The Show Must Go On! Read Online Free

true! She had gotten the lead!
    â€œAnd I got Rachel!” Melissa added, pointing to her own name on the list, right below Bree’s.
    â€œI—I can’t believe this,” Bree said, for a moment not knowing whether to celebrate or to run and hide.
    â€œIf you think you can’t believe it, wait until Tiffany finds out!” Melissa said.
    â€œWait until I find out what?”
    Tiffany shoved her way to the front of the crowd. Her eyes opened wide and she pursed her lips tightly together as she read down the list. “Ugh. This is so wrong!” she whined.
    â€œWhat’s wrong about it, Tiffany?” Melissa asked. “You auditioned; Bree auditioned. She got the part.”
    â€œBut I am so much better than her,” Tiffany complained. “I have to be in this play.”
    â€œBut you are in the play,” Melissa pointed out. “You’ve been cast as Millie, the ghost who haunts Carrie’s sleepover. It looks like you’re more suited to play the ghost.” She caught Bree’s eye and winked, holding back a giggle at her own joke.
    â€œIt’ll be fun to work together, Tiffany,” Bree said. In a weird way she felt sorry for Tiffany. It meant so much to her to play the lead.
    â€œI don’t need your pity, Wallflower,” Tiffany barked. Then she turned and stalked away from the crowd.
    â€œSee you at rehearsal, Tif!” Melissa called after her.
    â€œLis, don’t,” Bree said. “The more upset you make her, the more she’s going to take it out on me.”
    â€œOh please, Bree,” Melissa said as the crowd began to break up and head off to their classes. “She’s got togrow up. She can’t always get everything she wants. You won that role fair and square.”
    â€œI wonder,” Bree replied, her thoughts drifting back to the previous day. The play has been waiting for you.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Melissa asked.
    â€œWhat? Oh, nothing. I’ve got to get to class. I’ll see you at rehearsal.”
    â€œSee you at rehearsal . . . Carrie !” Melissa called out.
    â€œGood-bye, Rachel !” Bree shouted back. She was thrilled that her best friend would be there with her every step of the way. But there would still be Tiffany to deal with, not to mention the play itself.

    At the first rehearsal the next afternoon, Bree made her way to the auditorium. Stepping inside, she found a bunch of students up on the stage, hard at work putting together the set for the show.
    Many plays had been put on in this auditorium over the four decades since the middle school had opened. And so it was no problem for the students who had volunteered to work behind the scenes on the play to rummage through old scenery and props to make a new set.
    The main set for the play was Carrie’s bedroom. Bree stared at the stage, watching the set decorators hard at work. They had been at it for only a little while, but she could see that when it was completed, it really would look as if Carrie lived in a haunted house. The walls of Carrie’s bedroom, which now stood stacked in a row waiting to be set up, were cracked and peeling. Cobwebs dangled from the corners.
    A dusty, damaged chandelier sat on the stage, waiting to be hung. When it was fully wired, it would flicker on and off, as offstage, a student operated a light switch set up to control the chandelier.
    A spotlight was being set up. It would be placed outside a fake window built into one of the walls. Turning this spotlight on and off quickly would create the illusion of lightning flashing outside during a thunderstorm scene.
    On the back side of the window, a pair of tattered old shutters hung loosely. Poles attached to the bottom of these shutters would allow unseen students backstage to flap them during the storm scene, as if the wind were fiercely blowing them back and forth against the house. An old piece of tin with a handle on the