The Wonderstudies Read online

  “I’ve heard that before,” I said, pouring syrup on my stack of pancakes.

  My mom looked around the small house. “Well,” she said, “this is home sweet home for now.”

  I flashed her a quick smile. “Yep,” I said. I pointed out the window to the small yard behind the house. “Maybe we will be here long enough to grow some vegetables in the backyard.” I shrugged when I caught my mom’s eye. “I saw a YouTube video on growing your own vegetable garden. I thought I would try. Maybe we could grow tomatoes and different lettuces for salads.”

  “That would be great,” she said, gulping her coffee. “You all set for today?”

  I nodded. “Yep, I’ve got my transfer-student story down pat.”

  “I know this is tough for you,” my mom said with a heavy sigh. “You are so talented, Gina. Go show East High you’re a star!”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ll do that.” I knew my sarcasm wasn’t lost on my mom.

  “Come on, Gina,” she said. “You need to put forth the positive! Anything worth doing—”

  “Isn’t worth doing if you aren’t the best,” I said, finishing her favorite piece of advice for me.

  “That’s right,” my mom said, smiling. She glanced down at her watch. “It’s getting late. I should get going. I hope you have a good first day.” She stood up to go and kissed my forehead on her way out.

  “You too,” I told her.

  East High was a nice school and I walked through the halls with my head high. I had been a transfer student enough times to know I had to act like I knew where I was going. The best part of the day was at the school assembly in the gym. Miss Jenn, the new drama teacher, talked about how she would be directing High School Musical. Suddenly the first day got a thousand times brighter. I couldn’t have picked a better musical for myself. I already knew all of Gabriella’s lines. I couldn’t wait for auditions. Being part of a cast meant having a place to go after school. I wanted in.

  A few days later, when I walked into the auditorium after school, Carlos smiled at me. He was handing out audition numbers and I grabbed number one. After all, I was planning on being number one. I stood in the center of the front line and followed Carlos’s routine. His choreography was pretty decent. I hit every beat of the warm-up dance. I felt Carlos’s eyes on my high kicks. I knew I was crushing the dance. I glanced around at the competition and wasn’t worried. Carlos and Miss Jenn were nodding at me as I moved to the beat of the music. I smiled. I was going to get the lead. I could feel it.

  After the warm-up, Nini introduced herself and started gushing at me. “Wow, can I borrow your high kick?” she asked. She babbled on about being an understudy and then about going on as a lead opening night at some theater camp.

  “You are the cutest,” I said. She seemed so earnest and sweet, I had to laugh. I introduced myself to her and tried my best to be friendly. She seemed like the only girl there who might be competition for the lead, but after talking to her, I wasn’t worried. She was definitely not leading lady material. You could tell she lacked the confidence.

  The rest of the auditions were a little strange. When the lights went out during Nini’s audition, Ricky, who I saw her fighting with on the first day of school, got up to use the flashlight on his phone as a spotlight for her. I had overheard them breaking up and she told him she’d had a show-mance at summer drama camp. So when E.J. stood up to light the stage with his phone flashlight, too, I figured he must be the show-mance guy. You could tell there was definitely some history between Ricky and Nini, and E.J. did not seem super happy about that. I watched carefully. If I’d learned anything from moving around schools regularly, it was to watch drama unfold from the sidelines and not center stage.

  At the end of auditions, I slung my backpack on my shoulder. I felt pretty good about the way things had gone. I could see myself playing Gabriella. I would be gracious and kind to the cast. I would make lots of friends.

  I heard Carlos shouting in the hall. “Clear!” he called as he ran through the hallway waving a sheet of paper.

  We all followed him down the hall. Normally, you had to wait a few days for the director to post the cast list, so I was happy we were finding out right away. Carlos stuck the cast list on a trophy case in the hallway outside of the auditorium and then backed away. As I made my way up to the list, I put my hands on the wall to steady myself.

  I got the part of Taylor McKessie, not Gabriella. But I was also Gabriella’s understudy?

  I, Gina Porter, was cast as Gabriella’s understudy?

