Act 2 (Jack & Louisa) (15 page)

-LOUISA-

This made the second day in a row that I was walking home. Except I wasn’t walking, I was running—trying to get away as quickly as I could from that auditorium, from Belinda, from Jack, from my cast, and most of all, from the version of myself that had just screamed at a grown-up and quit the show. In my desperate rush to escape, I had only grabbed my coat, not wanting to spend the extra five seconds it would have taken to dislodge my backpack from underneath one of the seats. This would pose a problem when it came to doing homework later, but homework was the least of my worries right now.

With my arms pumping steadily against the wind, a carousel of images and sounds kept revolving in my head: Belinda’s shocked expression, Jack’s eyes wide as they pleaded with me to stay quiet, the deafening silence of my castmates after I exploded. I had never, ever done anything like that in my life. And while at the time it felt like there was no way to control what came out of me, now all I thought was:
How could I have done that?

I was terrified of what I’d left behind—Jack, alone, an even bigger target at whom Belinda could aim her fire; an Adelaide-size hole to be filled by someone who didn’t know Jack (or the show) the way I did; an entire team of soccer boys who were all probably laughing about what I’d just done; a backpack full of unfinished assignments . . .

“
Lou!”

The voice was so faint behind me that I wasn’t sure I’d actually heard my name. Still, I slowed to a jog and twisted around to see where the sound was coming from.

About half a block away was Tanner Falzone, running to catch up with me.

“
Hold on!
” he shouted. His long legs helped close
the gap between us fairly quickly, and I noticed as he got closer that he was carrying two backpacks. One of them was mine.

“Jeez, you run pretty fast for a shorty,” he said as he reached me, his breath coming out in big clouds of steam.

“What—what are you doing?” I panted.

“Jenny wanted to catch up with you to give you your bag, but she said she couldn’t run fast enough in her fried boots.”

“Huh?”

“I dunno, something about her fried boots.”

I had no idea what Tanner was talking about, but then it struck me that he had simply misheard Jenny’s label-dropping.

“
Frye
boots,” I said, still breathing heavily. “They’re a shoe brand.”

“Whatever.” Tanner shrugged. “I knew
I
could catch up with you, so I grabbed your bag and started running.”

I squinted at him.

“You and Jenny left, too?”

“Everybody did. We all left.”

My heart, already beating fast, started to beat even faster.

If everyone had left, did that mean
Guys and Dolls
was officially over?

I swallowed hard and dared myself to ask another question, though I dreaded the answer. “What about Jack?”

Tanner looked back over his shoulder toward the school as if Jack might suddenly appear in the distance.

“Uh, actually, I don’t know about Jack. I just know that all the guys left after Jenny, and then we saw the girls come out when we were still in the parking lot. I didn’t see Jack leave, but . . . it’s not like there was anything left for Belinda to do once the whole cast was gone.”

There were plenty of other things I could have been thinking about, but the only thought I had at this moment was that these were by far the most words I’d ever heard Tanner Falzone speak. And they were certainly the most he’d ever spoken to
me.

I hesitated. I had another question, but I wasn’t sure how long he was planning on treating me like a real person. Nevertheless, curiosity got the best of me.

“Why did
you
leave?”

Tanner looked up at the sky, which was getting darker by the minute.

“Um . . . ,” he started, “’cause, like, Belinda was being totally harsh. And you know, we all talk about how mean she’s been toward Jack, but we just thought that’s how it was with real . . .
experienced
kind of actors? Like, how are we supposed to know what’s normal? But then, when
you
suddenly got mad, it was like, ‘Okay, right. This is uncool.’” He paused, then looked at me in a way that made me feel funny.

“Like, if
you
say she’s being unfair, then it’s gotta be true. Lou Benning doesn’t say stuff she doesn’t mean, you know?”

I didn’t know what to say. Once again I felt ashamed that I had been so clueless about Belinda’s cruelty toward Jack, even while people as seemingly dense as Tanner Falzone were noticing. But there was something else, too, that left me speechless: Tanner Falzone had been
paying attention
to me
, not merely dismissing me as some uptight theater nerd. And that made me feel really, really . . . strange. There was an awkward silence between us, and then he thrust my backpack toward me.

“Anyway,” he said, “here’s your bag.”

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing one of the straps and tucking it over my shoulder. The cold finally hit me with a freezer-like blast; I started to shiver. I’d forgotten to put on a hat this morning and my ears were not happy. Tanner glanced down at my chattering teeth.

“How far is your house from here?” he asked.

“Like ten more minutes,” I said, wondering if I should start running again. I’d get there faster, for sure, but I was also feeling pretty exhausted.

“Well,” said Tanner, digging in his coat pocket and producing a knit cap with the Cleveland Browns logo, “take this. You can give it back to me tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” I put on the cap, and my poor ears felt instant relief. Tanner gave a wry smile.

