Pretenders (20 page)

Why?

I was the understudy—your understudy—and I was proud of that. I still am.

You should be. You were great.

Now it’s your turn. Be great too.

We hugged. I felt empty and full at the same time. Mostly empty. But I am an actress. So I acted full.

BACK TO TODAY.

Dad drove Audri and me to school. His car is getting deep-cleaned because I got carsick in it when I tried to journal about Duffy. So he took the M3 GTR. He pretended it was something he had to do but I know he’s been dying to drive it. Car crushes must be a guy thing because every dude was staring at us when we got out.

PAUSE.

Mr. Kimball just dismissed us.

END PAUSE. SHERIDAN is in HER ROOM.

I should be doing my Spanish homework but I had to put quill to paper because more happened after we were dismissed and I don’t want to blank on the specifics.

FLASHBACK to the THEATER.

So after Mr. Kimball dismissed us, I exited the wings stage left and caught up with Octavia and Audri. They were planning a party. I didn’t butt in because I wanted to give Audri space, but the ears want what the ears want. And my ears wanted to eavesdrop. So I trailed closely behind and learned the following:

Octavia’s parents go away October 12th.

She wants to have a party so she can hang with Logan and Audri can hang with Jagger.

It will be a girl-ask-boy party. This gives them full control.

After this brief but informative exchange, Good Sport Meester congratulated Octavia on the lead. I said she deserved it. (Oscar, please!) Audri acknowledged my effort with a smile so it all seemed worth it, until Octavia responded.

Does this mean you’re ready to admit I’m better than you?

I side-eyed Audri. She looked away. Good Sport Meester was about to Incredible Hulk into Chuck Bass, when Logan walked out of the gym and distracted us all.

Hey.
(Octavia, poking the number on his jersey.)
We were just talking about you.

Oh yeah?

She and Audri giggled.

Yeah.

’Bout what?

Nothing.
More giggling.

Logan took a long drink at the water fountain and then wiped his mouth with the bottom of his Flames jersey. Then he turned to me.

Hey, Sheridan, you weren’t kidding about that GTR.

Oh, you saw it?

Killer tail.
(Logan.)

Awwww. I wuv those dogs!
(Octavia.)

It’s a car.
(Me.)

I know. I call cars dogs.
(Octavia.)
Does the GTR take gas? My cart is electric. It’s totally green and—

How fast does it go?
(Logan.)

Thirty miles on a full charge.
(Octavia.)
Owdee and I are going to knit bomb it in emerald yarn for
Wicked.
Sheridan, since you’re my understudy, I’ll let you knit some of it.

No. The GTR.
(Logan.)
How fast does it go?

Does time travel interest you?
(Me.)

Big-time.

Then test drive it.

I can?

Sure. I’ll take you.

Octavia tugged his uniform.
Looks like you made the basketball team.

Yeah.

So cool.

Yep.

I told Logan to write his number in my journal. He did.

Great. I’ll call you later.

Don’t forget.

I won’t.

He went back into the gym. I tore out the page with his number and folded it into a tiny rectangle. Octavia glared at me as I stuffed it in the back pocket of my jeans and walked my pear-shaped butt down the hall.

I wanted to shout:
You break my heart, I’ll break yours!
But I didn’t. That’s the kind of thing a jealous understudy would say. And Sheridan Spencer is no one’s understudy.

To Be Continued…

END SCENE.

Wednesday

Feeling = Slack.

I forgot all about this journal until Coops started bragging that he finished his. I almost said filling a journal with feelings is nothing to brag about. But the guy is in a Darth Vader boot so what else is he gonna do. So I said
cool
. Even though it isn’t.

My classes are getting hard but the Flames have already played (and won!) two games. So even if I had feelings, I haven’t had time to think about them. Unless feeling good counts. Because I’ve been feeling that. Especially after we played (and killed!) Cresskill. It was an away game but Coach Bammer ran a live feed on the Noble site so everyone back at school saw my winning
shot. They also saw the other eighteen points I scored. The next day I got so many high fives it hurt to dribble. Coach Bammer was talking me up to the team during Monday’s practice. Logo got so bent over it he walked out of the gym. He said he was going to get a drink of water even though there’s a Dasani machine next to the bleachers and Steve Bowman offered him a dollar.

Another thing I forgot about was that box from Trendemic. Then I got this:

Then I saw an email that my
SI
subscription is about to run out so I dealt with that and forgot about the box all over again.

I just opened it.

Feeling = There is no way I am going to wear any of the following items to Noble.

• Black skinny jeans with neon glow-in-the-dark graffiti written all over them. It says “Tagged, you’re it” on the butt.
  
• A black turtleneck sweater with white polka dots.
  
• A white V-neck with fake blood smeared all over the front. It says HEARTBREAKER on the back.
  
• A denim jacket covered in studs.
  
• Suspenders made of bicycle chains.
  
• Argyle socks with mini rabbit’s feet dangling off the back.
  
• Gold basketball high-tops with black laces.
  
• Six cans of Sweat Energy Drink.
  
• Animaul unisex pheromone spray and body wash. (Whatever that is.)
  
• Mirrored sunglasses. Also in gold.
  

I locked my door and dumped it on my bed. Each item came with a code and product description. Not that I read them. I knew what these things were made to do: Destroy me.

Feeling = Two hours later and there’s still no way I am ever going to wear this stuff to Noble.

