At her audition, George joins the boys and is expected to read the part of Wilbur. Instead, when it is her turn to speak, George closes her eyes and “felt herself as Charlotte and gave each word her full attention as it left her tongue” (69). Ms. Udell thinks that George’s reading Charlotte’s part is “supposed to be some kind of joke” and offers her a shot at the male parts in the play (70). George leaves devastated and even gets angry with Kelly when she tries to comfort her.

At home, George lies and tells Mom that she did not audition. Scott teases her about Kelly being her “girlfriend” and chides her for not auditioning when she rehearsed all weekend (76). George is enraged and throws her fork down with such force that it bounces off the ceiling and then off Scott’s head. George runs upstairs and cries. She contemplates throwing away her secret collection of magazines and then worries about being found out. In the end, she cannot bring herself to get rid of them.