"Oh crap!" Troy said one afternoon after a five minute search through the books and papers the Coppenhagen kids had dumped on the kitchen table after school. He sat back on the couch with a dejected sigh when he realized what he wanted was up in his room, and he was going to have to deal with Brian and his friend Richard to get it.

He looked towards the kitchen, where he heard his twin sister Yolanda's voice. He briefly considered asking her to go up to his room. It would be ten times easier for her to just knock on the door, smile her little smile, get the thing he needed and be gone.

But on the other hand, he didn't want her to know where he was going. Troy was headed to his best friend David's house to practice auditioning. There was a possibility the high school drama teacher would ask their seventh grade class to audition and he wanted to look like he knew what he doing. He wanted Yolanda to look good too, but with her and David liking each other they would get all goo-goo around each other and no one would get any work done. To squash the guilty feeling he had about leaving his sister out he promised himself he would practice with her after dinner. In the meantime, he decided he had better go get the script he left upstairs himself. He pulled himself off of the couch with another sigh and headed upstairs.

Troy couldn't understand why Brian and Richard were always at the Coppenhagen's house all the time. Richard was practically an only child, his stepbrother, Mike, was ten years older and had long since moved out of the house, so he and Brian could have had total privacy over at the Cudaghy's. And, Richard's parents didn't care if Maria and Anne went up into his room, a definite no-no at the Coppenhagens, a fact Richard never failed to rib Brian about when Brian got in trouble. Troy felt like saying, "If it's so much better at your house, go home!" But he figured it would be pointless to waste his breath defending Brian. In all the years Richard had teased Troy Brian had never once told Richard to shutup or to leave Troy alone. Not that Troy needed his big brother to stand up for him of course, but Troy should be able to go into his own room and get his script without Richard calling a theater fag, which was what he usually did.

When Troy reached the room he shared with Brian he saw Richard stretched out on Troy's bed rifling though all the things Troy happened to leave out: notebooks, scripts, homework. He glanced up as Troy entered.

"Hey Troy," Richard said with no preamble, "I got a question for you. Do you like girls?"

Troy tried to take the high road. "I like all kinds of people, except you."

"You see how I never get a straight answer?" Richard said to Brian.

"I probably never will get a straight answer about anything from you, huh sweetie? I heard your in a new play. Why don't you do a little dance for us?" Richard said. He held out the very thing Troy had come up for, the script.

"That's not even a musical, Jock Itch, give it," Troy said.

"I wouldn't know what kind of play it is, I'm a real man."

"Give it, Richard!" Troy said.

"Come and get it sweetie."

Troy made futile grasps as Richard switched the script back and forth between his hands. Troy stretched across to reach for the script in Richard's left hand, lost his balance and fell over onto the older boy.

"Hey, get off me, faggot!" Richard shoved Troy hard enough to land him on the floor. "Did you see him going for my package? Bri-man, you've got a serious problem here."

During this exchange, Brian had been flipping through a Sports Illustrated, unconcerned. "Get out, dink," he said now. "You're not supposed to be in here when I have people over," Brian said.

"Since when? Besides, he started it anyway." Troy tried to stand back up with some dignity, although Richard was now pelting him with anything he could find around Troy's bed. Troy grit his teeth as his possessions went flying around the room: books, pencils and tapes flew around his head.

Richard then threw the script at Troy's head with adept aim. Troy ducked, yelling, "Quit it dickhead!"

"You got your stupid script, baby, now get out," Brian said.

"You are such an asshole," Troy hissed at him.

Brian was unmoved. "Leave," he said evenly.

"But first clean up this pigsty!" Richard chimed in, "Look at this crap on the floor. I just don't know why you can't be neat like your brother!"

Brian's stern look collapsed as he laughed at his friend's mocking of a mother. "Shutup Richard."

Troy stomped out, nearly stepping on some of his things. He could barely hear Brian and Richard laughing over the blood rushing in his head. Without knowing why, Troy always came away from these confrontations hating Brian more than Richard.

He marched in the kitchen, snatched his jacket from off of a chair. Yolanda and Melissa were sitting at the table with their mother, Heather. All three watched as Troy jammed his arms in the sleeves of the jacket. He avoided Yolanda's glance.

"Can I go to David's ?" he asked his mother. "I'll be back for dinner."

Naturally, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Troy stood patiently while she looked at him.

"Okay," she finally said.

"What are you guys doing with the script?" Yolanda asked as Troy was about to turn away.

Troy groaned inwardly. "His dad's just going to show us audition stuff just in case, I'll show you when I get home, okay?"

Yolanda turned away from him, obviously hurt. "Do what you want, I don't care."

"All right, later then," he said. Yolanda didn't say anything as Troy went out.

"What's wrong with him?" Heather asked as Troy left.

Yolanda shrugged. "Richard Cudaghy always makes fun of him. I tell him Richard just does it to make him mad and to just ignore him, but he doesn't."

"It's not Richard, he and Brian are always fighting," Melissa said.

Yolanda rolled her eyes. "Melissa, just because you have some stupid little kid crush on Richard doesn't mean you know everything he does."

