Click

“Christabelle!” Amanda shrieked, stomping her food childishly. Shane had dropped the cage on her when he was meant to lower another setting background. She didn’t yell at him though, because I was obviously more cut out for that kind of thing. It had been two and a half months since the dance and she still hadn’t let it go. It wasn’t even that big of a deal. She was dating Damien now and Blade couldn’t have cared less so she was trying to impress him for nothing.

Blade stood on the other side of the stage snickering.

“My bad,” I mumbled just for her benefit so that she would drop it instead of starting another big scene like she usually did.

“Oops,” Shane said, pulling on the string to raise the cage. He moved over and lowered the background now but that didn’t change how a bunch of people were laughing at her face. Mr. Sadusky sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Guys, no fooling around,” he said. “If you have to, label the strings but the first performance is in three days and we still have a lot to do so it’s not the time for joking around.”

“Can we joke around on Monday?” Shane asked.

Mr. Sadusky shrugged. “Go ahead. We won’t be in the theatre after we present so if you want to, you’ll get in a lotof trouble with the theatre directory but that’s up to you,” he said, walking over to Amanda now and talking to her about the play. We had two performance nights; one on Thursday and the other on Friday. The only problem really, was that some people weren’t sure if they could come on those nights so we had to assign subs. In two and a half months time, everyone had managed to memorize their lines and practice wasn’t exactly necessary but Mr. Sadusky had us go over them repeatedly just to make she we wouldn’t forget anything. We also had a day where we were assigned our costumes and discussed what our makeup would be like. I had to tie my hair up in a tight knot and wear this massive monstrosity of a crown over it so it wasn’t too obvious that I wasn’t a man, even though I was playing a man’s part. I also had to draw on a moustache and wear manly leotards with this massive overcoat that was completely covered with fancy glued-on gems. When Blade came in to see what I looked like the first time I tried it on, I don’t think he’d ever laughed so hard.

Blade had been having troubles with his family lately. Ever since the dance, they had been pestering him with questions about his future or his love life but not the way my dad, Karlee and Aiden did to me. Blade’s parents were much more brutal and they always fit little references to Eric in their conversations now and again. Blade had told me he was about to freak out if he had to listen to them talk about his brother one more time and I had a very strong feeling that it was going to be soon.

Mr. Sadusky rubbed his hands together and yelled “okay, act two, scene two everyone!” before walking off the stage and sitting down in one of the theatre seats. Amanda walked up the steps and stood on the balcony. Mr. Sadusky had also gotten a new castle setup because after Amanda tugged me off of it, it was dubbed “unsafe” and they got rid of it. The new one was ten times better than the one I fell off.

She started to recite her lines dramatically as Blade stood on the stage with his arms crossed, looking up at her. Mr. Sadusky stood up and cleared his throat.

“Uhm, Amanda, I need you to do something for me,” he said. “Act it out more.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Grip the pillar,” he said, nodding to the one beside her on the edge of the balcony. There were two that started at the bottom and went right on through the balcony to hold it up and set the roof in place over top of it. “Make it look like you literally can’t stand being away from Blade.”

“What, do you want me to just fall or something?” Amanda asked.

“No,” he said, rubbing his temples. “Look, just try it.” Amanda did as she was told and wrapped her arms around the pillar. She didn’t seem to have a lot of passion and need, though. Her arms were just kind of there not doing much of anything. Mr. Sadusky shook his head. “You’re still not giving the impression that you need him.”

“Maybe I don’t want to make that impression,” she said, staring down at Blade with a harsh glare. He rolled his eyes and looked away from her.

“Well you’re going to have to,” Mr. Sadusky said.

“I can’t make love to a pole!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. Everyone in the class burst out laughing.

Mr. Sadusky chuckled. “Well then just touch it.”

“Mr. S, please tell me you’re aware how dirty this is all sounding,” Shane said, sticking his head out of the curtain. “This is one of those practices that you don’t want the principal to walk in on.”

“At this rate,” Mr. Sadusky began, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair, “we’re definitely not going to be ready for Thursday.”



“Nice dress,” Karlee said, giving me a nod of approval as I stepped into the kitchen for dinner. “I don’t feel the need to criticize your choice of clothes.” Marcy had made me go shopping with her a while back and since the cold weather and big jackets were long past us and had been replaced with pre-summer dresses or booty shorts, she decided it would be a good opportunity for me to try out dresses. I wasn’t fond of that idea but I was starting to gain a more open mind so I gave it a shot. I didn’t want anything too colourful so I just got a simple white summer dress that ended right above my knees and had thick straps. It wasn’t too plain and it wasn’t too bright so it was just what I wanted.

