Page 23 of The Wrong Prom Date

I immediately lifted my hand in the air as she started to explain. “What do you mean he wants to change some lines in the script?”

“It’s just a few minor changes, Teagan, and I think when you see them you’ll agree they make the dialogue between your two characters so much stronger.”

I could barely keep my composure. Yesterday, Liam didn’t care enough about the play to even pay attention during the read-through. Now, he wanted to improve the script?

“Madi will also be handing out a revised rehearsal schedule, as we’ve had to incorporate Liam’s availability into it.”

I raised my hand again as I struggled to contain my anger.

“Yes, Teagan?”

“So, our rehearsals revolve around him too now?” My voice was filled with disbelief. I’d already written the rehearsal dates into my diary and had gotten time off from babysitting to make sure they never clashed.

Miss Appleby glanced nervously around the room, like she was worried my question was going to start some sort of rehearsal schedule revolt. No one else but me seemed bothered though.

“If there are any problems with the changes, I’m sure we can come to a solution that everyone is happy with,” Miss Appleby said.

I sat back in my chair and folded my arms across my chest. I couldn’t work Liam out. One minute, he was dismissing our play as a waste of time, and now, he was suddenly taking an active role in the production? I wanted him to be committed, but I didn’t want him to take over.

The teacher kept talking, but I barely heard a word she said. I was too busy stewing with anger, and it was really hard to rein it in when Liam was sitting across the room with a growing look of smugness on his face. His eyes met mine in challenge, making every cell in my body quiver in agitation. He was enjoying the fact he was getting to me. I didn’t want to give him such satisfaction, but I was struggling to keep a cool head.

I was always so composed at school, but ever since Liam had entered my life, I’d slowly been losing the firm grasp over my emotions. He put everything I cared about at risk. How could I idly sit by and watch him flush my future down the toilet?

My mood only grew worse as we continued our read-through of the script. Liam spoke his lines in the same bored tone he’d used yesterday. It felt like he was doing it on purpose, and I kept catching him stifling a smile whenever he looked my way. My fingers itched to slap the superior look off his face, and I swear he could read my mind because his eyes dipped to my hands as I clenched them both into fists.

When class ended, I waited for the room to empty before approaching Miss Appleby. Her pleasant expression dimmed a little when she saw the worry in my eyes.

She let out a sigh. “I know you’re not happy with this situation, Teagan.”

“Miss Appleby, surely you can see he doesn’t even care? He wasn’t even trying in the read-through today, and he was even worse yesterday. Are we really going to cave to his every whim?”

Her forehead creased, and I could see evidence of the internal struggle she was experiencing in her eyes. “I understand your concerns, but Liam is going to do wonders for the drama department, and I think you’ll be surprised by him. He went to a lot of effort to make suggestions for how we could improve the script, and he seems far more enthusiastic then he lets on. You said you would give him a chance, and I don’t think one read-through of the script counts.”

It was clear that his poor performance today didn’t have Miss Appleby concerned, so perhaps, I was overreacting. I twisted my hands nervously as I sighed and nodded. “I guess we can see how he goes when we start blocking out the scenes.”

She beamed up at me and nodded enthusiastically in response. “Yes, once we get you both up onstage, everything will fall into place, you’ll see.”

“If you think so.” I moved to leave, but Miss Appleby stopped me before I reached the door.

“The play is going to be brilliant, Teagan. Promise me you won’t lose faith in it before we’ve even started,” she said.

I gave her a small smile. “I won’t,” I agreed.

The promise flew from my mind the moment I left the room though. Liam stood just outside the classroom and was surrounded by a flock of adoring girls who all stood in my way. They were fawning all over him and pushing their textbooks in his face as they asked for autographs. Liam barely looked interested as he signed his name across the covers, but that didn’t seem to matter. It was like the girls were all under some magic spell, and they were completely oblivious to the fact that they were besotted with someone who clearly didn’t give a crap about them in return.

“Ugh,” I grumbled as I pushed my way past the group. After my talk with Miss Appleby, I was running late for my next class. Unfortunately, it was English, and I really didn’t need to make Mr. Randall’s impression of me worse than it already was.

I rushed into class, prepared for the embarrassment of arriving late and having to apologize, but the classroom was empty of students. Only Mr. Randall was in the room, and he peered up at me from behind his desk as I entered.

“The two of you are late,” he said.

“Two of us?” I glanced over my shoulder and found Liam had just entered the room behind me. My expression turned to stone as I looked at him. I was surprised he’d even bothered leaving all the doting girls to come to class.

“The rest of the class has already left to start on the assignment,” Mr. Randall continued. “But it doesn’t matter, since there’s two of you here, it makes things easy for me.”

My stomach tensed as I focused on the teacher once more. Something about what he’d said gave me a bad feeling. Why would the two of us being late make it easy for him?

“The class is starting the biography assignment we talked about yesterday,” he explained. “Since there’s two of you left, that means you can be partners.”

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