Miss Match (17 page)

“How was it, Sasha? Come tell me all about it!” Mom calls from the living room. I’m a little shocked she’s still awake. I mean, it’s gotta be almost one a.m.

“Hang on, let me put on some dry clothes first.” I dash to my bedroom and slip into my pajama pants and the polar fleece top I wore yesterday when Derek and I played basketball—the one I borrowed from Maddie’s closet. I make a mental note to ask her if I can have it. This thing has memories now. I grab an elastic off my dresser and pull my wet hair into a messy bun-ponytail thingy on the top of my head, pausing to take a look at my reflection.

I danced with Derek Urban. And not only did I dance with him, I kissed him.
Do I look any different? I lean closer to the mirror. We kissed so much, my lips are a bit swollen. But that’s okay. I mean, they don’t hurt. They actually feel really good. Come to think of it, my whole body feels really good. I smile at my reflection and then pad down the hall to the dimly lit living room.

Mom and Maddie are in their pajamas, cuddled up on the couch, and
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
is on the TV. Mom looks up and pats the seat beside her. I plop down, and she wraps her arm around me.

“So was homecoming a blast, or what?” Maddie asks sleepily.

I nod and break into a huge grin. “Totally.”

“Maddie tells me you got together with Derek?”

“Um, well…” I watch Holly Golightly jump out of the cab in the pouring rain and run down the dark New York street. “Yeah, I did. We had a really great time.”

“So, are you going to go out with him sometime?” Maddie wants to know.

I laugh. “If he’s lucky.”

On the screen Holly runs right past Paul Varjak, her friend who’s just professed his love for her. She’s looking for her cat, a cat she refuses to name ’cause it doesn’t belong
to her and she doesn’t belong to it. But that’s where she’s wrong. Holly and the cat
do
belong to each other, and what’s more, they
need
each other.

Holly finally finds the cat in an alley, sheltered from the rain in a crate. She scoops up the wet fur-ball and goes to show Paul, who’s waiting for her on the street. They hug, all three of them.

Mom, Maddie, and I sigh. Like we always do at that part.

But I’ve got a huge problem with the way it ends. Sure, it’s romantic, but it’s missing something. Something big.

Holly never names the cat. She never takes the risk. She never makes the commitment. She never gives herself to love.

LOL at this sneak peek of

Love on Cue
By Catherine Hapka

A new Romantic Comedy from Simon Pulse

I just stood there for a second gaping up at him in shock. Derek O’Malley. Here. At a Thespians party. Talking to me. I tried to form an answer to his question, but while my mouth moved, nothing came out. I probably looked like some kind of demented fish.

Luckily, Calla came to my rescue, as usual. “Come on in, handsome,” she said into her karaoke microphone. For once she managed to be somewhat subtle as she shot me a quick, amused glance—I’m sure nobody else even noticed it, though of course I started blushing anyway. “I guess you heard we throw a rockin’ party and just had to check it out for yourself, huh?”

Derek stepped into the room, seeming slightly confused. “Actually, I just wanted to talk to you guys.”

I couldn’t stop staring at him. Seeing him there just didn’t compute. It was as if we’d been right in the middle of a performance
of, say,
Arsenic and Old Lace
and suddenly Vladimir and Estragon from
Waiting for Godot
had stepped onstage and started trading existential banter. Or maybe it was more like when the car radio got stuck halfway between NPR and the Spanish-language station. No, actually, it was weirder than that. It was as if my secret daydreams had started leaking out through my ears and turning into real life. I could imagine the scientific studies now:

I blinked, trying to banish such thoughts. They were confusing me, and I didn’t need that at the moment. I was already plenty bewildered enough. Most of the rest of the Thespians appeared to be almost as shocked as I was at Derek’s unexpected entrance. And no wonder. Like every high school, Thornton had its different layers of social strata, and Derek belonged to a completely different one from the rest of us. He was practically a different species.

As usual, though, Calla was keeping her cool. “So here we are,” she said. Leaning one dimpled elbow on top of Nico’s largest speaker, she stared at Derek with open curiosity. “Talk to us.”

Derek cleared his throat and came farther into the room. “Right,” he said. “It’s like this. I went down to Mexico with some buddies for break. We did some surfing while we were down there, and somehow I managed to mess up my knee pretty bad.”

