"This is all your fault, director's pet. This is a play. I'm not falling in love with you, and I would never ever go out with you, Jack Garrison."
Jack and Shayna can't get through a rehearsal without fighting.
Cheerleader Shayna loathes perfect Ja...
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Our next dress rehearsal was well underway before anything went catastrophically wrong. Shayna refused to speak to Samantha unless they had a scene together, and Jack was his usual overconfident self.
Onstage, Jack seemed to embody Orlando. Despite his arrogance and bluster, he could effortlessly slip into the skin of an oppressed and titleless man. When he left the stage, he instantly became Jack Garrison, telling everyone what a great job they were doing and smiling.
I supposed it was the thespian way. Jack was a natural; he seemed to be good at everything he did without much effort.
Shayna made a crafty Rosalind. She could scorn Orlando one moment, fool him in the next, and be wooed by him all in the course of a few minutes. She made it look easy.
Juan was still watching her when she was on stage. He might not have apologized for his actions, but he observed her like he knew he'd made a mistake. Still, he let Samantha hang all over him.
Shayna's brother had escorted her to rehearsal that night. I'd never met Parker, but I'd heard about him. He'd been a star player on the football team last year. Parker Christian-Porter was a Crestview legend.
He was our single audience member tonight with his legs propped up across two chairs. He was a muscular young man with thick, tightly curled hair pulled back in a bun behind his head. He wore a fraternity shirt with ripped sleeves and cut-off shorts.
Juan couldn't shut up about Parker. Even Jack was a little awed by the guy. They'd fist-bumped when they passed in the audience earlier.
"I don't see what the big deal is," Jules told me before the curtain opened for the second act, and we started our twenty-minute break. "The guy is just human."
The way Jack, Juan, and even Carson talked to him during the break made me think Parker was some kind of idol. Carson riddled off football stats about Parker easily. It was shocking that Carson even knew anything about sports.
"He's probably just charismatic," I said. "Like Jack."
"All I remember about Parker Christian-Porter was he was an attention hog," Jules rolled their eyes.
"Is he Shayna's half-brother or something?" I asked, curious about the last name.
"No," Jules sounded thoughtful. "Shayna's last name used to be Christian. After her parents got a divorce, the pair of them had their names legally changed to Christian-Porter. Shayna prefers her mother's name. She only uses the Porter part."
"I'm guessing she doesn't have a good relationship with her father then," I said.
Jules shrugged. "She doesn't talk about it. Don't suppose it matters. When she turns eighteen, she can change her name to whatever she wants without parental consent."
Shayna didn't go near her brother while her ex-boyfriend and Jack talked to him. She barely even looked at him.
She stood alone. I walked over to her seat in the back of the theater. As I approached, she almost didn't notice me.
