Crazy in Love (16 page)

“Well, Sallie,” Dad said, “I understand you made quite a hit last night. Your mother assures me that you’ll be
winning first prize and that you’ll have bought a dozen
white Rolls Royces by next week.”

“She’s in it for the artistic satisfaction, not the money,”
Jenny insisted. “Oh, and maybe for the fame part, too.”

“I’m looking forward to tonight,” he went on. “Is it
okay if I bring my camera and take pictures?”

“Dadde-e-e!” Jenny squealed. “That’s so unpro
fessional!”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Mom said. “There are
always photographers at the Oscar and the Emmy Awards.”

“Well, on one condition, then,” Jenny said. “He’ll have
to wear a tuxedo.”

I appreciated the fact that my whole family was being so supportive. They really are dears, every last one of them.
By the time Jenny had taken her cinnamon buns out of the
oven and the entire kitchen smelled scrumptious, I’d
managed to relax a bit. After all, how could this competi
tion—or
any
competition—be scary when I had these three
in the audience, cheering me on?

It was a pleasant way to start the day, lingering over two cups of tea and stuffing myself with hot rolls. I could have
stayed forever, but as Jenny was just finishing her detailed description of the plot of the movie she and my father had
seen the night before, the telephone rang.

“I’ll get it.” I assumed it would be Saul, checking up on
some last-minute detail about the contest.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Sallie. It’s me.”

I’d been expecting to hear Saul’s deep voice, so I was
surprised to be greeted by a female.

“Who
...
oh, Rachel.
I’m sorry. My
mind is already on the stage of the auditorium. You’ll have
to bear with my absentmindedness
.”

“Sallie, I’m in love!”

“Congratulations! Who’s the lucky fellow? Anyone I
know?”

“Saul, of course.”

Of course. A mere week before, I’d been obsessed with
getting Rachel to consider even going out with him, as if I
were asking her to sell all her worldly goods and move to
the Himalayas. And now she was saying, “I’m in love with
Saul, of course.”

“I think I missed something, Rach. You’d better fill me
in.”

“It happened last night,” she began dreamily. “I don’t
know exactly how. I mean, I was kind of nervous
about seeing Saul at your party.  And at first it was awkward. We didn’t really know what to say to each other, how to act
toward each other. It was that way until he started to sing.
Until you
two
started to sing,” she corrected herself.

“Then, all of a sudden, I saw him differently. I fell in
love with him on the spot. I guess it’s partly because he
seemed like some kind of celebrity or something, standing
there performing for an audience. But it was more than that, too. It was the song. He had written that song for
me.
And it
was so beautiful. The sentiment behind it was so sweet, so
sincere.”

“I worked on it, too,” I interjected. I didn’t want to
be demoted to silent partner.

“Oh, I know. But I could tell that the emotion in the song
was from him. Wasn’t it?” she added uncertainly.

“Well, yes,” I admitted. “He came up with the idea. I
just made the words fit with the music better.
Some of the lines were completely mine. But you’re right:
you definitely were the inspiration for that song.”

“I hadn’t realized he felt that way about me,” Rachel
went on. “I didn’t know he cared that much!”

“For heaven’s sake, Rachel! What do you think I’ve been
trying to tell you? At any rate, I’m glad you two
worked it out. Hey, where did you guys disappear to,
anyway?”

“We went out for a walk along the river. It was so
lovely.” She sighed. “We strolled through Carl Schurz Park
and looked at the city lights.... It was very romantic.”

“And then?”

“And then he kissed me.”

“And then?”

“And then we walked up to Baskin-Robbins and had an
ice cream cone.”

“Rachel!” I groaned. “You’re not much on details, are
you?”

“Oh, I had one scoop of pumpkin pie and one of
strawberry-banana, and he had—”

“That’s not exactly what I meant!”

“Sallie!” Rachel sounded indignant, “A woman in love can’t
be expected to bare her soul to anyone! Not even her
best friend! I’m amazed that you’re even asking!” And
then she proceeded to fill me in on every detail of the entire evening.

“So, I didn’t get home until two,” she finished. “Fortu
nately no one had bothered to wait up for me. They all
assumed I was snug and safe at your house.”

“It sounds magnificent,” I said. “And I’m so happy for
you! And for Saul, too. Gee, I can’t believe things are
working out so well, and so easily!” Especially after I’d
put so much worrying into their relationship.

“Well, enough about me. How about you, Sallie? Are
you excited about tonight? By the way, you were complete
ly, totally, utterly fantastic last night.”

“Thank you. Yeah, I guess I am excited about tonight.
Nervous, too.”

“You’ll be great. And I’ll be out there on the other side of
the footlights, applauding my heart out for you. Believe me,
the two of you can’t lose.”

“I think you’re a bit prejudiced, but thanks for your
confidence, just the same.”

“Oh, by the way, Sallie, how about coming over to my house after the contest? I told my mother about it, and she invited you and Saul over for a celebration. Think you’ll be
up for it?”

I paused for a second to reflect on how I’d felt the night before, after my performance. “Rachel, if it goes well
tonight, I’m sure I’ll be so euphoric that I’ll be flying
around the room for days. I’d love to come over tonight.”

I didn’t bother to mention that if it went poorly, I would probably be so devastated that I would need the love and
support of Rachel and Saul and the Glass family and
everybody else in the world who I felt was on my side. But
there was no use in being pessimistic.

“Well, then, break a leg!” Rachel said cheerfully. “I’ll
see you tonight!”

