Page 77 of Dungeons and Drama

“Are you sure I can’t convince you?” Hoshiko asks me after theShrekrehearsal the next afternoon. It’s our last day of rehearsal and I’m keeping everyone longer than usual. The songs have come together, but people are still missing cues. We need this to be perfect.

“It’s not a good idea,” I say in a voice that I hope gives some finality to the decision.

“You can’t skip D&D tonight,” she argues. I guess my tone wasn’t enough. “We’re taking on the wraith king tonight. The boys spent all lunch talking about it. Which you would know if you’d eaten with us.” She gives me a sharp look.

I wince. “Miss Sahni needed to talk to me about the upcoming show choir performance. They’re struggling with their harmonies.”

“Riley, you can lie to Nathan all you want, but don’t lie to me. I know you’re avoiding everyone because of homecoming.”

“I’m not avoiding you.”

“Well, obviously.” She leans her head on my shoulder. “You couldn’t if you tried. I’d track you down.”

I chuckle lightly, but my chest aches. A little part of methought Nathan might do the same. That he’d miss me enough to come find me.

Hoshiko lifts her head and studies me. “I’m pretty sure hethinks you hate him, by the way.”

“Nathan or Paul?”

Thankfully, Paul has kept a wide berth since the dance and I’ve done the same. If there’s one good thing that came out of homecoming, it was that Paul wants nothing more to do with me.

“Stop trying to change the subject. You know who I’m talking about. If you’d just talk to Nathan—”

“It’s too much. Too soon. He’ll take one look at me and know exactly how I feel about him.”

“And would that be such a bad thing? Maybe it’ll finally wake him up to what he’s missing.”

“If he can’t realize that on his own, I’m not going to help him. He can keep Sophia.”

We both scowl at her name. “Just come and sit next to me and Lucas tonight at D&D. I’ll keep you entertained and distracted. The guys miss you.”

I slump. I miss them too. I know I can’t go on like this forever—hiding away during lunch periods and avoiding everyone but Hoshiko. I need to be okay with Nathan and Sophia. But there’s also the fact that I haven’t spoken to Dad since I told him I was quitting. I’m not sure I can walk back into the store ever again now.

“Let’s just get through tomorrow and then we’ll see,” I tell Hoshiko. She regards me sadly but doesn’t argue.

I clap my hands twice and call to the group. “Can we run that again?”

I’m up early the next morning. Rather than go to D&D, I spent last evening texting Hoshiko for updates (Sophiadidn’t show, Nathan barely spoke all night, and they ended early after killing time in the swamp to avoid the wraith) and searching my closet for an outfit that tells Principal Holloway I’m serious but fun, ready to work but not a stick-in-the-mud. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I have that outfit. Mostly my clothes look like a paint factory exploded onto them. So I did the best I could—navy-blue pants and a pink button-down with tiny red hearts all over.

Hoshiko finds me before my first class. She looks me up and down and nods approvingly. “Love your outfit. But we have a few problems.”

I freeze. “What?”

She sighs and pulls me toward World History. “Sara’s mom wasn’t able to get the costumes like she said she would, so it looks like the audience will need to use their imagination. And…I just heard Henry is home sick today.”

Horror flies through me and I spin toward her. “You’re telling me half the fairy-tale creatures don’t have costumes? And we have no narrator.” I look at the ceiling and groan. “Hecan’t be sick! Weneedhim!” Henry is one of the linchpins of our showcase. We start the first song with him narrating Shrek’s young life—in a pretty convincing Scottish accent, I might add—and without him the show won’t make as much sense. “Can we convince him to come in after school? He can stay far away from everyone so he doesn’t spread anything.”

She shakes her head, looking forlorn. “Strep throat.”

I drop my head in my hands. All I needed was for this one day to go smoothly, and I can’t even get that. What else is going to go wrong? Will Paul forget his Shrek mask? Willlaryngitis suddenly burn through the school until no one has a voice?

“We were already teetering on the brink. I was so busy with rehearsals that I never found community sponsors, and without them the budget will be too high for Principal Holloway and the Music Boosters. We can’t have anything else go wrong.”

She steps in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders, stopping my progress down the hall.

“It’s all going to work out. Okay? We’ll make a game plan at lunch. Youwillbe with us for lunch, right?”

I hesitate and then nod. To be honest, I’d take about any excuse to get out of facing Nathan today, but she’s right. We need time to brainstorm solutions. The bell rings.

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