Finding June (12 page)

“Yes, we are,” he said, using his foot to
move the bag of money so that it was between us, the top of the
pillowcase sticking up high enough that we could grab it while
standing. Joseph looked at me for a moment in the silent theatre,
his dark eyes full of determination.

And then he kissed me.

It was difficult to get lost in the moment
right away with so many people watching, and the handful of
whistles from our classmates didn’t help at all. But as Joseph
wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me hungrily, I couldn’t
help but enjoy it, tangling my fingers in his hair.

I wasn’t sure how long the kiss should last
and it really didn’t seem like Joseph was going to end it anytime
soon, I gave him a quick squeeze with my hand that was resting on
his back to indicate that I’d be reaching for the bag of money. It
was almost comical how obvious the difference between a real kiss
and a staged one was. Practically the instant Joseph realized we
still weren’t done with the skit, the kiss lost its passion. His
lips were still pressed against mine, but it felt like kissing a
wall. There was just nothing there.

I kept my eyes closed as I reached blindly
for the top of our bag of money, and I began silently cursing
myself for not rehearsing this part with Joseph. We had always
gotten so distracted by the kiss that we never actually went over
this part—we just talked about how we would do it.

When my hand finally made contact with the
top of the pillowcase, I was glad to feel Joseph’s hand there as
well. We opened our eyes, pulled apart, and looked down at the bag
of money before bringing our gaze back up. I gave Joseph a little
smile to show that I was on to him, and then the scene was over. We
had managed to make it through without a single mishap or forgotten
line.

The reaction from the class was a combination
of applause and catcalls. I rolled my eyes with a grin as we walked
offstage to a chorus of whistles and jokes about our kiss. Joseph
squeezed my hand as we made our way back to our seats and I held it
tightly until we were safely seated and the next group had started
their scene. I could feel the blood in my cheeks and was glad that
the auditorium was dark so Joseph wouldn’t notice.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked, glad
that we had decided beforehand that we weren’t going to let things
be weird between us after the kiss.

“It was perfect,” he whispered, turning and
smiling warmly. I beckoned him closer with my finger so I could
whisper in his ear.

“I don’t think your girlfriend is too happy
with you right now,” I joked. Joseph glanced to his side where Xani
sat fuming. Her eyes were trained straight ahead and her arms were
folded across her chest. I was pretty sure if I stumbled into her
line of sight, she’d burn a hole through my head with her gaze.
Joseph turned back to me with his eyebrows raised.

“Don’t leave me alone with her after class,”
he murmured. “I think she might kill me.”

CHAPTER 10

I made sure I did all of my homework for the
weekend the second I got home from school. That way, Joseph could
begin his long process of distracting me from my own thoughts for
two days while I pondered how many ways I could ruin the show. He
picked me up in the early evening and I got in the car with
absolutely no idea of what we were doing.

“Phase one complete,” he said slyly as he
drove down East Los Angeles Avenue, which, despite the confusing
name, is actually in Simi Valley.

“Phase one of what, may I ask?” I replied,
hoping I’d get some sort of information out of him.

“June, you have to respect the articles of
secret agent lingo. I can’t tell you or else the whole cover will
be blown.”

“That sounds promising,” I said
sarcastically, looking out the window at the trees flying by. We
drove for about ten minutes, with Joseph telling me all about the
benefits of sucking up my cowardice and getting my wisdom teeth
out. I, of course, nodded and smiled as I tuned him out, not
wanting to hear anything about that horrible process.

Joseph turned right onto Hidden Ranch Drive
and into the parking lot for the Rancho Santa Susana Community
Park. I turned to him with a grin.

“I’m on to you,” I said, tapping my nose for
effect. “But if I get a tan from being in this sun, it’ll be you
who has to explain it to the makeup department on Monday. And trust
me, she’s a scary one.”

“Oh, don’t be dramatic. Just put some
pineapple on your face. You’ll be grand,” he said with a fake Irish
accent and a dismissive wave of his hand.

