Chapter Three

The storm broke just as Josh, the Trips, Denny and I were getting off the bus. It was the sort of storm that happened quickly, drenching your clothes and flooding the gutters. I leapt from the road to the sidewalk, hoping to save my shoes from the river of water. My plan actually would have worked, too, but the Trips grabbed my hands, so I couldn’t move, and then proceeded to jump in as many puddles as they could, saturating my jeans and socks with rain water.

“Nate! Todd!” I screamed, unsuccessfully trying to wriggle my way out of their grip. Josh was no help, of course. He just walked alongside, laughing. Denny did attempt to come to my rescue, but one Denny versus two Trips equals Cassie still being tortured.

Fortunately, we reached the house before Nate and Todd could cause me any permanent damage. We all traipsed inside, dripping on the tiled entryway. Almost immediately, mom walked out of the kitchen, appraising us with raised eyebrows.

“Boys, you are mopping that mess up,” she said after a moment. She turned away, but not before we all saw her smiling. “The mop and extra towels are in the closet.”

“Ha,” I gloated, shivering. “She didn’t say one thing about girls cleaning up the mess. Therefore, as the fortunate human without a Y chromosome, I am free to-”

“Cassie, help your brothers clean up,” Mom called from the kitchen. I groaned.

“Ha ha, who’s laughing now?” Nate and Todd jumped towards me, probably aiming to tickle torture me or something equally evil, but I hurried behind Josh, clinging to his arm.

“Don’t let them hurt me!” I shrieked, laughing at the same time. Josh chuckled, and I took the opportunity to run upstairs, all the way to my bedroom.

“Ah, peace at last,” I mumbled to myself, dropping my bag onto my desk chair. I pulled out a pair of old pajama pants (hand-me downs from Zach, actually) and quickly pulled off my wet jeans and socks.

“I’m coming in, you’d better be decent,” Josh called before appearing in my doorway. I flopped onto my bed, putting on a pair of fluffy socks.

“Yup, your eyes are safe,” I replied, smiling up at him. Josh sat down next to me, pulling his backpack towards him and pulling out his English binder. He set it aside, though, and laid back again my pillows.

“I’m exhausted,” he complained, rubbing his forehead with his right hand. I rolled my eyes.

“Then drop one of your AP classes. How many are you taking? Four?”

“Five, actually. You know how my dad is,” Josh answered, sitting up and looking at me with a serious expression in his gray eyes. I bit my lip and reached for his hand.

“Would your mom help you out, with talking to him?” I did understand about Josh’s father. Mr. Hendersen had graduated from Yale, and was now a world-renowned surgeon. Since Josh’s parents’ divorce, four years earlier, his mom had moved to Manhattan, a three hours drive from our smaller town.

“You know how she is. She can’t stand up to him.”

I nodded. I did know that, too. I let out a sigh, then squeezed Josh’s hand. “Alright, well, lets get started, then. I can’t let you fail any of your classes, now can I?”

“You rock, Cassie. Now.. Can you help me with this thesis for English?”

Four hours later, Josh and I were back in my room, relaxing on my bed, gorging on my mom’s chocolate chip muffins.

“Your mom is the best cook. I know I say that a lot, but it’s true. My mom can’t even make Mac and Cheese,” Josh said, eating half of a muffin in one bite. I laughed.

“Remember that time your mom put kool-aid into our Raman Noodles instead of water on accident? How old were we? Like five?”

“Yup. It didn’t taste that bad, actually.”

“Ew,” I said simply, shuddering at the memory. “By the way, your rough draft essay looks great. There were only a few things I had to fix. You are finally catching on!”

“Hallelujah,” Josh mumbled through his mouthful of muffin.

Just then, Zach walked into my room, holding my history homework. “Cass, your homework was perfect.”

“Thanks, Zach. I love you.” He handed me my work, bent down and kissed me on the cheek, then disappeared back down the stairs. I slipped the papers into my binder and looked back up at Josh. He had a strange look on his face, sad and yet happy at the same time. I frowned.

“Are you ok?” I asked, setting my school work aside. Josh blinked, then looked at me.

“Yeah, fine. Why?”

“You had a look on your face,” I told him, giving him my tell-me-the-truth look. Josh let out a sigh.

“I was just thinking about how lucky you are,” he replied. I was taken aback.

“Lucky? What do you mean?”

“You’re lucky because you have this huge, great family and you all love each other. There’s no fighting or split-custody. You’re lucky.”

“Oh, Josh.” I paused for a moment, then said,” But you know my family is practically your family.”

Josh smiled up at me, a dimple appearing in his cheek. “I know. I guess that makes me pretty lucky, too, for having you as my best friend.”

“Yeah, I guess it does,” I answered, smiling back at him.

The next day, as I entered the choir room, Riley practically pounced on me, dragging me by the wrist to the Alto section.

