bed, eyes wide, like someone poked me with a cattle prod.

I also feel like I swallowed a jar of butterflies.

Today I will meet my team, and tomorrow—auditions. Once we start auditions, we’re off and running. There’s no turning back.

Once I’m showered and ready, I stare at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Yep. We’re doing this,” I say out loud.

“Heck yeah, we are!” Daisy calls from somewhere in the cottage, and I realize I really need to be quieter when pep-talking myself.

She appears in the doorway behind me. “You look a lovely shade of pale green this morning.”

I give a double thumbs-up.

“Oh stop, you’re going to be so great!” She grins. “Unless you’re not, in which case Belinda will eat you alive.”

I groan. “Your pep talk needs work.”

“Buteveryone elsewants you to crush it,” Daisy says, wiggling her pointer fingers at herself. “So. You know. Just go do that.”

“I guess...” I pause, trying to make it make sense. “It’s that same feeling I get whenever I get onstage or land a role or stand in front of a crowd. No matter the prep, seconds before it’s my line or my solo or my scene, I have no idea what comes next. But then I open my mouth and the right words come out and everything’s fine.”

“And that’ll happen here too. You’ll open your mouth, and the right words will come out.” She squeezes my shoulder. “Everything will be fine.” A little shrug. “Besides, you know way more than anyone else here,” she says. “So just fake it till you make it.”

I smile as I roll my eyes. “Ooh, such a cliché.”

“Hey,” she says. “It’s cliché because it’s true.” She narrows her eyes. “Look at me. I can do a better pep talk.”

I turn, tilt my head, and brace myself.

“You don’t have to have it all figured out today. Just focus on what’s in front of you.” She takes me by the shoulders. “You’re smart and capable and crazy talented at all this acting and dancing and music stuff.”

“You know we just met a couple of days ago,” I say.

She shakes her head as if to say that’s ridiculous. “Pssh...” She waves me off. “It’s true. You can’t go in that room defeated, Rosie. Be the Riveter! Yes, we can!” She makes a muscle like the famous poster in the mirror.

I try to conceal a smile, but I fail, which Daisy is visibly pleased about.

“Do you want to get breakfast before you go?” she asks.

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