We got out of the car and began walking
through the grass, going nowhere in particular. I was glad I had
changed out of my heels after school, opting instead for beige
ballet flats. Joseph was carrying a tan messenger bag, which he
flatly refused to tell me the contents of. As we approached the
swing set, Joseph stopped and looked over at me as if he were
sizing me up.

“June, it’s time for you to get used to
making a fool out of yourself,” he said seriously, pulling a
Polaroid camera out of his bag.

I looked at him quizzically. “All right,
first, where did you get that thing? And second, what are you
talking about?”

“This,” he said, patting his camera
affectionately, “I got at a thrift store. She’s beautiful,
right?”

“Does it work?” I asked skeptically. The
camera looked like it would turn into a pile of dust at any
minute.

“Of course
she
does,” he said,
emphasizing that the camera’s feelings may have been hurt by the
fact that I referred to it as an "it."

“Well then, what are you and
she
going
to do?” I asked, humoring him.

“Who? Me and Lola?” he asked, giving me a
wicked grin, which I rolled my eyes at. “We’re going to get you
ready for Monday.”

“Of course. What else would my crazy best
friend and his sidekick Lola be doing on a Friday after school?” I
asked no one in particular.

“Make fun all you want June—“

“Okay.”

“—But this is going to make Monday much
easier for you. What is acting, if not an excuse for people with a
camera to make other people in front of the camera act like
fools?”

“That’s about what it is,” I agreed.

“So go over to those monkey bars,” he
instructed. I looked around the small playground, taking in my
surroundings to see just how embarrassing this was going to be.

“There are kids on the swings,” I stated with
so much obviousness that it caused Joseph to shake his head.

“And some on the slide,” he pointed out as
well, making me feel a little foolish.

“And parents watching those kids,” I added
helpfully.

“All the more reason to do this. When you
start filming, you’re going to be sitting in a completely silent
studio with dozens of people staring at you while you scream at a
tennis ball on a stick as if it were a huge monster.”

“Well, I doubt there’ll be any monsters on
the show,” I said.

“You get my point,” he replied. “Acting is
embarrassing. It's even more embarrassing when the stakes are as
high as this show. So, why don’t we just get you used to doing
embarrassing things now, so that when Monday rolls around, it won’t
be such a shocker?”

I looked at him for a moment and then looked
back around at all of the parents and children in the park. Sighing
deeply, I nodded, knowing that as much as I didn’t want to do this,
it would be good for me. I was never very good with the
embarrassing part of acting.

“What should I do, Coach?” I asked. Joseph
gave me an impish grin, obviously happy I was going along with
this.

“Well, I’m trying to think of what would be
the most embarrassing thing for you to do.”

“Which I will obviously lend you no
assistance with,” I stated playfully.

“Fair enough,” he answered deviously. “Why
don’t you climb on top of the monkey bars . . . so that you’re
sitting on top of them rather than hanging off,” he instructed.

I walked over to the monkey bars and regarded
them dubiously before doing as I was told. I must say—if you were
ever considering buying monkey bar chairs for your living room, you
should reconsider. Sitting there was incredibly uncomfortable.

“Okay, now for the fun,” he said, walking
underneath the bars. “I want you to crawl across them, but look
down through the bars at me so I can snap pictures. Oh, and I’ll
tell you what emotion I want on your face every few seconds.”

“How do you even think of this stuff?” I
asked, very painfully getting on all fours on top of the monkey
bars. The metal dug into my knees with ruthless vigor.

“Crawl,” was his only response. I began to
carefully pick my way across the bars, trying desperately not to
fall and feeling completely ridiculous as one of the kids pointed
me out to their mom. “Okay, now look down at me and give me anger,”
he said, sounding very much like a parody of a high-fashion
photographer.

“That won’t be too hard,” I countered, trying
to look angry while my knees were screaming out in pain.

“You just look uncomfortable,” he said,
disappointment filling his voice. “Look angry, June!”

I knitted my eyebrows together, formed my
mouth into a thin line and looked down at him. I didn't have to
work too hard to "pretend" I was unhappy.

“Much better. Now be really happy—like those
models advertising nail polish or whatever they’re supposed to be
promoting.”

