Beyond Clueless (16 page)

We started blocking the first act, so I had a bunch of time to kill at the back of the room with Jimmy, Derek, and Oliver, pretending to memorize lyrics. I figured that as long as I stayed with them, Felix would probably keep a safe distance from my forehead. Then, when I had to go up and run through my scene, Sister Mary Alice was either too blind or too gracious to comment on my new head tumor, but I was convinced everyone else was staring at it. (Everyone except Jenny, who pointedly refused to look at me.) I managed to get through the act, and when Sister announced a break, I rushed into the girls’ bathroom. I needed to see what my second head had started to look like by this point.

As I hovered over the sink, trying out different angles to see if I could find one that didn’t scream, “Freakish! Misshapen!,” someone said, “You know you’re the only one who sees anything there, right?”

The voice belonged to Kate O’Day. Remember her? She’s Cinderella, the beautiful senior who sang “Popular” at the auditions. I had pretty much steered clear of her up to this point, so this was the first time she had ever spoken to me (excluding times like games of Freeze at auditions, but social rules don’t apply when you’re acting). She stood at the sink next to me, both of her hands flicking pointlessly at her thick auburn hair, as if it weren’t already perfectly arranged.

“Yeah, well,” I said lamely, not sure how to answer.

She sighed and said, “I’m so glad we’re doing
Into the Woods
. And I think we have a pretty great cast this year, don’t you? Like, better than normal.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head like a bobblehead doll.

She caught my eye in the mirror and broke into a sheepish grin. “You’re a first-year, aren’t you? So you wouldn’t even know.” I stopped nodding. “But, anyway, trust me, this cast is way better than last year’s.”

She was being kinda nice and really patronizing at the same time. It was very confusing.

“I mean, think about it. There’s Maria, who is amazing, right? I wish I could sing like her. And you’re really good. And Felix—I mean, he has to come all the way down from St. Paul’s to get here, so we’re really lucky to have him in the show.”

“Oh, he does?” I said, trying to make it seem like I hadn’t really given Felix much thought.

She nodded. Then her eyes, pale blue like sea glass, rose to refocus on my forehead.

“Honestly, I can’t see a thing.” With that, she turned and sauntered out of the bathroom.

I went back into the rehearsal room in a fog. Jenny was talking animatedly to Jimmy and Oliver in a corner. Oliver said something, and the others cracked up, Jenny’s whole body heaving in exaggerated spasms. God, she was annoying.

Oliver caught my eye and gave me a chin-lift acknowledgment, so I reluctantly started to make my way over. I mean, I wanted to hang out with him but not her.

And then Felix stepped into my path.

“Hey, you.”

I stopped, very close to him, and instinctively adopted a coy slouch, meeting his eyes with a sideways smile. Where on earth had I ever learned these things?

“Hey,” I said.

“You were really good earlier,” he said slowly, his dimples appearing and disappearing in rhythm as he spoke. My mind raced: “earlier”?
The kiss from last week?

Oh, he must mean earlier in the rehearsal. My hand instinctively flew up to my forehead to pull at my bangs and hide my probably gargantuan bruise.

“You weren’t so bad yourself,” I said, wondering if I was smiling too hard, like a baboon baring its gums.

Then there was this weird moment when Felix and I just stared at each other. It was almost like déjà vu or something, since it felt a lot like . . . remembering? I know this makes zero sense, but it’s as if I was recognizing Felix from some
time before, that we really
knew
each other. I mean, I look into people’s eyes in conversation all the time, but with him it just felt incredibly intimate. My face grew hot.

“I mean,” I sputtered, “you must have been acting for a long time.”

“Yeah, I love doing this,” he said. “Even though we have all these lines to say and places to stand and timing to follow, for some reason it’s incredibly freeing. Liberating. Y’know?” I nodded eagerly, but he looked down, suddenly bashful. “I don’t know what I’m saying,” he said. “I probably sound crazy.”

