The Last Present

by Wendy Mass

  Rory jumps up from her seat. “If you happen to wander off and run into me about a month before my twelfth birthday, please tell me not to mistake a drainpipe for a boulder at the Willow Falls Reservoir!”

  I laugh. “Angelina gave us strict orders to get in, get out, and not make any changes. Plus, if you hadn’t met Angelina that day, we wouldn’t have gotten to be friends.”

  “Okay, good point,” Rory admits. “Feel free to push me into the drainpipe if you see me, then.”

  “Poor Grace,” Tara says, frowning. “Can we go visit her?”

  “Her relatives are coming, so we might just be in the way.” I’m about to suggest we get back to the party when all three of our phones ring at once. We reach for one another and grab hands. Our phones almost never ring since everyone texts instead of calls. All our phones ringing at once can mean only one thing.

  A movie star has entered the building.

  “And David didn’t mind Jake getting all the attention?” my mom asks as she runs the brush though my hair an hour after the party ends.

  “Nope. I think he was happy to turn over the spotlight.”

  Mom looks at me in the bathroom mirror as she evaluates her work. It’s been years since she’s done my hair for me, but when she offered to style it for the premiere, I said yes. Knowing that I’ll be telling her “almost truths” for the next ten days makes me want to spend time with her while I can. Once the “near lies” start, I’ll want to keep my distance. That’s just the way it works.

  “After the lunch part, Jake and Tara’s cousin Emily performed their song from the play,” I add, happy to have something normal to talk about. Although for most people, being at the same party with the cutest teen actor in America wouldn’t be considered normal. But for me it was the most normal part of the day so far, which says a lot about my day!

  “Sounds wonderful,” Mom says as she smoothes some anti-frizz cream onto the ends of my hair. “What else?”

  “Well, then Jake convinced David and Connor to do their number. They stuffed pillows from the community center’s couches under their shirts and ran around singing and kicking their legs out. David burst one of his buttons! It went bouncing across the dance floor.” It was hilarious. And it was good to see Connor forget his troubles for a few minutes. “Then Bucky played the violin and Mrs. Grayson from next door played the piano. A bunch of the guys put David up in this chair, which is a tradition, I think. They even put his mom up in a chair!”

  “Sounds like a great day,” she says, laying down the brush on the counter. Then she says, “Wait, is Connor the older brother of the little red-haired girl, Grace? The one who played your youngest daughter last night?”

  “Um, yes,” I say, surprised. “Why?”

  Mom turns me around to face her. “Honey, she’s in the hospital. I don’t know what’s wrong, or how serious it is.”

  My jaw falls open.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure it can’t be too serious. This is Willow Falls, after all.” She tries to smile brightly, but it quickly falls away.

  “How … how did you find out about it?”

  “This is a small town, hon. I knew before lunch.”

  The doorbell rings before I can find out what else she knows. “That’s probably Leo and his parents.” She kisses me on top of my head. “I’ll offer his parents something to eat. You two can continue the game where you have conversations without actually speaking words to each other.”

  “You’ll be happy to know that game is ending soon,” I tell her, following her down the stairs.

  “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she says. “Or rather, when I hear it.”

  Leo and I go straight out the back door while the grown-ups settle themselves in the living room. The last thing I hear before sliding the kitchen door shut is our dads making bets on whose kid will spend more time on the editing-room floor than in the movie.

  We stop when we reach the middle of the yard. Neither of us has our blackboards on, which causes me a brief second of panic until I remind myself that we don’t need them. Leo clears his throat. I clear mine. I suddenly feel really shy, which is crazy. He’s been my best friend my whole life, if you don’t count that one year.

  He breaks the silence. “Hey, Amanda.”

  My stomach flips to hear his voice. Of course I’ve heard it all year, but not with my name included. I smile. “Hi, Leo.”

  “This feels … freaky. Good freaky,” he clarifies.

  “Yes, good freaky.” I can’t stop smiling.

  “Crazy year, right?”

  “And how about this going-back-in-time thing?”