  I was Nini’s understudy?

  I felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach. I kicked kicks higher than anyone in auditions. I nailed all those dances and the song. I was already off book!

  I stepped away from the cast list and looked over at Nini. “Congrats,” I said. And then I saw Ricky make his way up to the list. He looked confused and very surprised.

  I glanced over at E.J. He was standing next to Nini and didn’t look very happy about his understudy role, either. His confident facade was cracking. I could tell he was like me. He was used to getting the lead—and definitely used to getting what he wanted.

  My thoughts returned to the dance. Across the gym near the homecoming banner, I could see E.J. talking to some guys on his water polo team. I am sure his senior homecoming was not what he’d expected, either. I had been excited about this dance, this dress, and this night.

  And now all I wanted to do was get as far away from East High as possible.

  Homecoming is a very big deal at East High. I had been looking forward to the dance when I thought I would be taking my girlfriend, Nini. I even got a new suit. But things had changed quite a bit in the past few days.

  When I left Gina to get punch, I wasn’t sure what was going on at table ten. I saw Ricky move over to my seat and start talking to Gina. Great, just what I needed was Ricky making a move on my date. As if he hadn’t messed up my love life and my senior year already. What was it with that guy? Whatever he was saying to Gina, she didn’t like. She was pulling away and Big Red seemed to be trying to get Ricky to shut up and come back and sit next to him.

  I stopped to talk to a couple of people and then turned back to table ten. Ashlyn waved at me. She was still sitting next to Carlos. I’d heard that Carlos and Seb were coming to the dance together. I wasn’t sure what the deal was, but Seb was nowhere to be found. I could tell from the way Ashlyn was nodding and speaking in a low voice that she was consoling Carlos. My cousin is everyone’s best friend. She has a way of making everyone—including me—feel better.

  Ashlyn has always been there for me. Our fathers are brothers and live in the same town, so we grew up in each other’s houses. When we were little, we bonded over theater and performing. We would put on shows for our parents, singing and dancing. Ashlyn wrote the songs, and we would hide out in her basement practicing while our parents visited. After dinner, it was showtime. Our performances were legendary. We made every family meet-up special. While those little shows might have started as nothing much, the more Ashlyn and I got involved in theater productions, the better our performances got. Even now, we will sometimes perform a new song or something from one of the shows we are working on.

  Maybe it’s because we’re related, but Ashlyn has an uncanny way of reading my mind. She has always understood me. I count on her for advice all the time. Though sometimes she’s a little too earnest. When I asked Ashlyn to take Nini’s phone so I could see who had been texting her during the read-through, she was horrified. She doesn’t really think like I do. I play to win. Sometimes the way to the finish line is not a direct path. Plus, I wasn’t snooping because I didn’t trust Nini. It was Ricky I didn’t trust. I only wanted to check that Ricky wasn’t sending her texts.

  I had good reason to think something was up with the two of them. At the read-through rehearsal, I saw how Ricky was eyeing Nini and then checking his phone. Nini was checking her phone, too. She would smile and giggle each time she saw a new mes
sage. I needed to find out if Ricky was texting her. My blood pressure was rising. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I weren’t jealous of a guy making a move on my girl?

  After rehearsal the next day, when I saw Nini’s phone in my bag, I looked over at Ashlyn and mouthed, Thank you. She just looked confused. I should have known she wasn’t the one to put it there. Then I looked over at a very smug Gina.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “We want the same thing, but it’s going to take a little teamwork.”

  I appreciated the gesture, even though I wasn’t sure how she knew what I wanted.

  I waited until I was in my car to check Nini’s phone. When Ashlyn met me in the parking lot, I showed her the archived Instagram post of Nini singing a love song to Ricky. Ashlyn tried to convince me that Nini and Ricky were over and that was all in the past. But seeing Ricky’s face pop up on Nini’s screen when her phone rang in my hand was a little too much. I had to listen to the message.