“Aren’t you sweet,” I said sarcastically, sitting down next to Aiden. He looked up from his plate and smiled at me. Anne sat down on Karlee’s other side and looked at my dad with eyes that were hinting at him to ask me something but he just shook his head and mouthed “later” to her.

We ate in silence for the first five minutes or so, or at least made very short conversation and by the time my plate was almost completely cleaned off, my dad cleared his throat and wiped his hands on his napkin.

“So Chris, how’s Blade doing?” he asked. I glanced up at him and furrowed my brows.

“Fine, why?” I asked.

“Well, I may have . . . accidentally picked up the phone when you were talking to him the other day,” he replied, rubbing his hands on his thighs. I put my fork down and glared at him. Anne slapped him on the arm. “What?” he asked.

“Don’t lie,” she said.

“Okay, well it said the line was in use so I picked it up. I just wanted to know who was using the phone,” he said, shaking his head. I glared harder, and Anne slapped him again. He frowned. “What?”

“I said ‘don’t lie’,” she snapped. “Tell your daughter the truth.”

“Fine. Aiden told me that you were talking to one of your friends and—”

“Thanks man,” I growled, turning my glare on Aiden now.

“Yeah,” he blurted quickly, not looking up from his food. I turned back to my dad, whose frown deepened.

“I just wanted to know what friend,” he said. “But I heard him say something about ‘playing with him any time’. Want to explain that to me?” he asked, leaning back against his chair and folding his arms, clearly not impressed. I rolled my eyes.

“Wow. Well dad, if you stayed to eavesdrop for even two seconds longer, than you would have understood and we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” I said, crossing my legs. “He was just talking about one of his cousins and what he said to a girl at daycare. We laughed about it. That’s all it was.”

I scooped my plate off of the table and stood up, walking over to the sink and rinsing it off. My dad looked over his shoulder at me.

“Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you two?” he asked me. I nodded.

“Absolutely nothing,” I said. “He talks about this girl he’s interested in but with him and I, there’s nothing there.” Anne glanced up at me and looked a little upset, but she didn’t say anything. The doorbell rang and Aiden started to stand but I held up a hand and shook my head. He owed me for ratting me out to my dad and he quickly sat back down.

“I’ll get it,” I said, turning off the water and heading out of the kitchen. I opened the door and Blade turned around to face me with his hands in his pockets. He looked ridiculously miserable.

“Hey,” I said. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “Are you busy? Am I interrupting your dinner time or anything?”

“No, I just finished,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Uhm . . . do you have a bit of time to hang out?” he asked. “I don’t really want to be alone right now and you’re kind of the only one who has all my trust.”

I hesitated and stuck my head back inside the house. I looked into the kitchen to see if my dad was particularly interested in finding out who was at the door but he was talking with Aiden, Karlee and Anne and he didn’t seem to care who rang the doorbell so I scooped my phone off of the side table, stepped outside and closed the door behind me. “Did something happen with your parents?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Sort of.”

“Do you want to sit and talk here or go for a walk instead?” I asked.

“Are you allowed?”

I probably wasn’t but I didn’t really care because when it came to Blade, my dad’s opinion didn’t really make any difference to me. I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”



“They talked about him being a good role model and how he was someone I should look up to for like, an hour so after so long I just got way too frustrated and I blew up at them,” Blade explained to me, tapping his fingers on his milkshake cup as we sat on a café balcony outside with a number of other couples and families surrounding us. “They told me I was overreacting and that I needed to cool down, maybe take a walk. So I did, and that’s the last I’ve heard from them. No calls or anything.”

“Did your brother say anything?” I asked. “Did he even bother to intervene or tell them to give you a break?”

“Well you know Eric,” Blade said, shaking his head. “It’s not in his nature to care about me when it comes to that. He’s getting attention. Isabelle got pretty upset, though. She started crying and my mom tried to calm her down but she’s the one that’s there for me. She’s like my other half.”

“What happened?”

“Well she slapped my mom a couple times but that’s happened before,” he said, running a hand through his hair and sighing angrily. “I’m just so sick of this, you know? I understand that they want me to turn out like Eric and be as big of a successor as him but they don’t have to make him their main concern all of the time when they’ve got two other kids to take care of.” He put his elbows on the table and rubbed his temples. “I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

I didn’t know what to tell him. He obviously didn’t want to go back home any time soon but still, he would have to eventually. It was just clear that he was going to put it off for as long as he possibly could.

