Holly's Heart Collection Two

by Beverly Lewis

  Dear Andrew, I began. It was important to address him by his first name since I wanted to respond on his level, to reassure him just how mature I already was.

  What a fabulous job you’re doing on The Sound of Music. Thanks for working so hard to make it a success.

  I couldn’t work my way into the nitty-gritty without some sort of compliment.

  Also, thanks for sharing your thoughts with me Saturday. It meant a lot.

  I have a great idea. Let’s get together sometime and discuss things further. Maybe over coffee or tea?

  I chose coffee because that’s what adults usually say when they want an excuse to tie up a restaurant booth for at least an hour. And tea? That’s what Mom drinks when her nerves are frayed. The peppermint variety. For sure my own nerves would be a little on edge if Mr. Barnett agreed.

  In keeping with my original plan, I decided not to sign my name, but wrote: Most sincerely, You-know-who.

  Ecstatic about my plan, I folded the stationery and slid it into a matching envelope. I didn’t lick it. Not yet. It was only Saturday night and Monday seemed far away. Who knows? I might want to read the note again—so I hid it in Marty Leigh’s latest mystery novel, replacing the bookmark.

  Sunday, the next day, was both strange and sweet. Danny and Jared expected me to sit with them in Sunday school. And on the chair right between them, no less. Paula and Kayla snickered into their Bibles, while Stan shot Andie a knowing look.

  It was a good thing Andrew Barnett was nowhere in sight. He’d think I was just another silly eighth grader, trying to juggle more than one guy friend at a time. I was poised first on one edge of my chair, and then the other, trying to keep my arms from touching either Danny or Jared, depending on how close either one leaned at any given moment. Most girls would have been flattered having two cute guys vying for their attention, but not me. My sights were set higher now.

  Monday came at last and, lucky for me, Paula was working as a student-aide in the office before school. I was in a big hurry, as usual. Motioning her over, I whispered my intentions. “Can you put this in Mr. Barnett’s box for me?”

  Her eyes brightened. “What’s this about?”

  “I’ll tell you at lunch.”

  She took the envelope, and I turned around. Holding my breath, I waited outside the office. When I was sure she’d had time to sneak off to the faculty mail area, I peeked my head around the doorway. She grinned at me. It was the only sign I needed.

  Feeling mighty smug, as well as eager for his response, I sailed off toward my locker.

  Jared was waiting.

  “You’re not going to sing to me today, are you?” I teased.

  “How about we practice our duet, you know the one—‘Something Good’?” He leaned against the locker door.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” I said, pushing him away. That song was supposed to end with a long kiss. At least, that’s how it was in the movie. We still didn’t know what Mr. Barnett wanted us to do there. And I wasn’t about to ask.

  “You’re not worried about that scene, are you?” he asked, a silly frown on his face.

  “I, uh, guess not.”

  He pushed his hands into his jeans pockets. “Funny, isn’t it?”

  There was an awkward silence.

  “What’s funny?” I said.

  “There just aren’t enough girls like you to go around, Holly-Heart.” There was a sober ring to his voice.

  I broke the spell. “Don’t be weird.” I found my books for science and closed my locker.

  “I mean it.” He fell in step with me as I headed to first period. “Danny thinks so, too.”

  Oh great, I thought. Now they were conferring with each other about me.

  “C’mon, Holly. Don’t be mad. I mean, what’s a guy to do? We can’t ignore you.”

  “You could try.” I waved him on as I opened the door to Mr. Ross’s class, thinking only of the note I’d written to Mr. Barnett. And his response to it. What would it be?

  After school, we met for play practice. Today we were going to work through the speaking parts onstage. Excited and very nervous, I hurried into the auditorium.

  Danny and his stage crew sat on the edge of the stage, waiting for instructions from Miss Hess and Mr. Barnett. I sat between Paula and Andie, hoping to escape Jared’s attention, but he squeezed in next to me, making Andie slide over.