  Ashlyn gave me one of her looks. I know she always sees the good in people and expects me to do the right thing. I do appreciate that quality, but how could I not listen to the message? She tried to talk me out of it. I knew I was crossing the line, but it was almost like fate giving me a chance to find out what was going on.

  Ashlyn didn’t see it that way. She was so upset with me she decided to walk home and got out of the car. She didn’t want anything to do with me listening to Ricky’s message. I did hesitate, but I had to hear what he had to say to my girlfriend.

  “I saw you singing that song with Ashlyn today, and I felt like we kind of shared, like, a moment, or a thing,” Ricky rambled in the voice mail. “Anyway, if this voice mail is too much for you or too soon or you’re just not into it, we can just ignore this whole thing and pretend like nothing ever happened. Just poof, gone.”

  After listening to the message, I knew for sure Ricky was trying to get back with Nini. I didn’t feel bad about deleting the message. Nini didn’t need to hear that sap.

  Okay, so maybe later I did have to apologize to Nini for invading her privacy and deleting the message. But I still didn’t really regret it. I regretted that she broke up with me over it, though.

  It was one thing to be Ricky’s understudy, but it was another to lose Nini. And to lose her to Ricky…I wasn’t about to let that happen without a fight. If that meant stealing her phone or taking Gina to the homecoming dance, I was going to do that.

  At the dance, I was losing faith that Gina’s plan was the answer to my problems. In all honesty, I didn’t really know what Gina’s plan was—or if she even had one. Maybe she did have a plan to correct the universe and have Nini come back to me and for me to take over the role of Troy Bolton. I just didn’t see that becoming a reality that night.

  I felt everyone at table ten staring at me. I kept up the facade and smiled. After all, I am an actor.

  A few guys from the water polo team passed me and patted me on the back. I knew I had to stick to the plan…whatever that plan was supposed to be. I had my eyes on the prize. I wanted Nini back—and the senior year that I thought was mine just a few days earlier.

  I spotted E.J. across the room getting punch for me. He was standing at a table where Mr. Mazzara was ladling punch with little enthusiasm. Mr. Mazzara didn’t seem to want to be there at all. I got that. At that moment, I didn’t want to be at the dance, either.

  I sighed and looked back at table ten. Ashlyn was still talking to Carlos, and Big Red was whispering to Ricky.

  The music was blasting and all around me kids were laughing and dancing. I weaved in and out of people on the dance floor, trying to keep a smile on my face. I smoothed out my sequins and made my way over to where E.J. was standing.

  Instead of greeting me with a smile, E.J. started laying into me about my lame plan. He wanted to know how I planned to execute my master scheme. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ricky and Big Red watching us. They were standing a few feet away and were probably trying to figure out what we were saying to each other. We didn’t look like the ideal homecoming dates, I’m sure.

  Ricky’s hurtful comments were still ringing in my ears and E.J. was pressing me about what our next move was. It was all kind of a lot.

  I just snapped.

  I reached for a cup of punch from the table and threw the drink over E.J.’s head. It wasn’t the most well-thought-out move of the evening. I simply lost my cool. As the red liquid dripped down his face, I ran out of the gym. I had to get out of there…and fast.

  I ducked into the girls’ bathroom down the hall. I was glad no one else was in there. I washed the sticky red punch off my hands and studied myself in the mirror. I leaned forward and looked straight into my own eyes.

  What a mess I was.

  When I had first seen those homecoming posters in the school hallway, I thought once I got E.J. to agree to take me, I would pull off a plan to make Nini jealous. Jealousy has a strange effect on people and I was hoping it might get Nini to quit the show. At the time, I thought this was a foolproof plan. Well, it hadn’t been. I glared at my reflection in the mirror.

  As motivated as I was to make Nini jealous, I had also been hoping to have some fun at my first high school dance. I didn’t really want to admit it, but I was excited about the dance. I wanted to wear my new sequined dress, and I spent a long time doing my hair and makeup. I knew E.J. was not interested in me, but still, he was a date. I thought we could at least have one dance under the bright disco ball in the decorated gym.

