Turn the Tables

by LJ Byrne

  During lunch, the Elite boys stare at our table with a mixture of anger, annoyance, and suspicion. To make up for the dwindling ranks, Vanessa invites Ben Summers and Scott Bass to their table. The imbalance is obvious since the Elite boys despise Ben, but that doesn’t stop them from sitting there. When Mason walks by our table, his eyes linger sadly over Katrina, who pointedly ignores him, before glaring at the aristocrat gracing our table. Several non-Inner Circle students stop by to talk to us – or more pointedly, to talk to Jasper. When Lucas frowns, I smile.

  But I strike gold when it comes to a class assignment. In Composition class, our first team assignment is video-based. We’re asked to do a video – anything from a music video to an instructional video to a dramatic piece. We need a identify a target audience and use whatever methods to persuade our audience. Jasper immediately snags me for the project – there are only three girls in the class – and we spend half a day coming up with the perfect idea.

  We choose to present the best romantic scenes from A Walk to Remember – you know, that sappy teen romance movie starring Mandy Moore and Shane West where the good girl and the bad boy fall in love, but she dies at the end. I play good girl Jamie and Jasper plays bad boy Landon. Jasper forces his weekend chauffeur to get our costumes and brings in a film student to help with recording.

  The first few videos from the class are good. Not bad, not amazing, just good. There’s an infomercial about the dangers of feeding bread to ducks. There are cute shots of ducklings that makes everyone go “aww”. When Mason and Lucas show their video, it is a series of commercials that are nearly Super Bowl worthy. The audience is in stitches. Jasper and I go last deliberately.

  “With Mandy Moore being so popular with her tv series, we decided to visit a movie that is considered one of the most romantic movies of all time. In A Walk to Remember, good girl Jamie Sullivan and popular Landon Carter fall in love, but their romance is cut short by Jamie’s illness,” I begin.

  Jasper winks at me, his blond-brown hair mussed in an attractive way (or so he tells me). “We did our dramatic interpretation of our favorite scenes to splice together how these two characters fell in love. Our goal? To highlight why this storyline still touches us today.” He gives another wink to the two other girls in the class. “Enjoy.”

  The goal of our presentation is to stir emotion, but we made a few changes. The first scene on the school bus plays where Landon summarizes Jamie mockingly. (As a side note, Jasper rented a school bus so we could film this scene.) We cut to the scene where Jamie agrees to help Landon if he promises not to fall in love with her. We next move to the scene where Landon wants Jamie to practice his play lines with him but not at school: “I thought I saw something in you, something good. I was wrong.” Jasper, as Landon, flinches in the scene and walks to his car – yes, it’s a Bentley – but he looks at his reflection and slams his hand in frustration. We skip the play altogether from the movie, instead splicing a scene where we do rehearse the lines, except Jasper puts the pretend script down and we ad-lib the scene where he tells me I’m beautiful, caressing my face with his heart in his eyes. Our teacher, Mrs. Loughlin, starts crying and that’s when I know we’ve nailed it.

  The following scene when Landon confronts Jamie about how he feels, and she avoids him, is shortened. He follows her and she turns and says, “You lack honor. You lack compassion. You lack humanity. You don’t know the first thing about being someone’s friend—”

  Landon: I don’t want to be just your friend—

  Jamie (back to him): You don’t know what you want

  Landon (spins her around): You don't either. Take a look at yourself. Maybe you're scared that someone might actually like you—

  Jamie: And why would that scare me?

  Landon: Because then you couldn't hide behind your books.