“Oh, but see, when we actors say ‘break a leg,’ we don’t mean that literally,” Duane
said. “So there’s no need to sue us over this, okay?”

Derek laughed along with everybody else. “I know, right?” he said sheepishly. “I feel like the world’s biggest idiot for doing this right before baseball season.”

“I don’t get it,” Tommy van Cleef called out in his usual blunt way. “What’s this got to do with us? It’s not like we care about baseball or sports or whatever.”

“Well, like I was saying, baseball season’s pretty much out for me this year.” Derek shrugged. “But I always thought I might like to try acting, and now it looks like I’ve got some time on my hands. So I wanted to find out more about what I have to do to try out for your next show.”

My heart skipped a beat. Derek O’Malley wanted to be in our play? The idea was both incredible and terrifying.

Meanwhile, some of the others were looking skeptical. “You mean you hurt your knee, and now you suddenly want to be an actor?” Glenn Thalberg asked. He’s a senior who has been in every production of his high school career, and he’s a little protective of the Thespians.

“Let me guess,” Calla added. “College
apps need a bit more padding? Is that it?”

“No!” Derek said right away, shaking his head. “That’s not it at all. Actually, my folks think I should use this time to, you know, focus on my studies or whatever. But like I said, I’ve always thought acting would be fun. I’ve been to see almost all your shows except during playoffs and stuff.”

Wow. It was a good thing I hadn’t known that at the time. It was one thing to perform in front of my friends, my family, my teachers, and everyone else I knew. But if I’d realized Derek O’Malley was sitting somewhere out in that darkened auditorium watching me, I probably would have fallen off the stage into the orchestra pit.

“Hmm.” Calla crossed her arms over her chest. “He
sounds
sincere. But do we believe him?”

“I do!” Jenna Paolini put in with a giggle.

“Think about it this way, people. If he sounds sincere, it means one of two things,” Rosalie Dibble spoke up, both as geeky and as logical as always. “Either he
is
sincere, or he’s a good enough actor to fake it. Either way, it sounds like we should welcome him into our ranks.”

“I don’t know,” Duane said. “If he really wants to act, maybe we ought to make him prove it—right here and now.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “What’s the big deal? It’s an open audition, right? He doesn’t need anyone’s permission to try out.”

“No, it’s okay, man.” Derek grinned. “I don’t blame you guys for wanting to make sure I’m for real. What do you want me to do?”

“You may have heard our next show is
Romeo and Juliet
,” Calla said. “Why don’t you get up there and make like Romeo? That should let us see if you’ve got any chops.”

There was a general murmur of agreement. “Maggie can run the lines with you,” Tommy called out. “She knows the part.”

Calla shot me a worried look. “No, wait, let me do it,” she said quickly. “I mean, um, I want to be the one to see if Mr. Smooth Talker here has what it takes.” She did the boom-boom thing and fluttered her eyelashes. Most people probably thought she was flirting her plus-size butt off with Derek, but I knew the truth. She was doing it for me. She realized that if I had to get up and play a romantic scene with Derek, I’d probably faint or throw up or something.

“Don’t be greedy, Calla,” Lizzy Paolini cried. “You already have a boyfriend.”

“Maybe she’s ready to trade up,” her twin sister, Jenna, joked with a sly glance at Duane, who laughed and stuck out his tongue at her. “But anyway, Maggie’s probably going to end up being Juliet, so
she
should totally do it.”

Calla shrugged, and I gulped, feeling trapped and slightly queasy. Playing Juliet opposite Duane—or any other guy in the Thespians, or in the world, for that matter—was one thing. I could do that with both eyes shut and my script tied behind my back. But this? This was another thing entirely.

A million excuses scooted through my head. I could say my throat was sore. That I had to go to the bathroom. Or maybe I could just fake a sudden stroke. I was an actress, right? I could make it believable if I really tried. And nobody would even think about making me play Juliet in the ER.

But as usual, I wasn’t able to react quickly enough to do any of those things. I just sort of froze and did nothing. And before I knew it, I found myself standing on the fake stage looking up at Derek.