Besides, my parents have no clue about this job. They think Coach Bammer is giving me a free ride because I’m so good and he didn’t want to lose me. They wanted to thank him. I begged them not to. I said I promised it would be our secret. Since he could get fired for giving free rides. They agreed not to mention it but said they’d sponsor the Flames the minute they were back on their feet. I said he would appreciate that.

So I came up with a plan. I’d take the sprays and drinks to school and wear the clothes to other neighborhoods. Faraway
ones. Ones that don’t have high school basketball teams or anyone who knows my family.

Feeling = Lying gets easier with practice.

Greg is here. Flames play Summit tonight. Home game. Should be epic. I’ll bring some Sweat.

Later.

Back from the game. 56–32 Flames. Weirdest night of my entire life. I wish I could tell someone.

Greg was honking. My high-tops weren’t on the front porch where I left them. No one in my family had seen them. I asked twice. I looked everywhere. Greg kept honking.

Feeling = Who keeps taking my shoes???

I had no choice. I grabbed the gold Trendemic ones. Greg laughed at me the entire way to school. I wanted to tell him the shoes were a dare but I couldn’t. So I said I was wearing them for charity.

GREG:
What charity?

ME:
Uh, you know how breast cancer has that pink ribbon? This one has gold shoes.

(I only know about the pink ribbons because the 3Ms tied them in their hair for the breast cancer dance-a-thon last year and their picture is still on our fridge. Coops tried to steal it twice.)

GREG:
What’s it called?

ME:
Uh, the money goes to poor kids.

GREG:
Which ones?

ME:
The ones who can’t play basketball.

GREG:
Why can’t they play?

ME:
They’re poor.

Greg laughed.

ME:
Dude, it’s not funny.

It was worse when I got to school. When Hud and Coops weren’t cracking up they were calling me slick. Logo told everyone I was endorsed by Beyoncé. And when our teams shook hands the Summit guys wore sunglasses to cut the glare. I was trying my best to ignore the backlash but it was getting hard. I missed a few easy shots because of the heckling. We were down by twelve points. Bammer actually benched me for being a distraction. That’s when Greg called a time-out. He walked to the center of the court and told everyone I was wearing the shoes for charity.

Their laughs turned to applause, which turned into me getting back in the game which turned into us winning. After the game I was mobbed. Everyone except Logo wanted a pair of “Duffys.” I handed out the promo code and the website. A few of them balked at the $175 price tag but I reminded them it was for a good cause. Luckily, no one asked what it was. I was so busy selling shoes I forgot about the Sweat. Which was good because I ended up leaving the six-pack on the porch when I went to look for my shoes.

Greg dropped me off after the game. I didn’t want to leave my “Duffys” outside in case someone stole them and Mom would have killed me if she saw me wearing them inside. So I snuck in through the back door.

BUBBIE:
Andrew honey, is that you?

ME:
Yeah.

BUBBIE:
Come here. I want you to meet someone.

ME:
One second.

BUBBIE:
I’m old. I might not make it another second. Now.

I tried to kick off my Duffys.

BUBBIE:
Your parents are out with the Wassermans. You can keep the shoes on.

Feeling = How does she always know?

Bubbie was in the kitchen drinking a beer with the Lily girl from school. Lily wasn’t drinking beer though. She was drinking Sweat. Her cheeks looked sunburned and her lips were shiny. She looked cuter than she did the day that I Wiped. I think she brushed her hair.

BUBBIE:
I want you to meet our neighbor, Lindsey.

LILY:
Lily.

BUBBIE:
She’s Jewish.

ME:
Right on.

LILY:
Nice shoes.

ME:
Long story.

LILY:
I like them.

ME:
Really?

LILY:
Yeah.

BUBBIE:
They’re unsightly.

LILY:
Did the Flames win tonight?

ME:
Yup.

BUBBIE:
Lindsey is our dog walker.

We laughed at Bubbie’s mistake but didn’t bother correcting her.

ME:
Who hired you?

BUBBIE:
I did. Such a nice Jewish girl.

ME:
I thought you said you don’t have any money.

BUBBIE:
I have for some things, not others.

Lily held up the red-and-pink can of Sweat and asked if we recycle.

BUBBIE:
Andrew will take care of it.

ME:
Did you like it?

LILY:
It’s spicy. Like really spicy. It made my face feel hot. Do
you
like it?

I had never tried it but I told her Sweat was my favorite drink. She said hers too. I told her I could get her a discount on a case. She asked how. I said if you come up to my room I’ll give you a promo code and you can order it. She said she was all over that. Bubbie Libby asked me to get her another beer and then told us to have fun.

I forgot that I had laid the Trendemic clothes out on my bed. She started holding everything up to her like she liked it.

ME:
I bet this style would look good on you.

Feeling = Dirty and sneaky and disgusting and desperate for money. Is this how Gardner always feels?

LILY:
Seriously?

ME:
Totally hot. I can get you a deal if you want.

Feeling = I needed to wash my mouth out with Animaul body wash.

Lily was so excited she opened a PayPal account right there. She ordered the spray-painted jeans, a case of Sweat, the polka-dot turtleneck, and the denim jacket with the studs. I felt guilty because they were mostly boy clothes, so I gave her my Heartbreaker shirt for free. She liked it so much she literally hugged me.

Feeling = I will never understand girls.