The Secret Crush (4 page)

Kathi put down her conductor's baton and headed toward the door for her turn. “What if you and Kathi are the leads?” Chloe asked Jasper.

Jasper shuddered and Chloe laughed.

Mr. P stuck his head around the door. “Kathi is the last to audition, and the period is almost over,” he said to the rest of the class. “You guys can just hang for a while. After Kathi finishes, I'll post the cast list.”

The other students began talking about their auditions. While no one was looking, Zee took out her diary and began writing.

Zee slipped her diary inside her music folder just as Mr. P appeared at the front of the room.

“Hey, everyone!” Mr. P got the class's attention. “The Crew was really impressed with each of you.” Beside him, his bandmates nodded. “I've posted the results in the hallway beside the door. And remember that the casting has nothing to do with who's best—it's about who's best for each role.”

Kathi huffed with laughter. “That's what they all say.”

The bell rang overhead, and Zee sprang out of her seat. “I've booked the school auditorium for the show,” Mr. P shouted over the noisy rush of students, each hurrying to be the first out of the room. “So we've got just a few weeks to create an original musical from start to finish.”

Kathi was the first one to the list. “Aaaaaaaah!” she screeched.

“What is it?” Jen asked, hurrying to her side.

“I'm the sidekick, Brianna,” Kathi said to Jen. “The lead's sidekick is a nothing part.”

“Who's Lily?” Jen asked.

“Zee.”

“All right!” Chloe said, giving Zee a quick hug.

Of course, Zee was happy, but playing Kathi's best friend was going to take more than great acting. It would take a miracle to pull that off.

Then the news got even worse for Kathi—and better for Zee. “Landon is Dylan,” Marcus pointed out. By now, everyone was crowded around the list.

“And Jasper is Gabe, Dylan's sidekick,” Chloe said.

“Cool beans!” Zee said. “Dylan's best friend. That's a majorly important part.”

“I suppose,” Jasper sighed, and turned to a smiling Chloe, who was part of Lily's girl group with Jen. “You look awfully happy.”

“I am,” Chloe told him. “I was worried I'd get a big part and wouldn't have enough time for soccer and the gardening project.”

“There's still a lot of work for everyone to do—on the scripts, the music, stage crew—” Zee reminded her.

“Boy, I sure am glad
you're
not the teacher,” Chloe said,
cutting her off. “You'd have us working twenty-four hours a day.” She grabbed Zee's arm and began to drag her down the hall. “Now let's go so we're not late for English. We've got classes besides music, you know.”

The girls said good-bye to Jasper and headed down the hall. Suddenly, Zee realized what had just happened.
I am actually going to be the romantic lead in a musical with Landon!

 

“Hi, best friend!” Kathi cheerfully greeted Zee at lunch. Usually, she sat between Jen and Landon, but that afternoon she planted herself next to Zee.

Jasper choked on his egg salad sandwich, and Zee knocked over her banana-mango smoothie. Chloe simultaneously handed Jasper a bottle of water and tossed a couple of napkins over the thick yellow liquid that spread across the table.

“What did you say?” Zee asked Kathi. She looked around for hidden cameras.

“Yeah,” Jen said. “
What
did you say?”

“I'm talking about the musical,” Kathi said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “You know—Lily and Brianna. Best friends. Maybe Lily will get Brianna a Friends' Day surprise. Hint, hint.”

“I kinda wasn't sure how you'd feel about getting that part,” Zee said.

“Why? Because I won't be the star?” Kathi asked. “No prob.” She casually scooped a spoonful of yogurt. “When we work on the script, we can fix that.”

“Fix it?” Chloe asked suspiciously.

“Duh!” Kathi said. “By making sure I have enough lines.”

Zee took a deep breath. She wanted to scream, “But you're not the star!
I
am!”

Landon stepped in. “Umm…,” he said, looking from Kathi to Zee and nervously drumming out a beat on the table with his fingers. “Maybe we should start planning what everyone's going to do.”

“Is that really necessary?” Jasper asked.

“What do you mean?” Landon responded. His hands stopped drumming.

