The Comeback (8 page)

I
walked into rehearsal on Monday with a renewed sense of confidence. I could face Angie and Connor again with my head held high.

The date with Tanner had gone well, the biggest mouth in school had seen us together, and I detected a thaw in the air. Hannah actually said hi to me in English class, and there was no sign of her T
EAM
V
OGEL
T-shirt.

Monet was already there and she'd wrangled Ava and Scott into helping with the sets.

Connor and Angie were there, too, but I didn't let their lack of discretion bother me. They could cuddle and kiss all they wanted. Sophie Donnelly was making a comeback.

“Hi, are you ready to work?” I said to Dev, who was helping carry scenery.

He grunted in response and stalked off.

“What's wrong with him?” I asked Monet.

“No idea,” she said.

I shrugged. “Nothing can get to me today. You were right. Going out with Tanner was smart.”

“He's a nice guy.”

I shrugged. “He's certainly good-looking, and that is definitely helping me get back on top.”

“I didn't set the two of you up so that you could use him to become popular again.”

“So why did you?” I was annoyed. Monet was acting as though I was committing a crime or something. “I've never made a secret of the fact that I like being liked.”

“Being popular doesn't necessarily mean you're liked,” Monet snapped.

“What are you talking about?” The idea stopped me in my tracks.

“Ask yourself why being popular is so important to you.”

Ava came over. “Monet, where should I put this?” She had a painting of a Tuscan villa in her hands.

“Ava, that's gorgeous,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said. “I painted it from a photo I took when we went on vacation there last summer.”

Mr. Fanelli clapped his hands. “All right, places, everyone. And remember, people, you need to be off book. You've had four weeks to memorize your lines. I'm going to start imposing fines on Monday.”

Most of the cast groaned, but I smiled smugly. I had a gift for memorization and had both Bianca and Katharina down cold.

“Sophie, Dev, where are you? I'd like to work with the two of you.”

“I'll get him.” I finally found Dev in the closet where the crew kept the supplies they needed to design the sets. I observed him for a minute as he hoisted cans of paint onto the shelf. The muscles in his arms rippled. Just then, he turned around and caught me staring.

“Fanelli wants us,” I said.

“I'll be right there,” he said.

I hesitated. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.”

“Because you're acting like you're mad at me about something.”

Dev ignored the question. “C'mon, Fanelli is waiting.”

“Let him wait. You didn't answer my question.”

“Sophie, why do you have to be like this? Just when I think I…” His voice trailed off.

“You what?” I said. Butterflies were building in my stomach. “What, Dev?”

“Never mind,” he said. “I'm not in the mood to stand in line to worship the great Sophie Donnelly.”

“Nobody asked you to,” I snapped.

Monet poked her head into the room. “Mr. Fanelli
is asking where you two are,” she said. “He's almost at the hissy-fit stage. He's muttering something about spoiled little prima donnas.”

“We all know who he's talking about,” Dev said, shooting me a glare. He strode off.

“Your brother has a serious case of PMS,” I said.

Monet was smiling. “It's good to see that nothing's changed with you two.”

As we walked back to rehearsal, I wondered. Something had definitely changed between Dev and me, but what?

Monet caught up with me the next day before class. “Hey, you had fun the other night, right?”

“You mean with Tanner? Yes. In fact, I was hoping he'd ask me out again.”

“That's great,” she replied. “Because both he and Scott have to work on Friday night until closing and they wanted to know if we wanted to do something afterward.”

“Why didn't he ask me himself?” I said.

“He's shy,” she said.

“Sounds good,” I said. And it wasn't like anyone else was beating down my door. I had to have some kind of social life or people would think I had turned into a recluse or something.

But on Friday, I was in the library during free
period when Eli Hudson, a big-man-on-campus senior, leaned over to me from the next table. “Hey, Sophie,” he said. “My parents are out of town for the weekend. I'm having a party tonight.”

It was the break I'd been looking for. I hadn't been invited to an A-list party in weeks and Eli was a genuinely nice guy. Tanner was a dead end. Pretty, but not the sharpest crayon in the box.

But with Eli, there were definite possibilities. Going out with him would be a coup. I was pretty sure he wasn't seeing anyone.

