Half an hour later, I had fifties-style pale pink lips and black eyeliner, but the agitation was still prickling me. I went in search of Cassie, and finally found her running through a last-minute order-of-backdrop schedule with two crew members.
‘Cass!’ I dashed towards her in a Chicken-Little-the-sky-is-falling panic.
Cassie, like a true bestie, immediately turned all her attention to me.
‘I’ve run out of ideas,’ I told her. ‘Benjamin wasn’t my secret admirer, I’m still unkissed, and I’m looking at having to use the “Kill Claudio” line again.’
Cassie’s eyes widened at the frenzied bombardment of bad news.
‘I know, I know!’ I continued. ‘I feel terrible about messing with the play yet again, but if Mr Peterman would just listen —’
‘There’s no way he’s going to let you get away with skipping the kiss again,’ Cassie interrupted. ‘Not on opening night. He’ll use the megaphone to demand that Hayden goes for it.’
‘I doubt he’d go that far.’
‘He’s not a rational man right now, Aurora,’ Cassie said, sounding like Jelena. ‘The whole kiss thing could push him over the edge.’ She placed a hand on my arm. ‘You’ve got to talk to Hayden about this. Just explain it to him.’
‘Talk to Hayden?’ I repeated in a strangled voice.
Cassie smiled. ‘You guys are friends now.’
‘We’re not close enough for that.’
‘Look, I know Hayden,’ Cassie said. ‘If you explain it to him clearly, I’m sure he’ll have no problem forgoing the kiss. Then even if Mr Peterman goes for the megaphone option, Hayden won’t comply. He’ll probably think it’s sweet. I know! Tell him about the Sleeping Beauty thing!’
I stared at her, horrified. Tell him about the Sleeping Beauty thing? Was she out of her mind?
‘All actors to the left wing! I repeat, all actors assemble for pre-show cast check!’ Mr Peterman bellowed through the megaphone.
As Mr Peterman led us through vocal warm-ups, Cassie’s suggestion played through my head. Much as I hated to admit it, it did make sense in one respect. The only sure-fire way to prevent the kiss was to get Hayden to promise not to go for it.
As I crossed the room to where Hayden was looking over one of Jelena’s scene prompts, he gave me a huge smile. My vocal cords seized up.
‘How are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Fiii …’ My vocal cords were still on strike. My resolve to get this talk over with was nowhere to be found. Maybe I’d wait till just before the actual scene to discuss the whole please-don’t-smooch-me thing.
‘I’m buzzing!’ Hayden said, and gestured for me to follow him to the stage curtain. He pulled the heavy velvet aside slightly. ‘Look. It’s a full house.’
I gaped at the rows and rows of faces stretching across the auditorium. There was a roar of sound as people found their seats and consulted the programs that Cassie had designed. For the first time it hit me that these people had paid to see the production. And in less than ten minutes, I was going to be up there in front of all those expectant faces. My heart plummeted fifty storeys.
Hayden dropped the curtain and took in what I presumed to be my expression of blatant terror. ‘Uh-oh, I probably shouldn’t have shown you that. I’ve made you nervous, haven’t I?’
I nodded like a still-buzzing electroshock-therapy patient.
I finally found my voice. ‘It sounds stupid, but I’d sort of forgotten that all these people were going to be here. Well, not forgotten — that’s idiotic. I mean, all our practices and today’s dress rehearsal sort of felt like play-acting — not that serious. But this,’ I gestured towards the masses gathering behind the stage curtain, ‘this is the real thing. Everyone here is expecting a great show and I’m so not going to deliver.’
‘Aurora, your natural vivacity comes through onstage,’ Hayden said. ‘All you need to do to be truly great up there is relax!’
‘You think?’
‘I know!’ he said. ‘Every actor gets nervous. I’m shaking in my shoes right now.’
‘You are not!’ I said sceptically.
‘I am!’ He grinned. ‘Do you want to feel my heart racing?’ He pulled my hand onto his chest.
My own chest began thumping faster as I stood there with my hand over Hayden’s briskly beating heart. ‘Okay, I believe you.’