  He grins. “Totally insane.”

  “Are we really doing this?”

  “I think we are.”

  We start talking over each other, saying anything that comes to mind just because we can. We don’t even notice the back door opening until Tara and Rory appear. “Hey!” Rory shouts. “You guys are talking to each other!”

  “Yup!” Leo says. “Just like regular folk.”

  “Don’t worry,” Tara says. “You guys will never be like regular folk.”

  I’m pretty sure she’s right. “You know I’m always happy to see you,” I say to them. “But, Rory, aren’t you going to the premiere with Jake?”

  Rory shakes her head. I can tell she put some extra effort into her hair. And she’s wearing a really pretty sundress with strappy sandals. “He has to do press stuff before the movie starts. Like interviews and pictures. I don’t want to be in the way.”

  “It must be bizarre having a famous boyfriend,” Leo says.

  “He’s not my … oh, forget it.”

  We all laugh. “I promise I won’t kiss my poster of him anymore,” Tara tells Rory. “Now that you and I are friends.” I can’t help notice her slight hesitation before saying the word friends. She’s so independent, much more than me. I think she’s still getting used to having a group of friends now. I’m really glad she’s staying in Willow Falls.

  “I left your sister’s dress in your kitchen,” Tara tells me. “I hope she won’t mind I wore it.”

  “She’s away at a summer program for a few more days, so she won’t even notice.”

  “She’s not going to be at the movie tonight?”

  I shake my head. “We’re not really very close anyway.”

  “My mom and her sister have only seen each other twice in, like, thirteen years,” Tara says, “but now they’re, like, best friends. Maybe it will be that way with you guys when you get older.”

  “Maybe,” I say. But I doubt it. I know Tara’s trying to make me feel better but I’ve gotten used to it.

  “Time to go, kids,” Mom calls out to us from the kitchen window. “Pick a car and pile in.”

  We trudge inside, all talking together. “It’s true!” my mother exclaims. She grabs Leo’s mom by the arm. “Look! The kids are talking to each other again!”

  “Let me see that,” Mrs. Fitzpatrick says, pushing the husbands out of the way. “Okay, speak!”

  Rolling his eyes, Leo turns to me, bows, and says, “Hello, Miss Ellerby. You look lovely this evening.”

  “As do you, Mr. Fitzpatrick.” I give an awkward curtsy.

  “No more chalk squeaking on blackboards!” Leo’s dad says.

  “No more texting at all hours of the day and night!” my mom adds.

  Dad puts his hands together like he’s praying. “Thank the gods above, it’s over!”

  Not the gods, I mentally correct him as we head out to the car. Angelina.

  The lights! The red carpet! The paparazzi’s bulbs flashing in my eyes! Granted, no one actually wants to take my picture. The chances of me rising to fame are practically nil. I wouldn’t want it anyway. I’d worry that every time I had a bad hair day (most days), I’d wind up on the front of some tabloid.

  The red carpet extends from the center of the closed-off cobblestone street straight into the movie theatre’s front door. The marquee screams PLAYING IT COOL STARR
ING JAKE HARRISON AND MADISON WATERS in foot-high letters. Usually our little theater gets only the movies that have already been out for months everywhere else. Getting one before it’s even out, well, that’s a Willow Falls first.

  All thirty-five extras are supposed to go in together, so we’re currently being held in this roped-off area to the left of the entrance. Our families and the other invited guests are gathered on the other side of the carpet. Tara and her cousin Emily wave from the front of the group. I feel bad that David’s missing this, but Tara told us he went to the hospital to be with Connor before he and his mom leave town in the morning. I guess if anyone knows how horrible it is watching helplessly while a family member is in the hospital, it’s David.

  Next to me, Rory is squeezing her old friend Annabelle’s arm with one hand and nervously twisting a pretty green earring with the other. A second later and she’s on the ground, searching in vain for the earring that is now lost among too many feet. Annabelle and I share a smile. This is the Rory we know and love! I don’t know Annabelle that well, but besides being super pretty and outgoing, she was a great friend to Rory last year when Rory was dealing with her own Angelina stuff. Stephanie was like that for me, during the year Leo and I were in a fight. I scan the crowd, but I don’t see her. I’m hoping she’s here.

