Times Squared (15 page)

“Come on in,” he said quietly.

We stepped into the room.

“Well, if we get caught, you're not the only mathlete going down,” Payton murmured.

Wow.

The conference room was large and brightly lit. There was a rectangular table in the center with a huge flower arrangement on it. A sign sticking out from the flowers read,
Welcome, Matsumo Motor Company!

“The Matsumo Company plane had mechanical trouble, so they were stuck in Tokyo,” Nick said. “So we get the room instead.”

Nick moved the flowers, and my jaw dropped. Seated around the conference table were—Tess, Ox, Jazmine, and Hector!

“Five of us plus twins equals all of us,” Nick announced. “We're all here.”

“Wow, you should've been a mathlete,” Tess teased.

Payton walked over and sat down next to Tess.

“Seriously,” I said. “Should we be in here?”

“It's okay,” Nick said. “Quinton—the limo driver who brought me back from the theater—is married to this hotel's assistant manager. He hooked me up with this room because it's for a good cause.”

I sat down next to Payton.

“What cause?” I whispered to my twin. “The Ashlynn Fan Club Foundation?”

Payton kicked me under the table.
Ow.

Ox leaned across the table.

“Hi, Emma,” he said. “Sorry I missed you at the pool. I got there late because I was helping Coach Babbitt carry some math stuff up to his room, and Mason and Jason kept punching all the buttons on the elevator.”

Ox smiled at me. He didn't seem mad or anything. Yay, me! I smiled back and felt my face turn red.

“Okay,” Jazmine said. “Enough chitchat. I need to get back to studying. What is so important that you brought us down here?”

“Yeah,” Hector said, echoing his leader. “What?”

“This is what,” Nick said. Suddenly the lights dimmed and a big screen came down, covering one wall.
“I've hooked my minicam up to the projector so we can all see this.”

“This” was Ashlynn's face, huge on-screen and smiling.

“Told you,” I whispered to Payton.

“Hi! I'm Ashlynn, star of the off-Broadway musical
Fairytale Mash-up
! Nick has asked me to tape a little segment for all you Gecko Hick-o's!”

“Did she just call us hicks?” Tess said.

“So here we are in the dressing room that I share with another actress, um . . .”

“Liz,” said an older girl. The camera turned toward her for a moment. I recognized her from the play rehearsal.

“So after we finish your—whatch'callit—HOGS cast?”

“VOGS cast,” Nick said, correcting her. We could only hear his voice because he was behind the camera.

Pause.

“This is where I set up my tripod stand and put my camera in it, aiming at Ashlynn,” off-screen, real-life Nick said. “That's important to know, considering what comes next.”

“What comes next?” Tess, Payton, and I all said at the same time.

“And why should we care?” grumbled Jazmine.

“Just watch,” Nick told us. Unpause.

“So after you film this, Nicky, do you want to go do something
fun
?” Ashlynn batted her eyelashes. Which looked gigantic on the screen.

“Um, oh, I've got to get back to the hotel,” Nick's voice replied.

“Just a little dinner . . . and maybe a stroll or something romantic?” Ashlynn persisted.

“No, thank you,” Nick's voice said more firmly. “Now, would you mind telling me how you got your part in this production?”

“Yes, I mind!” Ashlynn's face suddenly turned mean. “And I need to rehearse in private. So get out!”

“Wait, I just need . . .” Nick's voice said.

“I said
out
!” Ashlynn got up, and we all heard a door slam. Pause.

Our conference room was silent as Nick pressed “pause” on the camera again and said, “I just wanted to get my camera. But it stayed in there with her—still filming. And I wasn't sure at that point what I was supposed to do. Leave? I didn't even know how I was getting back to the hotel. So I waited down the hall a ways. After a little while Ashlynn and Liz left the room and went the
opposite way from me. So I ran in and grabbed my camera and tripod. Then I went to the front of the theater, where I found Quinton, who was supposed to drive me back here.

“And on the ride home, I watched the footage of what happened after I left,” Nick said. “She'd given me permission to film, and I thought I could find
something
to use in the VOGS cast. I found something all right. This.”

He pressed a button on the camera.

“Gah, he wasn't that cute anyway.” Ashlynn sat back down by Liz. She was half off-camera, but we could hear her loud and clear.

“Can you believe that bunch of Hick-o's today?” Ashlynn snorted. “Their so-called actors were so lame, complete amateurs.”

“I'm not sure they were all drama kids,” Liz said.

“Oh yeah, the math nerds.” Ashlynn rolled her eyes. “They're even worse than, like, band geeks.”

“Hey!” Hector spoke up. “I am an elite mathlete
and
an accomplished cellist. Who does she think she is?”

“Oh, who cares?” Jazmine said. “Calm down.”

“And that Wicked Witch girl?” Ashlynn laughed. “Worst. Acting. Ever. She had absolutely no stage presence.”

“She did
not
just say that,” Jazmine said, her voice
turning deadly. “She wants to see me do wicked? I'll give her evil so bad she'll run screaming off the stage, crying for her mommy.”

Pause.

We all looked at Jazmine.

“What?” She glared at us. “Can we finish this up?”

“It's almost done,” Nick said. “But I want to warn you. It's kind of hard to watch. I had no idea she'd get so mad at me when I turned her down.”

“It's not Nick she's mad at,” I whispered to Payton. “It's you.
Us
.”

“I know,”
Payton whispered back.

“Dude, don't blame yourself,” Ox told Nick. “She asked me out too.”

What? Excuse me
???

“I said no, of course,” Ox said. He was looking at me. He was looking at me!

I smiled back at him and gave him a thumbs-up. He grinned back. Yes!