  Mr. Barnett passed out a rehearsal schedule. I glanced over it, wondering how I’d ever survive the next few weeks. While he gave instructions for blocking, I wondered if he’d checked his mailbox yet, or read my note. If he had, he wasn’t letting on. Not by a secret smile or even a look. Maybe that meant he hadn’t had a chance to check.

  “Okay, let’s start with act one, skip to scenes two and three,” he said, cupping his hand over his mouth to amplify his voice. “Everyone pretend we’re in the Nonnberg Abbey, back in the thirties, in Salzburg, Austria.”

  Andie, Kayla, Joy, and Shauna took their places in the imaginary abbey, pretending to be solemn and nunlike. Andie’s face was so solemn it was actually funny as she took her place behind the Reverend Mother’s desk.

  My throat felt dry as I took my place onstage. In the scene, Maria had just come in from singing and frolicking in the hills of Austria when the Mother Abbess calls her into her office for a chat.

  Things went well with that scene. Andie behaved herself, trying to act holier than anyone onstage. It was a kick. She actually folded her hands and walked around looking rather stuffy.

  When it came time for me to meet Captain von Trapp in the great hall at the von Trapp villa, I kept spotting a nose and a pair of eyes peeking through the curtains in front of me. Very distracting. I motioned to the person, whoever it was, to close the curtain. “Go away,” I whispered while Jared said his lines. It was in the middle of the captain’s dialogue, where he instructs me how to call his seven children with a whistle.

  Suddenly Mr. Barnett came up onstage. “Holly?”

  “Yes?” I answered, glancing at his shirt pocket, wondering if my note had been tucked away for safekeeping.

  “Are you practicing lines while Jared is speaking?”

  “Oh no. It’s that.” I pointed to the gap in the curtains. Quickly, they sprang shut.

  “Carry on,” Mr. Barnett instructed. And we did.

  Later, during the romantic scene between Maria and Captain von Trapp, the nose and eyes appeared through the curtains again. This time, a wisp of auburn hair showed, as well. The hair gave him away. It was Danny, spying on scenes where Jared’s and my character were supposed to be romantically involved.

  After practice, I located Danny backstage. “Have fun snooping today?”

  He ignored me, shuffling around with props and things.

  “You really could be watching from the audience,” I suggested. “Why’d you take this stage manager job, anyway, if you’re just going to gawk?”

  He shook his head innocently, but I was sure I knew the answer. Finally he left, and I was searching for my script when I overheard Miss Hess and Mr. Barnett talking together.

  “You could’ve signed your name,” he was saying to her.

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Miss Hess answered coyly.

  I held my breath as I eavesdropped backstage.

  His smile gave way to a grin. “Oh, you can deny it, but I’m telling you it was a nice surprise.”

  I peeked through the curtain as he continued. “I think we ought to discuss things further over coffee, or is tea better for you?”

  I nearly choked. Andrew was totally mixed up. He thought Miss Hess had written the anonymous note—my note. It was all I could do to keep from leaping through the curtains and setting the record straight.

  As Mr. Barnett planned their rendezvous for tomorrow after school at the Soda Straw, Miss Hess smiled back at him, obviously delighted. There she stood, just outside the orchestra pit, letting him think whatever he wanted. Letting my note do the job she’d probably hoped to
do all along!

  I gripped the folds of the curtain. End of act two, scene two. So much for my crazy little scheme. The curtain had come crashing down around me, without any applause.

  STRAIGHT-A TEACHER

  Chapter 12

  I waited, watching as they left the auditorium together. The custodian came in to turn out the lights before I could muster the strength to come out and face the empty chairs. People or no people, there would be a grand musical here, and I was Maria, the star of the show. Mr. Barnett had thought I was the best choice for the lead. He’d said I was the perfect Maria.

  Was that all I was? Just a talented drama student? With a heavy heart, I trudged down the steps and walked the long aisle to the back doors, replaying the conversation in his car.

  What was all his talk about age differences? Was he actually referring to Miss Hess?

  Andie and Paula waited for me at the bus stop. Running to meet them, I nearly tripped, but I caught myself.