“You could stay at my house,” I blurted. Of course, I didn’t even consider what my dad would say about that. I probably should have thought it over more. Blade looked up at me.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “Your dad probably wouldn’t be too happy about that and Aiden would most likely kick my ass.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head. “You said so yourself that you didn’t want to be alone and you can’t just stay outside all night until one of your parents calls and asks you to come back home. And God knows I can’t be out for much longer either. So you can stay with us until it all blows over.”

Blade smiled. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So what’s going on with you and that internet guy?” he asked, leaning back in his chair, taking another drink and putting the empty cup on the table. I shrugged.

“Nothing,” I answered.

“But you're crazy about him," he said.

“Yes, I am.” But I was also crazy about Blade. I had told Nathaniel that my feelings for Blade had gotten a lot stronger, but he didn’t really seem to mind all that much. And within the two months and some-odd days, we went from being friends that told each other we liked the other one a little bit, to two people that were falling for each other pretty quickly. Now I didn’t know what to think, because I was totally crazy for two difference people and I couldn’t have either one.

“Well why don’t you like, run off with him? What are you waiting for?” he asked. I just shook my head. “You know, the reason you two haven’t met is probably because he has a girlfriend.”

I paused. Nathaniel never mentioned having a girlfriend, but he still never said that he was single either. Blade noticed my hesitation and smirked. He stood up and stretched his arms out, yawning. “I’m going to go to the bathroom quickly,” he said. “Then we’ll get going. I’ll be right back.”

He disappeared to the back and I crossed my legs, tapping my fingernails on the tabletop. I grabbed my phone and flipped it opened, sending a text message to Nathaniel and hoping that he would reply before Blade got out of the bathroom.

Is it too late to ask you if you have a girlfriend?

I looked up, and Blade still hadn’t returned so, so far I was in the clear. My phone buzzed and I opened the text reply from Nathan.

No, it’s not too late but why do you ask?

Just wondering.

Wait a minute, you’re asking me this because your friends are wondering why we haven’t met and they think I have a girlfriend so they want to know if I’m just bullshitting with you, aren’t you?

Wow, he was good.

Maybe. Do you?

Lol, no I don’t have a girlfriend.

Blade walked back out and smiled at a girl that walked in front of him. When she was out of his way, she stared after him and when he sat down next to me, she shot me this evil glare that I totally didn’t deserve at all.

“Ready?” he asked. I nodded and stood up, grabbing my phone and turning it off so I wouldn’t get a text from Nathaniel to cut into my time with Blade. “I hate to bring it back up because I can tell it frustrates you sometimes when I talk about it, but there’s got to be something wrong with him.”

I looked over at Blade. “Why do you say that?”

“Because you guys have been talking to each other for like, what . . . three months?” he asked, holding the door opened for me.

“Just over four,” I corrected him, stepping outside. Blade nodded and rubbed his hands on his jeans.

“Okay, four months and he still hasn’t tried to meet up with you in person even once.”

“Maybe he’s just nervous,” I said, shrugging as we walked down the sidewalk toward my house. “You know, nervousness actually is an honorable quality in a man.” I looked over at him and smirked. “Something you probably wouldn’t understand.”

“Ooh, those are some harsh words, Chris,” he said sarcastically, putting his hand over his chest.

“Shut up.”

“Do you think he’s hot?”

I raised my eyebrows. “What?”

“Do you think he’s hot? You know, like . . . like, hot.”

I laughed. “I don’t know but I don’t care about that,” I replied. “I’m not that obnoxious. I care about what’s underneath.”

“So, what . . . you like his blood or something?” Blade asked, even though he knew full well what I was really referring to. He had a look in his eyes and it told me that he was just teasing me.

“I care about who he is as a person,” I replied. “I want his heart, not his shape.”

“Well he could definitely be shapes,” Blade said. I shoved him to the side and he laughed. “Maybe he has stitches.”

“So? I have stitches. You have stitches.”

“Well yeah but yours is on your leg from a bicycling accident when you were six and I got mine from when Danny Lipson kicked me in the shin because I stole his swing in kindergarten. Nathaniel probably has stitches from like . . . nose surgery. Or a hair transplant! That’s got to be it. He’s prematurely bald and he had to get a wig surgically attached to his head so he wouldn’t go out in public and feel humiliated.”

“That’s very rude of you.”

“Yeah I know, but I’m just saying,” Blade replied, stuffing his hands in his back pockets. “You know, maybe for his day job he’s a sumo wrestler. I bet her has underwear imprints on his ass. That stuff must be really uncomfortable.”

I slapped him on the arm and he snickered. “Come on, Blade. You always think the worst of him and you don’t even know him. I bet if you talked to him, you’d learn a lot. He’s a great guy.”

