How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You: Chapter 19

‘I can’t believe they won’t give out personal information!’ I groaned at the following day’s rehearsal. ‘Since when did florists start behaving like the CIA?’

‘Well, I guess if you send flowers anonymously,’ Jelena said, ‘you want to stay anonymous. I still say he’s a nerd.’

I ignored her. ‘What if a stalker was sending me daily floral tributes? Would they still hold on to the information then, if I was living my life in perpetual fear?’

‘Aurora, we’re going to find out who sent the flowers,’ Sara said.

‘But what if we don’t?’ I said softly. ‘What if this amazing, one-of-a-kind guy never reveals himself?’ A shiver of horror ran through me. ‘Or worse. What if this is all a practical joke? What if it’s just Tarot Card Tina trying to get even with me or something? And she’s going to reveal the truth and humiliate me in front of the entire school?’

‘Aurora, no-one would spend that much money on a joke bouquet,’ Jelena said as she checked off items on her props list. ‘What’s happened to you? You’re getting paranoid.’

‘I know,’ I moaned. I felt guilty about accusing Tarot Card Tina of deceiving me. ‘I guess so many of my emotions are invested in this that I can’t think straight. I mean, what else can I do? I’ve tried asking the florist, and making a list of suspects.’

‘The only thing you can do,’ Cassie said, adding shadowing to a cardboard column that was to become part of the southern plantation set, ‘is wait until he makes his next move.’

‘Okay!’ Mr Peterman called. ‘Act two, scene three. I need Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick and Leonato onstage pronto! In this scene, we have a very image-concerned Benedick being teased by the others because they know his new-found vanity is all to do with being in love with Beatrice. Okay, begin scene!’

There was a long silence onstage.

‘Where’s Alex?’ Mr Peterman cried. ‘It’s his line! We’ve got to do better than this, people. Opening night is less than two weeks away now!’

‘Uh-oh.’ Jelena winced and stuck her head around the stage curtain. ‘Mr Peterman? With all the stress of being stage manager and coordinating a cast of twenty-two actors and countless backstage crew —’

‘Just get to the point, Jelena.’

‘I neglected to mention that Alex has a health-related emergency and can’t be here today.’

Mr Peterman let out a loud sigh. ‘Jelena, let Alex know that if he misses any more rehearsals, we have a perfectly proficient understudy to replace him.’

‘Mr Peterman, I can assure you that Alex will be fighting fit for tomorrow’s rehearsal,’ Jelena said quickly.

Mr Peterman didn’t answer, just took another swig of his Bach flower tincture.

Jelena rolled her eyes in his direction. ‘God, talk about overdramatic.’ Luckily she was behind the curtain again by that stage.

‘Is Alex sick?’ Cassie’s eyes were concerned.

‘Of course not,’ Jelena said as she went back to checking props. ‘He’s at the athletic equipment sale downtown.’

I stared at Jelena. ‘That’s a health-related emergency?’

‘Hey, regular exercise is a vital part of staying healthy.’

‘He asked you to lie for him?’

Jelena shrugged. ‘Aurora, you’re making a big deal out of nothing.’

‘What if you got in trouble for it?’ I pressed.

‘Just drop it. Did I tell you that we’re going on a date Friday night?’

I gave up. It wasn’t like I didn’t stretch the truth myself sometimes. Still, something about Alex troubled me. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the closer Jelena got to him, the more concerned I felt.

I decided to work on my lines to distract myself. I walked over to my handbag, which I’d left in the wings. I opened the back pocket and as I lifted my script out, a silver envelope danced to the floor. My name was typed on the front, like the note that had accompanied my bouquet. I gave a gasp and snatched it up. As I went to rip it open, I realised that I couldn’t have a secret-admirer-related moment without my besties, so I dashed back to Jelena, Cass, Sara and Lindsay, who’d just turned up with rolls of material in her arms.

‘Eeeeeee!’ I squeaked, grabbing Cassie and Jelena by the shoulders.