“No, not at all,” I replied quickly, thinking about how our earlier discussion of his craziness had led to . . . kissing. And suddenly we were looking into each other’s eyes again. How can something so simple and commonplace as
looking
suddenly be so amazing?

Then the spell was broken by Sister Mary Alice clapping her hands to quiet the room down. “Let’s get back to business,” she said.

“Anyway,” Felix said, “I’ll see you around.” He gave me a two-fingered salute—a metaphorical tipping of the hat—and walked over to where he had left off blocking before the break. I sank into a nearby seat, smiling stupidly.

Suddenly I felt a pressure on top of my head. It took a second to realize that it was two hands, gently resting there. I leaned my head back to see Oliver’s face above me, upside down. His eyes were closed, and he was softly humming a single, sustained note.

“Um, are you having a stroke?” I whispered.

“Au contraire,” he said quietly, eyes still closed. “I’m healing you.”

Oh, Oliver. What a cutie. “What, no kiss to make it better?” I teased.

“When duty calls,” he said and then laid a soft kiss upon my forehead.

“Much better,” I said. “I think I might just pull through and live to see another day.”

“You’d better,” he said. “I’m not sure I’d be a particularly good Little Red Riding Hood stand-in. That, uh, Wolf scene would take on a whole new angle, wouldn’t it?”

“Now,
that
I would like to see,” I said, giggling. “You and Felix would make such a cute coup—”

But before I could finish, Jenny suddenly appeared and hissed at me, “Marty, you really need to keep it down. Some of us are taking this rehearsal kind of seriously.”

My ears flamed hot with shame, and she snapped at Oliver, “I need you in the other room.”

Oliver, mugging a terrified expression, trailed after her.

Whatever. I sat back and contented myself with watching Felix. He was working on the scene with Sister Mary Alice and Kate O’Day in which the Prince discovers Cinderella. With his classic smile and baritone intonation, he was doing a great job—I mean, who could ever resist him?

But after a few minutes of watching Felix act and interact with Kate, my forehead bruise started to pulse with a dull pain, then edge toward a full-fledged headache.

Stupid crash with Jenny.

Felix tucked a lock of hair behind his ear, and it struck me that,
actually
, his ears are kind of weird; they stick out. His mop of wavy hair totally hides them.

No disproportional ears on stunning Kate.

Felix fumbled a line, and Kate laughed loudly. No honking horse laughs with that girl, either; this was a melodious, lilting,
pretty
laugh. The mistake wasn’t even that funny, but she sure was giggly around Felix. And she had just told me five minutes before that she thought we were lucky to have him around . . .

I stared hard at him. Was he acting, or was he
really
hitting on her? I shook my head and took a deep breath. As funky as I was feeling, I knew I was being nutso. I mean, it sounds really cheesy, but Felix and I really were, like, love at first sight. Instant chemistry.

I wondered what Xiang’s reaction to Parker was the first time they met. Was that how it normally happened for everyone? One day you meet, and—BAM!—two magnets slamming against each other?

Jimmy rolled his eyes at me as he hustled by, carefully balancing a dusty stack of colored gels for the spotlights.
His
connection with Derek had been pretty immediate.

I turned to watch Derek pacing by himself in the back, muttering, trying to memorize lines. I don’t think he realized that the lyrics would be a million times easier to remember when set to music; we’d start singing everything at Thursday’s first music-only rehearsal with Mrs. Murray.
Derek should at least be listening to the sound track on his phone. He was so nervous, though, I figured I’d leave him be. Where nerves are concerned, whatever helps.

Then I looked back at Felix and Kate working on their scene with Sister. Felix caught my eye and broke into a grin.

A genuine “
Man
, it’s great to know you” grin.

I scrunched my nose in smiling acknowledgment.

I had nothing to worry about.