I glanced over at the librarian but she was busy updating her blog or something. I gave him a flirtatious smile. “I'll be there,” I said.

His smile was sincere. “Looking forward to it.”

I didn't care that our imaginary romance was bound to be short-lived, since he was a senior. In my mind, we were already an item. We'd meet at the party, connect, he'd ask me to Homecoming, we'd date his senior year, and then understandably, he'd break up with me right before he left for college.

I was so busy daydreaming about my future with a guy I barely knew, it completely slipped my mind to tell Monet that my plans had changed.

I spent hours on my hair and the perfect outfit. Eli and Connor didn't exactly run in the same crowd, but they did have mutual friends, so it was possible that he and Angie would show up at the party.

I drove to Eli's house and had to park three blocks away. There were cars everywhere, but I didn't see Connor's.

I took a deep breath and walked up the front steps.

A couple of kids from my history class waved to me, and someone handed me a red plastic cup full of some unidentifiable liquid. I discreetly dumped it in a potted plant when no one was looking. Too late, I realized it was a silk plant.

As soon as I entered the living room, my dreams of a romance ended with a sickening crash. Eli was already horizontal on the couch with Madison Elliot. How could I have ever been interested in him? Madison was a freshman, for God's sake.

I wandered around the house. There were plenty of people I knew, but nobody I really wanted to talk to.

“What are you doing here?” Dev's voice said in my ear. “I thought you had a hot date tonight?”

“What?” I said. “Oh, no! Please don't tell Monet. I
completely forgot.
”

“You're asking me to lie to my own sister?”

I looked meaningfully at the beer in his hand. “Tsk-tsk. What would Barbara and Herb think of their eldest son drinking?”

“Now you're going to blackmail me,” he said. But he didn't sound that upset. In fact, he made it sound like something deliciously depraved.

Before I could answer, my cell rang and I picked it up without checking the number. I could barely hear over the noise of the party.

“Where are you?” Monet's voice crackled through the line.

“What? I can barely hear you.”

“You were supposed to meet us at the art supply store, remember? Tanner's been waiting for you for over an hour.”

She'd kill me if she knew where I really was. I pushed the mute button and headed for the door.

Once I was safely outside, where the noise level was considerably lower, I clicked the button again. “Monet, I'm so sorry. Please tell him I don't feel well.”

“You're never sick,” she said suspiciously. “And what's all the noise in the background?”

“The neighbors are having a loud party,” I lied. “It's keeping me up and I have a terrible headache.” And suddenly, my temples
were
throbbing. It was stressful to lie to my best friend.

I don't know what came over me to lie. Dev had already seen me. There was no way he wouldn't rat me out to his sister.

But when I went back into the house, he had disappeared. I wondered if he was there with Beth, but I didn't catch sight of them.

I squared my shoulders. I had come to the party in order to find an eligible guy. It obviously wasn't
going to be Eli, but there were plenty of other eligible guys, most of them seniors.

In fact, I spotted Chad Laughlin sitting near the keg. He was good-looking and charming, and we'd been in several drama productions together. Unfortunately for him, he had broken his leg skateboarding right before tryouts. He'd do nicely.

“How's the leg?” I sat next to him on a folding chair. I put my hand on his arm, but he moved away to fill a red plastic cup with beer and handed it to me. I hated the taste, but sipped it for courage.

He handed me a Sharpie. “Wanna sign my cast?” he asked.

“I'd love to,” I trilled. I was so out of practice with flirting. My mind raced, trying to think of something witty to write. Finally, I decided that blatant was the way to go, so I just signed my name and scribbled “call me” and my phone number.

He peered at the words blearily and then began to chuckle.

“Oh, I'm a joke now? Thanks a lot, Chad. I thought you were a nice guy.” I got up, but he caught me by the arm.

“Sophie, I'm sorry,” he said. “I wasn't laughing at you. I'm laughing because—well, your timing couldn't be worse.”

Mollified, I sat back down. “And why is that?”

“I would have loved to go out with you. My dad would have loved you.”

I gave him a puzzled look.

“Where were you when I was still in the closet?” he said.

“Closet?”

“I'm gay,” he said. “And I just told my parents last week. They didn't take it very well.”

“I'm sorry to hear that,” I said.

He drained his glass. “Yeah, me, too.”

