I checked and saw I had two new messages from Carina, both sent ten minutes ago.
Carina: Lavinia wants to see you
Carina: I think it has to do with the staff showcase **eyes emoji**
A groan swelled in my throat.
The last thing I wanted was to talk to the director in my current state, but I didn’t have a choice.
I took one last deep breath and dragged myself to my feet. Pins and needles shot through my leg. I had to pause and wait until they subsided before I shuffled to Lavinia’s office.
Carina’s eyes widened when she saw me. “Are you okay?”
“Do I look that bad?” I joked, but my voice came out hoarse and weak.
“No. You just…here.” She fished a wet wipe out of her purse and handed it to me. “For your makeup.”
One glance in the mirror hanging on the wall revealed my tear-smudged eyeliner and mascara tracks. Crap.
I quickly fixed myself and gave Carina a wan thanks.
“No problem. Good luck in there.” Her concerned stare followed me until I entered Lavinia’s office and shut the door behind me.
Per usual, the director cut straight to the chase.
“I’m sorry for the last-minute summons, but I figured I should tell you sooner than later.” If she noticed my shaky state from behind her desk, she didn’t comment on it.“Yvette is no longer a member of the RAB staff. Therefore, she can no longer play the role of Lorena. You’ll have to take over as the lead in the staff showcase.”
The announcement was so sudden, so unexpected, that my shock temporarily outpaced my fatigue. “She resigned?”
Yvette and I didn’t interact much, but she was a long-time employee of RAB. I couldn’t imagine her quitting in the middle of the school year, especially when she’d been cast as the lead in the staff showcase.
“Not exactly.” Lavinia’s mouth pursed with displeasure. “It has come to my attention that she was responsible for a certain…disturbance at our school earlier this summer.”
Disturbance? There hadn’t been any disturbances at RAB except for…
The paparazzi.
My jaw hit the ground. Yvette was the one who’d tipped the paps off about Asher? Why?
“I’ve been investigating the source of the leak that led to the disturbance,” Lavinia continued, deftly alluding to the situation without outright saying what it was. “I do not take kindly to trespassers, nor do I condone any actions that jeopardize the safety and privacy of our students and staff. I can’t share details, but since you were one of the directly affected parties, I can tell you that Yvette’s involvement was substantial enough to warrant her departure.”
My head spun, but this time, it had nothing to do with overexertion. “Do you know why she did it?”
The director’s elegant shrug indicated she didn’t particularly care. Punishment had been meted out, and that was what mattered.
“Money makes people do strange things.” She examined me, her expression shifting from distaste to inquisitiveness. “Will taking over her role be an issue?”
I’d been so caught off guard by the Yvette revelation that I’d glossed over the reason Lavinia called me in here.
She wanted me to take over as the lead in Lorena.
Me.
The lead.
Not an understudy waiting in the wings, but the star attraction, the one who everyone would be watching.
She couldn’t have picked a worse time to tell me if she’d tried.
My tongue took on the taste and texture of the Sahara. I opened my mouth, but no words rushed to my rescue.
I sat there, pinned like a bug beneath Lavinia’s stare while my body quaked from the aftermath of my rehearsal.
Performing again in theory was one thing. Actually doing it was another.
I pushed myself in practice for me. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, but I’d always operated within the safe confines of my understudy role.
Yvette’s departure shattered those confines and exposed me to the terror of putting myself out there again. I remembered how badly I’d screwed up my first and, so far, only rehearsal with the cast. How hard I’d had to push just to get through today’s thirty-minute practice.
It didn’t matter that I’d gotten through a majority of my practices without incident. It only took one bad night to screw things up, and since the December staff showcase was a one-time performance, I didn’t get a second chance. I needed to be perfect.
Panic drenched my palms with cold sweat.
“Scarlett?” Lavinia prompted.
“Yes. I mean, no. I mean…” I winced when her eyebrows arched. “That won’t be a problem.
“Good. I’ll let the rest of the cast know. Tamara will reach out with more details.” Lavinia peered at me over her glasses. “I expect cast rehearsals will go smoothly in the future.”
