Page 49 of Love Me Not

I leaned over Trey’s shoulder. “An idea for what?”

“We’ve got these transitions between when Connor leaves Darcy at the hospital, the fight she has with her parents, and finding out that Tilly is going to live.” Aiden pointed to the x in the middle of an empty rectangle. “This is Darcy at center stage. She’s in the middle of all the action, so I was thinking the other characters would move around her. ’Cause this is the moment she stops letting people push her around and takes her stand, you know.”

He drew circles around her, and then added arrows for the directions in which they should move. “Connor leaves in this direction, and her parents enter from the other side.” He drew another circle and an arrow to show a character come in from behind her. “Then the doc comes in from here. It’s like when a quarterback is in the pocket while the other team is trying to get to him.”

The pocket reference was lost on me, but I knew what he was saying. This wasn’t a bad idea. “I like it, but she does needs to move in small ways that emphasize the change in her character. She can step back when Connor leaves, to show she’s okay on her own. Then step toward her parents to show she’s moving forward.”

“She’s stronger and letting go of the fear,” Emma said. “This way her words and actions connect.”

Trey looked up. “This would also reduce the chaos on stage so the audience can keep their focus on Darcy.”

Our eyes met and I could see that Coach Collins was much more invested in this play than I realized. I’d been flying solo with this club for so long that part of me felt protective. We agreed right now, but what if I let him in and down the road he pushed for a change I didn’t agree with? At the same time, letting him carry some of the weight would free me up to work on certain areas while he worked on others.

Giving someone else even a small amount of control wasn’t a natural choice for me. Despite having a firm belief in the strength of an ensemble, a singular voice needed to be in charge. My voice. Maybe I could make an exception this once.

“Let’s block it out and see how it feels.” The kids bounced up and immediately went to work. To Trey, I said, “Where did you get that notebook?” The thing was huge.

He flipped back a few pages to show more xs and os with arrows going every which way. “It’s my playbook for football.”

I should have known. “Is that how you teach them to run into each other?”

His brow furrowed. “It’s called tackling.”

“It looks brutal.” From the corner of my eye, I spotted Kandace walk out from the wings. After giving me a fleeting glance, she joined the others.

“What happened back there?” Trey asked.

“We had a talk about expectations. I suggested she think about whether she truly wants to be here.”

He crossed his arms. “Looks like she made the right decision.”

Since she played the role of Darcy’s mother, the current changes would move her mark to a different spot. Madison showed her the change, and I could see she had Kandace’s full attention. They then walked through it twice, and Kandace hit the new mark both times.

“We may make an actress out of her yet.” Heading back to the steps at the corner of the stage, I said, “Do that clapping thing you do.”

“The what?” Trey asked, following close behind.

“You know. When you clap and shatter everyone’s eardrums.”

“It isn’t that loud.” He did as asked, doing irreparable damage to my ears and creating an echo in the large space. The kids fell silent, as I knew they would.

We spent the next thirty minutes walking through the scenes using the new blocking, making adjustments where necessary. Kandace even made a suggestion for her and Burke, and looked quite proud of herself when the others approved of her idea.

By the end of rehearsal, I knew we were going to be okay.

“Thanks for doing that for Aiden,” Trey said as we walked out together.

Confused, I said, “What did I do?”

Trey pushed the school door open. “You took his suggestion.”

The cold wind felt as if it might slice through me. “I’m happy to take a good suggestion from anybody who has one, and that was a good one.”

“But you listened to him.”

That didn’t feel like something I should be commended for. “He has as much of a voice as anyone else in the play. Why wouldn’t I listen?”

Looking off into the distance, Trey paused before answering. “Let’s just say he isn’t heard very often.”

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