“I'd rather not spend my lunch talking about the musical.” Jasper peeled his orange.

“Well, we do have a lot to get done before the show,” Zee said.

Jasper looked at Zee as if she'd just punched him in the nose. “That doesn't mean we have to talk about it
constantly.
”

“It would be cool to come up with a few ideas for the sets, costumes, and music so everyone knows what they want to work on,” Marcus said.

“Marcus is right,” Jen chimed in quickly.

Chloe was more concerned about Jasper. “It's okay if you just wanna hang out and listen,” she assured her friend.

Zee worried that Jasper was feeling ganged up on, too, but she'd never seen him like this. He sounded really angry—not like him at all. Was he actually mad at Landon for getting the lead?

“Why don't we meet at the Brookdale Mall Café tomorrow to talk about ideas?” Zee suggested.

Unfortunately, Zee wasn't exactly sure how that would solve her problem. Even though Kathi was pretending to be best friends with Zee, Jasper couldn't even be friendly with Landon. This was not how things were supposed to go—at all.

 

Wow! Ally was going to have her first kiss, and Zee was excited just to be cast in a play with her crush. She didn't even know if Landon liked her. She and Ally weren't just living thousands of miles apart. They were light-years apart when it came to boys, too.

 

“Remind me again why your dad dropped us off,” Jasper asked Zee at the mall. “We had enough time to ride our bikes.”

Zee thought fast, then looked at Jasper. “Today's a big deal. You're getting your first pair of sneakers,” she said. “I didn't want you to be too tired to shop.”

“Just wait until you actually get blue jeans,” Chloe said and laughed. “We might ride to the mall in a limousine.”

Jasper fiddled with the button at the top of his brown polo shirt and grinned. “Aww, that's nice,” he said. “But I know you hate riding in your father's SUV, because it uses so much gas.”

Jasper was right, but a bike was out of the question. There was no way Zee was going to show up sweaty with her hair in windblown knots in front of Landon! But she decided her friends didn't need to know the
whole
truth. So
she just said, “If we all buy stuff, it'll be hard to get everything home on our bikes.” Then she quickly looked around the shoe store, hoping to change the subject. “So, which sneakers do you like, Jasper?” She reached for a plain black skate shoe on the shelf in front of her.

“Do
you
like that one?” Jasper asked.

Zee shrugged. “Sure. Do you?”

“If you do.”

“How about this style?” Chloe asked. She pointed to a gray-and-red shoe on the table in front of her.

“Which do you like better?” Jasper asked Zee.

“That one.” Zee nodded toward the sneaker Chloe had selected. “Or this one,” she added, picking up a white tennis shoe.

Panic took over Jasper's face. “You like them
both
?”

“Yeah. I have about ten pairs of shoes, and I like them all.”

Jasper spotted a pair of blue canvas Converse just like Zee's. “Oh, look,” he said. “I could get a pair just like yours.”

Zee shook her head. “I think your feet are too long. They'd just end up looking like clown shoes.”

Jasper grabbed the side of his head and looked from shoe to shoe to shoe.

“I think Jasper needs your help making a decision,” Chloe suggested.

“Oh, okay,” Zee said. “Maybe you could try on a couple of pairs and see how they look.”

Jasper asked the saleswoman to get two pairs in his size. He laced up a different shoe on each foot and stood. “What do you think?”

“I like that pair,” Zee told him, pointing to the style Chloe had picked out. She turned to Chloe.

“Uh-huh,” Chloe agreed. “That's my vote, too.”

“Really? Are they cool?” Jasper asked.

“Since when do you care about cool?” Zee asked.

“It's…uh…a recent development.”

“They're very cool,” Zee told him. “You should wear them right now.”

Jasper smiled. “I will!” he said and paid for his new shoes.

“Do I look American?” Jasper asked.

“Well…hmmm…ummm.” Zee hesitated.

“Not hardly,” Chloe said. She turned around in a circle.
“Do you see anyone else with a collared shirt and a
belt
?”

“I guess it will take more than just new trainers,” Jasper said.

