Page 16 of The Perfect Hit

Colt appeared on stage, wearing his dirty baseball uniform and cleats. “Is it too late?” He didn’t seem to notice when I cringed at the metal cleats clicking on the stage.

I stared up at him, trying to decide if I was daydreaming that my best friend would come and be part of the play I’d written or if he was just a mirage. I smiled at his words and wondered what could have spurred him to come audition for a part. Was it because he wanted to help me after the confrontation with Scott at the diner? Or because he really wanted to take part in it?

Marcy grabbed my forearm and squeezed tightly. “Colt being part of this production? Can my day get any better?”

A ripple of irritation settled through me as I pictured her and Colt together. They would probably be cute as a couple, but things were going well in our friend relationship right now. And to see him willing to do something so out of his comfort zone for me made him that much more appealing.

As much as I didn’t want to have feelings for my best friend, those feelings took on a territorial vibe.

We sat back down, and I watched as Colt glanced out at the group, a slight panic crossing his expression. He was probably second-guessing himself, but I smiled, hoping he’d know that no matter what happened, I was excited he was there.

“Go ahead, Mr. Buttars,” Mrs. Sanderson said, smiling.

I leaned over to her and whispered, “How do you know him?” He’d never been part of the drama club and most likely didn’t have any classes with her as a teacher.

“I try to keep up with the baseball team here. My stepson is Coach Maddox,” she said, grinning. That was something I didn’t know.

I turned back to the stage, half hoping he’d do really well and the other half hoping he wouldn’t screw up and be embarrassed.

Someone handed him a script, and he glanced down at it, his lips moving silently as he read through some of the lines.

When he finally looked up in my direction, he asked, “Can I just be a background character? I’m fine with not having a speaking part.”

What should I say in that situation? My lack of experience was showing, and I dug around in my brain a bit, hoping some little thread of an explanation would come out.

“Go ahead and read some of it for us. Even though we need those secondary characters, it makes it easier to place you, knowing how you sound.” Thank you, Mrs. Sanderson.

I opened my notebook to write that down. Mrs. Sanderson kept spilling wisdom of the theater, and if I was going to direct again after this, I’d need to remember all this stuff.

Colt swallowed hard and glanced back down at the script, reading the secondary character. “‘What are you talking about?’” he read. “‘Don’t you know how much I’ve wanted this moment since forever?’” He paused, and Mrs. Sanderson nudged me.

I glanced down at the script, seeing the female secondary character’s part that corresponded to his lines. The use of the different lines was refreshing after the same ones for each audition. “‘Wanted what in forever?’” I said.

“‘To tell you that I like you. That I’ve liked you since the first day you moved in and said hello to me across the fence.’”

My chest constricted as I realized just how good Colt was at this. And how close to home all this was hitting. “‘But we’re friends, Trey. We’ve always been friends.’”

He glanced down at the next words and then gave a slight shake of his head as if that was all he wanted to do.

I skipped to the next line, which read,But I want more.

“Thank you for that, Mr. Buttars. We appreciate your trying out for the part.” She let her gaze turn to me. “Now is when you’ll tell them we’ll have parts posted by a certain time.”

I nodded and stood. “Thank you, everyone, for coming. We’ll be making the final assignments and posting them by tomorrow morning. We hope to get started right away on rehearsals because there’s only so much time before performance week. Get excited for our spring play!”

The students clapped, and everyone started cleaning up the stage as the bright lights turned off.

“How about we talk over the parts in my office?”

I nodded, scanning the stage and then the hall for Colt. There was so much to talk to him about, but it was like he’d just disappeared after we finished.

Once we were settled in, Mrs. Sanderson smiled at me. “Do you have someone you think will be good for the female lead?”

I nodded, thinking back to Marcy’s audition. “I think Ellie is perfect for it. Marcy would be a great understudy. Do we assign her a secondary part? She was kind of a surprise.”

Marcy had been one of the background characters inBeauty and the Beastin the fall, and she’d come out of her shell a bit for this audition.

“That’s a great idea. She did impress me with her audition.”

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