Unpause.

“A school of losers,” Ashlynn kept babbling. “Especially those twins. Did you see the one wannabe in last month's fashions and the other one in
sweatpants
?” She cracked up.

“They're yoga pants,” I protested.

“Shhh . . .” Everyone shushed me.

“Well, they haven't seen anything yet.” Ashlynn laughed. “Tomorrow's show is audience participation, and I'm going to embarrass those Gecko Hick-o's even more. I'm talking Total. Public. Humiliation.”

There was a background noise, and then three of the floofiest dogs I'd ever seen raced in and started jumping on Ashlynn.

“Get down!” Ashlynn shrieked. “You'll get my skirt all muddy.”

And she pushed—
pushed
—one dog off her lap. We couldn't see it hit the floor, but we heard a sad, hurt whimper.

The screen went black.

And we all just sat there.

STILL IN THE HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM

Everyone was silent.

“Well, that was exceptionally harsh,” Tess said. “What did
we
ever do to her?”

“I know
some
people might think you two boys are attractive,” Jazmine said, looking at Ox and Nick, “but is that enough for public humiliation?”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

“Yes, I believe it is!” Emma said suddenly. “Um . . . think of it this way. Say I happened to like either Nick or
Ox—
”

“You like Nick and Ox?!” Hector said. “I knew it! That explains the whole Ferris wheel thing.”

Nick and Ox both turned red.

“
No, no!
” Emma shouted. “I was speaking hypothetically. I do
not
like Nick and Ox. Well, not Nick. I mean—I'm just saying, for example, if I were Ashlynn and asked out Nick and Ox and they turned me down, I might get a little upset.”

“That wasn't
upset
,” Hector said. “She's talking total
annihilation
of all of us.”

“Well, Ox
is
really special,” Emma babbled on. “I mean Nick
and
Ox are . . .”

I knew she was trying to save me. I appreciated it. But I didn't want her to have to go any further.

I knew what I needed to do.

“Emma, it's okay!” I said, cutting her off. I stood up and looked at everyone. “I have a confession to make.”

Everyone looked back at me, confused. Except Emma, who gave me a look like, was I sure I wanted to do this?

“The reason Ashlynn hates us is . . .” I took a deep breath. “Me. Ashlynn and I went to summer camp together.”

Everyone was like “What?!”

“I should have said something right away,” I said. “But I was so shocked. And then I thought she didn't
recognize me so I thought I could stay under the radar.”

“Why is that a big deal?” Jazmine asked. “You could have said hi and gone on with your lives.”

I glanced at Emma.

“Let's just say Ashlynn and Payton didn't get along at camp,” Emma said. “And leave it at that.”

“What the heck did you do to her?” Hector asked.

“Nothing!” Emma and I both said.

“It's what I did
for
her,” I said softly.

“Payton, you don't have to say anything else,” Emma said. She tilted her head toward Jazmine and Hector. Then at Tess. And . . . Nick.

And I realized that was exactly why I wanted to say what I said next.

“I want to be honest,” I said. “I don't want Ashlynn to have anything to hold over me anymore.”

I told them the whole story. How I was Summer Slave to Ashlynn for her trendy clothes. The humiliating things I'd had to do.

“Why did you do all that?” Jazmine asked. “That sounds just demeaning.”

“I wanted to start school with really cool new clothes,” I said miserably. “And, honestly, I think I hoped some ‘Ashlynn' would rub off too.”

“Why would you want that girl to rub off on you?” Tess asked. “She was so mean to you and is going to be mean to us. And plus, she kicked a puppy!”

I might as well get it all out.

“Everyone thought she was such a star at camp,” I said. “And look at her now. She
is
a star. She can sing, dance, and get boys to have crushes on her. You guys saw it yourself.”

“She is pretty and talented—” Nick started to say.

“I know,” I interrupted him. “You went to go look for her, remember? And then you went on a tour with her . . .”

Oops. That just came out.

“I wasn't going to look for Ashlynn,” Nick said. “I was going to look for
you.
I told the chaperone I'd come with her to walk you back to the hotel.”

Oh.

“And then she said she'd introduce me to the soundboard guy so I could learn some special effects,” Nick said. “I wasn't going to hang out with her.”

“Obviously, and it's on tape that he turned her down,” Tess pointed out. “There's nothing to be jealous of.”

“I'm not jealous,” I protested. “Okay, I'm really jealous of her. And I thought wearing her clothes would bring me some of her . . .” What did Emma call it?

“Charisma!” Emma and Jazmine both shouted at the same time.

There. I'd said it all.

“So she has charisma,” Tess said. “I wouldn't want Ashlynn as a friend. She's definitely no threat to you.”

Awwww.

“I'm so embarrassed,” I said, and sniffled. I couldn't even begin to look at Nick and see what he thought of all this.

“I'm so thrilled!” Emma said. “I've been trying to tell Payton this since the first Summer Slave chore. I think it may finally have sunk in, thanks to you guys. Payton, you were way too good for Ashlynn to humiliate you then and you're way too good to have her humiliate you now.”

“It's true, Payton.”

That was Nick!!! He smiled at me.

“Actually, I think I'm humiliated too,” Nick said. “I think she only asked me out to get you jealous, Payton.”

Wha . . . ?

“I told her I was there to pick you up,” Nick said. “And I guess it was obvious that I, well, you know.”

“Say it, Nick!” Emma cheered him on.

“I like you,” Nick said.

!!!!!

Nick and I grinned at each other.

“Well, this has been a romantically disgusting TMI session,” Jazmine said. “Can we get to the bottom line here?”