At first I wasn’t sure I could do it or
even survive the attempt. When I gazed up into Derek’s handsome face, it was as if I’d been told I had to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” stark naked in front of the entire population of Thornton High School. I just stood there, still frozen in place and feeling like I might hyperventilate. What was I supposed to do now? This wasn’t how any of my daydreams about me and Derek had gone….

Meanwhile, he wasn’t even looking at me. “Yo, cut me a little slack here, okay?” he said to the others with a laugh. “I know we studied that play back in freshman year and all, but you don’t really expect me to, like, start reciting it from memory, do you?”

“Well, I suppose you
are
a beginner…Here you go.” Calla grabbed one of the scripts we’d left sitting on the speakers earlier and flipped through it. Handing it to Derek, she pointed to a spot. “Start right there, Romeo.”

“Thanks.” Derek glanced down at the script, then at me. The corners of his eyes crinkled in a completely adorable way as he winked and smiled. “Be gentle with me, okay?” he said softly. “I’m new to all this.”

“O-okay,” I managed to squeak out.

He took a deep breath and checked his script again. “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—”

“O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,” I recited, my voice sounding as if it belonged to an asthmatic mouse. But somehow, in spite of the abject terror, my acting skills kicked in sort of automatically. By the second part of the line I sounded almost normal. “That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”

“What shall I swear by?” Derek asked, his face radiating adoration. He was gazing at me as if we were the only two people in the room—in the world.

It was pretty overwhelming, but I also couldn’t help being impressed. There was no trace of self-consciousness in his face or voice. He was just throwing himself into the part, bringing out the spirit of Romeo without even seeming to try. Still, he was a superstar at everything else he’d ever done. Why should it be a surprise that he could act, too?

We kept going, playing out the scene. Derek had to check his script a lot more
often than I did, but he seemed to have the gist of how it went and what he was supposed to be feeling, so his lines rang true even when he stumbled over a word or phrase. And at some point everything sort of shifted, and just like that, it was as if we’d slid from reality into one of my fantasies, and the two of us really were alone beneath th’ inconstant moon…

“O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” he asked throatily, reaching out and taking both my hands in his.

At his touch, it was as if a jolt of electricity passed between us, leaving me almost breathless. Judging by the way his blue eyes suddenly widened, he’d felt it too.

“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?” I asked, our eyes locked together.

“Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.” His gaze was so intense that it felt like it was burning into me, right down to my soul. Before that moment, I’d always thought “weak in the knees” was just an expression. But now I knew exactly what it meant. I wondered what he would do if I collapsed into his arms. What would it feel like to have him catch me, hold me close with those strong arms? The thought
was so distracting that I almost missed my next cue.

But I managed to pull it together, reciting my next few lines even while he stared at me as if he’d just discovered the meaning of life in my face. And somehow, in turn, it was as if Juliet’s words and feelings became my own and just poured out of me naturally. I forgot about the rest of the Thespians watching, forgot to be self-conscious about performing in front of my dream guy, forgot everything except expressing what I was experiencing in that moment.

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,” I told Derek with an adoring sigh. “My love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”

He squeezed my hands in his, leaning closer until I could smell the clean scent of his aftershave. I could practically see the sparks flying between us. This wasn’t movie-star daydream secret-fantasy kid stuff. This was
real
. The most amazing part was, I was pretty sure it was mutual. The way he was looking at me…you couldn’t fake that, could you?

“Good night, good night!” I cried at last with a touch of desperation at the thought
that we were almost finished. “Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

And just like that, all too soon, the scene was over—and so was the magic.

“So?” Derek dropped my hands and turned toward the others with a grin. “What’d you think? Was that okay?”

Most of the Thespians applauded. A couple of girls gave loud wolf whistles as well, and Rosalie let out a genteel “Huzzah!”

“Not bad, not bad at all,” Duane said. “I’d say you definitely won’t embarrass yourself if you try out. Auditions start Thursday after school in the auditorium.”

“Cool. I’ll see you all there.” Derek glanced back at me and smiled. “Hey, thanks for helping out, Maggie.”

I’m not sure if I managed to reply before he left. My mind was filled with only one thought, better than all my fantasies rolled into one—he knew my name! Derek O’Malley, Mr. Perfect, my amazing Romeo, actually
knew who I was
!