‘Okay, she’s officially lost the plot,’ Jelena said.

I ignored her and waved the envelope in front of them. ‘It’s another note from my secret admirer!’

‘What’s it say?’ Lindsay dropped the material on the floor and raced to my side.

‘Let’s find out.’

I carefully broke the seal and pulled out a sheet of delicate paper scattered with silver stars and typed on in dark blue ink.

‘Check the bottom first,’ Cassie begged. ‘I can’t wait another moment to know his identity.’

I couldn’t either. As my eyes swept down the page, I felt giddy with joy.

My face fell. ‘It’s just signed “Your secret admirer”, like last time.’

Sara peered over my shoulder. ‘Maybe there’s a clue in the note.’

I looked at the beautiful script again. ‘It’s a poem!’

My secret admirer had written me a poem. This was like something out of a movie. There was a simultaneous shriek of excitement and we all started jumping up and down. Everyone crowded in on me and grabbed at the note.

‘Wait!’ I cried above the pandemonium. ‘I’m going to put it on the table so we can all see it.’

I placed the delicate sheet of paper on the table and we all stared at the poem.

‘That is so beautiful,’ I said softly.

‘My Alpha? Spectacular star? This guy is like the next Lord Byron or something!’ Sara cried.

Cassie was grinning. ‘Whoever he is, Aurora, he’s infatuated. You’re the centre of his universe.’

My whole body felt like it was bubbling over with joy. I couldn’t believe someone viewed me as a heavenly body of light. I hardly minded the fact that the writer of the poem hadn’t given his name — he was sure to sometime in the future. I was just completely blown away by the poem.

‘Wait a minute!’ Sara snatched up the letter. ‘I can’t believe we’ve been so stupid! Here’s our clue to his identity right in front of us!’

We all looked at her blankly.

‘The poem, guys.’ She gestured at it.

‘But he didn’t sign his name,’ Lindsay said.

‘I’ve got one word for you all,’ Sara said. ‘Fingerprints.’

Jelena arched a brow. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

‘Daughter of a cop talking,’ Sara replied. ‘I’ve got all the equipment at home. It’s easy.’

‘But, Sara,’ I asked, hating to destroy her enthusiasm, ‘won’t his fingerprints have been destroyed by all of us handling the note?’

‘You never know, Mr Secret Admirer could have left a rogue print.’ Sara’s voice was full of confidence. ‘Plus, he only just put the note in your bag, didn’t he?’

I nodded. ‘I went to get my water twenty minutes ago.’

‘And we’ve been at rehearsal for an hour now,’ Sara cried triumphantly. ‘So he’s obviously part of the production, which makes the investigation easier, as it’s a closed environment.’

I wasn’t completely convinced. ‘Okay, say we even find a fingerprint, are we going to demand to fingerprint the whole cast and crew?’

‘That’s not exactly subtle,’ Jelena chimed in.

‘Don’t you want to find out his identity?’ Sara pleaded.

I smiled at her. ‘I think I’ll wait a little bit longer. He might have a romantic plan to reveal himself to me. I don’t want to spoil it.’

Jelena went back to her lighting plan. ‘What if he doesn’t? What if he’s a nerd?’

‘What is it with you and the nerd thing?’ Sara asked.

‘“She’s like the stars, far above me,”’ Jelena quoted. ‘Hello, he’s saying that she’s out of his league.’

‘I don’t think he’s saying that,’ I said, dropping dreamily onto a stool and studying the poem again. ‘I think he’s just being complimentary.’

‘Maybe there’s another reason why he can only skirt your periphery,’ Cassie said. ‘Maybe there’s something keeping you apart.’

‘Maybe you and he are like Romeo and Juliet,’ Lindsay sighed. ‘Perhaps he belongs to a rival social group at school.’

‘Well, hopefully love will conquer all!’ Cassie said.

I could tell that Cassie and Lindsay were thinking about their not-so-fairytale situations with Scott and Tyler.