"I do not! Shutup Yolanda!" Melissa cried.

Heather glanced at Melissa but decided against making a comment. "Well, I'll talk to Brian," she said.

"Mom don't," Yolanda groaned, "it'll just make it worse."

The phone rang.

"I know that's not for me," mumbled Heather. She got up and walked over to the refrigerator.

"Me neither," said Melissa as the phone rang again.

Yolanda slid out of her chair, annoyed. Her mother had been pulled this since Brian and Pat became teenagers, acting like she and their father never got calls anymore because the kids were always on the phone. And Melissa never got calls since she had no life anyway.

She picked up the phone, wondering if it was Troy calling from David's.

She heard a shuffle of papers then an older boy's voice. "Hi is this Yolanda Coppenhagen?"

The voice sounded familiar. "Yes. Who's this?"

"Yolanda, that is not what we're supposed to say," whispered Heather.

Yolanda covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Mom, he knows me."

The voice chuckled. "Hi Yolanda, this is Jeff Kealy. Remember me? I'm the stage manager for Up the Down Staircase over at the..."

"Oh yeah, yeah! Hi!" Yolanda said.

"I was calling you to let you know that we decided to have callbacks for seventh graders."

"Oh, so you mean you guys are going to let us hang out while you do the play and everything? Mrs. Rome said you might." Yolanda asked. She knew she sounded too eager and immature, but he was a high school senior, so probably everything she said sounded immature to him anyway.

"Yeah, Mr. Rome liked what he saw that day in your class. So we're having callbacks. Are you guys free tomorrow?"

"You guys have rehearsals on Saturday?"

"Um, sometimes, but not yet. We decided to bring you guys in for your callback tomorrow so we can decide over the weekend and get the castlist out so we can start rehearsals."

"Okay, wait," Yolanda said, confused. "Our what tomorrow? I thought this was the callback."

Jeff laughed patiently. "I'm sorry, let's start over. By callback, I mean another audition to see if there are some parts you guys would be right for in the play. We need to bring you guys in over the weekend so we can decide on the cast and get to work next week. Understand?"

"Oh! You're letting us audition! Omigod, I'm sorry I'm being dense today! Yeah, sure we can come!"

"Great. Listen, can I talk to your mom? We have to let the parents know everything, you know how it is," he said.

"Oh, okay. Hold on." Yolanda put Jeff on hold and whirled around to face her mother.

Heather looked up. "Okay, so who's Jeff?"

Yolanda rushed over to her, stretching the already generous phone cord across the kitchen. Melissa ducked. "Jeff's the Stage Manager of the play at the high school. He wants to talk to you. Mom, they're having callbacks for us! They're going to maybe let us be in the play!"

"Oh! Well, hand me the phone, he's waiting." Heather held out her hand.

"Act natural," Yolanda instructed as scurried back to the phone to press the hold button.

Heather winked. "I'll try. Hello? Yes it is..."

"What's a stage manger?" Melissa asked when Yolanda sat back down at the table. Yolanda shushed her so could listen to her mother's end of the conversation.

"This is quite a solution. Very generous." Heather snapped her fingers at Yolanda and pointed to a pad of paper and a pen. She scribbled something down. "Okay, I'll have them there. You're pretty brave to handle all of them, are you sure you're up to this?" She said. She laughed. "Right, okay. We'll see you tomorrow. Thank you." She hung up and faced Yolanda. "Well kid, it looks like you two have an audition tomorrow."

"Yes!" Yolanda jumped up, hugged her mother then danced around the kitchen table. "Mom, tell me everything he said."

"He just told me the same thing he told you and what time to be there. Oh, and that you don't have to prepare anything, that they are just going to have you read from the script."

"He didn't say what part?" Yolanda asked.

"No, I guess they'll tell you that when you get there."

"Oh! I've got to call Troy at David's!" Yolanda rushed towards the phone and dialed the Sumner's number.

"Hey, what's going on?" Brian came in the room. Pat slunk in behind him. They sat on opposite sides of the kitchen table.

As she listened to the Sumner's phone ring, she found she was a little nervous; she didn't often talk to David without Troy there. When David picked up the phone she decided to jump right into the subject at hand. "David!" she cried. "Did Jeff Kealy call you yet?"

"Yeah, it looks like we might get in the play, huh?"

"By the way this Yolanda, in case you don't know who this is," she said with a little nervous laugh.

"I knew it was you, Yolanda; I know your voice," David answered.

Yolanda smiled. "Oh okay, I was just checking." There was a pause, and then she said, "My mom said Jeff said we're going to read from the script."

"Yeah, that's what a call back is. It's like they're deciding between you and whoever else," David explained.

"I hope it's me," Yolanda said.

"Why not? You're good," David said.

"Oh, I don't know...I mean you've been in a play and everything." Yolanda said. David's parents sometimes were in community theater plays, which they let David try out for. One season David played an orphan in Oliver!

"You've been in a play. Troy told me you guys were in The Wizard of Oz."

"David, that was like the whole fifth grade; they just picked who they wanted."

