Times Squared

by Julia DeVillers

  Okay, that made sense. I guess it was just random that she assigned me that. At least I’d end up a princess.

  “However, that’s later. Now you’re just a servant girl doing the bidding of the queen,” Ashlynn continued. “The rest of the story is yours to make up. Ready? Go!”

  Ashlynn went to the side of the stage to watch. Okay, I needed to be a servant girl. I hunched down and pretended to be scrubbing the floor.

  Reilly went up to Ox. “Beast, I have a terrible task ahead of me. I need your help. I need to find my true love and slay dragons. Will you help me, Beast?”

  “Sure,” Ox-Beast said. “Why not.”

  “And now I need to find my true love! My beautiful princess!” Reilly announced dramatically. “Is that you?”

  He stood in front of Jazmine. Jazmine was staring at her cell phone.

  “I said, is that you?” Reilly asked again.

  “Ew, no. And can you take this elsewhere?” Jazmine said, annoyed. “I’m studying Pythagorean triples on my math app.”

  “Cut!” Ashlynn swept out onstage. “You are breaking character! You never want to break character!”

  Jazmine glared at her, looking like she wanted to break something, but not character. Hee.

  “Put away the math, Ms. James,” Burkle called out from the audience.

  Jazmine stuck her phone back into her pocket as Ashlynn went to the side of the stage again.

  “Fine,” Jazmine huffed. “I’m the Evil Witch. I am going to . . . uh . . . poison you.”

  “No, no!” Reilly exclaimed, and put his hand to his forehead. “Do not poison me!”

  “Servant Girl, bring me a poisoned apple,” Jazmine announced. “Hurry up.”

  I went over and pretended to hand her something.

  “Cut!” Ashlynn said. “Okay, audience, tell me what the problem is here.”

  Everyone was silent.

  “Look at the Servant Girl,” Ashlynn prompted. “Does it look like she’s holding a poisoned apple?”

  “No!” Sydney called out, raising her hand. “Unless it’s the size of a grape.”

  Everyone cracked up. I turned red. Then I widened my hand to the size of an apple.

  “And how about her characterization?” Ashlynn asked. “Is she believable? Is this how a servant girl would approach a queen?”

  Ergh.

  “When you’re in character, what you really need to do is think about how your character walks, talks, and stands. Get into their head.”

  Everyone was nodding.

  “Let’s practice, Servant Girl,” Ashlynn said. “Wouldn’t you, say, get down on your hands and knees and look subservient?”

  Fine. I got down on my knees and held up the “apple.”

  “For example, the Servant Girl should look beaten-down. Imagine her in old rags. All dirty and smelly. Imagine her wearing old secondhand hand-me-down clothes.” Secondhand, hand-me-down clothes.

  And she grinned at me.

  And that’s when I realized: She knew it was me.

  She knew it was me.

  Twelve

  STILL IN THE THEATER

  Payton and I have this list of Top Ten Stupid Questions People Ask. Number five is When someone punches your twin, do you feel her pain?

  The obvious answer is “No, of course not.”

  But a new question has occurred to me. When someone humiliates your twin, do you feel her pain?

  Answer: Yes. Especially when it is onstage in front of an audience made up of your classmates.

  “Huh,” I heard Sydney say, way too loudly. “No wonder the star didn’t choose me. Her actress instinct told her Payton Mills would be perfect as a loser slave.”

  For the first time in recent memory, I did not stop to think before I reacted. Or should I say, acted before I thought.

  “Halt!” I stood up in the audience and projected my voice as if I were confidently answering a math question. (Which I would be tomorrow, so this was good practice.)

  “What?” Ashlynn turned to look out into the audience seats.

  “I said ‘halt,’ ” I repeated, climbing over Tess into the aisle and walking toward the stage. I climbed up the steps and faced the Evil Witch Jazmine.

  “Hey, you can’t just come up here!” Ashlynn protested.

  “Audience participation improvisation!” Mrs. Burkle clapped her hands in delight. “Wonderful twist to the story!”

  “Uh, here.” Jazmine “grabbed” the poisoned apple from my twin sister’s hand and stiffly held it out to me. “Eat it.”