Hayden lifted my hand from his chest, but instead of dropping it, he held it in his and gave it a squeeze. A glimmer of reassurance appeared. We stood there, hand in hand, as the rest of the cast assembled in the wings. It struck me that we were feeding the school rumour mill with more juicy gossip, but, strangely enough, I didn’t care.
As the auditorium lights dimmed and Mr Peterman gestured for us to take our places onstage, Hayden gave me a gentle push. ‘Go get ’em, Princess.’
Then the curtain was up and the stage lights were on and it had begun.
‘I learn in this letter than Don Pedro of Aragon comes this night to Messina,’ David as Leonato said, remembering his line this time. He broke into a smile and I relaxed slightly.
As the scene continued, I found myself getting caught up in this world of the 1950s. Claire, sitting beside me in a pink and white polka-dot sundress and ballet flats, really was my innocent cousin, Hero. As we sat amongst the cumquat trees that Jelena had wrangled out of the local nursery, it felt just like we were having a picnic in the grounds of a southern plantation. Suddenly I was living the lines, not just saying them.
At the end of the scene, I floated back into the wings.
‘What are you dillydallying for?’ Jelena grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the costume department. ‘Have you forgotten that you’ve got to don a ball gown before your next scene?’
Lindsay stood waiting with an amazing creation in her arms. I gasped as I took in the strapless bodice sprinkled with tiny crystal beads, the narrow waist with its thick red satin sash, the longest, fullest taffeta skirt I’d ever seen. Thin red ribbon edged each of the skirt’s tiers. This was the first time I’d seen the dress, as it had been still under construction until late this afternoon.
‘Lindsay!’ I gasped as she began zipping me into it. ‘You created this?’
‘You like it?’ She smiled modestly as she changed my wrist-length gloves to elbow-length crystal-detailed ones.
‘Like it? Linds, it’s amazing! It’s like a Dior or something!’
‘I keep telling her that her career in fashion is in the bag,’ Tyler said proudly as he handed me a pair of red peep-toed heels.
I smiled as I sat down to slip them on. Lindsay and the newly devoted Tyler (who’d barely left the costume department all week aside from last-minute runs to the sewing store) were back on track.
‘It’s totally in the bag,’ I said as I stood up and took in my appearance in the mirror. The dress sparkled in the light, cascading down my body in perfect lines. ‘How do I look?’
As I spun around from the mirror, Hayden walked in. He stopped in his tracks and stared.
Lindsay, Tyler and Sara all stopped what they were doing and looked at Hayden. The silence was deafening. For some reason, I suddenly really cared about Hayden’s reply to the question I’d unintentionally asked him.
His eyes took me in for what seemed like an eternity. ‘You look exquisite,’ he said.
His reverent tone made something inside me start shaking. I took a step and one of my heels wobbled dangerously.
Hayden took my arm and we swept by Lindsay, Tyler and Sara. I didn’t dare look back, as I knew Sara would be feigning a faint and mouthing the word ‘Hot’.
Hayden stopped in the wings and stared at me again. ‘Aurora, I need to —’
‘Aurora!’ Lindsay ran after me. ‘We forgot to change your lipstick! It needs to be red to match the dress.’
Lipstick? Oh my god, I’d totally spaced on Operation Stop Kiss! How had that happened?
Hayden’s eyes met mine as Lindsay fussed over my lips and he smiled. Suddenly I kne
w he wouldn’t make fun of me. Surely I could talk to him now?
But the school orchestra struck up a big-band tune and the moment was lost.
CHAPTER 25
The Big Moment
Being onstage for the ball scene was like being in an enchanted world. Tiny fairy lights twinkled all around, and couples in fifties finery and delicate masks bowed to each other and began gliding around the stage.
Hayden’s eyes never left mine as we danced. I vowed that in the next scene change I’d speak to him.
No, I wouldn’t.
Yes, I would.
No, I couldn’t.
As I watched the glowing fairy lights dancing their own waltz in Hayden’s eyes, a question jumped into my brain. I didn’t subconsciously want this kiss to take place, did I? I didn’t actually want to experience a kiss from Hayden Paris’s lips, which had told me that I looked exquisite and seemed so soft and …
Oh my god! I tore my eyes away from Hayden’s mouth.
