The Taming (9 page)

I
was trying to explain about Joey to Lisa and Travis while we were sitting on him, so to speak. We were on one of the benches he advertised on, the one in front of my bus stop. Joey’s bench had somehow turned into our unofficial office, even though I was the only one of us who used that bus line. Come to think of it, I’d swear I was the only one in the whole school that got on that line. Travis had found me here back in September, recognized me from biology, sat down and gone into an impassioned rant on the colossal lameness of Weezer, which transformed seamlessly into his personal plan for world domination. My contribution was that I loved his smoky-blue eyeliner and told him so. We were best friends by the end of the week. Sounds easy, but Travis and then Lisa were friend experiments for me.

Maybe I was for them, too.

My mom and I moved every other minute, depending on which of her boyfriends we were living with. Too many neighbourhoods, too many schools—you can’t get in tight with people when you live like that. No, that’s not it. Friends, most of them anyway, want to know stuff, share stuff, compare secrets. Let’s face it, that was the opposite of my modus operandi.

Except for me and Lisa and Travis. We let each other be with whatever we were carrying, and I’d bet my life that I wasn’t the only one carrying a bit of dark.

Travis met us at the bus stop with three grande frappuccinos. It was a reward for yet another gruelling Josh/Petruchio rehearsal. The frappuccinos would have been my spending money for a week and tasted like they should be my calorie count for a month. What a brilliant, amazing thing, FRAPPUCCINO!

“So what’s the deal with this Joey guy? Does he creep you out or what?” Lisa asked.

Travis turned around to get a better look at Joey’s face. “Hmmm … I can never figure out whether I am repelled or attracted.”

Lisa groaned. “You say that about half the girls in the school, too!”

“I am an all-loving love god and let’s just leave it at that. But I’m not the important one here. I’m sensing an oddish vibe from our girl. Does Joey give you the willies, Katie?”

Since Travis had just forked out for my new very favourite thing in the world, I felt I owed him an answer.

“Joey?” I asked. “No. I mean, other than seeing and sitting on him all over the city, no.”

We all leaned against Joey’s photo, which pretty well covered the whole back bench, leaving just enough room for all of his business and social networking coordinates. I had an involuntary flashback to Nick Kormos. Again. Why was that happening so much? While Travis and Lisa slurped, I slipped back to that massive three-bedroom condo four years ago.

I was looking out of the floor-to-ceiling living room windows onto the tops of the trees, just standing and staring. Why? He came up behind me. Nick’s reflection was crystal clear in the window. Was he smiling? I stopped breathing, then and now, and I didn’t say anything, then or now. Nick’s hands circled in front of me. I could see them in the reflection and when I looked down. He cupped his hands, and then pressed and pulled me back into him. His hands were on me. And I saw it all in the reflection in the window as if I were watching a movie rather than it being me. And then he groaned “Ahhh” and brought me back to reality.

Instead of gagging, I gulped down some frappuccino.

“No, not Joey,” I said.

They both turned to face me.

“Well, I
know
I’m picking up a vibe,” Travis insisted.

Right vibe, wrong guy.

“If he gets weird on you I’ll …”

“What?” Lisa interrupted. “Spear him with your mascara wand, Emo-boy? When are you going to lay down and admit defeat, Travis? Emo is over, finished, kaput!”

It was a familiar and circular argument. Like Danny, Lisa didn’t actually much care either way, but she loved razzing Travis about it.

“Hey!” he countered. “Anyone could have been Emo when Emo ruled—too easy. They were inauthentic Emos, if you will. Now that it’s deader than a doornail, that, my dears, is when the true Emos come out. My melodrama is the real deal. It feeds my directorial genius!”

Lisa and I put our frappuccinos down and clapped. “Nicely done, Travis,” I said.

“Okay,” Lisa agreed. “We won’t vote you off the Joey bench.”

“I’m touched by your support.” He slurped the dregs of his drink. “So, how are you feeling about the production in general and me as director in particular?”

Lisa groaned and answered before I could even think of an answer. “You’re doing more than okay, and Katie’s a showstopper, no crap. Who knew, eh?”

“See what happens when you decide to become visible?” Travis nudged me and I gulped. I kept forgetting that I told them stuff. Both of them. I’d spent so long floating around by myself that I forgot to keep a lid on stuff that should be lidded.

“And the new guy is gunning for her,” Lisa said.

“Oh my God, Lisa! He
so
is not!”

“Evan checks you out from backstage and when he’s giving Josh his lines. I am your prompter. I see and know all …”

“Well, I can see his appeal.” Travis nodded. “And if he’s smitten by our Katie rather than those plastic playthings like Brittney or Melody, etc., etc.” Travis tossed his cup into the monster garbage can, which thankfully did not have Joey’s face plastered on it. “Well then, there may actually be something to the guy,” Travis said.

Lisa didn’t say anything.

“Bus!” I yelled, happy to change the topic.

Lisa looked at her watch. “With time to make dinner and over half an hour to spare!”

They were way too familiar with my schedule. I was letting too much slip. Next thing you knew we’d be exchanging nail polish and secrets and … I would be without friends again. I dug out my pass from my jeans.

“Thanks guys, and thanks for the drink thingy, Travis. I’ve never had one before, it’s my new favourite thing in the universe.”

I jumped onto the bus and turned to wave before the doors closed. They both looked stunned. Probably shouldn’t have said that about the drink. What self-respecting teen doesn’t know the drink lineup from Starbucks?

