The Jumbee Read Free Page B

as Danielle Graaf?
    A low voice interrupted the silence. “Esti will try Juliet.” Lucia stood by the stage, her skinny arms folded over her chest. She gave Esti a brief, curious look.
    “Come on, then,” Mr. Niles said. “Esti—” He broke off and searched the theater with his eyes. When he finally found her at the back, he stared at her for a moment. “Legard.” This time he pronounced the name right.
    Still onstage, Danielle studied her with an inscrutable expression.
    “Let’s hear the balcony scene,” Mr. Niles said.
    When Carmen nudged her, Esti lurched to her feet. She tried to project confidence, but her sneakers boomed awkwardly against the hollow wooden steps.
    Danielle sauntered into the wings beside a stocky redheaded boy. “Doesn’t matter who she is,” the boy whispered in an overly loud voice. “You already got the part.”
    Esti spun away from them and forced herself to center stage.
    “Did you forget your script?” Mr. Niles asked.
    “I know the scene.” Esti focused on projecting without becoming shrill. “O Romeo, Romeo!”
    She closed her eyes, pretending she stood in front of her dad in his comfortable mahogany office. That was a scene she had played a million times. “Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
    “Shall I hear more,” a deep voice questioned softly into the air around her, “or shall I speak at this?”
    Goose bumps traveled up Esti’s arms, and her eyes flew open. She couldn’t see who had said Romeo’s words so beautifully, but it didn’t matter. She felt her tension twist and change into the hopeless frustration of Juliet. The rows of seats in front of her became a cluster of fruit trees on the Capulet estate.
    “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.” She leaned against an imaginary wall, looking out in longing over the moonlit orchard. “Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man.”
    She had fully immersed herself in Juliet, eagerly offering her very soul to Romeo in exchange for his name, when Danielle shoved her back into reality.
    “There you are, Greg,” the blond girl cried out. “Steve tried to convince me you weren’t coming today.”
    Esti looked around blankly, trying to remember where she was.
    “Esti, your mouth is open.” Danielle gave her an exaggerated look of apology, hurrying offstage with the redheaded boy. “Oops, sorry, Mr. Niles. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I thought Esti was finished.”
    “Esti,” Mr. Niles said thoughtfully, “please ignore Danielle and Steve. I’d like you to continue.”
    “I’m done,” Esti said, a sense of disorientation warring with her frustration. She felt like she’d banged her head against the stone wall.
    “You’re trying out for Lady Capulet too, aren’t you?” Carmen called up from the back.
    Mr. Niles raised his eyebrows. “Lady Capulet?”
    Esti slowly nodded.
    He studied her for another moment. “Danielle,” he called. “Get back up on the stage. Carmen, you might as well audition for Nurse right now, so come on. Let’s start at the beginning of Act One, Scene Two, where Juliet’s mother tells her to marry her cousin.”
    Carmen raced up the steps, clutching her tattered script. Behind her, Danielle sauntered back, looking pleased.
    “Go ahead, Esti,” Mr. Niles said.
    As Carmen held out the script to her, Esti shook her head. “Thanks, but I know it.”
    She cringed at Carmen’s expression, hoping they didn’t think she was showing off. Mr. Niles now looked somewhat as if Esti had arrived from a different planet.
    With a deep breath, Esti charged into the scene. “Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.” She spoke with as much maternal dignity as she could manage, but the magic of a moment ago had disappeared. She didn’t want to play Lady Capulet. She