Everyone's a Critic (7 page)

The next day Hailey and I were having lunch in the cafeteria when we both saw Michael coming in. He looked around, saw us, and waved. Then he stopped at the food line. I hoped he'd come and sit with us. I started sending him “come and sit with me” vibes as I watched him load up his tray. But then I wondered if he'd say anything about the letter. My throat started to feel thick and uncomfortable. I swallowed.

“So I have an idea. For when Michael gets here,” Hailey said excitedly, breaking my concentration.

“All we ever talk about is me and Michael,” I said. “What about your love life these days?”

“After all that ridiculousness with Danny, I'm lying low for a while.”

Last month Hailey fell for this new guy, Danny Burke. He seemed really into her and they even went to the movies, but then we found out he was acting like that with about a thousand other girls. It turned out he was just lonely, moving to a new town and everything, and was just trying to make friends. The problem was, the girls didn't know
that. He learned his lesson and toned his Romeo act down, but it was a bummer for Hailey. Her crushes never seem to end well.

“So let me tell you before he comes over,” she said in a hushed tone, leaning in. “Ask him who he's going with on Saturday afternoon. Good conversation starter.”

Before I could answer, he was there with his tray.

“Well, if it isn't double trouble,” he said. “Can I sit here?”

“Of course,” Hailey said.

Michael sat down, a chair's length away from me and Hailey. He picked up his slice of the spinach-and-cheese whole-grain pizza from the organic option table.

“It's really good,” I said, pointing to the pizza.

“Mmm-hmm,” he said, his mouth full of pizza.

Then suddenly I felt my chair slide left. In a second, I wasn't a chair's length away anymore, but about an inch away from Michael's. I turned and saw Hailey's foot on my chair.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was resting my foot there. I guess I don't know my own strength.”

“Guess not,” I said, all tense. I inched my chair back.

“So, Michael,” she said. “Excited about the big show this weekend?”

“Sure,” he said. “Aren't you guys? Allie must be too. How's rehearsal going?”

I had just taken a bite of pizza. I chewed a bit more. I felt like I was choking down my food while I was trying to talk to Michael. I gestured with my hand as if I was going to talk, but I was afraid that if I started too early, Michael was going to get a view of my chewed-up pizza and spinach in my teeth. Gorgeous.

“What I think Sam is trying to say is, who are you going with on Saturday afternoon?” Hailey crossed her legs and pulled her buttered bagel closer to her. Hailey pretty much existed on bread and rice in the cafeteria.

“Why? Do you need a date?” he said to her, a smile spreading across his face.

Wow, this was just getting worse.
Soccer Player Asks Out Best Friend's Crush by Accident!

“No!” she said. “I'm going with Sam on Friday. But I know you guys are seeing two shows for the review.”

“Wait—seriously, why are you asking? Pasty, can you still make it on Saturday night?” Michael asked, looking at me with a genuinely worried expression.

“Yeah, of course,” I said, feeling somewhat more relaxed.

“And we're not asking for any particular reason,” Hailey added. “We're just making conversation.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, I'm going with a couple of guys on the baseball team,” he said, and took another bite of pizza.

“Cool,” I said. Wow, some conversation we were having. My mind raced for something else to say.

“Sorry to eat and run, but I have to meet Jamal. He wants to see my language arts notes.”

“Okay,” I said.

“See you Saturday night, Paste. Don't be late,” he said, flashing another adorable smile as
he stood and picked up his tray.

I got a fluttering feeling in my stomach. Even if he hadn't asked me on a real date, we were still going out together on Saturday night, just me and Michael. Who knows what would happen?

“I won't,” I said, trying to give him a sparkly smile back, praying I didn't have spinach stuck in my teeth.

“She won't!” Hailey called while he was walking away.

I couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore.

“Hailey, remember how I said I had something to tell you yesterday? And then Allie came in and went psycho on us?”

“Sure,” she said, smiling, her legs pulled up on her chair.

I took a deep breath. I seemed to be taking a lot of those lately.

“Well, I didn't forget what I wanted to say. I was just a little afraid. But I have to be honest.”

Hailey put her legs down, and her face got serious.

“What's up?”

“You need to dial down the Michael plans and pushing me closer to him and all that. It's driving me crazy!”

Her face went red. She looked as though I had punched her.

“I thought you wanted my help,” she said, her voice shaky.

“I did. I do! I love scheming about boy stuff with you. But it's just gotten to be a bit much lately. I can handle Michael myself sometimes.”

“Well, you're always complaining how you never get to spend enough time with him. Maybe I'm tired of listening to that all the time. Maybe that's gotten to be a little too much for me. If you guys would just go on a stupid date, I wouldn't have to listen to you complain all the time.” She crossed her arms and pressed her mouth shut.

“You said I should be honest!” I was starting to feel awful.

“Fine, see how you do on your own,” she said, getting up. She took her stuff and started to leave.

“Hailey, come on,” I called, standing up.

She turned around and held her hand up. “I think we need a little space. How's that for honesty?” she said. I stopped in my tracks and watched her walk out the cafeteria doors. That went well.

