Before It Rains

I soon found myself a month into the school year. It was the end of September and my life was revolving around the play and my school work. After all, I was here on scholarship.

As far as the play went, it was going pretty okay. Pretty much everyone was off book in time, and I knew rehearsals would be getting more and more intense as the months went on. I could handle it. At my school back in Florida, we’d be lucky if we had a month and a half to put the whole thing together, but here, the show was going up right before our holiday break. This way, Max told me, parents who drove here to get their kids for the holidays could see the show and only make one trip. It made sense. We were allowed to go home for Thanksgiving week too, but there was only enough money to bus the two of us home for one holiday.

I decided one Wednesday night to call home. Max lent me his phone and assured me that the long distance call wasn’t really a problem. I waited until it was late enough for my mom to be home from work and then I dialed and waited for someone to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Maddy?”

“Sammy?”

“Yup.”

“Oh my gosh! You’re calling from Connecticut?”

“Yeah. How are you?”

“Oh my gosh, Sammy! I’ve wanted to talk to you for forever!”

“Oh, really?” I asked, stretching out the ‘e’ sound. “Since when?”

“Since…” I could hear a voice in the background. ‘Maddy, who’s on the phone?’

“Sam.” I heard the fumbling of the phone and Maddy whining “Mooom.”

“Sammy? Sam, is that you?” My mom’s voice. It would appear she had stolen the phone away from my sister.

“Yes.”

“Oh, how are you, hon? I’ve missed you so much!” She sounded close to tears. ‘Hey,’ I thought, ‘you were the one who sent me here.’ I didn’t say it. I was actually beginning to think that she had done me a favor.

“I’m good. I’ve been keeping busy.”

“With schoolwork?”

“With school, with the play, with friends…” I told her.

“Are your friends nice?”

“Mom, they wouldn’t be my friends if they weren’t nice,” I pointed out. Duh.

“Right. And how’s the play?”

“It’s okay. I have a good part. How are things at home?” I asked her.

“Oh, they’re fine. I think Maddy has a lot more homework this year than she bargained for and I’m not sure that she likes having Tanner in the middle school with her, but they’re both doing fine. And the littles love school.”

By ‘the littles’ she was referring to my two youngest sisters Avery and Faith. When we were in Florida, it would be the littles, the middles, and the twins. I think that’s the only way she could keep track of us.

We talked for ten minutes and she filled me in on everything. I’d like to say the same for myself, but I didn’t really tell her everything. There was some stuff she was better off not knowing. After we were done, I asked her to put Maddy back on the phone.

“So, what’d you want to tell me?” I asked her.

“Well…” she paused. “Hold on a second.” I heard a door close and she came back on the line. “Okay, so there’s this guy…”

“Already?”

“Sammy, just listen! There’s this guy who I like, but there’s this other guy who likes me. But I don’t like him, and I think he thinks I do and I don’t know what to do with him!” she said, finally letting out a breath. I knew why she didn’t mention it to Mom. Because she’d say something like, ‘Oh Maddy, you’re only twelve.’

“Just tell him you have an older brother who’s a wrestling champ,” I told her. Hey, why not? Isn’t how the girls always stayed protected in the movies?

“Ruben’s not a wrestling champ…” she said. Then she got it. “Sammy!”

“Okay, okay, I was just kidding… sort of. Has he asked you out?” I asked her.

“Not yet, but…”

“But you don’t want to sound like an idiot when he does,” I finished.

“Yeah.”

“I’d say… I’d say just tell him that he’s really nice but that you aren’t ready for a boyfriend,” I told her.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s the best way out,” I said.

“Okay, well thanks.”

“Sure thing, Mad. And you can always email me and stuff you know.”

We said goodbye and I sat there wondering how I could even be telling Maddy how to handle her relationship when I didn’t even know what was going on in my world. Austin came in then. Figures.

“Hey, Sam! You wanna go get something to eat?” he asked me.

“Who wants to know?”

“Um… me?” he said raising an eyebrow.

“Okay then.” I hadn’t realized it until then, but I was starved.

**********

I was five minutes late to rehearsal on Thursday, and I scouted the place out for Max. He was down in the front row talking to a kid I recognized vaguely, probably from rehearsals. When he saw me, he pointed, said something, and the other kid walked away to go join a couple of guys sitting some rows back.

“Hey! Is Mr. Samuels here yet?” I asked, a little out of breath from my mad dash to rehearsal minutes before. He shook his head.