  “Watch out,” Paula called.

  “I’m okay,” I said. And I was—on the outside. Inside I was a wreck.

  The bus arrived and its door screeched open.

  “Good practice today,” Andie said, jostling for a seat in the back of the bus. She and I sat together. Paula sat in front of us, saving a place for her twin, who was running down the street, frantically flagging the driver.

  Andie giggled. “Look at Kayla go.”

  “You should see her jog around the courthouse,” I said. “You too, Paula. You guys are fast.” It almost made me wish I’d gone out for track instead of the musical.

  “You look terrible, Holly,” Andie offered.

  “Thanks, I needed that.”

  Paula turned around just as an exhausted Kayla slumped into the seat next to her. “Holly, you okay?”

  I sighed. “The note I sent Mr. Barnett backfired,” I said, feeling more foolish than ever. “Guess I should’ve signed my name.”

  “Are you crazy?” Andie said. “No way!”

  “What happened?” Paula asked.

  I told them the conversation I’d witnessed between Miss Hess and Mr. Barnett.

  “You’re kidding.” Kayla turned around, suddenly coming to life. “Miss Hess likes Mr. Barnett?”

  “Sure seems like it,” I said. “Now what should I do?” I felt like crying.

  “You could always write another note,” Paula suggested. “Just tell him you wrote the first one and sign your name this time.”

  “No, no!” Andie was emphatic. “Holly can’t be stupid about this. There’s a better way.”

  “If he really does like me, like he said on Saturday, then what’s to lose?” I said. “Why couldn’t I write him another letter?”

  “Wait a minute,” Andie said. “Try to remember everything he said on Saturday.”

  What was she getting at?

  Andie took a deep breath. “Here’s the deal. If there’s the slightest chance that Mr. Barnett was thinking about Miss Hess, or some other older woman, you’ve simply misread him. But if he was actually talking about you and him, well…that’s what we’ve gotta find out.”

  “And as soon as possible,” I said. “Or else Miss Hess could move in on him.”

  “You might have another problem,” Paula said. “What if he is interested in you, and he’s not a Christian. What then?”

  “Yeah,” Andie said. “You know the verse in the Bible about not being yoked together with unbelievers. Besides, your mom won’t let you date till you’re fifteen anyway. He’d have to wait a whole year.”

  “More than that, since he’s already in college,” I said, wishing I could ignore that fact.

  “Plus he’s our student teacher right now. There’s no way he could go out with a student.” Paula sighed.

  “Do you think he’ll wait for you if it turns out he’s…well, you know, interested in you?” Andie asked.

  “Why not?” I said. “The way I see it, he’d have a chance to finish his degree and get settled into a good teaching position, maybe even here in Dressel Hills.”

  Kayla giggled. “Looks like you’ve got it all worked out…in your head.”

  “Wait a minute,” Andie said, looking serious. “When’s your article coming out?”

  Kayla gasped. “You mean she interviewed Mr. Barnett for the school paper?”

  Andie nodded slowly. “You betcha. This girl doesn’t waste time. When’s it coming out?” she repeated.

  I said, “Next week, I think.”

  “That’s good,” said Andie excitedly. “Because when it’s out, here’s what you do. You take your copy to Mr. Barnett and ask him to sign it. You know, get his autograph, since he’ll be leaving at the end of the school year.”

  I groaned. “What’ll that do?”

  “Hold on a minute,” Andie said as Paula and Kayla looked on, wide-eyed. “It’ll give you a chance to talk with him again. We’ll even guard the choir room doors, won’t we, girls?”

  The Miller twins nodded in sync.

  “Sounds ridiculous,” I said, thinking I was in way over my head.

  Andie got huffy suddenly. “Well, Holly, if you don’t like that, you could always try the direct approach. Just blurt it out—ask him what he meant by all that age stuff.”

  “Now, there’s a thought,” I whispered sarcastically. But I had a better plan. One I wasn’t going to reveal. Not in a zillion years.

