It was the early October, one month into my Junior year of high school and I had been nervous since I woke up. The cast list for the school play would go up today. We were, unfortunately in my mind, going to do The Kissing Booth, in an effort to get more people to come see the play. Since I always played character parts (the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz, the plant in in Little Shop of Horror, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet) there really wasn't a good part for me in the play. That was OK. I loved to act but I liked parts where I could hide in an over the top character. Characters where no one could see it was really me. It was fun to totally escape into being someone else. But still, I hoped I would at least end up getting a part as a teacher or a kid at a party.
It was finally lunch time. Ms. Katz always posted the cast list right before lunch. Which was crazy. Why post it in the middle of the day? So, everyone could gloat or walk around heartbroken? But that's how she did it. So, I walked from Pre-Calc toward the drama room door, where I knew I would find a crowd of my fellow theater geeks. Everyone stared at me as I walked up and started to whisper. Uh oh, I thought and began to panic. Did I not get a part, even a small one?
Then my best friend Eve spotted me and squealed. "Livy you got it. You got the part!"
I stopped. Confused. There was no part I had wanted. Maybe Noah's mom?
"What part?"
"Elle Evans!"
I froze. I was pretty sure I had imagined what she had just said. That or this was a dream. Or maybe a nightmare. Probably a nightmare because every eye in the hallway was on me. I could not have gotten the lead. Elle Evans was tiny and adorable. I was, well, not. And, she spent half the play making out with the male lead. I had only kissed a boy once and it had been a disaster. She walked around in a bikini . . . She strutted around a locker room in her bra . . . It had to be a nightmare.
So, I brilliantly said, "What?"
But there, on the cast list was my name at the top "Elle Evans . . . Livy Williams."
"But I didn't try out for the part." I said. Starting to panic.
Eve, looked at me, sensing I was not nearly as excited as I should be. "You know Ms. Katz." Taking a dramatic tone. "No one tries out for parts in my theater program, you try out for the play and I decide what part you are meant to play."
And, then my eyes slipped one line lower on the cast list "Noah Flynn . . . Xander Davis," and I gasped.
Eve saw where I am looking. "I know, who knew he could act? Everyone knows he has to do the play because he needs the extra credit or he will fail the class. Drama being an easy A does not mean blowing off all the assignments. Mrs. Katz was so mad when he didn't even bother to memorize his lines for his final scene for first quarter."
Ok, this could not get any worse. I could not have the lead in the school play. I could not have to make out with a boy on stage. And that boy could not be one of the most popular boys in school and my step brother's best friend. Who was so gorgeous I had trouble speaking in front of him. Who was the captain of the football team and the lacrosse team. . .
"Earth to Livy. Are you there? You don't seem excited."
"I'm excited. Really. Just shocked."
"You will be great. You work harder than everyone else at every play. You stole the show last time as the Wicked Witch. Dorthy got half the applause you did."
Eve is the best friend ever, she was even starting to make me feel better. Maybe I could do the part, in a strange parallel universe where I would be willing to wear a bikini on stage in front of the entire school.
And then things only got worse because my former best friend and nemesis walked up. Ann Morris and I had been best friends for two years after I moved to Minneapolis. She got the lead in every play in middle school and then got the lead in every play in high school even when she was a freshman. She was tiny and blond and she hated me. Why? At the beginning of freshman year, a boy asked me to Homecoming. I said yes. Then she told me she liked him and demanded I tell him I would not go with him. I have two older stepbrothers. I knew you could not back out of a date with a boy once you had said yes. It was mean to do something like that and I told her so. But I told her I would not go out with him again. That was not good enough for her. She has hated me ever since, even though the date was a disaster.
She took one look at the cast list and turned on me.
"You got the lead? The ice queen is going to make out with a boy on stage?" She said in a vicious tone.
Ice Queen. Yes, I had heard the whispers. Sean was a sophomore and I was flattered and scared when he asked me to Homecoming as a freshman. I'm 5'7 with brown hair, gray eyes. I did not have a lot of curves then, I have a few now but honestly the best I can hope for is to be called willowy or slender (fingers crossed not skinny or boyish). So, I was really thrilled any boy had noticed me. My dad had not wanted me to go but my stepmom had talked him into letting me. I was only 14 and had never been on a date. He was 16 so he could drive. He picked me up and we went to the dance.
The dance went alright. His hands went lower than I really liked during the slow dances but I was 14, I had no idea what to say. I just hid in the bathroom a lot. And since my so called best friend was not speaking to me I had no one to ask what to do. Things went really wrong when he drove me home. He parked the car a couple blocks from my house. I was super nervous. He leaned over and kissed me. It was gross, all slobbery. And then he immediately put his hand up my dress. I panicked. I pushed him away.
"Please, I want to go home." I whispered
"Don't be that way." He said and grabbed me again. I shoved him. Hard. Really hard. Did I mention I have two older step brothers? I have been in some mean wrestling matches for the TV remote control and bags of chips. He bounced off the car door. Yeah, well, no means no.
"You don't have to be a bitch." He sounded pissed but he drove me home.
A week later he and Ann were dating. She stopped speaking to me and the whispers of "Ice Queen" started.
So, Ann is my nemesis. I was pretty sure she started the rumors. And kept them going. She still liked to hum songs from Frozen when I walked past. Hold a grudge much? She was a total biach.
And no one had asked me out since then. After all, who wants to date an ice queen?
I also have a temper. It does not show often but when it does I lose all sense of fear and reason.
"How is Miss I'm always in the chorus" going to carry the whole play?" continued Ann warming up to a full dramatic rant.
OK, she was clearly pissed at not getting the part and I should have just risen above it but did I mention I have a temper?
At some point during our fight Xander and my stepbrother Jack had walked up.
And then Ann went one step too far. "A sad little no talent like you? You only get the little pity parts. Stick to playing witches and plants where no one can see how bad you really are."
I saw red. I really thought that was just a saying up until that point but really, I was so angry the world did blur a bit. I may not have ever gotten the lead before but I was a good actress. I work hard at my parts and I do them well. I put everything I have into them. "I can't act, can I?" I bit out.
Then I whirled to Xander, went up on my tip toes, wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. At first, he seemed stunned. Then everything else dropped away. His mouth was so soft, it opened under mine. He smelled like something spicy and, well, boy. His arms wrapped around me and he kissed me back. It was nothing like kissing Sean. I lost track of time. Finally, we broke apart breathing hard. I stared into his eyes not sure what had happened when everyone started clapping. Reality came crashing back and I realized what I had done. I dragged the remains of my sanity back around me and turned to Ann.
"I'm ready for my spotlight." I said as I turned on my heel and walked away. I was pretty sure I had lost my mind. The theater geek, the nerd, the ice queen had just made out with the most popular guy in school in the middle of the hallway. I needed to find some place to hide and hope the floor opened up and swallowed me.
Hi! I have a new story that I just put up called Opposites Attract if you are interested in reading something else I have written.