YA Realistic Fiction. New girl gets a bit part in high school play, says one line before getting shot with stage gun. Popular girl with leading role is jealous of her talent, gets popular guy to spread nasty rumor about new girl. Read mid 2000s. Spoilers.

[Meghan Rose]

YA realistic fiction. Read sometime in the mid-2000s. New girl in town gets a bit part in the school play. She has one line before getting shot. It's a small role, but needs a lot of rehearsing. there's a scene in the book where she and her stage partner are having fight rehearsal and she's shot and falls again and again. She's got natural stage presence, so earns the respect of the director and, more importantly, the admiration of popular guy, who falls for her fast. Popular girl, on the other hand, is wicked jealous. She has the lead role in the play, but she doesn't like anyone stealing her thunder. At a cast party, she convinces popular guy to badmouth New Girl for a chance to feel around under her shirt. He succumbs, immediately regrets, but damage done, especially when Popular girl shows up to school wearing Popular Guy's signature plaid shirt. New girl is devastated.

Meanwhile, there's a subplot, none of which i recall except the end, wherein a man breaks into New Girl's home and chases her up to the attic -- def planning to rape her. She finds the stage gun (which she's taken home to practice) and aims it at the attacket. He hesitates for a sec, then smirks, like 'no way are you going to kill me' and advances on her. In a stroke of GENIUS, new girl turns the gun on her own chest and fakes her own death. The fake blood pellet hurts a lot more at this close range than it did onstage, so it takes all her willpower to keep up the act of being dead. Attacker is appropriately freaked out and flees the scene.

I've browsed lots of lists of ya books about theatre and the performing arts, to no avail. If anyone has any idea what this book is, I'd love to hear!

[Kelly]

"Last Act" by Christopher Pike?
I don't remember the plot details or the home-attack scene, but the basic framework of the female protagonist in the theater production and the gun going off on stage fits.

[Meghan Rose]

ooo good guess, but i don't think so... the girl protagonist only had a bit part, not the lead

[Meghan Rose]

bump

[Rainbowheart]

This must be the same book Megan is looking for here....

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Meghan Rose]

Yes, that is the same book!!

[Meghan Rose]

bump

[Kris]

Meghan, I copied some details to the topic header. Feel free to edit it.

[Meghan Rose]

bump!