As I hung up the phone, I felt kind of strange. I was
happy for Rachel, and I was scared about the contest. Those
two feelings were in direct conflict with each other, and it
was confusing. I only had enough room for one set of
feelings. The contest won. It was all I could concentrate on at that point. I would have to block everything else out and
pour all my energy into getting psyched up for it.

The rest of the day passed in slow motion. I didn’t quite
know what to do with myself, so I ended up doing very
little. I straightened up my room, washed my hair, and listened to my favorite music for inspiration. My family left me alone, except to smile encouragingly whenever any of them
passed me in the hall or ran into me in the kitchen.

Saul called in the afternoon to make sure everything was
all set. He didn’t mention Rachel at all, which I took as a
sign of his professionalism. He gave me a pep talk,
and we agreed to meet at the auditorium at 7:30.

When the hands of the clock pointed to six o’clock, a
heavy feeling of dread descended upon me. Evening had officially begun. I was silent during dinner, and I ate so little
that Jenny made a comment about how
unusual my habits had become. Right after dinner I
closed myself up in my room. I had an hour left before it
was time to leave for the auditorium. An hour.

I dressed in my khaki pants and my striped shirt, fastened
my hair back with tortoiseshell combs, applied enough
makeup to look mature but not overdone. I tuned my guitar and ran through my song a few more times. With every
movement, with every passing second, the knots in my
stomach grew.

And then it was time. I couldn’t put it off any longer. Just as the deejay on WROX announced that it was seven-twenty,
there was a knock at my bedroom door. It was Jenny.

“Are you about ready?” she asked lightly. “I’ll walk you over to the auditorium.  Mom and Dad will be over in about
half an hour.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I gulped, then looked around my
bedroom forlornly. The next time I see this room, I thought,
I will be either euphoric or depressed. The next time I see
this room, all this waiting will be over.

I pulled on a jacket and picked up my guitar as Jenny
looked on. Her expression was sympathetic, as if she were
feeling the same nervousness that I was. I was glad she was
walking me over. Sometimes it helps to have someone to
lean on, even if that someone is four inches shorter than
you.

“Got everything?” she asked.  I glanced around the
room one more time.

“Yeah, I think so.” I inhaled deeply and clutched my
guitar tightly. “This is it, Jenny. Let’s go.”

Things were already buzzing by the time Jenny and I
showed up at the high school. The contest, with its promise of an appearance by one of the better-known disc jockeys from WROX, had brought my classmates out in droves. It was the social event of the season. The sidewalks, as well as
the lobby outside the auditorium, were crowded with
friends and strangers who hung out, meeting and
greeting. As Jenny and I made our way through the
scattered groups of kids, I spotted Dan Meyer flirting with a
girl I recognized as a sophomore. He was so busy trying to impress her that he never even noticed me. My heart went
out to her.

My old chemistry teacher, Ms. Storm, had the question
able honor of guarding the door to the backstage area. It was
her job to keep out those who were merely curious
spectators, allowing only the privileged few to enter.

“Well, hello there, Sallie. How have you been?” she
greeted me. “And who have we here?”

“Hi, Ms. Storm. I’m fine. A bit nervous, but fine. This is
my sister, Jenny.”

“Hello, Jenny. Are you a contestant, Sallie?” Ms. Storm
scanned the clipboard she was holding. “Oh, yes, here’s your name. ‘Sallie Spooner, with Saul Rodriguez.’ You can go on backstage. All the contestants are in the band room.”

As Jenny and I started through the doorway, she said, “Oh, I’m sorry, but your sister will have to stay outside. I
have strict instructions to let in contestants only.” She
smiled apologetically. “That’s a WROX rule.”

“That’s okay,” Jenny assured her. “Sallie doesn’t need
me, anyway.”

“Yes, I do!” Suddenly, I felt as if I couldn’t go on
without Jenny at my side.

“Relax, Sallie. Saul will be here any minute, if he’s not
already inside. You two will be so busy getting everything
together that you’ll never even miss me. Now go out there and knock ‘em dead. Remember, we’re all in the audience
rooting for you!”

Blindly I found my way to the band room. The other
hopefuls were spread out all over the place, warming up on harmonicas and flutes and other assorted, unlikely musical
instruments. There were a few people tuning guitars, and
there was a small crowd waiting their turn at the upright
piano that was pushed against the wall. The air was electric with tension and excitement.

I staked out a corner of the room and slowly took off my jacket. Then I started tuning my guitar again, still checking out
the room. There were some faces that I recog
nized, although most of the contestants were strangers. It seemed as if there were dozens of people packed in there,
but I later found out that there were only fifteen songs
entered in the contest.

When Saul walked in a little uncertainly, I instantly felt a
million times better. A look of relief crossed his face, too,
as he spotted me across the room.

“You made it!” I cried.

“Did you ever doubt it?” Seeing his grin reminded me that this was supposed to be fun, not some new form of
torture. “And how is Ms. Spooner doing tonight?”

“Okay, I guess. I wish it were over already.”

“Nonsense. The best part is yet to come. Once you’ve
experienced the joy of being in the spotlight, the thrill of applause that’s meant only for you, I’ll never be able to drag you off the stage. Whether we win this thing or not, I expect
us both to have the time of our lives.”

I wished I could believe him. But before I had time to wonder about whether
his prediction would turn out to be true, my attention turned to a man who
had stood up on a chair and was clapping his hands.

“All right, contestants, can I have your attention, please? My name is Al, and I’m from WROX, ‘the radio station
that really rocks.’ Tonight I’ll be making sure things go
smoothly. Your emcee will be Rusty O’Shea, WROX’s top
disc jockey. Let’s hear it for Rusty!”