The fairy lights and the waltzing were getting to me. That explained why I felt so giddy, and why I was feeling this weird affection towards Hayden. That and the fact that he’d saved my life. It would be totally abnormal not to feel a fondness for your rescuer.
Oh my god! That was why I was experiencing such lack of resolve when it came to the Stop Kiss conversation. I didn’t want to hurt Hayden’s feelings!
I looked into his eyes and guilt hit me like a sledgehammer. It would be impossible for him not to take it personally. He’d wonder if he was unattractive, or had bad breath, or worse, that word had got around that he was a terrible kisser.
As the scene ended, I exited the stage feeling like the worst person in the world.
Sara grabbed me by the shoulder. ‘So … exquisite, hey?’
I gave her a look.
‘It’s going to happen,’ she said, ‘you and Hayden locking lips. I say after all that’s gone on this evening, it’s a certainty.’
‘It’s not going to happen!’ I hissed, even though my guilt over Hayden’s upcoming emotional breakdown was hitting me hard.
‘It is,’ Sara said in a singsong voice.
‘It isn’t!’
‘It is!’
‘You won’t believe what just happened!’ Cassie flew over to us, her cheeks scarlet.
‘Hayden’s come up with more compliments for Aurora?’ Sara asked.
‘What?’ Cassie looked confused.
‘I’ll fill you in later,’ Sara said. ‘It’s juicy news.’
‘Sara, he was just being nice —’
‘He was just being “Oh my god, I’m in love with Aurora!”’
I reeled around to face her. ‘Sara, stage nerves have turned you loony. It was a compliment, not a declaration.’
‘Scott tried to kiss me!’ Cassie cried, then clapped her hand over her mouth as the actors onstage went quiet.
Sara’s eyes goggled and I knew my jaw was virtually touching my chest. We must have looked pretty comical.
The lights onstage dimmed as Hero and Claudio’s betrothal scene ended.
‘Finally!’ I threw my arms around Cassie. ‘Wait a minute. Did you say “tried”? As in, it didn’t happen?’
‘Next scene!’ Jelena appeared behind us in stage-manager mode. ‘Sara, you’re up.’
Sara looked pleadingly at Jelena. ‘But Cassie’s kiss … I have to hear the details.’
‘Get on that stage, Sara.’ Jelena’s voice was no-nonsense. ‘I’m not going to tell you again.’ She gave Sara a push and she disappeared. Jelena turned to us. ‘So what’s going on? Are we talking Scott and Cassie?’
‘Shh!’ Cassie pulled us to a quieter spot in the wings. ‘Okay, we were shifting one of the cumquat trees offstage. I’d just put it down when I realised that my necklace had caught on one of the branches.’ Cassie fingered her gold locket. ‘Before I could say anything, Scott was on his knees next to me, trying to free it. He was this close.’ Cassie put her hand twenty centimetres from her face. ‘His hands were touching my neck, and he glanced up at me and his face went all serious — and he went to kiss me! I thought I was going to pass out with anticipation!’
‘Good!’ I cried. ‘I mean, not the passing out bit but the kissing bit.’
Cassie’s expression changed to bewilderment. ‘And then he stopped! Five centimetres away from my lips! He whispered, “I can’t do this!” and rushed off!’
‘“I can’t do this”?’ Jelena repeated. ‘Why couldn’t he do it?’
‘Maybe he had performance anxiety?’ I suggested. ‘Knowing that he was about to kiss the girl of his dreams.’
‘What a wimp!’ Jelena scoffed.
‘Jelena!’ I cried. ‘It’s touching that he’s nervous!’
‘He didn’t look nervous,’ Cassie said. ‘Well, not until the whole I-can’t-do-this comment. There’s some other reason — I don’t have bad breath, do I?’ She looked horrified.
‘Never, in ten years of knowing you, Cass, have you ever had bad breath,’ Jelena reassured her. ‘He’s just a wimp!’
‘Maybe he was worried about his breath?’ I said, knowing how lame it sounded. ‘Or maybe he thought that the moment wasn’t quite right?’
‘If the moment wasn’t right, then why did he start moving towards her in the first place?’ Jelena asked, lowering her voice.
‘Cass, there’s some perfectly good reason why he pulled away,’ I said. ‘Maybe he remembered something he had to do for the next scene —’
‘Oh god!’ Cassie looked at the actors in the wings. ‘I’ve got to change the backdrop with him.’