  We then do the scene where Landon tries to help Jamie with her bucket list, but only film the scene involving the temporary tattoo. The tattoo is that of a star rather than a butterfly and he puts it on my thigh – I accidentally wore a top with a crewneck so we had to improvise. It was Jasper’s idea to run his hands slowly up my leg to expose my thigh after asking for permission. Our hitched breathing is not completely fake – I normally don’t have guys touching my leg and I’m human. Glancing at Mason and Lucas, they’re obviously upset that our project outshines theirs. It looks professional thanks to our film student. The kissing scene took three tries because Jasper felt the first two didn’t nail the emotion. In hindsight, I think he just wanted me to kiss him. When we get to the scene where Jamie tells Landon she’s dying of leukemia, the other two girls in class start crying. Jasper could win an Oscar for his devastating performance. Mason is rolling his eyes, but it doesn’t matter. I must admit, Jasper is one hell of an actor. Two of the boys wipe their eyes when Landon finally comes to terms with Jamie’s illness and I say Jamie’s line: “I feel like I have no one.” The film student who helped us focuses on Jasper’s arms and his face – I think the student was crushing on Jasper a little. We cut straight to the scene where Landon asks Jamie to marry him before “Cry” begins to play over scenes of the wedding, being at the hospital (I am certain Jasper got a hospital bed for this), and then him weeping over a mock grave.

  Jasper and I bow. I’m certain we knocked it out of the ballpark because our teacher is bawling: red nose, red eyes, the works. If you ever want to ace a project, make the teacher feel. “I wanted to dedicate this to the Elites, but since they don’t have hearts or souls…” Jasper shrugs with fake sadness, and the students laugh at Mason and Lucas. “I simply want to say that I’m pretty sure those wedding vows were binding, Elena.” He kisses my fingertips as the students laugh again at Lucas and Mason.

  It doesn’t take long for our video to go viral within the school across all grades, especially when Jasper’s words become a meme. Images of the Elites with the words They don’t have hearts or souls appear on social media. When one of the fourth-year Elites comes to talk to Vanessa with a disapproving frown, she shrieks like a banshee at him, throwing her lunch on the floor.

  During dinner, Charles salutes me and Jasper. “I guess that’s how an Elite becomes irrelevant.”

  A few days later, Jasper pulls me aside. “I think I have something for you to use,” he murmurs. He unlocks his phone and plays a video. The image isn’t perfect, but it’s clear that Brock Caruso, Kiana Shimura, Scott Bass, Ben Summers, and Astrid Fleming are having a conversation in Spark Hall.

  “God, I can’t believe the popularity of those K-Pop bands,” Scott Bass says.

  “Those guys look gay as shit,” Ben Summers sneer. “A bunch of cocksuckers. That’s what’s wrong with this world. Everyone makes it seem like fags are kinda cool.”

  In the video, Brock laughs. “Damn twinks making crappy songs, that’s what they are.”

  I gasp, horrified. “How in the world did you get this? That’s awful.”

  “Brock likes to hear himself in Spark Hall a lot. I may have planted a few recording devices.” Jasper is smug. “Let’s just say I struck gold.”

  Call me overly moralistic, but I hesitate. It was done without permission and the recording is on school grounds! Jasper wants to post the video; I disagree. It would destroy Brock’s career, wouldn’t it? His discriminatory remarks make me cringe – but he is a minor. When I express my doubts, Jasper smiles at me fondly. “You’re far too honorable, my princess. I’ll do my best to be the same.”

  Jasper saunters off, leaving me uneasy. I’m also uneasy because the hateful words in that video bother me. Why do people target others who seem different? She’s gay, I’m too quiet, he’s too poor, she’s too ugly, he’s too fat. Our obsession with this false idea of perfection is systemic and damaging.

  I head to my reserved private music room because I need to try out a few songs. I sometimes take special requests from my fans to sing their favorite songs with appropriate permissions. As I round the corner, I’m surprised to find Lucas leaning against the wall
, eyes closed, shoulders slumped. Handsome, rich Lucas Rhodes looks exhausted.

  The sound of my shoes on the floor alerts him to my presence. His eyes fly open, his posture straightens, and the same arrogant air settles around him instantly. “What?” he snaps.

  My lips twitch faintly as I shake my head and keep walking.

  “You think you know everything. Your disdain for us because we’re wealthy is obvious and yet you throw yourself at the likes of Jasper Bourbon,” Lucas continues bitterly.

  I stop and turn to address him. “Jasper is a friend. He doesn’t hide what he is, and I value that honesty. I don’t hate that you’re rich. I dislike that you think your money gives you the right to play with people’s lives.” I shift my bag. “I feel sorry for you, Lucas. I truly do. You lack compassion, you cannot be honest with yourself. You once said that you believed that two people could find passion and fall in love instantly. Yet you shade everything that could be meaningful in your life.”

