The Taming (5 page)

“That was a very believable lie,” I said. “But you could have taken the car if you’d wanted.”

“I might just take you up on that. How about as a first step you drive me home after the drama practice tonight?”

“Can I take a rain check? I’m going to leave right at the bell.”

“Well, I guess you could do that … if you want to fail drama,” he said.

I gave him a questioning look.

“Apparently you don’t know that doing something in the school play is part of the drama course—you get marked for it.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I wish I was. But no worries, all the roles have been cast so you’ll be backstage crew. Most of the time we just sit around and shoot the crap.”

I would actually have preferred to be in the play, not doing some donkey work behind the scenes. I didn’t mind being on stage … no, I actually
liked
it, and if I’d been around when the roles were cast I was sure I probably would have been the lead.

“What play are we doing?” I asked.

“A classic by none other than that Willie Shakespeare guy.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “It has to be
Romeo and Juliet
or
Hamlet
, or maybe
Macbeth
.”

“No, no and, um, no.”

“So what play are we doing?”

“
The Taming of the Shrew
,” Danny replied.

“
That
would not have been my guess.”

“I sort of noticed.” He laughed. “And right now you’re about to meet the proud actor in the lead role, Petractlio.”

“That would be Petruchio, unless you’re doing a very,
very
different version,” I said.

“You even know the names of the characters?” Danny asked in amazement.

“The main characters.”

“Hey, Pistachio!” Danny called out. “How you doing, you nut?”

The guy put down his tray and then slid into a seat at our table. He was tall and looked athletic—more like a jock than a drama geek.

“Josh, this is Evan. Evan, this is Josh.”

I started to get to my feet to shake hands but remembered that wasn’t done around here.

“Good to meet you, man,” he said.

“You too.”

“I was just telling Evan about his involvement in the school play,” Danny said. “How it’s mandatory.”

“Yeah, part of the course. Of course I didn’t think me getting the lead role was gonna be part of it.” He held up his hands. “Look, my palms get sweaty just talking about getting in front of an audience.”

Danny laughed. “I figured that wouldn’t bother you. You’ve played in front of large groups before.”

“Big difference between performing on a stage and being on a basketball court,” he said.

He
was
an athlete. That made sense. I liked when things made sense. I’d rather have been able to predict something bad than not see something good coming … wow, that was strange. It was just that it was safer to be able to predict things. If you tripped and gravity didn’t make you fall, it would be less painful than hitting the ground but way too strange.

“Five hundred people in an auditorium should be nothing after screaming crowds in the stands.”

“Big difference. I sort of know what I’m doing on the basketball court.”

“Look who’s being modest,” Danny said. He turned to me. “Josh here is the school’s star athlete. How many scholarships have you been offered for university next year?”

“More than a few,” he said. “And absolutely
none
for acting.”

“Well, that’s not surprising,” Danny said. “I mean, I’ve seen how the rehearsals are going.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Josh said.

“I’m only telling you what you already know, right?”

“No argument,” he said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not even sure why Cooper gave you the lead.”

“You’re not the only one,” Josh agreed. “Ms. Cooper said something about how she wanted to
stretch
me. If she was going to stretch me a couple more inches it would at least help with my rebound stats.”

“Maybe Cooper was just thinking that you being in the play would bring in the ladies, guaranteed,” Danny said.

“Yeah, like that’s gonna work. I’m afraid the sight of me in tights isn’t gonna be anyone’s idea of fun. Why couldn’t she just let me play ball?” He turned to me. “Do you play ball?”

“Technically, but not basketball. Rugby.”

“Rugby, now that’s a sport!” Josh said. “Football without equipment. You have to be either fearless or stupid to play that sport!”

“It helps if you’re a bit of both,” I said.

“I don’t know,” Danny said. “I think I have the stupid part of it down so I should be a great rugby player. But I’d rather play football, or rugby or have people throw axes at my head than play the lead in
The Taming of the Shrew
.”

“Thanks a lot, I appreciate your ongoing support,” Josh said.

“Come on, just having some fun—at your expense.”

“So … who’s playing Katherina?” I asked.

“Katie, Katie Rosario,” Josh said. “Now
that
was a surprise, too!”

“Yeah, but there is one big difference between her playing Katherina and you playing Pinocchio,” Danny said.

“It’s Petruchio, not Pinocchio,” I said, correcting him.

“Not the way he plays it,” Danny said. “He’s made of wood and trying to be a real boy. But the difference is that Katie is doing a really great job.”

“I can always count on you for kind words,” Josh said. “I never would have guessed it either, but she’s awesome.”

These two were probably easy to impress. Simple minds amused by simple things. I nodded along.

“That’s the part that surprised me the most,” Danny said. “She’s usually so quiet that you don’t even notice her, but up there on the stage … she’s … she’s
different
.”

“Yeah she even
looks
different,” Josh said. “Okay, now this is going to sound strange.”

“Look who you’re talking to,” Danny said. “I
like
strange.”

“It’s just that … well … you know, when she walks around the school, she’s okay looking, even cute, but once she gets on stage … well …”

“It’s like you can’t take your eyes off her,” Danny said.

“I thought it was only me!” Josh actually looked a little embarrassed.

“Nope, me too. It’s like she changes before your eyes. The only reason nobody’s noticed I’m staring at her is because everybody else is staring too,” Danny said.

“She’s going to be incredible,” Josh said, “which, of course, only makes me look worse by comparison.”

“Maybe her talent will rub off on you.”

“I’m not counting big on that.”

“Now I’m curious,” I said. “I guess I’ll see her for myself at the rehearsal tonight.”

“You’ve actually seen her already,” Danny said. “She’s in our drama class.”

“She is?”

“She might even be in the cafeteria now,” Josh suggested. He stood up and looked around. “There she is!”

