The Form of Things Unknown (3 page)

“The coffee is poisoned and the pizza guy works for the government.”

He nods. “So, business as usual.”

“Pretty much.”

“How about you? Have you seen your curtain-wearing ghost again?” he whispers.

“Of course not.” I glance up, but Mom is busy clearing the table and Dad is checking e-mails on his phone.

“Do you want to take the rest of the pizza back with you?” Mom asks David.

I start to protest, but David shakes his head. “My roomies don't deserve free food. Derek ate my hummus last week.”

“The nerve of some people,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“I know, right?”

“At least let me whip up a batch of muffins for you guys.”

“Ah no, Mom. They definitely don't deserve muffins. You send some of your treats, they'll be trying to move in here.”

“You're ridiculous,” Mom says, but she smiles at him. I think she's just glad she's got one sane child. One perfectly normal child, as far as she and Dad know.

“Nat, where's my black shirt?” David asks, following me up the stairs to my room. “I know I saw you wearing it last week.”

Colton. If it weren't for the pretty goth boy, David would still be wearing Polo shirts and baseball caps. I dig the shirt out from my dirty clothes hamper and toss it down the stairs to him.

“Ugh, it smells like oranges.”

“Orange and ginger,” I say, coming down the stairs. “It's supposed to give me energy.” At least that's what the lotion bottle says.

“It will have to go in the next load. Any chance you can throw this stuff into the dryer when it's done? I have to get back to campus. I'll come back tomorrow and get this last load.”

“No worries.” I follow him as he carries a load of clean clothes out to his car. “Did you get enough pizza?”

He throws his clothes in his trunk, slams it shut, and turns around to tug my curls. “Of course, Mom.”

I roll my eyes.

He lets go of my curls, and his grin fades. “You just figured they've got enough to worry about, so you'll pick up some of the slack? Do some of the worrying for them?”

“Ha. Maybe you should be a psych major instead of an architecture major.”

He shrugs. “It would probably be more useful, huh?”

“Not at all,” I say. “People need houses.”

I'm sure Dad would be thrilled if one of us had shown any interest in following his footsteps and going into medicine. But he and Mom have both told us repeatedly to follow our bliss. I think my brother is on the right track. But I don't know what my bliss is yet.

CHAPTER 4

I'm silent in the car as we ride to the theater a few days later. There's a squirming feeling in my stomach. What if I don't get a part and David is embarrassed? What if I do get a part and there are too many lines to remember? Why did I agree to this again? Right, I was blackmailed. But so what if Dad finds out about Caleb? It's not like I ever want to see him again.

“I bet Colton got the part of Puck. Or maybe Oberon.” David says. “He's got that Puckish vibe, you know?”

I'm the only one he ever talks to about his crushes, so I just nod my head. He came out to me his senior year of high school, but he still hasn't told our parents. I keep telling him they won't be upset, but he doesn't want to give them anything else to worry about.

At first it was because of Mom's new business. And then it was because of me. And then because of Grandma. I told David maybe Mom and Dad needed something new to take their minds off these worries.

He pulls into the theater parking lot and I see Starla and Raine getting out of a blue Fiat. They are laughing about something. A pang of jealousy twists in my chest as I miss my best friends—we used to go everywhere together, too. I text Andria all the time, and she came to see me once at Winter Oaks. She drove all the way from Atlanta, where she and her mom now live.

My other friend Trista sends me silly texts and e-mails all the time to make me smile.

But the therapist is right. I need to make friends here in Savannah. I get out of the car and wave back at the girls when Raine sees us and waves.

A blond little girl wearing fairy wings is dancing by Raine's car. She runs across the parking lot toward me.

“Be careful!” I warn as she tackles me with a hug. There aren't a whole lot of cars here, but she still should have looked both ways before she ran.

“I like your hair,” she says, looking up at me.

David smirks at me. “You have a fan.”

“Thank you. I like your wings,” I say, grateful that I've made at least one friend here.

“Caitlyn, get back over here!” Raine shouts. “Sorry, she likes to attack people.”

I take Caitlyn's hand and lead her back across the parking lot. “Are you going to be the fairy queen?” I ask her.

“Of course not!” she says, looking at me as if I were crazy. If she only knew. “The queen is a grown-up!”

“She's five,” Raine says. “She thinks everyone over the age of twelve is an adult.”

David scans the parking lot, and I know he's looking for Colton's car. “Nope, you have to be fifty before you're an adult,” he tells her.

Caitlyn looks up at him, her eyes wide. “That's not true.”

“Come on, squirt,” Raine says. “Let's go inside. David is just teasing you.”

David sticks his tongue out at Caitlyn when no one else is watching. She sticks her tongue out right back at him. Good for her.