“I really hate you right now,” I said with a
laugh.

“As long as you look really happy while you
do it,” he said in a singsong voice.

“How’s this?” I made my eyes big and round
while putting on a bright smile and repeating, “I really hate you
right now,” through gritted teeth.

“Perfect!” he exclaimed. By now, most of the
kids in the park had stopped swinging and were watching our antics,
hiding little giggles behind their hands. Joseph seemed like he
didn’t even notice them and continued to snap away with his camera,
catching each picture as it came out.

“Now growl,” he said with a snort, trying to
keep himself from laughing.

“Fat chance,” I said simply, twirling back
around so that I could jump down. I landed in the sand with a soft
thud and punched Joseph playfully on the shoulder. “You’re the
devil,” I said as we began to walk away.

“We’ll be here all week,” Joseph said
jokingly to the now-disappointed children who were watching us
go.

“Are we done making me look like a fool yet?”
I asked Joseph over my shoulder. He snapped a quick photo of me as
I did this. “Apparently not.”

“That was the last one,” he promised,
catching up to me so that we were now walking toward his green
Beetle. He waved the picture around in the air, trying to make it
develop faster. “Are you hungry?” he asked, keeping his eyes
trained on the ground.

“Starving,” I admitted, realizing I hadn’t
eaten after school. I was too anxious for my "de-stressing session"
. . . which mostly had turned into a "stressing session."

“I brought a blanket and some sandwiches . .
. you know . . . just in case you were hungry . . . at all,” he
stammered. I couldn’t understand why he suddenly seemed so nervous,
but I had to admit, nervous Joseph was adorable to watch.

“That sounds wonderful,” I said warmly. I set
up the blue and brown quilt under some large trees and Joseph
brought a cooler over to our picnic spot.

“A basket would have been much better,” he
said regretfully, “but a cooler is more practical.”

“The cooler works just fine,” I reassured
him. “So, what’s on the menu?”

“Well, as you know, I am a gourmet chef,” he
said, shaking his head "no" even as he spoke so confidently. “So I
made us peanut butter and banana sandwiches, some barbeque chips,
and orange soda.”

“You made us orange soda?” I asked
skeptically.

“From scratch,” he answered as he popped open
the tab of a very obviously store-bought soda.

“Well, you certainly know how to woo a girl,”
I said with a giggle. He handed me the can of orange soda before
opening his own and bringing it up in a toasting gesture.

“To looking stupid in front of large groups
of people,” he said, smiling.

“I will definitely toast to that,” I
answered, raising my can so that it hit against his.

The sun was beginning to set and a
comfortable orange glow enshrouded the park as we ate. It warmed my
skin in the chill October air, and I closed my eyes against the sun
for a moment, taking in the smell of the park and the fact that
Joseph was with me.

“This is perfect,” I said, finishing off my
sandwich and laying down on the blanket. A soft breeze blew my
stray curls across my face, tickling my nose. Joseph lay down next
to me and looked up at the hot pink clouds scuttling across the
darkening sky.

“I agree,” he said quietly. He moved his arm
behind my neck so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. He
settled his cheek against the top of my head and I smiled.

“I’m glad I have you,” I admitted, breathing
in the combination of Joseph’s scent and the freshly cut grass
surrounding us. “It’s going to make the craziness of filming so
much more bearable.”

“As long as you don’t completely forget about
me,” he joked. “I mean, you'll be surrounded by famous people all
day. Do you really think you’ll be able to reduce yourself to
hanging out with non-famous me?”

“As if you even need to worry,” I
laughed.

“I know I don’t really need to worry too much
about you, but make sure you don’t let anyone on set make you think
you’ve got to be bad to be cool,” he said out of nowhere. “Your
innocence is a huge part of your charm. You don’t need to change
anything to fit in.”

“Joseph, are you talking about Lukas
Leighton?" I said accusingly. He shrugged but didn’t answer my
question, which actually did answer my question. “I don’t think you
need to worry. He wouldn’t be interested in me anyway. Especially
when he can have any beautiful actress he wants.”