“It’s way big on you.”

I couldn’t help but smile, too.

“It’ll do the trick, though,” I said, pulling the other backpack strap over my shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” said Tanner, who surprised me by turning around and heading back in the direction of the school.

“Wait—Tanner!” I blurted out, making him stop and turn back. “Where do
you
live?”

“Oh,” he said, a bit sheepishly, “Lyman Boulevard.”

“Oh.”

His neighborhood was even farther away than mine. Tanner must have seen me drawing a map in my head, because he added hastily, “It’s not that far. Remember,” he said, nodding toward my legs, “I can run faster than . . .”

“Than me?” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Than anybody,” he boasted. “See ya.”

And off he went, leaving me to process that Tanner Falzone, class bully, had not only chased me down, returned my bag, paid me a compliment,
and
lent me a hat, but he had also gone
completely out of his way
to do so. I had spent most of grade school avoiding that kid, thinking he was too dopey, too mean, too
unlike me
to bother with. It suddenly occurred to me that in the last twenty-four hours, two people had revealed themselves to be completely different from how I chose to see them. People really could surprise you.

The Cleveland Browns hat was helping, but the rest of my body was begging for warmth; I needed
to get home. The Tanner incident had made me feel a little better, but as I hurried to get home, that carousel of faces and voices started spinning, and I was once again reliving the nightmarish scene in the auditorium. What was going to happen now? Would Jack forgive me? What would happen to the soccer team? As Belinda’s old friend, would Coach Wilson be forced to punish the boys in some way? Would they be kicked off the team? I felt nauseous as I imagined the disastrous ripple effects of my outburst. And as I got closer to my house, the question that started to burn with the most urgency was: How were my parents going to react to all of this?

“I’m calling Principal Lang first thing in the morning,” my mother declared when I finished telling my story. My parents weren’t upset with me at all—they were furious with Belinda.

“That woman should know better,” my mother continued, angrily stirring a pot of tomato sauce. “Poor Jack! Why didn’t he say anything earlier?”

Because he was embarrassed
, I thought guiltily, once again recalling how slow I’d been in realizing
the full extent of Jack’s unhappiness.

“How are
you
feeling, Loulou?” my dad asked, chopping green peppers for a salad. “That must have been pretty scary, standing up to Belinda like that.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, “it was.”

“Brave,” said my mom. “It was also brave.”

I should have been feeling better. No one had said that I’d done anything wrong; in fact, it seemed like everyone was on my side. Jenny kept sending me text messages, confirming my new reputation of “School Hero”:

“OMG
U
R
SO FIERCE
!!!”

“K
IDS
R
CALLING
U
THE DRAGON SLAYER
.
”

But until Jack returned the three voice mails and seven text messages I’d sent him, I couldn’t let myself truly believe that I’d done the right thing. I needed to know that Jack had gotten out of that auditorium alive, and that he wasn’t mad at me. I kept staring at my phone, waiting for it to light up with his name across the screen. But it didn’t. Something else happened instead.

At six thirty, just as Dad was clearing our
dinner plates from the table, our doorbell rang.

“Why don’t you answer it, Lou?” Dad said, knowing how badly I wanted Jack to be standing on our front steps.

I forced myself not to run to the door, taking deep breaths and preparing myself for whatever Jack might say to me. But what I wasn’t prepared for at all was the sight of both Jack
and
Belinda standing side by side on our stoop.

“Hey, Lou,” said Jack, calmly, “is it all right if we come in?”

Belinda looked so out of place in our living room. The soft earth tones of the couch and throw pillows provided a shy, neutral background to Belinda’s fiery hair and sparkly shirt. That she looked so uncomfortable only heightened the contrast. My parents stood awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, uncertain as to their role in the situation. Jack, on the other hand, seemed more relaxed than I’d seen him in weeks. He and I sat across from Belinda in matching armchairs, waiting for someone to speak. Behind us, Dad cleared his throat.

“Um. I think we’ll give you guys some privacy.”

“Yes,” Mom added as she started to follow Dad
up the stairs, “but call us if you need anything.”

“I will,” I said, turning around to let her see that I was okay. I waited until their footsteps reached the second floor, then turned back to face Belinda.

“So,” she finally began, “Jack and I spent the rest of the afternoon . . . clearing the air.”

I looked at Jack, who nodded in confirmation.

“And I’d like to . . . apologize to you, Lou, for giving you such a terrible ultimatum earlier. Obviously . . .” Belinda paused. “Obviously that didn’t work out for anybody.”

She looked at me expectantly, though I wasn’t exactly sure what to say.

“I heard everyone left,” I said quietly.

“Yes, everyone left.” Belinda sighed. “Everyone except for Jack.”

I raised my eyebrows at Jack as if to say,
Why?
but he just kept nodding, waiting for Belinda to continue.