“You really do look good,” Zee told him.

Jasper turned bright red as a grin spread across his face. “Thanks! I guess my feet just needed a makeover.”

Zee's Sidekick beeped. A text message from Marcus.

Zee looked at the time on her phone. “Ohmylanta!” she groaned. “We're late.” The girls grabbed Jasper and headed to the café.

Zee ordered a frozen mocha drink, Jasper opted for tea,
and Chloe chose vitamin water. As they got near the table, Marcus was standing up and taking charge of the group.

“You started without us?” Zee asked, sitting in an empty chair next to him and pulling a notepad out of her bag.

“Yeah,” Marcus said. “We weren't sure when you'd get here.”

“Oh, okay,” Zee said. “I had a few ideas about—”

“We just started picking jobs,” Marcus interrupted. “I can work on sets.”

“Me too,” Chloe said, sliding into a chair.

Zee wrote down the assignments in her notebook.

“I think it would be fun to do props,” Jen said. She spooned some of the whipped cream topping from her drink into her mouth.

“Boring!” Zee whispered to Jasper.

“Props sounds cool,” Landon said.

“Yeah!” Zee had a sudden change of heart. “I'll do props, too.”

Kathi whipped her head around to face Zee. “That's too many people for props.”

“Yes,
far
too many,” Jasper agreed.

Zee was embarrassed because Kathi and Jasper were right. And Zee was certain it was obvious to everyone that she'd volunteered just to be with Landon. “Ummm…I
meant to say I'd do costumes.”

“Perfect!” Kathi said. “We can make the costumes together.”

“You and me?” Zee asked.

“Best friends!”

“
Ri-ight,”
Zee said suspiciously.

“Jasper, what are you going to do?” Landon asked.

“I haven't decided yet,” Jasper said without looking at Landon.

“Well, we
kind of
need to know,” Zee said gently. “We're trying to get organized.”

Jasper looked at Zee. “Mr. P will need an assistant director,” he said. “I could do that.”

“Dude, you'd be perfect,” Landon said. He leaned over and sucked soda through his straw.

“Why do you say that…
dude
?” Jasper asked.

Landon shrugged. “I guess 'cause your accent is kind of cool—like Shakespeare's.”

“Yes, I suppose that makes me the best qualified,” Jasper said sarcastically.

Whoa!
Zee thought.
Jasper's never sarcastic.

But when Landon laughed, everyone else did, too. And even Jasper smiled at his own snarky remark.

“We'll all write the script together,” Chloe said.

“And Mr. P said he'd work with everyone on the songs,” Zee added.

“Okay, that covers sets, props, costumes, the assistant director, the script, and the songs. I guess we're done,” Marcus said.

Everyone else stood up and started to leave.

“Wait!” Zee called out. “Where's everyone going? We're just getting started.”

“My cousin is having her fifteenth birthday today,” Jen said. “I have to get ready for her quinceañera. Kathi's coming, too!”

“Chloe?” Zee said.

“Jasper and I should go, too. Ms. Merriweather is helping us plant the vegetable plot today.”

“Landon?” Zee asked hopefully.

“My dad is taking me to get a new surfboard.”

Zee looked at Marcus, who smiled back at her. “Aren't you going to ask me?” he inquired.

“Should I even bother?” Zee said.

“Probably not. UCLA is giving my mom an award. My whole family is going.”

Zee closed her notebook. Her ideas for the music and choreography would just have to wait.

 

As soon as she got home, Zee raced up to her room to IM Ally. But when she logged on, Ally was offline. So she typed an email instead.

Ally's response arrived later.

How could Ally be so sure about Kathi? Ally wasn't there, so she couldn't see how Kathi was acting. Was it so
crazy to think that Kathi might actually like Zee?
People can change,
Zee thought and read on.

Zee stared at the photo of her BFF and the stranger. Jacques
was
cute, but he had straight dark hair and a serious face. When Ally lived in California, she always had crushes on blond boys.

But the biggest difference between Brookdale Ally and Paris Ally might be free time. Now that she had a boyfriend, would Ally be there for Zee?