  “No one will eat that apple!” Ox suddenly leaped in and took the invisible fruit from Jazmine and pretended to throw it far off the stage.

  Wow. As quarterback on our school’s football team, Ox really knew how to fake throw.

  “Who are you supposed to be?” Payton asked me.

  “I . . . I am you, Servant Girl. You of the future,” I stuttered. “I’ve come to tell you that you will become Cinderella and get your Prince Charming and live happily ever after! Just—er—hang in there and don’t let the haters get you down.”

  Okay. That didn’t sound remotely like me. Perhaps I was getting into character. Maybe I was a natural actress after all!

  “Beautiful vision of the future,” Ox said to me. “Tell me, will I always be this horrible beast?”

  At that moment I became aware that I had just interrupted a play in progress and that I was a person with stage fright. And that Ox was so handsome.

  “Nurggh . . . ,” I said. And froze. I looked at Payton, hoping she would see the panic in my eyes.

  “Oh, thank you, future me!” Payton said, standing up. “Now I know I will someday soon defeat the Evil Witch”—she dismissed Jazmine with a wave—“and become a princess!”

  “There she is!” Reilly shouted. “My princess!” He headed toward Payton.

  “I will escort you to the future,” Ox said in a fake-Beast voice. He took my arm and led me behind the curtain backstage.

  “Cut! I mean, stop!” Ashlynn shouted. “That is not how this was supposed to go.”

  “Aah, that is the beauty of improvisation,” I heard Mrs. Burkle squeal. “One nevah knows what will happen in live theatah!”

  Ox and I looked at each other and cracked up. Quietly.

  “That was something,” Ox said, shaking his head. “It’s never boring with you twins around.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” I sighed with relief as I sat on a prop chair.

  “Well, I know what’s a good thing,” Ox said. “Getting to spend a little time with you.”

  I knew my face had just turned bright red. I smiled. I didn’t know what to say. I heard Ashlynn order a new group onto the stage. Then I heard Sydney’s voice. She was all gushy because she had been assigned the role of Good Fairy. Figured. Sydney had a way of getting what she wanted. Except for Ox, of course.

  Ox!

  Sydney!

  “Ox, I need to tell you something!” I said in a rush. “Sydney is spreading a rumor that I like Nick because everyone thought they saw the two of us on the Ferris wheel close together!”

  “You and Nick?” Ox frowned. “Why would they think that?”

  “Uh.” I knew I had to be honest with Ox. “It looked like me, but it was really Payton pretending to be me.”

  Ox’s eyes opened wide. His greenish-brown eyes with little flecks of gold . . .

  “You switched places again?”

  . . . that have frowning eyebrows above them.

  “Well, yes, but it was an accident,” I said, “and it was only for a brief time.”

  Silence.

  “We didn’t do it on purpose! It was totally a mix-up!” I insisted.

  “I believe you,” Ox said. Whew. Then he said, “So what are you going to do to fix it?”

  Oh.

  Out on the stage there was silence. Then Nima’s voice yelled, “Unhand me, you evil dwarf!”

  Then Sam’s voice complained, “Why do I always have to play the sho
rt character?”

  “Emma?” Ox said.

  “Okay,” I said, deciding. “I’ll just tell Sydney and everyone that it was Payton and not me,” I said. There. All fixed.

  “But didn’t you two promise the school you wouldn’t switch anymore?” Ox raised one eyebrow.

  Huh. I didn’t know he could do that. It’s cute. He’s so cute . . .

  “Uh, yes,” I admitted. I needed a loophole. “But we’re not at school. So it doesn’t count?”

  “I don’t know.” Ox frowned. “It’s a school-sponsored trip.”

  “Well,” I sighed. “I will just have to accept my punishment.”

  What would it be? Detention? Or worse . . . suspension? Or . . .

  “Ox, what if they kick me off mathletes?” I wailed.

  “Emma, I— ” Ox started to say.

  “Announcement!” Coach Babbitt’s voice boomed. “All mathletes form a group right here.”

  Ox jumped up.

  “The drama stuff must be over,” he said. “Come on, we don’t want them to think we’re missing.”

  I followed him out.