After rehearsal, as everyone dispersed, I walked reluctantly toward my dad’s car. I still hadn’t spoken a word to either of my parents since last night. They, in turn, had regarded me frostily, like I should be apologizing to them for something.

As if.

“How was rehearsal?” asked Dad as I climbed in.

“Fine,” I replied tersely, staring out the window.

He sighed heavily, and we didn’t speak another word the whole way home.

T
he next morning I was drinking from the water fountain when I felt someone sidle up next to me. I assumed it was Xiang, so I snorted some water up my nose when I turned to see Maria Kilkenny instead, beaming at me.

“Oh, gosh!” she said, suddenly concerned over my coughing up water. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you. Sorry.”

I managed to recover a bit and gave her a reassuring smile. “No worries.”

“I just wanted to say I’m really glad you’re in the play. Do you realize we’re the only two first-years? I mean, I guess a couple of the guys might be our age.”

I hadn’t really thought about the fact that she was a freshman before. The Witch was a pretty big role, but, then again, as Kate had pointed out, Maria
was
amazingly talented. It was sobering to think we’d be competitors throughout my whole high school drama career. Good thing we looked so different—me being scrawny and blond, and her being way bigger with dark hair.

And, I reminded myself, it is a lot more fun acting with people who are really good at it.

“Huh,” I said, trying to match the brightness of her expression.
“I guess we’ve got to stick together. Defend first-year honor.”

“You don’t think they’ll do some kind of hazing thing to us, do you?” she asked, giggling. “You know, make us do shots and then have us perform ‘Tomorrow’ or ‘Memory’ or something?” We started walking down the hall together.

I laughed. “God, I hope so! That would actually be pretty hilarious.”

“It would be, wouldn’t it . . . ?” She grabbed my arm. “Let’s do it, anyway!” Her eyes flashed, and I couldn’t help but shrink back from the intensity of her excitement.

Then, just as suddenly, she waved a perfunctory air kiss with one hand and turned into Mr. Livingstone’s room, all the while humming the first bars of “Tomorrow.”

Maria Kilkenny = lots of fun, apparently?

In Mrs. Mason’s English class, while we were supposed to be doing some “quiet reading,” I got a text from an unknown number.

Hey, Red, what’s shakin?

Ooooh, Felix!

Thank God for having a last name that starts with
S
: I’m pretty much always in the back of the classroom. I propped my book up as a barrier and started typing on the phone.

Not much. Sitting in class, thinkin bout you.

A long moment passed before I got the reply.

Uh . . . really? Did you JUST talk to Jimmy?

Oh, shit. Wait. Was this not Felix?

Sorry, who is this?

An extremely flattered Oliver. Got your number from Jimmy, like, seconds ago.

Suddenly the name “Red” was more appropriate than Oliver could have known, considering how my face looked.

OH! Ha, how funny. Sorry, thought you were someone else.

A second later, I also sent:

A friend.

And a second after that:

Her dog is sick.

Aww, man. That sucks. Sorry.

Oh, no worries. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Could I please stop digging this hole? I’m the worst secret-keeper ever. I kept typing.

So what’s up?

Happy Sukkot! It starts Monday.

Huh? I typed:

??? You gonna make me look that up?

Tsk-tsk. What do they teach in those Catholic schools? Sukkot, the joyous Jewish festival of booths!

Oliver was Jewish?

How does your family celebrate?

Er, we’re not Jewish. I just like any reason for rejoicing.

Oliver. He’s so weird. (In a good way.)

You’re so random. But a bit early for Monday, no? Won’t I see you in an hour?

Nope. Music-only rehearsal, so Jimmy and I are off the hook. And this weekend I’ll be fishing in PA with Dad.

Rats. So, happy Sukkot? I guess I’ll see you next Tues
.

There was a short pause before I got the next text.

Yeah, C U next—WAIT, DID YOU JUST SWEAR AT ME?

I laughed out loud but then tried to hide it in a coughing fit when Mrs. Mason looked over at me.