‘Oops! I’m needed in props!’ Jelena said, and dashed off.
‘How am I going to face him?’ Cassie asked me. Her face was creased with tension.
‘He’s the one that backed out of the kiss,’ I said. ‘Right now he’s going to feel seriously emasculated. So if you play it cool —’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can. Because once we discover the reason for this odd behaviour, you’ll be so happy that you didn’t get worked up about it.’ I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping my words would prove true.
Cassie gave me a resigned wave, looking as though she was heading to the gallows instead of just backstage. Poor Cass. Why on earth had Scott hightailed it? Anyone could see that Cassie was not only beautiful but also angelic. What guy wouldn’t want to kiss her? If only I could read Scott’s mind. Maybe I could try asking Hayden again …
Hayden! The whole Cassie–Scott debacle had totally distracted me from the fact that I had to talk to Hayden soon. Like within thirty minutes.
Okay, it was time to brainstorm. Ways to tell Hayden to keep his mouth to himself without hurting his feelings.
Wait a minute. There was a less scarring option. What if I made it about ME, not him?
Hayden’s soliloquy drifted into my thoughts: They say too that she will rather die than give any sign of affection …
My mouth dropped open. Here was the reason: I had issues about PDAs. This kiss was a VERY public display of affection (hello, three hundred people in the audience) and I was uneasy with it. In fact, it was against my new-found religion. Hayden would hardly want to make me go against my principles, being a stay-true-to-your-beliefs individual himself. Okay, I had a plan.
I would tell him during the scene just before Hero and Claudio’s wedding, which was very short. That way I could say it firmly but quickly and Hayden wouldn’t have time to try to reason with me before we got pushed onstage.
As everyone in the wedding party assembled by the front entrance of the auditorium (Mr Peterman wanted us to use the auditorium aisle as the church aisle), I frantically looked for Hayden. He hadn’t turned up yet. Jelena began arranging the bridal party in order of appearance.
‘Aurora, is something up?’ she asked. ‘You seem very on edge.’
‘On edge, me?’ My voice was unsteady.
Recognition dawned on her face. ‘The big moment’s coming up soon, isn’t it? Have
you made up your mind what you’re going to do?’
‘I … I’ve just got to talk to — Hayden!’
Hayden raced up to me. ‘Sorry!’ His breath came in short gasps. ‘My shirt for the wedding was missing — Lindsay had to tear the costume department apart. We finally found it underneath Jeffrey’s saddle. Can I talk to you, Aurora? Privately?’
It was like he’d read my mind. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Where are you going?’ Jelena cried. ‘You’re on in eight minutes!’
I took off before she could say anything more. Eight minutes should be long enough for a hurried ‘I have a problem with PDAs’ speech, shouldn’t it? I dashed round the corner and pulled Hayden into the privacy of the archway that led to the school garden. We were both breathing heavily — him, presumably, from the mad dash to find his shirt, and me out of panic that I might not have time to talk to him.
‘Hayden, I —’
‘Aurora, I have something really important to say to you.’ Hayden looked at me intently.
‘Aurora!’
Someone laid a hand on my shoulder. I whirled around to see Benjamin standing behind me. I felt his eyes taking in my yellow bridesmaid’s dress.
‘You were great in that last scene,’ he said. ‘I wished I’d been dancing with you myself.’ He smirked at Hayden. ‘I don’t suppose you could give us a few moments? I have some suggestions for some of Aurora’s scenes.’
Hayden shook his head. ‘Benjamin, I have a suggestion for you —’
‘Benjamin,’ I said, stepping between the two guys, ‘now’s not really a good time for tips.’ I flashed him a smile. ‘Hayden and I are trying to discuss something important.’
‘Ménage à trois in the garden, hmm?’ Jeffrey’s voice came from behind us.
‘There’s nothing going on!’ I cried.
Who knew what rumours this whole thing could start? I looked at my watch again. Three minutes to go.
Hayden, as if reading my mind, grabbed my hand and we were running away from Benjamin and Jeffrey before they could react. Hayden pulled me behind the auditorium’s side wall.
‘Hayden, I —’
How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You Page 26