  “I don’t need your pity,” Lucas practically spits out, his face darkening.

  “I know you don’t, but you have it nonetheless.” I take a step towards him. “I just want to know one thing, if you don’t mind.”

  He smirks. “Maybe I’ll answer you. What is it?”

  “The last day of school. How much of it did you plan? Did you plan the beating? Was it your idea to dump the glue and the feathers?” I cock my head curiously like I’m analyzing a specimen under the microscope.

  Lucas’s eyes dart away.

  That tells me what I need to know. “Interesting. And I thought you controlled everything, Lucas.” I shrug. “I know you wanted to break me. I didn’t break, but it did change me. You may not like the monster I’ve become.”

  Lucas sucks in his breath.

  “Goodbye, Lucas.”

  When I’m in the sanctuary of the music room, I’m glad that I never got a chance to have my private conversation with Lucas at the party last year. Now he’ll never know.

  “How long are you going to keep this up?” Mason shouts at Katrina as I get off the elevator. “You were barely civil all summer.”

  Katrina rolls her eyes, glancing at me before looking at Mason. “When you went after Elena, it was as if you attacked me, Mason. She’s my friend, and for that reason alone you shouldn’t have done what you did.” She pushes on his chest with all her strength and there are tears in her eyes. “You helped Brock do what he did. And you participated in that horrible last day.” She pushes at him again. “You became a monster to me. You, you did that to her!”

  I stand quietly near my door, observing. Mason tries to calm his sister. “Kat, the reasons are complicated. It got a little out of hand—” He jerks back as she slaps him.

  “She’s my best friend at this school and you brutalized her!” Katrina screams. “You and your fucking Elites! Do you know what Vanessa used to ask me? She used to ask me if my daddy was really Jim Crow. Your fucking Elite girl used to say that to me! And you stood by her and let her do all her crap!”

  Mason stills, wariness replaced by alarm and anger. “Kat, I didn’t know!” Another slap. “Kat, stop it!”

  “You didn’t know, right? You didn’t know when you dumped glue on Elena. You didn’t see the feathers, right? Black feathers, no less. Nothing like a good tarring and feathering, right, to demean the scholarship girl. Did you see them kick her over and over? Not once, not twice. They kicked her in the sides, in her ribs!” She pushes him, sobbing. “Hurting her! She could have died!”

  Mason flinches, looking at me briefly. “What do you mean?”

  I step forward. “They kicked me,” I state calmly. “Obviously, I healed.” No, I don’t intend for Mason to know everything just yet.

  Mason rubs his hair in frustration. “Look, Kat, I can’t explain everything right now—”

  “Go.” Katrina is no longer screaming. Tears stream down her face and she refuses to look at her brother. “You’re tolerating a bitch who’s a racist. I can’t look at you. Neither can Mom. And Dad – you hurt him, too. Did you know that? Because he and Mom brought Elena to Highbury. They blame themselves for what she endured. You didn’t just hurt Elena. You hurt me because you supported a monster like Vanessa. You became someone horrible. You broke your trust with Mom and Dad because you twisted their attempt to do something good in their faces. Why do you think I went to Europe for the summer? Why do you think Mom and Dad didn’t bring you along? You reminded us of how little you care about anyone but yourself.”

  Mason’s eyes flare in pain, his throat moving with intense emotion and sorrow. His blue eyes turn to me for a moment and they’re filled with regret and something more. “You left because you hate me, Kat?” He asks this while looking right at me in agony.

  “You broke our hearts,” Katrina whispers.

  I smile faintly as he blanches and then leaves. I’m reminded of a few lines from Evita:

  The actress hasn't learned the lines you'd like to hear

  She won't join your clubs, she won't dance in your halls

  She won't help the hungry once a month at your tombolas

  She'll simply take control as you disappear

  CHAPTER 3

  Jasper tells me the Elites are throwing a party this Friday and he thinks we should crash the party. I consider his words as I notice the limo and two black cars parked in the loading zone. Katrina, Charles, and Bruce join us in the warm fall sunlight.

