1. He's perfect for the part
2. You're my obsession
3. A question of morality
4. Could I really love a man who could do something like this?
5. A problem and a solution
6. A favor for a friend
7. The grace period
8. Trying to make things right again
9. The sort of spiritual experience eternal companions should share

• (character chart)
• (caution/disclaimer)

1. Young Women's
2. Youth Conference
3. Saturday's Warrior
4. Brigham Young University
• Gratuitous Love Scene
5. Polygamist
6. Temple Wedding
7. Orem High
8. Bordeaux Mission
9. Exmo Conference

There weren't that many girls' roles that were more important than mine -- just the roles of Pam and Julie, and in our production Pam actually had two people to play her. Pinky had given the part to both Laura and Linda Hobbs who were identical twins. Pinky must have figured that she couldn't choose just one of them for the part without the other one going ballistic, so she told them they'd have to have identical hair and costumes and let them divide their stage time among themselves.

In theory Pinky might have solved the problem of Laura and Linda both wanting roles by having one of them play Pam and the other play Julie. But that was out of the question since the role of Julie obviously had to go to Charlene Brooks, who was by far the best singer and dancer in the school. Apparently Charlene had even been in a beauty pageant once and hadn't done too badly according to a conversation of Laura and Linda I had overheard in the bathroom during the auditions. They had been saying that Charlene's talent entry for the pageant was a song and dance routine that was so fantastic that she surely would have won the pageant if only she had lost a little weight.

Charlene didn't seem fat at all to me -- she was thinner than Laura and Linda, for example -- but I supposed that they had different standards for this sort of thing in the beauty pageant world.

As soon as Walter and Jake were done with the second run through of their number, Pinky gathered the chorus of kids in the gang around the piano to sing Summer of Fair Weather. This wasn't really a formal rehearsal. Since it was the very first rehearsal, it was more a fun getting-to-know-you thing.

Walter walked away from the piano and stood over by the retractable vinyl accordion-wall that separated the main part of the room from the baptismal font. The entire production would be taking place here in this stake center where a lot of people had their ordinary church meetings every week. Seeing Walter unoccupied, Laura and Linda both immediately rushed over to him to compliment him on his singing. I was hoping to talk to him myself as well, but I knew that Laura and Linda wouldn't welcome me into their conversation.

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I could hear Walter thanking them sweetly and politely for their compliments. It sounded like he was trying to be humble -- after all, the song he'd been doing was called Humble Way -- but it was clear that he was in his element with this type of attention.

Before the rehearsal broke up I got to do a run-through of one of my numbers as well, but I didn't get a chance to talk with Walter. The best I got was that at one point he noticed me smiling at him and responded by winking at me. That made me happy as it seemed like a promising sign for the future. Of course he probably didn't even know who I was -- I mostly only knew him from observing him from a distance. Still, we were both in the number He's Just a Friend, so I figured we'd have plenty of opportunity to get to know each other better over the course of the next several weeks of rehearsals.

As Rex and I were getting into the car to go home, I noticed a lady sitting on the grass just outside the stake center, smoking a cigarette.

"Look, that lady's smoking right outside the church building!" I said to Rex.

"What?" he asked. He looked over at the lady and then back at me with a puzzled expression. "That's Jake's mom. Don't you remember Pinky introducing her? She's involved in Pinky's community theater group and she's going to be acting as the assistant director for this play."

"Won't that be a little weird?" I asked. "I mean, doing a church play in a church building, and the assistant director sneaking out for a smoke all the time?"

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