Page 149 of Pride High 3: Yellow

“I’m not any good!” She looked to Diego for help. “Tell her!”

“She’s got killer moves,” Diego replied. “And she’s got this.”

“What? No!”

“Yes,” Keisha said firmly. “We only have understudies for the lead roles. Anybodys is a minor part, but she’s still important. Where’s her costume?”

“Right here.” Mindy took it off the rack. “Jamie isn’t the same dress size as me.”

“Good thing it’s not a dress then,” Keisha said, holding the outfit up to her.

Anybodys wore boyish clothes, including pants. Mindy would only need to tighten the belt a notch. And then go on stage in front of hundreds of complete strangers!

She swallowed, her mouth already dry. “I don’t know…”

“See all those people?” Keisha said while pointing at a cluster of theater students. “Somewhere in the middle of them, the director is losing his mind. I need to go over there and tell him some good news or the entire production is going to fall apart.”

Mindy looked to Diego again, who shrugged.

“Normally I wouldn’t give a shit,” he said, “but I’ll never hear the end of it from my mom if she showed up here for nothing.”

“Okay,” she heard a voice say that sure sounded like her own.

“Good!” Keisha pushed her toward the curtained-off booth they used as a changing room. “Get dressed. It’s showtime in twenty minutes.”

Mindy felt like she was tying a noose around her own neck as she put on the costume. When she left the changing booth, she was surprised to see Diego waiting nearby.

“Aren’t you nervous?” she asked.

“Nah.” Then he shrugged. “Maybe a little.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“Easy.” He tilted his head toward the stage. “I’ll show you.”

She followed him into the wings, where they could see the auditorium filling up.

“Do you give a shit about any of those people?” he asked.

“Of course I do!” she said in shock.

“Oh yeah? See that bald guy over there? The one who is holding his wife’s purse like a total dope?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“If you saw him walking down the street on any other day, would you care what he thought about you?”

“No,” she admitted.

“Good. Because he doesn’t give a shit about you either. None of them do.”

She looked at him quizzically. This was the strangest pep talk she’d ever received. But it did make a certain amount of sense. She spotted someone who reminded her vaguely of her aunt and the result was the same. Normally, she wouldn’t worry what the woman thought of her. “But what if I forget my lines? I’ll be the laughing stock of the whole school!”

“Maybe you will,” Diego said with an apathetic shrug, “but who cares what a bunch of assholes think?”

“You’re right!” Mindy said, standing up straighter. “Why should I listen to what mean people have to say? Our friends and families love us no matter what, right?”

Diego cocked an eyebrow at this. “If you say so.”