I couldn't bring myself to work up the courage to try again and we spent the next half hour hanging out while I caught him up with what was going on with
The Taming of the Shrew
.

“So you and Connor broke up, huh?”

I nodded. “Being single sucks,” I said.

“You said it, sister,” Chad replied. He tapped his glass against mine.

For some reason, maybe because of my lack of success with Chad or because Eli and Madison seemed to be trying to make out on every available flat (and not so flat) surface in his house, the party had lost its sparkle. Besides, it was always best to leave ‘em wanting more, so I took off.

Monday at school, I was riding high until I saw Monet walking toward me in the hallway. One look at
her face and I knew I was in trouble. She was seriously pissed off.

Still, I was shocked when she said, in a low voice, “You and I are no longer friends.”

“Why?”

She looked at me levelly. “You know why.”

“I can't believe Dev told you.”

“Dev? What does Dev have to do with this?”

“N-nothing.” For a minute, I thought that it wasn't about the party, but her next words robbed me of that notion.

“Eli's party,” she said. “You stood Tanner up so that you could go to Eli's party. And I worked so hard to convince him—”

“I'm sorry. Let me explain—hey, wait a minute. Convince him of what?”

She had been about to say “convince him to go out with you,” I was sure of it.

“Convince him that you were a nice girl,” she replied. “And then you do this. We're done.” She started to walk away.

I caught her arm. “You have to give me another chance. You're my best friend.”

“We're only friends when it's convenient for you,” she said. “You're not ever really there for me. You're always so busy trying to become some sort of It girl that you barely even listen to me anymore.”

“You're just mad about the Eli thing,” I replied. “I told you I was sorry.”

“It's not just about that,” she said. “You've always liked being popular, dragging me along to hang out with those phonies.”

“You never said anything,” I replied.

“Oh, I said things,” she said. “You just never listened.”

“We can do whatever you want,” I said. “I promise you I'm trying.”

She softened a smidge. “Art museum on Sunday, and you have to call Tanner and apologize.”

I had called Tanner to apologize, but we both knew that there wasn't anything between us. Even simple, sweet Tanner had figured that out.

I
went to rehearsal feeling pretty good, until I saw Connor and Angie onstage. Then it hit me. She had everything that should have been mine. My boyfriend, my popularity, and, most important, my role.

Just then, Connor swept her into a passionate kiss.

“That definitely isn't in the script,” Monet muttered.

“It's hot, though,” Olivia said. Her eyes gleamed. I could tell she was bursting to spread the word about Connor and Angie's hot lip-lock as soon as rehearsal ended.

The whole cast was watching, enthralled, as they continued to make out.

“Where's Mr. Fanelli?” I said. “He can't seriously be allowing this. It's practically porn.”

But no one was listening. The entire cast ignored me. It was as though I wasn't even there, and I realized
that this was what most kids went through every day, being invisible. I didn't like it.

Tears were forming, but I blinked them away. I thought I was over Connor, that it was just about the popularity, but it hurt to see him so into Angie that he didn't even notice anyone else. He'd never felt like that about me.

It was too much to bear. I ran from the auditorium and headed for the costume room to mope in peace. I was sure that someone would notice I was gone, but I was wrong.

I cried until my eyes were swollen and my nose was running. Which was horrifying when I realized that someone had followed me. Dev.

“Sophie, are you all right?” I heard his voice from the hallway and ducked behind a rack of costumes.

“Sophie, I know you're in there,” he said in a gentle voice. His footsteps grew close.

“Go away, Dev.”

“Come on out of there,” he said. “I'm not leaving until you do.”

I frantically tried to erase the signs of my weeping. A second later, the costume I was hiding behind was pushed aside and Dev appeared.

The expression on his face caused me to promptly burst into tears again. He took me into his arms. My face was pressed against his shoulder and I prayed that my nose wouldn't run on his shirt.

At first he held me for comfort, but then he put a finger to my chin, lifting it and forcing me to look directly into his eyes. He kissed away a tear trailing down my cheek. His lips moved to the corner of my mouth. The kiss deepened.

We kissed passionately. Part of my brain was processing the fact that I was kissing my best friend's brother and screaming
bad idea
, but the other part of my brain, the part in control, was marveling at the splendid way Dev kissed.

