If all the awkward, unpopular teenagers in fiction were lain down head to toe they would Probably reach from January to October, which is why we welcome Barbara who tells her familiar story in the first person with directness and restraint; it is why we are especially disappointed by the contrived and Facile ending. The backdrop of an amateur college production is skillfully and authentically drawn, as are the settings of home and school; the development of the plot based on the problem of a lie which grows into a tangled web is interesting and natural up to the last chapter. Actresses seldom break a leg five minutes before curtain time on opening night--this sensitive and well-told story deserved a better conclusion.