Cinderella Sidelined (20 page)

"You just can't handle it because I have an interest that doesn't involve you."
 

"That's ridiculous."
 

I shake my head and get to my feet, my half-eaten bagel forgotten on the table. "No, this is ridiculous. I don't have time for this. When you realize that I'm doing nothing wrong here, you know where to find me."
 

I grab my purse off the back of the chair and start to walk out of the restaurant. We're only a few blocks from my house, and I have no plans to call anyone to come and get me.
 

Stella doesn't call after me, and that's the first time one of us actually gets out the door without the other one apologizing after we've had a fight.

It's just one more line on a long list of ways my life isn't anything like what it used to be.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I'm happy.

And it's nice to admit.

I'm standing in the locker room just a few minutes before our true dress rehearsal is set to start, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be right now.

The cheerful buzz of conversation that fills the room only makes me more grateful that I took a chance on the play. Even if I got involved for all the wrong reasons in the beginning, I don't think anything in my life has ever turned out so right.

"It's so awesome Russ made Mary put you in the play," Amanda says as she finishes adding more blush to her face so she looks just like her character, Maizie.
 

I stop in the middle of fastening the buttons on Miss Halpern's first outfit, the crazy yellow rain jacket and pink rubber boots ensemble.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"That I'm glad you're in the play," she repeats happily. "You weren't gonna get a part but Russ stepped in at the last minute and convinced Mary to give you a shot at Miss Halpern. He said he'd quit if she didn't." She shakes her head. "I don't know how he knew you'd be perfect for the role, but you are." She stops what she's doing and faces me. "Oh. Um. You knew all that, right?"
 

"Oh!" I say, swallowing hard and trying to keep my face calm and neutral even when I want to pounce on her and demand more information than what she's given me. "Yeah, of course." I pick up another bobby pin and look back at the mirror.
 

Tomato Thompson stares out at me.
 

I'm flushed from the top of my forehead and all the way down my arms, the red rash even spreading across my chest. My breathing is labored and my stomach is tightening and I feel like I'm about to have a real hard time keeping down the turkey sandwich I had at lunch.

And the worst part is I'm dressed in some ridiculous-looking outfit that clashes like crazy.

I don't even get to look dignified while I have a total freakout.

What is Amanda talking about?

I only have a part in the play because of Russ? I mean, yeah, it's true, I only auditioned in the first place because I'm spiteful and wanted to prove him wrong, but Mary wasn't going to cast me?
 

It wouldn't have surprised me then after my oh-so-rousing audition song, but Russ pulled strings for me to get a part?

What?

And why?

I decide the clothes are good enough for a stupid dress rehearsal and I'm ready to stomp out from the dressing area to confront Russ when Amanda grabs onto my elbow and squeals happily, tugging me toward the stage.

"I just love dress rehearsals, don't you?"
 

"Oh, um, yeah."
 

"The smell of the fresh costumes and all the over-the-top makeup and it's so real!" She lets out a gleeful sigh, clearly oblivious to my discomfort. "It's the best time of year."
 

When she drags me out onto the stage and I see the rest of the cast is already gathered, I realize I'm not going to have a chance to confront Russ about what the heck I'm doing here until after the dress rehearsal.

Until after I have to kiss him.

Great.

Mary gets to her feet and launches into some long speech about how far we've come and how this is our last chance to fix everything that's wrong with us before the play opens and blah, blah, blah. I can barely concentrate and my gaze keeps wandering over to Russ. He catches my eye at one point and winks ever so slightly. It makes my stomach churn even though it's sort of become our code around the halls and during the play -- a way for us to be cute without everyone around us figuring out what's going on.

Now I don't know what to think.

But I know Russ. And him cornering Mary to demand I get a part in the play or he'd walk doesn't seem like something he'd do.

Or something he'd hide from me, anyway.

Mary finishes talking and the cast disperses. Since it's the dress rehearsal, we're taking the whole thing from the top so I know I'm not needed on stage for a solid fifteen minutes, but Prince Alex is part of the opening scene.
 

Still no shot to grab him before this thing gets started.

I take a seat in the front row to watch the beginning of the play. The curtains are closed, the spotlight is on, our pianist is seated behind his baby grand and Mary is standing in front of the stage.

Go time.

The music begins and the curtains rise and it feels real to me for the first time. I get a little lightheaded thinking about how tomorrow it won't just be me and five other people hanging out in the seats.

I watch as Prince Alex trots out onto the stage in his full costume, and it takes me back to the day I first met him in the halls outside the auditorium when he had his big fake sword resting on his hip, and I can't help but smile.

He strides across the stage in the opening confrontation with his father, King Phillip, who just so happens to be played by John. It's the scene that sets up the rest of the play: Prince Alex will marry Lady Lorna, a woman from a neighboring kingdom, in order to unite the two troubled lands. Prince Alex is indifferent at first -- there's no girl out there who's captured his attention by now, so he figures he might as well settle down with the lovely Lorna.
 

It's not until a day later when he meets the cranky, stubborn and way-too-proud math teacher and falls in love.

With me.

Or, rather, with Miss Halpern.

When he shrugs and agrees to the king's marriage proposal, that's my cue to get ready and wait in the wings. I slide out of my chair and quietly head backstage. I watch the last few seconds of the scene, then Russ comes off stage and walks straight over to me.

"Hey you," he whispers, glancing around then quickly giving me a kiss.

It's so unexpected and I'm so surprised that I don't kiss him back. He grins, winks and hurries away, I'm guessing, before someone notices us together.

My head spins faster than it had been even seconds ago, which is really not good, considering it's my turn to get on stage. But I pull it all together and swish onto the stage, nearly tripping over absolutely nothing in these heavy boots.