  “Here they come!” someone shouts. I think it was Rory’s almost-five-year-old brother, Sawyer. He’s sitting on his dad’s shoulders, making him as tall as Tara’s dad, who is the tallest man I’ve ever seen. Rory’s and Tara’s parents went to school together, with Leo’s dad, too. I bet they never thought all these years later they’d be going to see their kids in a movie! Life is strange like that.

  The limo pulls up to the front of the theatre and two official-looking men with headsets clear the path. One of the men opens the back door, then steps aside. At first all we see is a girl’s leg, clad in a tall black boot. That’s enough to get the crowd yelling and clapping, though. The leg turns into Madison Waters, the female star of the movie. She’s a year older and may be even prettier than when she came here to film the movie. But I doubt she’s much nicer. And someone should have told her it’s weird to wear boots in July.

  Jake climbs out next. He’s changed out of the suit he wore to David’s party and is wearing nice jeans and a black shirt that on anyone else I’d call a T-shirt, but somehow on him it looks dressy. He steps beside Madison and lifts his arm up to wave to the crowd. Everyone hoots and claps. He was popular before, but after helping the town raise all that money for our local community theatre by being in the play last night, well, he can do no wrong.

  Madison scowls in obvious irritation at all the attention her costar is getting. She flashes a bright grin, slips her hand into Jake’s, and plants a kiss right on his mouth! The photographers catch every move.

  The cheers and shouts quiet for a second, before growing loud again. Now there are hoots, along with the shouts. Jake’s cheeks redden, but he doesn’t pull his hand away. Annabelle and I move closer to Rory, whose wide smile had only wobbled for a second. We each take one of her hands. She squeezes them gratefully. “I’m sure it’s just for publicity,” Annabelle assures her.

  She nods, her smile still plastered on her face. A few more limos have pulled up and more actors from the movie pile out, along with the director who looks just as scary as I remember, the assistant director Brenda who I liked a lot, and a lot of other important-looking people in suits and dresses. They glance around them, probably wondering what the heck they’re doing in our small town. A few of the women in heels twist their ankles on the cobblestones as they make their way toward the red carpet.

  Jake and Madison start their walk toward the theatre entrance. Now that he’s closer, I can see his smile has a definite element of a grimace to it and, whenever Madison steps too close, he steps away. It’s a subtle movement, but I notice it. So does Madison, because her smile widens in an effort to counter it.

  When the two of them are right in front of us, Jake stops and looks down. Then he pulls his hand free and bends over to pick something up. He opens his hand to reveal Rory’s lost earring. “This is yours, I believe?” He stares Rory right in the eye.

  She reaches out her hand for it, locking eyes with him. Madison looks from one to the other. “How did you know it was hers?”

  He doesn’t answer. Madison’s eyes narrow as she looks at Rory. A few seconds later she says, “I remember you! You’re that girl we were always laughing at! You kept falling down or swelling up. You were a disaster!”

  Jake leans in closer and whispers, “But you’re my disaster.”

  “C’mon!” Madison hisses, and yanks Jake away and toward the door.

  “I can trip her if you like. I’m stealth, like a ninja.” This is Kira talking, a fellow extra. She’s been in Rory’s debt ever since Rory suggested to the director that Kira looked enough like Madison from the back to stand in during a kissing scene.

  Rory laughs. “I might take you up on that later.”

  There’s no more drama as we file into the area reserved for the cast and crew. As we take our seats, we’re each handed a small bucket of popcorn and a reusable hard plastic water cup with a straw. Printed on the side of the cup is a copy of the movie poster.

  “Hey, Rory,” Leo says, leaning over me. “Your boyfriend’s on my cup!” Everyone around us laughs. Some of the older kids, who were extras with us, look uncertain.