"Okay, so they picked you."

"Yeah, that's true. But not for a lead or anything, I was just the good fairy at the end. Kathey Templeman was the Cowardly Lion," she admitted.

"Well, anyway, I think you'll get in. How much you wanna bet?"

"I don't know." Yolanda was enjoying her herself hugely. She saw that her sisters and brother were watching her, so she turned her back to them and leaned against the wall.

"Tell Troy to come home for dinner," Heather said in the background. Yolanda frowned, giving her mother a short nod.

"I got it," David said, "I bet you that you're going to get whatever part you're reading for. Winner buys loser an ice cream sandwich at lunch when the cast list comes out."

"Okay, deal. I should finish setting the table. " Yolanda said.

"Okay, I'll be here thinking about how good that ice cream sandwich is going to taste," David said.

"Yeah right! We'll see. Oh! Tell Troy to come home."

"I will. Tell him to show you the stuff we were working on, okay?"

"Okay," Yolanda said. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye Yolanda." David hung up.

Yolanda hung up the phone and went back to the table with a casual air, despite the fact that her hands were shaking and the sound of David saying her name was still in her ear. He knew her voice, he said.

Naturally, the first thing Brian said was, "Who's David?"

"Nobody," Yolanda said.

"Hmm...whenever people say nobody, that's definitely somebody," Brian said to the kitchen in general.

Yolanda faced him with her hands on her hips. "Okay, so who's Maria?"

"Oooo," said Pat, Heather and Melissa together.

"Oh God, here we go," Brian said.

"You walked right into that one," Heather said.

"Hey Brian, Yolanda called him," Melissa said. Yolanda glared at her.

"Oh she did huh?" Brian said. He usually ignored Melissa, but was probably glad to get the topic of conversation off of Maria.

"They're meeting tomorrow," added Melissa, enjoying this rare attention.

"Melissa shutup, you don't even know what you're talking about," Yolanda said.

"I thought you were meeting Jeff tomorrow," Heather asked with a grin.

Brian feigned surprise. "Two guys?"

"You guys! Gimme a break," Yolanda said.

"You hussy," Brian said.

"Shut up," Yolanda hit him on the shoulder. "Jeff is the Stage Manager for the play at your guys' school. Guess what? We get to audition."

"Really? That's cool." Brian said. Yolanda often thought that if she were his age, Brian would get along better with her than with the moody Pat. A lot of times he talked to her like he did Anne and Maria, until he seemed to remember she three years younger. She supposed it was just as well, she couldn't imagine not being Troy's twin.

"David says that's probably because they want to cast another part and it could be some of us. me. And he should know because he's been in a professional play before."

Brian nodded. "Well, if David says so it must be true, huh?" he teased, poking her in the side.

"Ha-ha," said Yolanda. So would you go see the play if I was in it?" she asked, slinging an arm around his neck.

"Well, if I don't have clean out my toe jamb or something."

"Bri-an! I told you I was going to all your games!" Yolanda said. She stiffened her arm into a choke hold around his neck.

"Bri-an," he mimicked her voice. He slipped easily out of her choke hold, grasped her by the waist and flipped her upside down over his knee.

"Brian, I'm getting massive headrush!" complained Yolanda. She was still laughing while all the blood rushed to her head--it was an odd effect. Somewhere in the commotion she heard Troy's voice. He walked in the house from David's. Yolanda put her hands on the floor to steady herself, then craned her neck to look up at her twin. He stood over her, arms folded.

"Has Jeff called yet?" he asked as if Yolanda was upright and perfectly prepared for conversation.

"Hold on," she told him. "Brian!!! I'm going to faint or something and then you'll be sorry."

"Not as sorry as David," Brian said, letting her up.

"How does he know about that?" Troy asked.

"About what? I knew something was up!" Brian laughed.

Yolanda whirled to face Troy. "We'll talk about that later," she said.

"Whatever," Troy said shortly. He turned and left the kitchen, angry that he rushed home to talk about the exciting news with Yolanda, only to find her sharing it with Brian of all people. He sat down on the couch and opened his script. He tried to ignore the voices coming from the kitchen and above all, wonder why Brian could manage to be nice to everyone but him.

Yolanda was about to follow Troy out, but then decided not to. Troy always got weird when she talked too much to Brian. She figured for the most part it was easier on her life if she kept Troy happy, so she usually tried to talk to Brian when he wasn't around. But if was going to run off to David's to practice when he knew how much she wanted a part in the play and that she liked David, he could pout out the living room by himself.

"You two are going to have to get up early to go with Melissa and me to the high school. She has to go there for the math meet," Heather said to Yolanda.

"I'll show you where the high school auditorium is. I go there all the time," Melissa said.

"I think I can find it," Yolanda said, making an exasperated face at Brian, since Troy wasn't around.

"Is you know who going to be in the play?" Brian said.

"Maybe," Yolanda said, smiling.

Yolanda and Brian chatted all through dinner about Up the Down Staircase and varsity basketball. Yolanda learned that their callback list was called a roster, and it had been posted up in the gym. She promised Brian she would find it and look up his name.