  Since Katrina’s huge blowup with Mason, she’s been fragile and moody. Both Bruce and Charles are there for her: Bruce as a boyfriend, Charles as a surrogate brother. I never intended to be the one to take down Mason. I knew eventually Katrina would do it for me. I simply had to wait.

  Across the courtyard, I’m surprised to see Henry Caruso talking to Brock with two men in suits. I recognize one of the men as Lance Bell.

  Jasper says in an overly innocent manner, “Someone leaked a video yesterday of Brock making homophobic comments. Rumor has it that his record label is dropping him.”

  I gasp, glaring at Jasper, but I only see determined glee on his face. When he looks at me, there’s a darkness that gives me a moment’s pause before it softens. He bends and whispers, “For what he did to you, Elena. The debt must be paid in full.”

  Henry Caruso shakes his head in disgust as he looks at Brock, uttering something harsh and short. Then, as if he can’t stand the sight of his son, he rubs his mouth while scanning the courtyard. There aren’t many students about, but his eyes land on my small group. He straightens, commenting to Lance Bell when he recognizes me, and the group walks over to us.

  “Oh, shit,” Katrina whispers, but I’m schooling my face innocently.

  “If it isn’t pretty Elena,” Henry says, grabbing my hands with a smirk. I don’t like the way his paws rub my hands. “Let me tell you, Lance, this girl can play on the piano like a goddess. More talent in that pretty face than in my worthless son,” Henry remarks. “I wish I had a kid like you, Elena.”

  Oh, ouch. Brock doesn’t flinch as he stares at his shoes. His red-rimmed eyes are wet with tears – he may have been crying earlier. His jaw clenches as his father speaks to me.

  Lance’s lips twitch when he looks at me, but we don’t address each other.

  “Elena, I hope you do call me sometime.” Henry licks his lips a little while he scans me. He still has my hand in his. “I bet we could make some amazing music together. I’d really like that. I might be able to help you pull some strings and get a record.”

  Lance rubs his mouth as I pretend to look amazed. “Oh, I couldn’t, Mr. Caruso. Besides, I’m still trying to graduate from high school.” I ramble in a dissembling way, my voice pleasant but not enthusiastic. “But, you know, maybe this summer...” I ignore Katrina’s incredulous expression.

  Henry’s smile is just a little creepy. “I’ll invite Lance. You know, he’s down one client,” he drawls, flicking his eyes at Brock. “He’d probably like a nice musician like you. Better than some loser brat tr
ying to destroy his father’s career. Don’t you agree, Lance?”

  Lance needs to leave before he blows my story. “I do hope we get to meet soon, uh, Ellie.” I want to laugh at his attempt to mess up my name.

  “Her name’s Elena,” Brock says petulantly, eyes finally focusing on me.

  Lance is struggling with his composure. “Uh, excuse me. I need to run. Sorry, Brock. I just can’t represent someone that isn’t inclusive,” he says. “I’m sure another agent will pick you up.”

  My eyes are wide as Henry leaves with the two men. Brock looks at me. “Did you do this?” he asks me, voice trembling.

  I shake my head.

  “Because that video came from this school. The record label dropped me.” He takes a deep breath. “My agent dropped me. He represents BSGirl and he doesn’t want to lose her.” He chokes on his last words and doesn’t hear my faint gasp. “God, I didn’t even mean it. I don’t care if you’re gay or not. I was trying—”

  “To be cool? Be one of them?” Jasper asks as he stands up to look at him. “Take care, Brock, of what you say and where you say it. Don’t say things you don’t mean. You never know who’s listening.” Since he’s a little taller than Brock, he looks down his nose at him. It doesn’t take much for Brock to come to the correct conclusion.

  “You asshole!” Brock rages, lunging at him. “That was my career!”

  Jasper smoothly sidesteps Brock’s half-hearted attack, his lips curled in a haughty sneer.

  At this point, Lucas and Mason arrive with Vanessa and Kiana. Katrina looks at Mason with disgust, especially when she sees Kiana dangling from his arm, and it’s enough for Mason to stiffen. Lucas’s gaze cuts to me, his face shuttered and emotionless.