The bell rang, so we walked inside and off to our classes. I pulled the script out in second-period Art Appreciation. I’d studied ahead, so I decided to take a quick look. The copyright said it was from 1938. I smirked when I read the dialogue. My ‘good ol’ boy’ routine with the press had nothing on this. It also seemed that my character George was a dumbass because he let Halle’s character Emily boss him around. I decided this might be fun.
◊◊◊
We had another Junior Class Project meeting. Everything was moving forward just fine. I was surprised when Alan stopped me before I got to my next class.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” I said tentatively.
He could ask, but I wasn’t sure I would answer. I’d accepted that he hadn’t been responsible for him and Tami waking up naked together. The thing is, I knew Alan. If I acted like I’d forgiven him, Tami would know ten minutes later. I wasn’t ready to explain why just yet.
“What did you get on your SAT?” he asked.
“Worried I did better?” I teased.
“No, of course not,” Alan blurted.
I gave him the stink eye, and he blushed. He always assumed he was smarter than everyone else. I reminded him that I was higher in our class standings than he was. Of course, Alan’s slip had come in PE, which I felt shouldn’t factor into overall grade standings. That was, of course, until I could use it to torment my former best friend.
I told him my score, and of course, he wanted a breakdown. Turns out Alan did a little better than I did, overall. I did better in the Critical Reading and Essay sections, and he did much better than I did in Math. He admitted that Tami did better than both of us. I can’t say I was surprised. What did surprise me was that she did even better than Alan did on the Math section; I could tell that bothered him. I actually beat her in the Critical Reading and Essay portions of the test.
It made me smile that we needed to check to see how each of us did. We’d always been competitive, Tami and me especially. Jeff had been the calming influence and kept everything from getting out of hand. The thing was, I’d bet he would have had a better score than all of us. We were nerds at heart, after all.
Satisfied, Alan left me alone. Tami would have my scores soon if my mom hadn’t already told her.
◊◊◊
I skipped the dojo to try out for the play. I was a good boy and didn’t embarrass Halle. Mr. Dutton, one of the science teachers, was the faculty advisor for the Drama Club. He and a couple of the seniors would decide who won what part. Halle and I rolled our eyes when they told us they’d post their decisions tomorrow. We’d sat through the auditions, and somehow, we were the only ones trying out for our parts. I liked our odds.
“David, before you go,” Mr. Dutton said. “Are you going out for baseball?”
“Yes, and that’ll take priority. I plan to play both football and baseball in college.”
“I’m worried that you might not learn your lines. Do you think you’ll be able to have them ready for the play?” he asked.
“That’s a legitimate question,” I said.
Halle gave me a hard look. She realized I wasn’t above wiggling out of this commitment. I wouldn’t quit, but if they didn’t cast me, I’d be okay with that.
Halle proceeded to quote one of her lines from Act 2, Scene 2. We recited our parts back and forth for a few lines.
I paused and looked at her. She gave me a smile.
“I’ll make sure he learns his lines and that he shows up for dress rehearsals,” Halle told Mr. Dutton.
“Do you know all your lines already?” Mr. Dutton asked.
I gave him a weak smile. I could claim I did, but I knew why Halle had picked that scene: it was the one where she got to tell me off. It seemed my character was a baseball star and had gotten too big for his britches, according to Halle’s character’s opinion. Halle also said that she expected my character to be
“The script isn’t that long,” I said and turned to Halle. “What is it, 119 pages?”
She nodded.
“I’ve got a month or more. It’ll be fine,” I said.
I also knew that Halle would make sure. We were both nervous about doing a
I wasn’t worried about my scenes with Halle. She and I had worked together enough that I was sure we’d do well. What worried me were the other actors. I didn’t really have a lot of time to spend working with them. Play rehearsal was the same time as baseball practice. I’d never known Moose to take a back seat to anything. He certainly wouldn’t let me skip out of practice for a school play. Maybe I could arrange to meet them after baseball or on weekends. We would see.
◊◊◊
When I got home, there were cars parked on the street at our house. I came in and found my dad, uncle, grandma, Caryn, and Fritz eating Monical’s pizza. They had polished off all but one slice.
“Seriously?!” I complained.
“Check the oven,” Grandma Dawson said.