  When Downhill Court came up, I prepared to exit through the back door of the bus. I could see that Andie was over the worst. She was talking a mile a minute to the Miller twins. That’s how she was. Mad one minute, best friends the next.

  “See ya,” I called to them.

  “Call me,” Paula said.

  “Me too,” Andie said.

  “See you tomorrow.” I stepped off the bus and headed across the street, intercepting the mail truck. I waited for the mail carrier to sort our mail, noticing Daddy’s handwriting on one of the envelopes. Feeling guilty about not responding to his good news earlier, I hurried into the house with the mail.

  Uncle Jack and the younger boys were doing math at the dining room table. Uncle Jack looked up as I came in. “Late practice?” he asked.

  “It’ll be this way from now till opening night.” I handed the mail to him but kept the letter addressed to me from California.

  He spotted the envelope in my hand. “I hear your dad recently became a Christian.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “That’s terrific,” he said, running his fingers through the top of his hair. “I’ve been praying for him since before I married his sister twenty years ago.”

  “Wow,” Phil said. “That’s a long time.”

  “You’re not joking,” Mark piped up. “I prayed for a boy at school, you know, back in Pennsylvania, and he just got worse.”

  “But you didn’t give up, did you?” Phil asked soberly.

  “Not really, but I got tired of being bullied. I prayed the Lord would make him move away or turn him into a Christian.” Mark bit the eraser on his pencil.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “God didn’t answer either of my prayers, but He did do something else.”

  Uncle Jack grinned like he knew the answer.

  “God moved us out here.” Mark blinked his eyes, smiling.

  “Our Lord works in mysterious ways,” Uncle Jack said. “Right, kiddo?” He looked at me. And somehow I felt he understood my struggle about my father becoming a Christian.

  “People are mysterious, too, sometimes,” I muttered, heading for the stairs. What I really meant to say was: Why did Daddy’s decision for Christ upset me so much? It was wrong for me to hang on to something that had happened five years ago.

  In my room, I sat on my window seat, letting Goofey curl up beside me. Slowly, almost fearfully, I opened the letter from sunny California.

  STRAIGHT-A TEACHER

  Chapter 13

  Daddy’s letter was a rundown of church-related activities. He was even attending a
businessmen’s prayer breakfast every Saturday. He didn’t comment about the fact that I hadn’t answered his last letter, but he’d heard about our school musical and that I had been chosen to play Maria. The news of the musical had come from Grandma Meredith, his mother, who still kept in close contact with Mom. In fact, Mom talked on the phone with her several times a month. She and Grandpa had always said we were still their family in spite of the divorce. And now even more so, since Mom had married their former son-in-law, Uncle Jack.

  I held the letter in my hands, letting the late afternoon sun beat on it. Tears filled my eyes as I remembered the years of my prayers for Daddy. The man who’d abandoned us. God had forgiven him; so should I. But when I prayed, I could only say, “Thank you, Lord, for answering my prayers about Daddy.” The forgiving part would have to come later. If at all.

  Picking up Goofey, I gave him a hug. “It’s time to invite someone very special to come see The Sound of Music, junior-high style,” I told my cat.

  Goofey began licking his paws, giving himself a bath on the sun-dappled window seat. I went to my desk, pulled out some plain stationery, and began writing.

  When I finished, I read the letter. “Daddy probably won’t come, you know,” I said over my shoulder to Goofey, who was now sound asleep. “He’s too busy with his work. That’s how it’s always been. But at least he knows I want him to come.”

  I added a P. S. to the letter: I’m up to my eyelids in scripts and rehearsals. That’s why I haven’t written.

  I walked out to the mailbox to mail my letter, wishing with all my heart he’d arrange his schedule and come see the performance. But knowing Daddy, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

  By fourth period the next morning, Andie had heard some strange rumors about Jared and me. “Everyone’s talking about the romantic scene in the play,” she said. “I’ve heard that Jared plans to kiss you for real.”

  “Just let him try,” I said, boiling mad.

  Andie giggled. “C’mon, Holly, it’s not like you haven’t thought about what it would be like.”