“How do you know it’s not just a virus?” he asked. “There are some viruses that talk back to you. Technology teaches us nothing.”

“What does that have to do with Nathan?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“I’m just saying,” he repeated.

“Technology does not teach us nothing. It teaches us a lot and nearly everything in the world that we use today is thanks to technology so I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, pushing my hair back.

“Okay, smart aleck. Name me one thing that we’ve gotten from technology that’s actually good,” he said.

“Electricity.”

“That’s one,” he said, nodding. “You think that computers are your friend but they’re not.” I laughed and shook my head. “So what kind of things do you two talk about? Have you had cybersex with him?”

I stared at Blade like he was insane, which he obviously was. “Not that it’s any of your business but no,” I said, frowning.

“Good. Don’t do it because the moment you do, they lose all respect for you.”

“No shit,” I said, smirking.

“I’m kidding. But back onto this guy, are you thinking of calling him up or something so you guys can actually see each other’s faces?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean you’ve brainwashed me into thinking he’s got a wig for hair and diaper prints on his ass.”

“Would that be so terrible?”

I threw my arms up. “You’re the one who said it was!”

“I was kidding. You know how I kid.”

“Well I know you’re wrong anyway,” I said, “even though you put those thoughts into my head. I know he’s a great guy and I’m sure he looks the part too.”

“Right. You know, I bet right now he’s thinking the same thing about you,” he replied.
“I’m sure he is,” I said sarcastically, looking over at him and smiling.

“Yes. But he’s probably worried you’ll sound all squeaky like the mice in Cinderella. He’ll probably get turned off by that,” Blade joked.

“I don’t squeak!”

“You do sometimes.”

I frowned. “I’ve already talked to him on the phone before and he didn’t say anything about how my voice squeaked so shut up.”

“Just ask him to meet up with you,” Blade said. “I’m sure he’d love to meet you.”

“I hope so.”

“Have you thought about where you guys would go on a date?”

I hesitated. “No.”

Blade’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yes you have.”

“Okay, maybe I have once or twice,” I admitted.

“He should take you to a piazza or something.”

I looked over at him, my brows furrowed. “A piazza?”

“You know, one of those places where you two can just mingle.”

“That’s pretty conventional,” I said, crossing my arms.

“I was being eloquent,” Blade said, sighing and running a hand through his hair. “Shit!”

“A piazza,” I said again, laughing. “You don’t always have to be eloquent. You could have settled for something simpler, like veranda or courtyard. Those are easily recognizable but ‘piazza’ just makes me hungry.”

“Well then let’s go get some piazza,” Blade said.

I waved a hand in the air. “Not right now. I’m not hungry,” I said.

“But you just said—” He stopped himself and shook his head. “Never mind. You know, I’m still kind of worried. I mean, he could be like the Unabomber or a child rapist or something.”

“Is this like that time you thought Andrew was the next Ed Gein?” I asked.

He paused. “That’s different.”

“Right,” I said, laughing.

“You know, maybe he’s that mystery kisser you were talking about,” he suggested.

“I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“Because you seem to be under the impression that he’s like the world’s most hideous man to ever step food on solid ground,” I answered, smiling.

“And this kisser guy doesn’t fit that description, I take it,” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“Exactly. He had brown hair, and he was tall and skinny, and really cute and—”

“Okay, I don’t need his measurements,” Blade said, holding up his hand.

“Sorry.”

“His face was under a mask.”

“So?”

“So how do you know he was cute?”

“I just do.”

“Well you’ve still got two mystery men and you haven’t made an effort to find out who they are so you should probably do that before school ends. Only about two more weeks now,” he said.

“I know,” I said, nodding.

“Let’s stick to the computer guy,” Blade suggested. “If you like him, than just ask to meet up with him.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I should,” I responded.

“Good. One second,” Blade said, stopping where he was and bending down to pull a camellia japonica off its stem from the bush in the community garden. He turned to me and I could automatically feel my face turning a bright scarlet when he reached up and tucked some hair behind my ear. Then he put the flower in and smiled.

“Thanks,” I said, stumbling over my words a little bit because I wanted to say more but my choices were limited since all the butterflies fluttering around inside my stomach were becoming a major distraction. And there was really only so much you could say to someone after they did that.

“No problem,” he replied. “It looks really nice. Watch out,” he said, grabbing my hand when I took a step to the side and almost fell off my feet from the sudden terrain level change. There was a small set of brick steps leading down onto the sidewalk again but I hadn’t even noticed because I was too concentrated on Blade and how he was making me feel right now.