I felt slightly guilty. With all the excitement of my secret admirer, I’d lost my focus on my friends’ love lives. Well, that had to change.

There had to be some way of fixing the cracked romances around me. Even if it meant questioning Hayden again.

‘Alright! Act four, scene one!’ Mr Peterman boomed. ‘The ill-fated wedding of Claudio and Hero. I need Don Pedro, Don John, Leonato, Friar Francis, Benedick and Beatrice up here as well, please.’

‘I’m on.’ I tucked the poem carefully into my script folder and handed it to Cass. ‘Take care of this for me, please.’

I still felt like I was dancing on air as I took my place onstage.

‘Hey, there.’ Hayden took his spot next to me, at the side of the wedding altar. This was my chance to repair the shattered remnants of TylerandLindsay.

‘So, in this scene,’ Mr Peterman took his seat again, ‘Claudio jilts the innocent Hero because of Don John’s lies.’

Sara gave a devilish laugh and rubbed her hands together eagerly.

‘You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady?’ the friar asked Benjamin.

‘No,’ Benjamin said, sweeping his hair back off his forehead. ‘Mr Peterman, I’m thinking that my right is my best side. Can I change spots?’

‘So what happened with Tyler?’ I whispered to Hayden, trying not to sound too eager.

‘Well, we just had a bit of a talk,’ Hayden whispered back, his breath tickling my ear. Its warmth seemed to heat my whole body. I tugged at the collar of my shirt. Was there some problem with the air conditioning in here?

‘And?’ I pressed.

‘And we tried to come up with some solutions.’

Hayden was going to make this difficult for me, I could tell. But I had some tricks up my sleeve.

‘Solutions, hey?’ I repeated. I’d recently read that echoing someone’s last few words encouraged them to open up to you.

‘He’s dealing with a lot at the moment,’ Hayden said.

‘What’s he planning to do? I was thinking that some flowers would really help the situation.’ Anything but another singing attempt. Or a string of movie clichés, I added silently.

‘Aurora, Tyler’s feeling pretty embarrassed about what he’s going through. I can’t break his confidence.’

I should have known that Hayden would still be riding the keep-zip train.

‘I thought you had this whole Aurora–Hayden friends thing going on,’ I said.

‘Yes.’ He looked confused. ‘But what’s that got to do with Tyler?’

‘Well, friends share,’ I said. ‘Friends confide in each other.’

Hayden smiled. ‘Aurora, confiding in each other doesn’t mean sharing Tyler’s private business. He needs to speak to Lindsay himself.’

‘So once again you’re going to sabotage a romance.’ I felt like screaming with frustration. I could never get anywhere with Hayden Paris. It was the story of my life, playing over and over again. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t be friends with someone who doesn’t want the best for others.’

‘I do want the best for others. That’s why I’m not spreading their private information around!’ Hayden replied. ‘Come on, Aurora, you’re being a little overdramatic.’

‘Overdramatic!’ I huffed. ‘So is this what it’s like to be friends with you, Hayden? Receiving continuous insults?’

‘I wasn’t —’

‘Because it doesn’t seem all that different from being enemies with you.’

Hayden smiled gently. ‘Aurora, we were never enemies.’

It was all I could do not to snicker. Hayden certainly had a warped recollection of our past.

‘There, Leonato, take her back again: Give not this rotten orange to your friend,’ Benjamin said.

‘See!’ I cried. ‘This is a prime example of what happens when people choose not to get involved in others’ love lives! Claudio’s calling Hero a rotten orange and everyone else at this sadistic excuse for a wedding is just standing around doing nothing.’

‘Okay, so in extreme situations, like when a woman’s honour is at stake, I’m all for breaking a confidence,’ Hayden said. ‘But Tyler and Lindsay are hardly on that scale.’

‘What if they never get back together?’ I cried. ‘And you’re the one that stood between them? Just like you’re standing between Scott and Cassie!’