I slumped down into the seat to give myself a good talking to and found myself thinking about Nick Kormos instead. I closed my eyes tight, trying to squeeze him out. I’d learned that you can’t shut your head off, but sometimes you can cool it down a bit. The best way to do that was to substitute the problem image with a beautiful one. It muffled the bad noises and the icky feelings. I put in Evan Campbell for Nick Kormos. No problem. Those thoughts were nice and warm and, well, warm. I was getting very good.

Chapter Fifteen

“D
id ever Dian so become a grove as Kate this chamber with her princely gait?
” Josh said. He looked up at me. “Okay, Evan, so what the hell does that mean?”

“Dian refers to the goddess Diana.” I lowered my voice, hoping that he’d follow my lead. We
were
in the library. “He’s saying that Katherina, walking into the room—the chamber—is more beautiful than Diana walking through the woods—the grove.”

“Okay, so that’s like a big compliment.”

“More like a fake compliment,” I said. “It’s not like he really believes what he’s saying. He’s just trying to manipulate her.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Josh said. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” I paused. “I’m just not sure if helping you out like this is a promotion or a demotion from doing the set design.”

“I’d consider it a real promotion if
I
could do set designs instead of the lead role. In fact, it might be a major promotion for the entire production if I was replaced.”

“It is what it is,” I said.

“I should have objected more in the beginning,” Josh said.

“Would that have worked?”

He looked like he was thinking. “Probably not.”

“I haven’t really got Cooper figured out,” I said.

“Welcome to the club.”

Actually, she was kind of a sore point. What I did know was that Cooper didn’t respond the way I expected her to. With most female teachers—most
females—
I could use a combination of politeness, charm and subtle flirtation to get around them. Strangely, Lisa gave off that same vibe—she didn’t seem be falling for it. I didn’t trust anybody else in the room who was smarter than me. I was glad that didn’t happen very often.

“I don’t mind admitting that I’m actually a little scared of Cooper,” Josh said quietly.

“You’re about twice her size. I think you just might be able to take her in a fistfight.”

“It’s not a fistfight I’m worried about—although I think she would put up a pretty good battle. That does sound stupid, doesn’t it?” he asked.

I shook my head. “It’s hard to feel comfortable when you haven’t got a situation figured out.”

“Well, never mind, it’s one of the million reasons why I’m happy that you’re helping. It’s easier when I actually understand what the damn words mean,” Josh said.

“Shakespeare’s not really that hard.”

“It is for me,” Josh said.

“I guess it’s only easier for me because I’ve been taking Shakespeare since I was in grade three or four. It’s harder when you wait until high school to study this stuff.”

“You were in private school, right?”

“I’ve been in
lots
of private schools.”

“It must be hard to change schools,” Josh said. “But that’s probably why you’ve settled in here so well—lots of practice,” he said. “I think I’d hate it.”

“No, you’d do fine. You’d have a role to play: basketball star. I think Shakespeare had it right when he said,
‘All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts
.’ ”

“Is that from this play?” Josh asked.

I shook my head. “It’s from
As You Like It—
a speech given by Jacques.”

“I can’t believe you know the words to different Shakespeare plays.”

“Don’t you know the words to songs you like?” I asked.

“I can recite almost every line from
Happy Gilmore
.”

“
Happy Gilmore?
”

“You don’t know
Happy Gilmore
?” He sounded not only shocked but almost disgusted.

“I don’t know him,” I admitted.

“It’s not a him … well, it is I guess. It’s simply one of the best movies ever made! Classic Adam Sandler, from 1996.”

“ ‘Classic’ and ‘Adam Sandler’ are things you don’t hear together very often,” I said.

“He is a great actor. I don’t know why he hasn’t won an Oscar or two.”

I had a pretty good idea.

“Anyway, he plays a hockey player who becomes a professional golfer. It’s hilarious!”

“I’m sure it is. Like you said, this Happy guy had two roles that he played, hockey player and golfer, and that’s probably why it was funny, because the two roles are so different.”

“Very different and very funny,” he agreed.

“So because you would have the role of basketball player you could fit in better,” I said. “And now you have a very different role as an actor.”

“Which I hope doesn’t get me laughed at.” He paused. “And what role are
you
playing?”

“I guess it depends on the person I’m talking to.” That was way too honest, mainly because I hadn’t expected him to come up with that question. Maybe he was more than just a jock. “But mainly I’m just being myself. And speaking of playing roles, there is your wife-to-be, Katherina.”

Katie walked across the room and took a seat at one of the study carrels.

“She’s quite the actress,” I said. “How well do you know her?”

“Not really well. Outside of the play, Katie’s really quiet. She might be different with her friends.”

“Are any of those friends a boyfriend?”

“Aaahhh … I get it. To paraphrase Shakespeare, is boyfriend one of the roles you’re hoping to play?”

“Maybe … why, you’re not interested in her, are you?” I asked.

“Interested? That’s putting it mildly. She is my betrothed … remember?” Josh joked.

“No, I mean, really, are you interested?”

“I’ve thought about it, but it would be way too confusing right now. You know, to be my girlfriend and my wife,” he joked. “Especially since I have to spend so much time on basketball. And I do actually have a girlfriend already … nothing serious … but still time consuming.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb your marital bliss. But now that you’ve put it that way, I guess I can ask her out.”

Josh looked a little thrown. “Okay, sure. But first things first—could we go back to my lines?”

Chapter Sixteen