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The line went dead before I could argue I shook my head and ran to catch up with Kari

School Not much to say about it People think art schools , classes full of happy kids, even the Goths as close to happy as their tortured souls will allow They figure art schoolsAfter all, et bullied in other schools

It’s true that stuff like that isn’t bad at A R Gurney High, but when you put kids together, no matter how similar they seeeeks and nobodies, you get artists and musicians and actors

As a theater arts student, I was lumped in with the actors, where talent seemed to count less than looks, poise, and verbal ability I didn’t turn heads, and I scored a fat zero on the last two On a popularity scale, I ranked a perfectly irl nobody thinks a whole lot about

But I’d always dreained Better yet, raduated, no matter how many times we moved That irl" I’d started at A R Gurney as a freshman, like everyone else Just like a norh, I didn’t feel nor about that boy on the street There were plenty of logical explanations I’d been staring at his lunch box, so I’dHe’d ju car at the curb Or swerved at the last second and vanished into the crowd

Thath ht there Ask hih can that be?"

’’Leave her alone," Beth said She reached overfroled it "Don’t kno you can miss this, Chloe It’s practically neon"

"She needs a stepladder to see that high," Kari said

I banged her with

Beth rolled her eyes "Coet a table"

We made it as far as Brent’s locker before Miranda elbowed lanced over… then quickly looked away My face heated and I clutched , dark hair brushed nore him"

"No, he’s not a jerk He just doesn’t like me Can’t help that"

"Here," Miranda said "I’ll ask hirabbed her arust "God, you can be such a baby You’re fifteen, Chloe You have to take uy until his mother tells you to leave hied "That’s Rob’syourself that"

That set them off for real Normally, I’d have jumped in and made the uys, but eren’t totally into them Miranda was--she’d had ing with us, it suddenly becah about being ihing when I’d admitted I’d never been on a real date So I invented a crush Brent

I figured I could just nah Not a chance Miranda had outedhim I liked him I’d been horrified Well, mostly There’d also been a little part of o "Cool I really like Chloe, too" Not a chance Before, we used to talk in Spanish class sometimes Now he sat tay, like I’d suddenly developed the world’s worst case of BO

We’d just reached the cafeteria when so toward me, his red hair like a beacon in the crowded hall He bu

"Hey," I said as he drew near

"Hey yourself Did you forget Petrie rescheduled filarde I know you love art filrets, then And I’ll tell Petrie you aren’t interested in directing that short either"

"We’re deciding that today?"

Nate started walking backward "Maybe Maybe not So I’ll tell Petrie--"

"Gotta run," I said to my friends and hurried to catch up with hie as always, where we’d go through business stuff and eat lunch Food wasn’t allowed in the auditorium

We discussed the short, and I was on the list for directors--the only freshman who’d made the cut After, as everyone else watched scenes froh my options for an audition tape I snuck out before it ended and headed back tountil I was halfway there Thenthe short list that I’d forgotten to eat

I’d left e I checked my watch Ten minutes before class I could make it

Film club had ended Whoever left the auditoriuhts, and I didn’t have a clue how to turn the able to see it Glow-​in-​the-​dark light switches That’s how I’d finance my first film Of course, I’d need someone to actually make them Like most directors, I was h the aisles, bashing ency lights, and I found the stairs leading backstage Then it got tougher

The backstage dissolved into s roohts, but so around the nearest wall and not finding a switch, I gave up The faint glow of h

Still, it was pretty dark I’m afraid of the dark I had soinary friends who lurked in dark places and scared me I know that sounds weird Other kids dreareasepaint told led with the unmistakable odor of mothballs and old costumes, didn’t calm me the way it usually did

Three more steps and I did let out a shriek as fabric billowed around me I’d stumbled into a curtain Great Exactly how loud had I screamed? I really hoped these walls were soundproof

I sweptand parted the curtains Ahead, I couldyellow sat on the top My bag?

Theinto darkness It was the perspective--the two curtained sides angled inward, so the hall narrowed Interesting illusion, especially for a suspense fil about the corridor as a movie set cal a jerkiness that wouldthe viewer in the head of our protagonist, the foolish girlthumped I started, and her I rubbed the goose bue noise, didn’t I? Cue the sound effects, please

Another noise A rustling So we had rats in our spooky corridor, did we? How clichéd Tiination and focus Direct the scene

Our protagonist sees soure--