Somehow we tumbled to the floor, landing on a pile of discarded clothing. A foggy part of my brain knew we should stop, but somehow, instead, my hands were caressing his back when the door opened.

My eyes snapped open, dreading that I would see Monet. Instead, Olivia Kaplan stood in the doorway. She met my eyes and then, with a smirk, slowly backed out of the room.

Dev didn't notice. I stiffened, suddenly realizing the enormity of what we were doing.

I put a hand to Dev's chest and pushed him away.

“We should get back,” I said, “before someone misses us.”

Besides, I needed some time to figure out what was going on.

He reluctantly agreed. He gave me one last kiss and helped me to my feet. “I'll see you later.”

I watched him leave. What did that mean? “I'll see
you later?” “I'll
call
you later?” Or “Thanks for the seven minutes of heaven but I don't want to be seen in public with you”? Either was a possibility.

I sat back down and contemplated the sad state of my love life when I worried if a guy was blowing me off or not. The old Sophie would have been completely sure of herself, certain that the lucky guy would be on the phone before the sun set.

I realized I was sitting on one of the costumes for the current production. It must have fallen off the metal rack they used to take the costumes back and forth to the dressing rooms.

When I looked at the rich red silk costume, I wanted to throw something.

On impulse, I grabbed it off the hanger and tried it on. It looked fabulous on me. And who knew? If something happened to Angie and she was unable to perform, I could step in. We weren't exactly the same size, but it fit. It was a little tight in the bust, but not enough to be a problem. And I'd been secretly memorizing Katharina's part along with Bianca's for a reason, after all.

Way in the back, I found a section of clothes from when the school did
Oklahoma!
a few years ago.

Next, I tried on the costume Haley had worn when she'd screeched out “I Cain't Say No.” Despite her resemblance to Alicia Keys, Haley didn't have Alicia's pipes. I took it off and then hung it back up carefully.
I don't think
anyone
in the drama department wanted to revisit
Oklahoma!
after Haley's performance.

Next, I found a gorgeous blue flapper costume. I didn't know what production that was from, but trying everything on made me remember how much I loved acting, being able to slip into someone else's skin for a few hours and make an audience believe I was somebody else.

I exited the costume closet feeling pretty satisfied with myself. I looked both ways, but the hallway was empty.

The auditorium was empty, too. Rehearsal had ended, but it looked like no one missed me. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I could alibi my way out of what was sure to be gossip tomorrow. I was in rehearsal the whole time.

But unfortunately, Monet had noticed my absence. My phone rang as soon as I made it home.

“Hey, I'm sorry about today,” she said. “I started to go after you, but then Fanelli had a crisis and I had to take care of it.”

“No big deal,” I said.

“Are you sure you're okay? You sound funny.”

“Just a long day.”

“Where did you disappear to?”

“I holed up in the costume closet and tried on some costumes. Alone,” I added quickly.

“Don't let them bother you,” she said. “Have you heard from Tanner lately? Scott and I thought we could all hang out at the gallery this weekend.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to confess, honestly. She was my best friend, so I could tell her anything, right?

“Monet—” I hesitated.

“What?”

“I wanted to ask you something about Dev,” I said hesitantly.

“Sophie Donnelly, don't you dare go there,” she said hotly. “My brother is not some arm candy you can use for your own purposes and then toss aside.”

“I didn't say—”

“You didn't have to,” she replied. “I know how your scheming little mind works. Did you ever ask yourself why I put up with you for so long?”

“I didn't realize you were
putting up
with me,” I said. “I thought we were best friends.”

She hesitated. “You know I didn't mean it like that.”

“How did you mean it?”

“It's just—I always knew that you were so into Connor and being popular that you'd never look in Dev's direction.”

“Don't you trust me?” I said. I was getting a little angry myself. She was supposed to be my best friend.

“Now that you mention it, I don't,” she said. “At least not with Dev's fragile little heart. Let me be perfectly clear. I do not want you going near Dev. You'll just ruin him for anybody else and then dump him when somebody new comes along.”

“But what if I—”

“What?” she snapped. “What could you possibly say to convince me?”

“Never mind.” I chickened out and hung up without telling her the truth, which turned out to be a seriously bad judgment call.