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Looks like you and Caravaggio have so in common, Aria! Don’t think you’ll be spared frouiltiest of all --A

Chapter 27

BREAK A LEG, LADY MACBETH

On Saturday night, Rosewood students, parents, and townspeople crowded into the Rosewood Day auditorium for the one and only performance of Macbeth The air had an electrified, anticipatory quality about it, and within hts dimmed, the crowd quieted, the three witches took their places for the first scene, and the curtain opened Dry ice swirled around the stage The witches cackled and prophesized To the audience, everything seee it was chaos

"Pierre, I still needup to him in a servant’s uniform

"Pierre, where do they keep the armored vests?" Ryan Schiffer asked quietly

Seconds later, Scott Chin approached, too "Pierre, this sword looks really larade art project and lared at all of the a darker shade of pink His hair stood up in peaks on his head, his shirttail was untucked, and he had a single woh-heeled shoe in his hand for reasons Spencer couldn’t even begin to surmise Maybe it was another Macbeth superstition

"Why didn’t you people figure these things out a little earlier than five roaned

Spencer sat on a props box, s down the hee on opening night was one of her favorite tie, she felt nervous for her entrance, which was in a matter ofto herself, her first line But what came after that?

She rose froer brothers and sisters squirmed in seats, already bored Kids snacked on popcorn from Steam, the school’s coffee bar that had been transforht She could justinto the lens of a caht, Spencer’s performance tape would sway Princeton to choose Spencer J over Spencer F

But what if it didn’t go well?

A blond head in the audience caught Spencer’s eye Mrs Hastings sat four rows frohts Melissa and Darren Wilden were in the seats next to her, their eyes trained on the witches on the stage Astonishingly, Ah the prograray suit and tie, which made Spencer’s heart warm a little It was cute that he’d dressed up for this

Two aisles back, Spencer’s gaze halted on another face A redheaded girl watched the stage, chewing feverishly on a piece of gum Spencer clapped a hand over her s felt wobbly beneath her Then she saw the girl next to her and almost fell over Eether

Slowly, Kelsey’s gaze turned toward Spencer Her eyes narrowed She raised one hand and gave Spencer a three-fingered wave, her se and off-kilter Spencer lowered the curtain and staggered backward, tripping over a pile of discarded petticoats

"Hey"

Spencer shrieked and whirled around Beau stepped back and covered his face He earing a suit of arht? Not too nervous?"

"Of course not" But Spencer’s heart was thru ain Why was Kelsey here? Was she hoping Spencer would have a repeat of last night’s performance in the woods with Beau and blurt out all of her secrets on stage?

"Spencer!" Pierre strutted forward and looked Spencer up and down "Get over here and take your place for your first scene!"

For a moment, Spencer’s limbs wouldn’t move She wanted to run out the back door and all the way hoo out there--not with Kelsey in the audience But then everything went into warp-speed Pierre guided her toward the wings and out onto the stage The lights felt like hard, iron weights on her skin Faces from the audience tilted up at her; all of their sed and cruel She spied Kelsey in the audience iht at her, the sa, murderer? Kelsey’s voice from her vision cackled in her ear

We knohat you did! Tabitha crowed

The croas quiet, waiting Sohed Spencer knew she was supposed to say her first line, but she couldn’t reesticulations off-stage Then, a small voice whispered from behind the curtain "They met me in the day of success" It was Edith, the assistant dra Spencer’s first line Spencer had never had to use a prompter before

Her mouth flopped open like a fish’s A small squeak escaped from the back of her throat, ae Someone in the audience snickered

Edith whispered her lines again Finally, Spencer opened her h her first speech, but it took great effort to say each word She felt like she wasfrom the botto her attendant, entered the scene Spencer fuazed desperately at the blinking eye of the videographer, recording everything Her nervousness was infectious; Felicity missed a line, too, then tripped over a set piece By the ti was co to cry At the end of the scene, Spencer staggered off stage, feeling like she’d completed an Iron Man triathlon