“Riley? What are you doing?” I demanded, falling into the chair she pushed me into. Riley pulled her chair closer to mine, her dark eyes scanning the room. After a moment, she focused back on me.

“I just wanted to hear the details about new boy Drew,” Riley said nonchalantly, as if I’d walked to my chair under my own power. I brushed a strand of hair from my face.

“I don’t know; I haven’t seen him today,” I pointed out. “You know, you can talk to him yourself.”

“Oh, no, no, I was just wondering,” she replied, giving me a smile. I suddenly felt suspicious, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Ok,” I said slowly, confused. I looked away, watching for Josh. I wasn’t sure exactly where he was, and I was a little worried.

“So, have you been asked to Homecoming yet?” Riley asked, smiling and revealing her perfectly straight teeth. She’d had braces for our entire freshman and sophomore years.

“No, I haven’t. Actually, I haven’t even though about it. We have a few weeks, right?”

“Only two!”

“Oh. Have you been asked?”

“Yes, but I said no. I felt awful, but it was Ryan,” she told me. I ‘Oh’-ed sympathetically, even though I thought computer-nerd Ryan was rather sweet. “But I totally wouldn’t mind if one of the Twins asked me.”

I had to smother the laugh that almost escaped my mouth. None of my friends (other than Josh) had ever been to my house. My relation to the Trips was still a secret. But then I thought for a moment. Nate and Todd didn’t have dates for the dance yet. Maybe I could suggest Riley for one of them. She was their type: pretty, smart, and funny. Todd would definitely ask her, if I introduced them. Nate, however, had a crush on the head cheerleader, which I really didn’t understand.

“It could happen,” I said. Then Josh walked in the room. He was wearing his green striped shirt, one I’d bought him for Christmas last year. He waved at me, then jogged towards us.

“Hey, Cassie.” Josh slid into the chair next to me, grinning. He was up to something. I just knew it.

“Hey, where were you?” I asked. He looked away, then noticed Riley.

“Oh, hey,” He said, changing the subject. “How are you?”

Riley lit up at the attention, so for the moment I let it go. Choir class passed uneventfully, and then I was in the musical theatre room, scanning the duet Drew and I were using.

There was another hush when Drew entered the room today, but it was short and quickly erupted into noise again. Drew’s eyes roamed the room until he located me, something I watched with a laugh.

“Hello, Cassie,” Drew greeted me, sitting next to me on the floor, leaning up against the wall. “How are you today?”

I grinned. What a gentleman. “I’m alright. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m ok. How’s our duet looking?”

“Still good. I just think we need to work on the harmony in this measure, and the interval here, but that’s it. And maybe work on blending our tones.”

“Wow, you really know what you’re doing,” Drew said, chuckling.

“Oh, well. Thanks. Mrs. Hohmann has trained me well.”

“She does seem to have a soft spot for you,” Drew hinted, studying me with his eyes. I bit my lip.

“One of my older brothers was the lead in five musicals; she loves him,” I confided. John, who had ultimately chosen art over theater, was the one who always helped me with drama or musical theatre. I knew he was pleased I was following his path.

“Ah, that explains it,” teased Drew, giving me a sly grin. I slugged him in the arm.

“Hey, it’s not like I’m awful or anything.”

“Ow, that hurt!” Drew whined, rubbing his arm. I laughed.

“Six older brothers, remember?”

“What? You didn’t tell me there were six. So far I’d only counted.. Four,” Drew said, looking thoughtful. Then he focused back on me. “Six? Wow.”

“Um, yeah,” my voice trailed off, and after a moment of silence, we started working on our duet. While we worked, I watched my friends around the room, feeling an immense pressure. Everyone in this class was talented and hard-working. Sure, I wanted the lead, but I also had to force myself not to get my hopes up.

Mackenzie was a few yards away, working with Sean, who’d been the supporting lead in quite a few of our shows. I knew Mackenzie was gutting for the female lead as well. She was probably my most serious competition. As my friend, I wanted her to get it, but I also knew I wanted the part just as much as she did.

Brandon was across the room, singing with Jenessa. Unknown to him, she had a huge crush on him. I knew Jenessa was counting on the two of them performing as the Beast and Belle. She would throw one of her drama-queen fits if things didn’t happen her way. Last year, when we’d done Les Miserables for the spring musical, one of the senior girls had gotten the part of Cosette instead of Jenessa. Mrs. Hohmann had had to pull her aside. In short, it had been scary.

To be honest, I really wanted this part. John, whom I’d confided in at home, had been helping me work towards it. Nobody else really got it, not even the Trips, who usually understood me pretty well. So as I worked with Drew, I had to let everything else in my life go, so I could pretend, just for a moment, that I was going to be Belle, in one of the best stories ever written. I could do that; I could pretend. But I also hoped. A lot.