by Jillian Dodd
Follow my script.
Drama
During drama class, our teacher goes over the rehearsal schedule.
“We want a great production, so we expect everyone to attend all rehearsals. If, for some reason, you feel you cannot meet this schedule, please let me know today and we will recast your part. Tonight, we’ll have costume fittings for anyone who will be on stage. The rest of you will be painting sets, so dress accordingly. Normally, Mondays will be our day off. This week, we’ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Then you get this weekend off, as we’re hosting the district Choir Competition. Here’s the calendar.”
While I’m walking from drama to the field house for soccer, I call my mom, hoping I’ll get lucky and catch her during lunch break.
“Hey, honey! How are you?”
“I’m good. Just on my way to soccer practice. Is everything okay there?”
“Yes, it’s good. Although Tommy filmed some stunt scenes and is pretty banged up. Bruised a couple ribs.”
“He needs to stop doing so many of his own stunts.”
“I have recommended that, but you know how stubborn he is. He doesn’t want to hear it. Although, we’re off this weekend and he did say all he wants to do is lie on the couch, watch football, and spend time with the girls.”
“That sounds like a great weekend.”
“I think so too. Hey, so we hired that Allan guy.”
“For the movie?”
“Actually, no. To be our driver. Garrett wanted us to stop having one of the guards do double duty. Garrett is sending him to a special driving school. He starts in a couple weeks.”
“Is he excited?”
“Thrilled. He seems like a really nice guy. He told Tommy about a particular car chase through Manhattan. I’m so thankful you ended up in his car.”
“Me too.”
“Hey, Gracie is here with me today. Would you like to talk to her?”
“Oh my gosh, yes!”
I hear Mom move about. Then some clunking around of the phone.
“Kiki! Kiki! Kiki!”
“Hi, Gracie! How are you?”
“I want to be on TV but Mommy won’t let me.”
“What do you want to do on TV?”
“Wear makeup.”
“Just wear makeup?”
“Sing too.”
“Are you being a good girl?”
“I got new pink glitter shoes because I’m a good girl.”
“I bet they are really pretty,” I say as the bell rings. “I have to go, Gracie. I love you.”
“Gracie loves Good Kiki too.”
“I’m Good Kiki?”
“Yes. You are my Good Kiki and puppy Kiki is Bad Kiki.”
I laugh as I hear Mom take the phone from her. “She wants to be on TV. She’s been acting out shows in front of the television. It’s hysterical because she tries to play every single part in the movie.”
“I bet that’s cute.”
“It is and she’s surprisingly good. She memorizes the lines and plays everyone. She reminds me of you.”
“I have to get to class, Mom. I love you guys.”
“We love you too. Take care of yourself.”
I hang up the phone and want to cry. I want to see them so badly.
An idea pops in my head. Mom said they were going to be home all weekend.
And I’m off this weekend.
I know what I’m going to do!
I’m going to Vancouver.
And, I’m going to ask Dawson to come with me.
I’m crazy about him and I feel so bad that I’ve lied to him about things.
And I don’t want to lie anymore.
I want to tell him the truth.
He’s been so amazing. He was patient with me. Gave me the key to his heart. Ditched Whitney’s weekend. Asked me to Homecoming in front of everyone. And then yesterday, he was so sweet to Katie.
And never once has he tried to change me. He loves me just the way I am.
So I’m going to do it.
I’ll use my fractional jet membership to get a private flight there.
On the plane, I’ll tell him the truth.
My real name. About the stalker. About my parents.
All of it.
He’ll be surprised. Shocked, probably. And maybe a little mad at first.
But it will be fine.
He will understand. We’ll kiss.
It will do nothing but strengthen our bond.
And then he’ll meet my family.
My mom will understand why I first called him Gorgeous.
He and Tommy will bond over football.
My little sisters will love him.
And best of all, since no one knows I’m coming, Vincent will have no way of knowing that I’m there.
We won’t leave the house all weekend, so I won’t have to worry about being followed back to school.
For once, my life is going to follow my script.
And I can’t wait!
A mutual attacking.
5:40pm
“Dawson, since we don’t have a football game Friday and this will be my only weekend off from play practice for a while, I think we should go away.”
He kisses up my stomach then looks at me with a pleased grin. “We going back to the love shack?”
“Are you referring to my gorgeous, expansive New York City loft as the love shack?”
“Yes, I am. And I am definitely up for another weekend of sin.” He pushes his hips into mine and laughs. “Get it? I’m up for it.”
“Yes, I get that you are perpetually horny. However, I want to go somewhere else because . . .”
Dawson kisses my chest and moves his hand up my thigh.
I let out a contented little sigh.
When he leans his hips into mine again, I decide we can discuss this later. I clutch his back, raise my hips toward his, and start pushing off his shorts.
Afterward, I'm getting dressed. I don't feel like putting my school uniform back on, so I steal a pair of his sweats.
He grabs me and pulls me back on the bed.