  “What were you”—huff, puff—“going to say . . .” I tried to ask Ox about his saying “Emma, I—” but his legs were so long, I could barely keep up with him. Within moments we had blended into the mass of mathletes standing under a glowing exit sign.

  “Listen up, mathletes,” Coach Babbitt said. “While the Drama Club continues their dramatic activities, we will be walking over to auditorium seven, where the competition will be held tomorrow, for a practice.”

  “Yeah!”

  “Awesome!”

  We were all excited. Finally! Math! Plus I’d get another chance to talk to Ox.

  I searched the area for the Drama Club and Payton. I didn’t see them. They were probably taking a tour or something. Hopefully Ashlynn had left the building and gone back to her penthouse condo or mansion for good.

  It had been funny to see the Payton-Ashlynn reunion, but I didn’t want my twin to be tortured for too long. Just a little. (Hee.)

  “As our venue has separate locker rooms for the males and females,” Coach continued, “boys will come with me. Girls, you’ll go with Mrs. James.”

  What? No! I needed to talk more to Ox! I waved and signaled at him, trying to get his attention, but he was looking the other way.

  “Twin!” Mrs. James’s voice barked in my ear. “Stop fidgeting and stay by me. You and your sister are obviously double-trouble-makers. Honestly, I do not know why the school allowed you two to take this trip.”

  Ouch.

  We all started walking. There weren’t that many girl mathletes: Nima, three eight graders who stuck to themselves, Jazmine, and me.

  The competition arena was just a few blocks away. But when we’d left the building and were out on the sidewalk, the boys’ group was nowhere in sight.

  I sighed.

  “Emma, what’s the matter?” Jazmine sidled up to me and spoke in a low voice. “Can’t handle being away from both of your boyfriends? Of course, as soon as they find out you’re two-timing them they’ll dump you. What a distraction. It is going to be so hard to concentrate on math.”

  “I do not have two boyfriends,” I said through gritted teeth. “I do not even want one boyfriend. I am focused, Jazmine, and I am going to squash you like a bug.”

  “Mother!” Jazmine called. “I thought you were going to keep the twin near you. I fear she is plotting some more shenanigans.”

  I groaned and moved a little closer to Mrs. James. I put on my competition academma face and tried to block out all emotions. I ignored Jazmine’s smirk. I avoided looking up at the tall buildings. I matched my breathing with my walking, staring straight ahead.

  Now, that’s focus, I scoffed inside my head. I was steady, calm, and determined. I was a winner. I was tripping. I was falling. I was on my face on the sidewalk, with Jazmine’s black boot near my nose.

  “Oops!” I heard Jazmine say. “Emma has vestibular issues, you know.”

  “I do not . . . ,” I sputtered, pulling myself up. Nothing felt hurt. Except my pride.

  “Yes, she loses her balance a lot,” Nima added. “Remember that day in science class . . . ?”

  “I’m okay,” I said loudly. “Thank you for asking.”

  “Well, then, let’s keep moving, people,” Mrs. James said. “We don’t need any more distractions. It is almost time for mathematics.”

  “Yay!” everyone cheered.

  I cheered the loudest, to show Jazmine I was just fine. I channeled Payton and was all spirity and excitable. My twin might be the actress, but I would perform like a champion once the mathletics competition began.

  Thirteen

  BACKSTAGE

  “You did a great job onstage, Payton,” Tess said to me as we stood in line.

  That wasn’t acting. That was real life! Let’s see, I had to bow down and be a servant to Ashlynn from summer camp. And act scared of her. And look beaten-down. And act like I was wearing secondhand clothes.

  Yup, it was just like real life.

  Although, now I’d have to really start acting. The mathletes had all gone off to do their math thing. And the Drama Club people were in line for something everyone thought was so exciting:

  Getting Ashlynn’s autograph.

  I obviously did not want Ashlynn’s autograph.

  “I’m so thrilled to meet her,” Sydney said.

  A part of me wanted to say “I lived with her for the summer.”

  That would impress Sydney and Cashmere for about three seconds. Then they would want to know why Ashlynn and I hadn’t acknowledged each other onstage. And why I was hiding from her now.

  I decided I’d fake a huge sneezing fit right before it was my turn. I’d have to run off and if I got dragged back, I’d tell them I didn’t want to get my germs on the star.