  The whole room is buzzing with anticipation and it only grows as the theatre darkens and the movie comes on. The camera pans across the front of our school, though the sign over the clearly scrubbed and repainted entrance has been changed to THE RIDGEWOOD ACADEMY. I guess the Willow Falls school doesn’t sound Hollywood enough.

  I’m unable to eat any popcorn since I can’t take my eyes off the screen for a second. Everywhere I look is something both familiar and “moviefied.” Our school never looked so good. The colors are brighter, the halls wider. Familiar faces fill the corners of the screen while the action stays focused on the actors. Except when it comes to Rory! The camera lingers on her getting her leg bandaged on the soccer field. The scene where she gets hit in the face with a locker and Jake lectures her on the danger of texting while walking has the theatre howling with laughter.

  Since they filmed the movie out of order, it was hard to figure out the plot while we were making it. Now I get it. It’s your pretty typical teen romance: soccer star meets girl, girl wants to try out for boy’s soccer team, boy feels threatened, girl dumps boy, boy realizes he’s stupid, boy stands up to coach, girl gets on team, boy gets girl. It probably would have been just as good out of order! The rest of us extras can clearly be seen throughout the movie, often from the side or the back, but we know it’s us. Usually we’re doing something “studentish,” like pulling books out of our lockers, or pretending to talk as we hurry to class. It’s totally bizarre seeing myself on a huge screen, larger — much larger — than life. I try not to cringe at my hair, or whatever poor choice in outfits I happened to pick each day. I smile when I see my drumsticks tucked into my back pocket in a few scenes.

  I make a mental note not to slouch so much.

  In the dance scene at the end, the camera stays on our faces a little longer than usual. (Rory’s in the far background in this scene because her ear was currently a few times larger than normal and she was hiding it under a jaunty little cap.)

  At one point the boys (including Leo) are gathered by the dance floor. They are supposed to be gazing adoringly at Madison as she crosses the room. Leo, in a too-large suit he borrowed from his dad, is gazing right along with the rest of them. But when the camera pulls back, you can see the side of my face a few feet behind Madison. It’s clear he’s looking past her, right at me.

  I hear a few giggles from the crowd, and someone whistles. Rory gives my arm a warm squeeze. I can’t make myself look at Leo, so instead I look down at my lap and notice that my popcorn bucket is empty. I glance over in time to see Leo wiping his but
tery fingers on his jeans.

  “Thief,” I whisper.

  “Guilty as charged, ma’am.”

  The movie gets a standing ovation. The cast and a few people from the crew assemble up front where we’re allowed to ask them questions. First the director thanks everyone for being so welcoming and accommodating during their visit. Then the mayor of Willow Falls goes up front and presents the director with a key to the city. It’s a fake key, of course, but it’s enough to make the director wipe away a few tears. A reporter from an entertainment magazine asks Madison, “Now that you and Jake are back together … will you be wearing your promise ring again?”

  In response she flashes a big grin and holds up her ring finger. A large diamond glitters under the theatre lights. The crowd oohs and claps. Jake’s lips form into a thin line. I lean over to Rory and say, “Not real. We saw her give him back the old one last year.”

  “I know,” she whispers, still wearing her brave smile.

  After a few more questions Jake says, “I’d just like to extend my personal thank-you to the Willow Falls community. I’ve gotten to know a lot of you during the time we shot the film, and since then as well. There’s something special about this town and the people in it. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.” He looks right at Rory when he says this.

  Everyone claps wildly.

  “Madison,” the reporter shouts. “Will you be joining Jake when he comes back to town?”

  Her smile falters for a second. “I’ll have to check my schedule. I’m pretty busy.”

  All too soon one of the headphone guys ushers them out the back door and everyone stands up to go. Rory’s brother is beside himself with glee, bouncing from foot to foot while people come up to Rory and ask if those injuries were real.

  I bend down to pick up my pocketbook and manage to drop the contents all over the floor. My lip gloss, house key, phone, and Angelina’s notebook skitter across the floor and under the row of seats in front of us.