That night in bed, I was still trying to piece together what happened. We didn't see each other after the scene in the cafeteria. She had practice after school, and I went straight home. All afternoon, while I did my homework, I kept sneaking glances at the computer, hoping she'd IM me, but no such luck. I didn't IM her, either.

I wrapped my down comforter around me tight. I could hear Allie's faint singing over the fan I had switched on to drown out her voice. So much for saying what I really was thinking, but maybe Hailey was right. Maybe we did need a little space from each other.

Chapter 8

It was finally Friday, the day of the first performance of the play. Hailey and I hadn't really talked since our big argument. We'd managed to avoid each other yesterday. I didn't even go into the cafeteria at lunchtime. Instead I hid out in the
Voice
office, making a checklist of what I was going to look for in evaluating the play:

Overall singing quality

Choreography

Set design

Costumes

Lighting

Lead actress's performance

Lead actor's performance

Main supporting role

performances

I tapped my pen, trying to think of anything I could be forgetting. Mr. Trigg walked in.

“Why, hello there, Ms. Martone,” he said. “How are we on the day of the big show?”

“I'm okay,” I said. “Just making a list of things I want to look for when I see it.” I looked at my list again, and wrote down
Sound engineering?

“I did a few theater reviews back in the day,” he said, sitting down and unwinding the striped scarf he always wore around school, but for some reason never in the
Voice
office. “Nothing beats going to see a show in the West End in London. I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance.”

“Can I ask you a question, Mr. Trigg?” I said while I put my notes away.

“Fire away,” he said.

“What if the play's not good and we have to write about that? I don't want to hurt people's feelings,” I said.

“Just tell it like you see it,” he said, “and you'll be brilliant.”

I nodded and thanked him, but I wasn't so sure about my brilliance.

At home my mom and I ate a quick dinner that was actually kind of a breakfast—scrambled eggs, toast, and salad. Allie had gone over to the high school auditorium that afternoon to get ready, so we hadn't seen her since the morning. I was kind of glad she hadn't come home. She probably would have been bouncing off the walls, as my mom says. In about half an hour, we were going to pick Hailey up and drive her to the show. I was nervous. I wasn't sure what we were going to say to each other. I had to tell my mom what was going on. I put my fork down.

“Hailey and I kind of got into a little argument,” I said, picking up my fork again and poking at my eggs.

Mom held her fork frozen in the air between her mouth and her plate. “Uh-oh, how little?” she said, looking worried.

“Well, not so little,” I said, and stabbed a cucumber from my salad.

“Okay, how big?”

“Hailey was bugging me about something, so I told her it was bothering me. She got really
upset and told me I was bugging her too, and then we decided that we needed some space, and now we haven't talked in two days. She said I could be honest with her, and she always tells me what she thinks—a little too much sometimes. So why did she get so upset?” I said it all in one breath, then leaned back in my chair. It felt good to get it out.

“Hmm. Are you still upset with her?” Mom asked, taking our plates to the garbage pail and scraping the food off. Then she started putting them in the dishwasher.

“I don't know, not really. I just want to work it out. She was pretty mad. But she said I should tell her the truth. That's what best friends are for, right?”

“Well, sometimes. The truth is always good, but we have to decide what we can let go and what we can't. Was she mad or hurt? Sometimes the truth hurts. There's no way around it. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't tell it. It just may take a while for the person to get past the hurt and see the truth.”

I thought about all the times Hailey had told me something I didn't want to hear, but after I had some distance I usually realized she was right. Hopefully, she'd feel the same way.

Mom came over to me, smoothed my hair back, and squeezed my shoulders. “Let's just see how it goes. Hailey's not one to hold a grudge. She adores you. Sometimes friends bug each other. It's part of the deal when you're so close.”

“Okay,” I said. “I guess so.”

We got into the car and drove over to Hailey's. Mom gave a little beep and Hailey came running out. She had just showered, and her hair was still wet and spiky and her cheeks all rosy. She'd even dressed up a bit, which Hailey hardly ever did. She wore a pretty turquoise sweater and her good jeans. She looked great. I waved from the car and smiled, and she waved and smiled back. Good sign. She climbed into the backseat.

“How are you?” I said as Mom started to drive again.

“Good,” she said. “Mrs. Martone, thanks for the ride.”

“My pleasure,” said Mom, and we drove for a minute in silence. Then Mom asked Hailey about soccer and they got into a big conversation about how some of the away games had been going and which other schools had the best teams and so forth. I was relieved Hailey and I didn't have to make awkward conversation the whole time. I checked and made sure I had my notebook so I could jot down some notes during the play.

When we go to the high school, lots of people were gathered outside the auditorium.

“Wow,” Mom said. “A great turnout!” The drama club plays are always a big deal, but it seemed like the entire town was here.

“Yeah!” Hailey said.

We walked in, and my mom went to stand in line and pick up the tickets she had already ordered.

I decided to just come out with it. “I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt your feelings.”