“Sam…” he started, and at that moment Mr. Samuels came rushing into the auditorium.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, but please don’t let this be your excuse to be late in the future,” he said. Max nudged me in the ribs and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Okay,” Mr. Samuels continued. “Today and tomorrow we’re going to finish blocking the scenes that aren’t already finished and next week my friend Alison is coming in and she’s going to work with the choreography and all that. Next week is going to be intense stuff, people, and I’m expecting you all to be here.”

I sat in the audience with Max and Sophie for a while watching them block ‘Many a New Day’ and ‘People Will Say We’re in Love’. I finally got the chance to block when Mr. Samuels came to ‘The Farmer and the Cowman’. It was a full two hour rehearsal and I new we’d be going over the blocking time and time again in order to get it right.

Max and I left the auditorium together and chatted about the cast and the show on our way out. Suddenly, and what seemed to be randomly, Max said, “Hey, do you know that kid I was talking to before rehearsal?”

“Um… I think I’ve seen him around… why?” What was he getting at?

“Well, he came up to me before rehearsal and asked if I was going out with you.” I stopped just outside the auditorium doors. The wind was blowing hard, but I didn’t care.

“WHAT?”

“I told him no.”

“Obviously… why does he care?”

“Let me finish! Then he asked if you liked anyone…”

I cut him off. “This conversation could be going in some very awkward directions,” I commented. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first. “Why’d he want to know?”

“He likes you.” I stared at him.

“Excuse me?”

“He likes you. He wanted to know if you were, you know, available,” Max said.

I kept staring. “What the hell is wrong with the people here?” I said, probably a little too loudly. Luckily only two people were walking by, and neither of them happened to be teachers. “Wait, what’d you tell him?”

“That you have a boyfriend of three years back in Florida who you’re madly in love with.” He looked at me sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Oh my God Max, you’re a genius!” Thank the Lord. Hopefully the kid wouldn’t be coming near me anytime in the near future. “I love you!” I exclaimed. “You are my favorite person as of right now.” I kissed him on the forehead to prove it, and he rolled his eyes. Then I heard a voice behind me.

“Woah, didn’t see that one coming.” I whipped around. Shane.

“Oh, hey loser,” I said. He just looked at me. “What?”

“What’s going on here?” he asked pointing to Max, and then to me. It was only then I realized what he’d seen and what he’d thought.

“Ooooh no. It’s not what you think it is.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say,” he said, heading back to the dorms.

“Damn!” I said, looking at Max. He shrugged and stared after Shane.

***************

I couldn’t be sure if Shane had told anybody what had happened that afternoon, but I was pretty sure he had. Austin and Will both kept looking at Max and Kai just looked confused. I think my brother thought that Shane was making it up, but if he did think that, he didn’t say. It never came up in conversation.

I tried to get into bed at nine that night, but I had too much on my mind. I had declined the guy’s invitation to watch a movie over in the room across the hall. I grabbed a sweatshirt and my iPod and headed down the stairwell and out into the night. It was a school night, I knew, which meant curfew was at nine, but I was wearing dark clothes and I quietly headed out to the hill.

It only took me a couple of minutes to walk there, and once I was there I lay down in the shadow of a tree, put the right earbud in my ear, leaving the left one out so I’d be able to hear anyone coming. I just didn’t understand guys anymore, I thought. I sang softly along with the music.

“I can’t stand to fly
I’m not that naive
I’m just out to find
The better part of me
I’m more than a bird...I’m more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It’s not easy to be me

I wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see

It may sound absurd...but don’t be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but won’t you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream.”

I stopped when I saw a dark shadow and someone covered my mouth. I sat up quickly and turned. In the dark I could still tell it was Will.

“Hi,” he said, uncovering my mouth. I just glared at him.

“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” I told him. “You might’ve been an evil creepy stalker.”

“But I’m not,” he pointed out. True.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“A while. I didn’t really want to watch Chicken Little…”

I raised my eyebrows. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Plus I just felt like being alone. But apparently that’s not going to happen.”

“I was here first.”

“Did you really kiss Max today?” I should’ve known it would come up eventually.

“No… well, yes, but on the forehead. He did me a favor, and I was extremely grateful.” I explained what had happened.

“Maybe I should do you more favors then,” he said when I was done. I smacked him on the shoulder. He looked at me innocently. “What?”

“You better hope I don’t push you down this hill.”

“I’m stronger than you.”

“So what? Maybe you’d be surprised.” Then we heard voices on the other side of the hill. I looked at Will. He quietly stood up and grabbed my hand.

“Come on, I know a long way around.” We took off through the trees. And of course that was when it started to pour buckets. We both were soaked as we entered the doors of the dorm.