"Oh, hello," I say to the pizza guy who's already on stage by the time I make my entrance. "I didn't see you there! But maybe you can help me. I need to find Lombard Street." I twirl the umbrella through my fingertips as I wait for him to deliver his lines.

He responds, and we engage in our banter and it goes fine and smooth and even Mary is nodding along happily, a far cry from her reaction when we went over this scene for the first time.

The rest of the dress rehearsal moves on without much of a hitch. I make it through kissing Russ, but just barely, and by the time it's finished, Mary's beaming as she gathers us around here in the audience.
 

"You have all surprised me greatly," she says, placing a hand over her heart for dramatic effect. "I truly believe you've come together over the last week and have now created something beautiful. I cannot wait to share it with the world tomorrow night. I'll keep this short and sweet because I know you've all heard plenty out of me lately." A small chuckle goes up, but I keep my mouth firmly shut. "Curtain goes up tomorrow night at exactly 7:30 p.m. I need you all here, in this auditorium, by 5 o'clock. Not a minute later. Pack your bags tonight. Forget nothing. I don't have a lot of extra swords and bonnets hanging around for an emergency. Got it?"
 

The group mumbles its understanding and Mary nods, satisfied.
 

"Very well. Rest up, drink water, eat healthy," she says. "You're dismissed."
 

I jump to my feet to hurry into the back and change out of the ridiculous final outfit Miss Halpern has to wear: a long-sleeved, floor-length dress, petticoat and bonnet. It's itchy, it's hot and I look like I've just stepped out of a sixteenth-century time machine.
 

I'm about to disappear into the dressing room when I see him. Russ is walking up the narrow hallway by himself. We're alone, at least for now. It takes me a split second to decide. I walk away from the door and purposefully stride toward him. His eyebrows shoot up and a lazy grin crosses his face but it's quickly replaced by a look of confusion when I grab his elbow without stopping or saying anything and pull him through the back exit of the auditorium and into Ms. Sharock's empty science classroom.

I close the door behind us and fold my arms across my chest.

"Well, hello to you, too, Emma," he says, wiggling his eyebrows.
 

I take a deep breath and remind myself that there's no reason to get upset yet, that I'm sure he has a simple explanation for what Amanda said happened.
 

Heck, maybe she'd misunderstood the story when she first heard it.

Maybe it was just that Russ had convinced me to audition for the play, which is totally true.

Now that makes more sense than anything else I've thought of so far.

"Hi." I sigh and force myself to uncross my arms, but they feel weird just hanging here so I use my left hand to grab onto my right behind my back.
 

"Just missed me so much you couldn't stand it anymore?" he teases. "Or is the prince costume? I know how much you loved me in it the first time you saw it."
 

"I have to ask you something," I blurt out, and in the same breath, I say: "Amanda told me the only reason I'm in the play is because you made Mary put me in it. True or false?"

His skin goes white, and I know I have my answer. An instant pit forms in my stomach as my mouth drops open.
 

"Emma, it's different than -- "

"No. No. True or false, Russ," I hiss through gritted teeth.

He hesitates and runs his hand over his mouth. "True, okay, but Emma. Wait. It's not that simple."
 

 
"Don't explain it. I don't want to know. I didn't even want to be part of this stupid play and you manipulated things so I would be part of it. You manipulated me!" I'm shaking so hard I feel like I can't even see straight. "How could you do something like that?"

"Because I thought it was what you needed," he says.

"That's stupid," I spit. "What does that even mean?"
 

"Em. Emma. Our lives were so different when we met a month ago, but it was pretty obvious to anyone who bothered to pay attention to you that you were miserable. You were lost. I wanted to help."
 

"Unbelievable. This is absolutely un-freakin'-believable! You didn't know me! How could you possibly figure out what I need?"

He raises his eyebrows. "Was I wrong?"
 

I swallow hard and stare at him, stunned into silence by his words. I'm so mad at him I can barely look at him without wanting to turn around and run away just so his obnoxious face isn't in front of me anymore.
 

"What?" I say at last because I can't think of any better response and I need to get my head to stop spinning.
 

"You heard me." It's his turn to fold his arms over his chest. "Emma. Was I wrong?"

"You know what?" I snap, the anger returning so quickly it's like it never even left. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't even matter. You still did it. You still went behind my back and did this to me. I can't get over that, Russ."
 

"So what are you saying?"
 

I throw my hands up in the air. "I have no idea! I don't know what to do with
 
any of this. I wish I could go back in time two hours ago and stop Amanda from telling me at all. Because now it's all ruined. It's like I did all this work for nothing."

"It wasn't for nothing. The play is tomorrow. That still counts."
 

"No. I'm done with the play. I'm out."
 

"Emma, come on. What are you talking about?"

"I don't want to do it anymore."

"That's dumb."
 

"Not to me." I shake my head. "It's the only thing I can do."
 

"Why?"
 

"Because I didn't earn this."
 

He rolls his eyes. "Sure, Emma, and all of a sudden you care about earning things now?"
 

I step back as if he's slapped me, and he may as well have because that's how it feels. My cheeks sting with fury and shock.
 

"I may have had a very good life," I say, my voice seeping out so low and steady I'm surprised I don't growl. "But don't for a second imply that I didn't earn every single thing I have. I deserve my college scholarships. I deserve my state championship rings. And I deserve the future I'm going to have because I still have three offers from schools on the table. Not because I know somebody or Coach Morris called up an old friend. Those scouts like what I can do on a volleyball court and that's part talent and part damn hard work. But that?" I point toward the auditorium across the hall. "I didn't earn that. It was given to me because you called in a favor and I want no part of it. So maybe before you go around accusing people of being entitled or undeserving, you should make sure you're not being a hypocrite."