We go inside the cool, dark building and everyone shudders. Except Starla. “Oh, thank God, they turned the air on today. It was so hot during tryouts.”

I frown, distinctly remembering how cold I had been, but say nothing.

Caitlyn follows Raine down toward the front, then turns around in her seat to look at me. “Are you a grown-up?”

“I don't think so,” I say. “Can't I be a little girl like you?”

She nods her head solemnly, then points at David, who has plopped down in the seat next to Colton. “But they can't.”

Someone sits down in the empty seat at the end of my row. Right next to me. Caitlyn's face lights up. “You made it! Come sit with me!”

“There's no room,” Lucas Grant says, glancing over at me.

“I can trade seats with her,” I say, starting to get up.

“No, he can sit with you, I guess. That's my brother.”

Raine turns around when she hears this. “Hey, Lucas. She had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich right before we got here.”

“Thanks for bringing her. I wasn't sure I was going to get off work in time.”

“No problem. Do you have my money?”

He pulls a folded bill out of his wallet and hands it to her.

Raine's face lights up. “Payday!”

I sit quietly, listening to a dozen conversations going on around me at the same time, and try to sort everyone out. Caitlyn is Lucas's little sister, but Raine babysits for her sometimes. Colton and David are discussing Mrs. Green, the theater director, who also happens to be Starla's and Colton's aunt. Starla and Colton are cousins, who both happen to work at the Pirate House. And Starla is trying to convince Raine to ask Peter out. Not sure who Peter is, but by the way they are talking and glancing around, he must be here somewhere.

Mrs. Green steps out in front of the stage, decked out in another very dramatic purple tie-dyed dress with matching dramatically purple sandals, and all conversations die down. She beams at us, like a queen gazing upon her subjects. She begins with a long speech about the magic of Shakespeare and explains the play in a nutshell. Theseus, the duke of Athens, is marrying Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. Hermia is in love with Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. Helena is in love with Demetrius, but he wants to marry Hermia. Does this sound like a soap opera yet? When all the young lovers end up in the forest, they are at the mercy of the fairy folk. The fairies give a love potion to Lysander, thinking he is Demetrius, and he falls in love with Helena. The fairy queen, Titania, is given a love potion by her husband and she falls in love with a witless actor, who winds up with a donkey's head. Various and assorted wackiness ensues.

There will be three nightly productions, each night performed by an entirely different cast. Anyone not performing is expected to help backstage with props, costume changes, and lighting. Mrs. Green tells us we'll be reading through the entire play today. Bethany passes out copies of the rehearsal schedules and the stage crew schedules, while another girl passes out copies of the play script.

“I am pleased that we had such a wonderful turnout for auditions this summer. Let's go over some rules and then we can get on with the cast assignments, starting with Cast One. Theseus and Hippolyta will be played by Michael Graves and Raine Holly.”

“Oberon will be played by Colton Green, and Titania will be played by Natalie Roman.”

Raine turns around to grin smugly at me. “We knew it!”

My stomach twists inside. I am half-thrilled, half-terrified. I try to imagine the gorgeous costume I will wear as the fairy queen.

Starla turns around and smiles at me, too, but her smile isn't quite as friendly. “Congratulations.”

“Hermia will be played by Starla Hayes, and Lysander by Ferris Black,” Mrs. Green continues.

Raine bumps shoulders with Starla and they both giggle.

“Puck will be played by David Roman.” Colton and David bump shoulders and giggle just like the girls did.

I turn to the quiet boy sitting next to me. “Did you try out?” Mrs. Green is still reading out parts.

Lucas Grant shakes his head and smiles at me. It dazzles me for a moment. “Yes, but I'm more interested in working on the set. Caitlyn wanted to be in the play, but she's never done one before, so I'm mostly here to keep an eye on her.”

“That's sweet of you to give up your summer for her. My brother kind of twisted my arm into trying out. I wish I'd thought about just signing up for set work.”

“You don't like acting?”

I shrug. “I've never done it before, so I don't know if I can do a good job.”

“No pressure there. Winning a lead role on your first audition.”

I slump a little in my seat, aware of a squirmy feeling still bubbling in the pit of my stomach. “Nope. None at all.”

Mrs. Green continues. “Lucas Grant, Demetrius. Bethany Peters, Helena. Jackson Spears, Egeus.”

Lucas looks surprised. Starla and Raine turn around to congratulate him. Caitlyn dances in her seat.

I shiver as the ancient air-conditioning unit comes on and I feel a blast of cold air. I must be sitting directly under a vent.

“I guess we're both going to be actors, whether we like it or not,” I say. “Congratulations?”

Lucas sighs heavily and frowns. “Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

I grin at him. “I don't think that's Demetrius's line.”