‘Scott and Cassie are fine!’ Hayden said.

I gave a snort. ‘Scott and Cassie are not fine. Sure, to an unperceptive eye like yours, everything might look okay, but underneath the surface it’s a murky mass of confusion.’

‘It seemed very clear to me on Valentine’s Day that things were going great —’

‘What about that afternoon though?’ I interrupted.

‘Valentine’s Day afternoon?’ Hayden looked confused.

‘Maybe you should ask Scott about it,’ I said. ‘Because Cassie’s completely lost as to why he’s hardly spoken to her since then.’

‘Aurora, your desire to help others is one of your best qualities, but it’s a little extreme at times. People are perfectly capable of falling in love on their own, you know. What about destiny? Call me romantic but —’

‘Believe me, Hayden, there’s no chance of anyone calling you that.’

A twinge ran through me at making such a mean-spirited statement but I ignored it.

‘Mr Peterman?’ Benjamin’s voice said before Hayden could reply. ‘As one of the leading men of this production, I really need a space of my own to mentally rehearse as well as physically prepare myself. I think a dressing room is necessary.’

A snicker ran through the auditorium.

‘A dressing room?’ Mr Peterman looked incredulous.

‘Or a trailer,’ Benjamin suggested. ‘My agent says that on the set of a blockbuster —’

‘Could I have a trailer as well, Mr Peterman?’ Sara cut in. ‘Playing an evil character is really putting a strain on my nerves. If I had a soothing space —’

‘I think Dogberry and Verges need a trailer,’ Jeffrey called out. ‘For a post-production party space. Lovely ladies drinking champagne —’

‘No-one is having a trailer!’ Mr Peterman’s face was purple. ‘Sorry to disillusion you, but this is not a blockbuster with A-list stars, million-dollar sets and personal assistants. It’s a high-school play. High school.’

My guess was that Mr Peterman was feeling the contrast between his former soap-star life and his present situation.

Hayden turned back to me. ‘It’s rather hurtful to hear you constantly repeating how impossible it is for me to be romantic.’

‘Well, why don’t you prove your credentials and help me reconcile two couples?’ I said in my most persuasive tone.

Hayden let out a sigh. ‘I know I keep saying this, but I don’t believe in interfering in other people’s love lives.’

‘Fine then,’ I shot back. ‘Forget I ever asked for your help. I’m more than capable of looking after this myself. Not only will I get Cassie and Scott together, but Tyler and Lindsay will be back in love within two weeks.’

‘Alright, Friar Francis, Hero and Leonato, offstage. Beatrice and Benedick, are you ready for your big love scene?’ Mr Peterman’s voice was hopeful.

I stomped to my spot before Hayden could say anything more. Love scene. I shook my head. This play was sick.

‘This is the moment when Beatrice and Benedick finally admit their true feelings to each other,’ Mr Peterman said. He had a big smile on his face. Obviously he was counting on some riveting chemistry from his best actor and his novice actress.

‘Oh yeah!’ Jeffrey yelled from the audience. ‘Sexual tension coming up!’

‘It’s obviously a huge turning point for the couple,’ Mr Peterman continued. ‘Culminating in the kiss. But don’t worry, we won’t be practising that until next week — probably Tuesday.’

My heart stopped. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The kiss? Was Mr Peterman hallucinating? Maybe he meant a kiss between Hero and Claudio. Yes, it had to be that.

‘The k-kiss?’ I stammered, my whole body willing him to say it was Hero and Claudio who kissed.

‘Between Benedick and Beatrice, of course!’ Mr Peterman said. ‘When we do rehearse it, Hayden, you’ll need to take Aurora into your arms and kiss her passionately —’

‘There’s no kiss written in this script!’ I said, ripping through the pages of our scene.

‘Well, no, but this is where the kiss always comes in the production,’ Mr Peterman said. ‘Don’t worry, you’ve got a while to practise it.’

I stared at Mr Peterman and an embarrassed-looking Hayden. My life was over.