  I fixed my hair and then checked my phone. There were several likes and some cute comments on my post with E.J. Nini had seen my Instagram Story. I wondered what her reaction was when she saw that post. Was she upset? I had thought she’d be at the dance, but then I heard she went out with Kourtney and Miss Jenn instead. Was she having too much fun to even care? I guess in a way, I was the one jealous of her. I wished I had a loyal best friend and was out on a girls’ night.

  My phone buzzed, and I saw a text from my mom. Hope you are having fun!

  I had to laugh. Not so much, Mom, I wanted to respond. My mom always tells me to try to be number one in everything I do, but this usually makes me feel worse. I was definitely not a number one date that night. I started to type out a response but then just hit the dancing girl emoji. I didn’t think there was an emoji to truly capture how I was feeling at the moment and I knew my mom would like that reply. She texted a smiley face emoji back.

  I opened up my bag and took out my lip gloss. So much for me being a triple threat. Yes, I was good at dancing, singing, and acting, but I wasn’t so great at making friends, having a date, or keeping my cool. I’d had high hopes for things being different at East High, and so far I was failing miserably…at everything.

  I thought back to the auditions when I was following Carlos’s routine. I knew that my dancing skills had impressed him and Miss Jenn. I had been the lead many times before. I thought that maybe this was the school where I would find my place. I’d be the lead in the school’s production of High School Musical and make new friends in the cast and crew. I never imagined that I would end up crying in the bathroom at the homecoming dance. I wiped my tears away and took a couple of slow deep breaths. I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. “Pull it together, Gina,” I said. “You are better than this.”

  The bathroom door swung open and two juniors ran in laughing and singing. I could hear the music blasting from the gym. The two girls went to the sinks next to me and started to reapply their makeup. I smiled at them and dropped my lip gloss back in my bag. I could act like everything was fine. After all, I was an actress.

  I turned and walked out of the bathroom with confidence. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next, but I knew I had to get out of East High and away from the dance, E.J., and the rest of the cast sitting at table ten.

  I grabbed a bunch of napkins and mopped up the punch Gina had dumped on me. The sticky red drink was all over my face and on my nice new blue suit. This had made the whole ho
mecoming dance situation much worse. I shook my head and wiped off my sleeve. I felt really dumb standing in the middle of the gym with punch dripping down my face. While I’d always loved being the center of attention, this was not the kind of attention I liked. I was humiliated, and my date had split in the most dramatic way. I managed a small smile and held my head up as I made my way back to table ten.

  I slid into a seat next to Ashlyn. At least she was a friendly face. I knew she had seen Gina dump the punch over my head.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said. I tapped my fingers on the table.

  “Gina a little mad?” Ashlyn asked.

  “I guess so,” I said. I wagged my head. “Perfect night, huh?”

  I watched Carlos walk out to the middle of the dance floor. I had to hand it to him. He had guts. Seb still hadn’t shown up, but Carlos wasn’t going to take that rejection sitting down.

  Carlos stood at the center of the dance floor. “Born to Be Brave” started to play. He looked up at the bright disco ball hanging in the middle of the ceiling. Then he started to dance by himself.

  “I actually kinda feel bad for the guy,” I whispered to Ashlyn. Ashlyn gave me a harsh look. I guess she wasn’t feeling sorry for him. She wanted to support him. She stood up and went out to dance with Carlos.

  On the dance floor, Carlos and Ashlyn were smiling and having fun. Carlos’s enthusiasm was contagious, and more people went out on the dance floor to join him. He was leading a line dance with everyone surrounding him.

  I tapped my foot to the music, but I didn’t get up. At one point, Big Red left to dance, so I was alone at the table. Usually, everyone wanted to be where I was, and usually I was the center of the action.

  But not that night.

  That night I was sitting alone.

  It was hard to believe that just a few weeks earlier, I had been in the cafeteria with Nini and Kourtney, planning what to wear for the High School Musical auditions. My water polo buddies were around and I was king of the senior class. I lowered my head. Now I was alone, and I didn’t like that feeling at all.