He shrugs, still frowning at his script. “I really didn't pay much attention when we read this play in school.”

I don't want to sound like a nerd, so I don't tell him I've read every single Shakespeare play. And most of his sonnets, too, which I prefer. I really don't like his tragedies.
Romeo and Juliet
is just ridiculous.

“You have a cat.”

“Excuse me?” I turn and look at Lucas. “How did you—”

“I'm allergic to cats.” He sounds even more annoyed. His eyes do look a little watery. And red.

“Zora was sleeping in my laundry basket this morning,” I say. “She probably got cat hair all over my shirt.”

Lucas gets up abruptly and disappears out one of the side doors.

“Fine, you don't have to sit next to me, if it bothers you,” I say to the empty seat. For a heartbeat, my feelings are hurt. Which is ridiculous. Lucas is really, really not my type. He knows I'm crazy. And he's not even a cat person.

After reading out the cast lists for the second and third nights, Mrs. Green is almost ready to start Cast One's first read-through. She dismisses the other two groups until later in the afternoon. I focus on my script. Four pages before I have any lines. I take a deep breath.

I can do this.

Lucas reappears with a heavy military-style jacket. “Here. It will cover up the cat hair.”

I put the jacket on, only because I'm freezing. “It smells old. Where did you get it?”

“Backstage, prop closet.”

“Thanks,” I say, snuggling into it. It's navy with golden braid trim and huge gold buttons. “Epaulettes!” I exclaim, touching the gold fringe on the shoulders.

Lucas looks mildly concerned at my excitement.

“I want to be a costume designer one day,” I explain.

“Huh.”

I hope Mrs. Green doesn't notice me wearing the jacket.

Caitlyn, bored since she has no real lines, turns around in her seat to wave to Lucas. He puts a finger over his lips to remind her to be quiet and she nods. She's really well behaved.

I wonder about Lucas's family. What made him think life was so unbearable that he had to end it? What does Caitlyn know about his suicide attempt and hospital stay? I wonder if he feels like Winter Oaks fixed him. He seems content right now, watching his sister. Maybe not happy, but not really depressed, either. Of course, the doctors at Winter Oaks probably gave him a magic pill to fix him just like they did with me.

I'm almost certain they fixed my head and figured out the right medications for me, but sometimes I worry that I'm still not quite right.

* * *

Starla is squealing quietly in her seat over the fact that she gets to kiss Ferris onstage. Now I'm worried. I start flipping through the script. Titania has to kiss someone, too, doesn't she? Bottom. Peter Gill. That's who I have to kiss onstage.

“Peter, the Paste Eater?” Starla asks, giggling.

“Oh gross,” I say.

And she's not talking about innocent kindergarten experimentation, either. She says she saw him eat paste in art class last year. An eleventh grader. Yech. And for reasons no one can fathom, Raine is still crushing hard on him. Which makes me feel bad for her, because during the first rehearsal it becomes clear he has the hots for Starla. Poor Raine.

That night I spend all my time at home memorizing my lines. David comes by to help, but since he and I don't really have a lot of scenes together he leaves to practice with Colton. I don't think that breaks his heart at all. Still, I need all the help I can get.

I can't wait to see our costumes. Titania is the queen of the fairies, so I will get to wear something sparkly, probably with flowers braided into my hair. So will David as Puck. He's secretly thrilled.

The twins, Hailey and Bailey, are playing my fairy minions, Peaseblossom and Mustardseed, along with Caitlyn, who plays Cobweb. The two Lily Pulitzer–clad miniature bow heads sit in the front of the auditorium looking creepy, and when Caitlyn joins them, they look like a trio of creepiness.

The play is going to coincide with the Midsummer Night's Ball, an annual summer event Savannah's Civic Club is holding the night after the final performance. The ball is a fund-raiser to raise money to finish restoring the theater.

* * *

And the drafty old building definitely needs restoring. On the second night of practice, the lights start flickering and going crazy.

Lucas checks the light booth, but no one is in there. Mrs. Green shrugs it off, saying it's probably faulty wiring. “But I thought the lights were new,” Colton says. Mrs. Green gives him a Look.

“Maybe they didn't replace the wiring when they replaced the lights,” Lucas says.

When we hear a
pop
up above our heads, the little girls shriek. They think there are wild Pokémon in the rafters causing trouble.

Poor Mrs. Green. “What are they talking about?” she asks.

“Pokémon,” Peter explains, adding much more detail than Mrs. Green could ever want or need, about video game critters with special powers.

“Some of them have magnetic powers,” Hailey says.

“And electric powers, too,” Caitlyn chimes in.

Lucas slinks further down in his seat, pretending to be invisible. He won't catch my eye, and I feel bad for him.