  I didn’t want to see Ashlynn. She already proved onstage she would humiliate me. I didn’t want her to have the chance to humiliate me anymore. Especially while I was wearing her hand-me-downs!

  We inched closer to the front of the line.

  “Drool,” Sam said. “I’m going to ask her out.”

  “You’re going to ask her out?” Sydney, Cashmere, and I all said at the same time.

  “She would be an excellent girlfriend.” Sam nodded. “Don’t get too jealous.”

  Yeh.

  Then I noticed Reilly smoothing his hair down. Every guy seemed to be drooling over her. I glanced over and saw Nick in the autograph line behind us. I wondered if he was drooling, too.

  “I love how she wears her hair like that,” Sydney said to Cashmere.

  “Totes,” Cashmere agreed.

  I noticed Sydney trying to fix her hair to look more like Ashlynn’s.

  Seriously, Ashlynn could do that to people. She had like superpowers or something.

  At camp I wasn’t the only one under Ashlynn’s spell. Okay, I was the only person who was a slave for her clothes publicly. But everyone else did what she wanted too.

  So really, I wasn’t surprised Ashlynn was an almost-Broadway star now.

  There were about four people ahead of me. It was time to plan my escape.

  Achoo! Wachoo!

  I fake-sneezed loudly.

  “Ew! Disgusting!” Sydney shrieked loudly. What a drama queen.

  I hated to be called disgusting, but between Sydney’s shriek and my sneeze, Burkle looked over. Good, now I had my escape.

  “Go ahead!” I doubled over in a hard-core sneeze position and waved them on. “I don’t want to get the star sick. Achoo!”

  I walked away, toward the back of the line. I stood off to the side, doing a dramatic sneeze now and then when someone looked over at me. I watched as Cashmere quickly got Ashlynn’s autograph. Sydney took a long time to get one, since she was probably trying to become BFF with Ashlynn. I watched Ashlynn look freaked as Sam apparently really did ask her out. Sam shrugged and walked away after two seconds.

/>   “Achoo!” I sneezed again.

  And then I watched Nick go up and get her autograph. He was there for more than two seconds. He was saying something to Ashlynn. She laughed. She smiled at him. She leaned forward and touched his wrist as he took the autographed picture.

  Ugh! She was flirting with Nick, using her Ashlynn Flirting Secret Move! She told us about that secret move at camp!

  “I lean forward,” she said. “I smile into their eyes. And then I touch their wrist. Gets ’em every time.”

  “If I looked like you it would,” one of the other girls had whined.

  “That helps too.” Ashlynn had laughed.

  Was it working on Nick? Was it working on Nick? Ashlynn was still talking to him, even though there were other people in line. He was smiling. I slumped against the wall.

  Me + Ferris wheel fiasco vs. Ashlynn and her Flirting Secret Move? Obviously Ashlynn for the win.

  It stunk that when I liked a boy, I couldn’t even talk to him! I always made fun of Emma for turning purple when she talked to guys. But Ox liked her! I was destined to be alone for life!!!

  (Okay. Sydney wasn’t the only drama queen. I’m in seventh grade. I don’t need a boyfriend. But . . . it would be nice if I didn’t totally screw up any boy friend, right? Right. Thank you very much.)

  I watched as Ashlynn signed the last picture. Then I saw her looking around.

  I shrank against the wall. She couldn’t be looking for me, could she? I flattened myself even more. I watched as Mrs. Burkle went over to talk to her.

  Whew. She was probably saying thank you, and that it was time for us to leave. And we would see Ashlynn onstage, from the audience. And then?

  Never, ever again!

  “Attention all Drama Geckos!” Mrs. Burkle called out. I waited for her to announce that we would be leaving. Buh-bye, Ashlynn! See you never!

  “Ashlynn has exciting news!” Burkle continued. “She wants to give a few of our students a chance to experience her world as a professional actress! Ashlynn will randomly select one or two of our students to shadow her!”

  Everyone was like, Oooh! I hope she picks me! Besides me, of course.

  “I’ll close my eyes and point to someone,” Ashlynn said. She put her hand over her eyes and waved her hand around.