“You’re a prince,” I joked, laughing. He grinned and I had expected him to let go of my hand then, but he didn’t. If anything, he gripped it tighter and then his fingers were intertwined with mine. He held onto my hand the whole way back to my house.



Like I had expected, my dad was angry that I went out without his permission and then brought Blade back with me. Of course now, he had gotten into the habit of not trash-talking Blade when he was in the room. Plus, he didn’t mind him at all anymore so he didn’t usually have anything negative to say; he just liked to tease me or if he did get angry, it was only because I would invite Blade over without getting the all-clear from him. That was expected, though.

He dropped it after I explained the situation and just let us be. Blade was in the living room watching television but I quickly ran upstairs to my bedroom to call Marcy. She had made it clear that she would kick my ass if I didn’t give her an update every time Blade and I hung out alone because after the whole kiss-on-the-cheek incident, she was certain that he had a crush on me and she wanted every little detail. At times, it was like she was writing it down because she would be saying “can you say that again?” or “repeat but say it slower this time”.

“And you say you two are just friends,” she said once I had got her on the phone and told her what had happened. She scoffed. “Two people that are just friends don’t do that kind of stuff, Chris!”

“I agree,” Nick said. I rolled my eyes. Nick had admitted to Marcy that he liked her about a month ago after Kayti accidentally let it slip to him that she liked him back, and now they were dating. The problem with them was that they were one of those couples that did absolutely everything together so it was practically impossible to get one of them alone. They even finished each other’s sentences.

“What do you think she should do?” Marcy asked.

“Just ask him out,” Nick replied. “It’s obvious he’s got feelings for you. Like I told you at the dance, you’re the only one who doesn't see it. I’m just surprised that he wasn’t all over you and taking you on a date the minute him and Amanda broke up. I mean, it’s been a really long time since he ended it with her and he still hasn’t made a move so that’s the only confusing part. Maybe he’s waiting for you to make the movie instead.”

I sighed. “Well he’s downstairs so I’ve got to go,” I said, hanging up before they could make another little comment that would be just like the rest of them. I made my way down the stairs and saw Blade slouched on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table like it was the most normal thing in the world for him. He had one arm crossed over his chest and the other one was holding the remote as he flipped through the channels. I sat down next to him and put my feet up too.

“It’s always so awkward when you’re sitting alone with your best girl friend watching that romantic scene from Sixteen Candles,” he said, sighing. “There’s nothing else on, unless you want to watch baby shoes.”

I shook my head. “This is fine.”

And that’s when we went completely silent. He was right; it was awkward sitting alone together watching that movie.

I could see Blade glance over at me from the corner of my eye and I put all my concentration into focusing on the movie instead of obsessing over him watching me but it didn’t work and I gave in by looking right back at him.

“What?” I asked.

That probably wasn’t the ideal time for me to open my mouth. Mostly because it wasn’t until I looked at him that I realized he was a lot closer than I had originally thought. This wasn’t going to be a kiss on the cheek this time, and it wasn’t just like he was sitting that close to begin with—he was purposely leaning in closer to me. He was going to kiss me.

“Christabelle . . .” he said quietly, and that was all. My eyes closed and when he was about ten centimeters away, my dad walked in and Blade’s mother was beside him.

“What’s going on in here?” he asked, crossing his arms. Blade and I leaped apart quickly and I looked down at my feet.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Blade asked, eyes wide.

“Chris’s father called me to tell me where you were,” she said, frowning. “It’s time to come home now.” Then she turned and walked out of the room. We heard the front door slam and my dad left too, heading into the kitchen. I cleared my throat and crossed my legs.

“I guess I’m going,” Blade said, standing up and rubbing his hands on his legs. He shifted uncomfortably and I looked up at him. “See you tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Bye Blade.”

“Bye Chris,” he said, and practically ran out of the room. When he had left the house too, my dad stepped back into the living room and leaned against the doorframe. He shoved his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to the side. I groaned and rubbed my forehead.

“You’re going to give me a lecture about that too, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Do you like him?”

I looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah.”

“And does he know that?”

“No. Well, I don’t think he does.”

“I only tell you off because I’m worried about you,” he said. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt. I was more upset that you went out without my permission after supper than the fact that you brought Blade back home with you. And it doesn’t bother me that you two almost kissed here. With him, I don’t really see him hurting you so I don’t feel like I have anything to worry about with him.”

He shot me a smile and walked upstairs. I stared where he had been, my brain completely frazzled. Everyone was acting out of character today. First with Blade almost kissing me, and then my dad actually being reasonable and civilized.

Maybe I needed to start listening to Marcy and Nick more often because now, I was actually starting to believe that Blade might like me.