“Aren't you ruled by your stomach? It’s almost six.”
“I think I'm ruled by you. I'm pretty sure I could go without food, but I can’t go with out you.”
“We've done it, like, every day.”
“I know, it’s awesome. I love you.”
“You love sleeping with me.”
“That hardly qualifies as sleeping, Keatie. That was f—”
I interrupt him. “Don't say it.”
“You seem weird tonight. Is it because of what happened with Katie? You know I’m not anything like him.”
“I know you’re not. You’re adorable.” I kiss his cheek sweetly. “I was trying to talk about going away this weekend when you attacked me.”
“I attacked you? You attacked me!” He holds his hands up like he’s being arrested. “I swear, I just wanted to kiss. You were the one that pulled off my shorts!”
I laugh and give him a kiss. “Fine. It was a mutual attacking. So, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to meet my family. They’re going to be in Vancouver this weekend and I just thought . . .”
He runs his hand across my cheek. “Keatie, I’d love to meet your family.”
“Really? That makes me happy.”
“Making you happy is my favorite thing to do,” he says adorably.
I give him a deep kiss and say, “I love you, Dawson. I really do.”
“Good. Now let’s go eat.”
Girls love it.
7pm
After dinner, I head to the auditorium for my costume fittings. I have four different outfits to wear in the play, which means I’ll get called four different times.
Aiden agreed to meet me here for tutoring and I find him sitting in the back row.
I pull a little present out of my bag. It looks so cute. I took white paper and stamped black Eiffel Towers all over it and then tied it with a pink and
black striped ribbon.
“What’s this?” he asks when I hand it to him.
“It’s sort of to congratulate you for applying yourself in French. I ordered it after you passed your first test and it just came in. Open it.”
He tilts his head and eyes me. “It’s not going to explode or anything, is it?”
“Very funny.”
He pulls the ribbon off the package, rips the paper off, and reads the book’s cover. “Dirty French: Everyday Slang from What's Up? To F--- Off. Very nice.” He flips through the pages and nods his head. “I can see that this will come in quite handy.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He holds open a page that lists numerous ways to ask for sex in French.
“You’re not supposed to use it to get girls to sleep with you,” I huff. “I didn’t even know all that was in there. I got it because that day in class . . .” Shit. Now I feel stupid for getting it for him. I thought he’d get a kick out of it, not use it to pick up girls.
He touches my arm and finishes my sentence. “When we were talking about cussing in French. I love it. Thank you.”Keatyn Monroe.
“Shoot, I have to go try on my first costume. Here’s my homework, if you want to work on it. I shouldn’t be too long. Are you sure you have time to wait?”
“I’m sure,” he says. “I’ll start working.”
After I finish the first fitting, I sit back down next to Aiden. His head is down and he’s writing in his French workbook. He’s taken his school blazer off and has rolled up his oxford’s long sleeves.
The four-leaf clover he showed me before the Homecoming game is still on his forearm.
I touch it and say, “Won’t come off, huh?”
“I haven’t tried to get it off. I’m hoping it will help me get lucky.”
I rip my French notebook away from him. I didn’t mean to pull it away quite so hard but the thought of him using my four-leaf clover to get lucky with a girl pisses me off for some reason.
I look at him with disgust.
“Figures you’d twist its use for something like that.”
He gives me a little smirk. “Between the lucky four-leaf clover and this dirty French book, I should be set. Girls love it when you speak to them in French. They think it’s such a sexy language.”
“French is a sexy language when you don’t butcher it.”
“Most girls don’t know any better. Why do you think I took French to begin with?”
“That’s why?” I am appalled.
He chuckles at me. “It is.”
“Give me the book back,” I say, holding out my hand.
“Nope. In fact, I learned a couple things while you were gone.
“And what’s that?”
“Rouler des pelles.”
“French kissing?”
“Yeah, isn’t that kind of funny? They don’t call it French. And the word for kiss is baiser.”
“That’s because it’s slang. Translated literally it means rolling shovels. Open your mouth.”
He looks at me funny, but complies.
I laugh. “So you do have a tongue.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know. I’m just surprised that you chose French kissing as your first slang word when you don’t do it.”
“I French kiss. I just didn’t kiss you like that. What’s the got to do with rolling shovels?”
I stick my tongue out at him. “See the shape?” I draw the outline of my tongue with my finger.
“I guess it is sort of shaped like a shovel.”
I make my tongue do a version of the wave. Rolling it up and down.
“You have a talented tongue,” he says with a laugh.
“You have no idea,” I say with a smirk. I’m going to add, And you’ll never find out, but I’m interrupted.
Keatyn Monroe.
“I have to go.”
I get my second costume fitted then go sit back down. Aiden is still here with the book in his hand.
“I found a few more words you might like. If you’re cool with it.”
“I hung out with French surfers half the summer. I don’t think you’re going to shock me.”
“T’exploser.”
“Pound.”
“Tringler.”
“Screw.”