I turned around and half stood so I could see, but I couldn’t tell who he was pointing at.

“The table at the side … where there are a bunch of girls and Travis … she’s wearing a blue top.”

“There are lots of tables with lots of girls and lots of people in blue, and who’s Travis?” I asked.

Without answering, Josh stood on his chair and then climbed up onto the table. “Katherina!” he yelled out, waving his arms above his head.

Chapter Seven

I
n a single bound, as they say, Josh leapt onto a cafeteria chair and, horror of Stephen King horrors, called out to me. Or to Katherina, to be more precise.

“It is I, your husband to be, Petruchio!” Josh yelled. “Kate … 
Pluck up your spirits! Look cheerfully upon me!
” It looked like the new guy was feeding him lines, without a book.

“That’s not bad,” Travis snorted. “The best I’ve heard from him yet. Maybe we should do the play in the cafeteria instead of the auditorium.” He crossed his arms and his eyes. “Hmmm … he’s supposed to be so fearless on the court. How about we go to a game?”

“Over your dead body,” Lisa groaned. “Look, Josh is in his element here, with an ever-adoring cafeteria crowd and someone feeding him lines. That boy is going to suck on a proper stage no matter what you do.”

Josh, followed by Danny and Evan, stood up and—worse, way worse—headed our way.

Oh. Dear. God. You could actually hear “
He means Katie Rosario
,” in whispered waves breaking throughout the cafeteria. I responded with my new thing, championship sweating.

Josh continued towards me, stepping from chair to chair and then right onto our table! He didn’t seem to be worried about people staring at him.

“Kate, dear Kate.” Josh bowed elaborately. “I apologize, ahead of time, for making tonight’s rehearsal unbearable for you and everyone else! Forgive me, dear, dear shrew!” The Droopy Diaper was riveted.

“Don’t worry,” Lisa muttered. “There aren’t two of them that know what the hell a shrew is.” She raised an eyebrow. “Are you perspiring?” she whispered.

I answered by pinning both my arms to my sides.

Josh extended his hand towards me.

“Can you get down from the table?” I asked. “
Please?
 … It’s sort of embarrassing.”

“I will, fair Kate, if you will agree that Sunday is our wedding day!” he bellowed.

By now everybody in the whole cafeteria had stopped eating and talking and was gawking and laughing. It was pretty hilarious—at least, it would have been if it had been anybody but me.

“Come down,
please
,” I said.

“
Nay, come Kate, come
up.
You must not look so sour!
”

I reached up and grabbed Josh’s hand and pulled him down from the table while still managing to keep my underarms glued tight.

“Oh her touch is so sweet!” Josh called out as he climbed down.

The cafeteria erupted into applause.

Josh took a big bow and waved to the audience. Josh Lumsden seemed comfortable being the centre of attention everywhere except on a stage. If I was invisible, he was a gigantic flashing neon sign.

“Katie, we want you to meet somebody. This is Evan, he’s new.”

Lisa stuck her elbow in my side. “Ow! I mean, yeah, I know, he’s in our drama class.”

Evan offered me his hand. Who does that? “Pleased to meet you,” he said.

“Yeah, me too,” I said, or maybe I just thought it.

“I’m sorry for the embarrassment,” he said. “It’s all my fault. I just asked them who was playing Katherina to Josh’s Petruchio.”

“Well, yes, uh, because of a series of unfortunate events, that would be me.”

“Lemony Snicket!” He smiled. I died.

“They say you’re doing a great job.”

“I’m trying.” Surely that came out loud?

“I guess I’ll find that out for myself after school. I was just told that I’m part of the backstage production,” he said.

“I wish I were backstage.”

“I’m glad you’re
on
the stage,” Josh offered.

“As is everybody,” Travis agreed.

“Emo-boy here is the director,” Danny said.

“At your service.” Travis bowed.

“Be careful, Evan, it looks like Travis has a crush on you,” Danny said.

“Jealous?” Travis winked.

I tried not to blush.

“Still trying to convince everyone you’re queer? You can’t have it both ways, you know.” This was Danny’s version of good-natured bantering. The shocking thing was that was just how Travis took it.

“Don’t know why. Besides, sweetie,” Travis batted his heavily mascaraed lashes at Danny, “you know if I were queer, I’d do you first.”

“Promises, promises,” Danny snorted. “I still can’t believe they made you the director. Just because you wear eye makeup doesn’t make you creative. Just creepy.”

“Please, Danny-boy, let’s not have a lovers’ spat in front of everybody.” Travis fussed with his hair.

Danny looked pissed. I’d seen that look before and knew where this could lead. Was he going to take a swing at Travis or—he started to laugh. They
all
started to laugh.

Guys. I’d never understand guys. Well … girls either. I didn’t get it, but I didn’t get a lot of what passed for normal teen social interaction.

“Well, it’s all Greek to me.” Josh shrugged. “I don’t know how Travis got the director’s job, or whether Cooper suffered a stroke when she cast me in the lead. I’m just glad that you’re there, Katie, because you’re going to be so brilliant that every eyeball is going to be trained on you and nobody will notice me stinking up the stage.”

“You
are
doing great,” Danny mumbled, more to himself than to anyone.

I looked around. Everybody was still staring at us—at me. The entire cafeteria saw me clearly, no hiding, no blending. I’d been outed in front of them all.

“Well, see you tonight, fair Kate, and don’t say I didn’t warn you, eh?” Josh said.

They loped away in that very certain way that guys like that move. Evan shot me a smile before he turned. I’d never been smiled at like that. My face burned. Travis, Lisa and I shamelessly joined everyone else in watching them saunter out of the Droopy Diaper. Then, when the guys were gone, the whole place seemed to turn back and look right at me. What now?