#james s

     “I’d tread carefully around Danny today.”

     I froze right in the middle of taking my backpack off, staring at Miriam. “Hi to you too? Why are we being careful around Danny today?”

     “‘Cause the cast list got posted,” Miriam said casually, “and he’s not happy with who he got.”

     I dumped my backpack unceremoniously to the ground. “The cast list is already up?” Miriam nodded. “Holy shit, I’ll be right back,” I shouted over my shoulder, already sprinting to the callboard outside the theater.

     And there it was. The cast for Northwood High’s fall production of The Music Man. I read the first name on the list, and my jaw dropped open in shock. Not just because Danny Jensen didn’t get the lead for the first time in four years.

     But because I did.

     All right, I’d played a lead before, but that was Rose Alvarez in Bye Bye Birdie. This year, my voice had finally dropped enough for Ms. Gaylin to consider me for the male roles (in the musical, at least—I’d been playing dudes in the spring play since freshman year). I just assumed I’d be one of the member of the school board, maybe Marcellus if I was lucky.

     Instead, I’d gotten cast as Harold fucking Hill, and I understood why Miriam suggested I watch my step around Danny. He probably figured he was a shoo in for the lead—almost all of Northwood’s strongest singers graduated last year, leaving Danny with no competition for the lead.

     At least until I got moved to the tenor section.

     “Hope Danny doesn’t decide to be too much of an asshole about this,” Miriam said, coming up behind me (out of nowhere) to sling her arm around my shoulders. “Congrats, by the way!”

     I just rolled my eyes. “Thanks. Of course, if Danny does throw a fit, I’m pretty sure Vaughan won’t hesitate to recast him. Remember how some random senior played Conrad Birdie for about two days—”

     “And then Vaughan told him not to show up for the next rehearsal ‘cause he kept misgendering you?” Miriam finished. “Yeah, I remember.”