“Hammer wasn’t in here.”
“You want to hear one that cracks me up?”
“Yeah.”
“Enfourner mon pain.”
“Bake my bread?”
Keatyn Monroe.
I laugh. “Think about it. I’ll be back.”
After my third fitting, Aiden is smiling at me and holding up the book. “That one was in here. It means, Put it in your box. But it literally means, Put my baguette in the oven.”
“I know. The guys we hung out with in France this summer used that one a lot. It just cracked me up that were comparing themselves to a baguette.”
“Well, they are long and hard.”
I can’t help but smirk and laugh at him. “Yeah, exactly. Learn anything else?”
“La chatte.”
“Pussy. It sounds prettier in French, don’t you think? Like, not as dirty.”
Aiden bursts out laughing.
“What?”
“I could so make a comment about dirty pussy, but I will refrain.”
I smack his shoulder. “Gross, Aiden. How about la touffe?”
“Oh, I saw that one.” He scans through a page. I see he’s already written in the book. Marked it all up.
“Muff.”
“Yeah, but translated, it means, the tuft.”
“I can see why you need to know the slang. I mean think of all the normal words we use that aren’t sexual, but said right, have that meaning.”
“Like your hammering, pounding, nailing, screwing?”
“Exactly. That’s just basic carpentry.
Keatyn Monroe.
“Saved the best costume for last, huh?” Aiden says to me when I’m finished with my last fitting.
“Figures you would like the cheerleading costume, seeing as it’s pretty skimpy.”
“T’es super sexy comme ca.”
“I looked super sexy like that, huh?”
“Well, all your costumes for the play are nice. Do you like them?”
“Yeah. The ball gown for the big dance is kind of lame.”
“You don’t like the ball gown?”
“Let’s just say it’s not what I would wear.”
“What would you wear?”
I know my answer right away. It’s the dress that I pictured in a dream.
“I had this dream once that I wrote down. The dress in it was gorgeous. The most gorgeous dress I’ve ever seen. That’s the dress I’d want to wear.”
He grins at me. “Tell me about it. And the dress.”
“Okay, so you fade in on a beach that’s bathed in moonlight. A young prince is riding down the beach on a white stallion. A girl is also on the beach. She’s wearing a gorgeous pink strapless gown with a corseted waist. The skirt of the dress is layer upon layer of pale pink ruffles. Her hair is half-up, the rest is cascading in curls onto her shoulders. A tall, dark man dressed in a black suit has a hold of the princess’ wrist and is dragging her up the beach to the dragon’s lair. The Princess yells, Help! The Dark Man says, No one is going to hear you scream. But the Prince does hear her scream. He turns his horse around and gallops toward the noise. He sees the girl. And instantly falls in love. He’d do anything to protect her. He jumps off his steed and pulls out his sword. Fights the Dark Man to the death. Then he turns his attention toward the princess, who was knocked to the ground in the scuffle. The Princess turns to face her rescuer and she recognizes his handsome face. That’s it. It’s just a short scene.”
“It’s amazing. So who was the Prince? How did she know him?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know yet. It came from a dream I had. When I dreamed it, I felt that she knew him.
That she recognized him. But I didn’t see his face in my dream.”
“You need to figure it out. Finish the story.”
“Yeah, maybe. Hey, so I’m done.” I glance at my phone. “I’m going to see Dawson for a little bit before curfew.”
Three slutty girls.
10:45pm
I stop off to give Dawson a goodnight kiss after my fittings. Well, a couple kisses, then head to my dorm before curfew.
I’m studying my lines when I get a text from his little brother.
Braxton: I stopped cussing for Lent.
Me: It’s not Lent.
Braxton: Haha. I know. So, my brothers suck.
Me: Do I dare ask why?
Braxton: Dirty girl. They suck cuz they won’t help me with girls. I think they’re afraid I will learn too well and they won’t have a shot when I’m around.
Me: I think you might be right about that.
Braxton: Tell me what girls want.
Me: I think that depends on the girl. Also depends what kind of girl you want.
Braxton: Right now, I’d like a trio of slutty girls. All naked together in my room with nothing to do but me.
Me: Let’s try to deal with reality.
Braxton: I was. I originally wanted a harem.
Me: Fine. Three slutty girls it is.
Braxton: Actually, what I need is experience.
Me: Dallas told me a really fun pickup line a while ago. It totally would have worked on me. And you’re funny. You could probably pull it off.
Braxton: What was it?
Me: He goes, “Did you have Lucky Charms this morning?” And I was like, “No, why?” And he said, “Cuz you look magically delicious.”
Braxton: That’s brilliant.
Me: He also used to have the Psychic Panty Network. He’d guess the color of a girl’s panties. He was shocked by how many girls offered to prove he was wrong. Some even donated their panties. That’s when he started Panties for the Poor. That didn’t last very long though. Then he started trying to guess cup size. He got talked to by the school about that. (Sexual harassment, or something.) Now he’s on to pickup lines.