As the sun was rising, my eyelids began to droop and I finally fell asleep. Luckily, I didn’t have to be at the theater until it was time to get ready for the opening night performance. So I slept until the afternoon and probably would have kept on sleeping a few hours more, except Hailey Joanne decided it would be a good idea to shake me awake.
“Come on, wake up! It’s time for your surprise.”
“No, let me sleep. Please!”
“It’s one in the afternoon, you have to get up. Come on, you won’t be sorry!”
Groggy and stumbling, I followed her into the living room and saw—MY PARENTS!
“Are you kidding? OMGZ! What are you guys doing here?” I ran to Mom and Dada and crushed them into a group hug. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I had wanted them to come for the show, but Mom kept saying she couldn’t take off from work and the travel would be just too expensive.
Dada said, “Ms. Altovese wanted to have a meeting about the catering for her vow-renewal and very kindly suggested we do it here in New York.”
Mom added, “And since she was sending her private jet for your father, there was plenty of room for me to come along.”
My eyes started to fill with tears of happiness and gratitude, until I remembered—“What about Jasper? Is he all right? Where is he?”
“No need to pop your eyes out,” Mom said, laughing. “He’s fine. He’s at home with Mrs. Kennedy.”
I breathed out a dramatic sigh of relief and saw Hailey Joanne and Ms. Altovese watching us from the doorway. I ran over and gave each of them a hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
“You’re very welcome, Delight,” Ms. Altovese said. “We wanted your opening night to be as spectacular as could be.”
“We invited Isabelle too, but . . .” Hailey Joanne trailed off when her mother elbowed her.
I saw Ms. Altovese exchange a look with my parents, and I started to get a bad feeling. “What?” I said. “Will somebody please tell me what’s up?”
“Well, we invited her,” Mom said, “but she didn’t want to come.”
“Why not?”
Mom looked at Dada and he said, “She doesn’t think you’re friends anymore.”
I couldn’t believe Izzy, my bestie, would pass up a chance to fly to New York to see me in the play! Especially since it would mean getting away from her identity- and crush-stealing cousin Carmella. I had to get to the bottom of this, to find out what was really going on. “I’m going to call her right now.”
Mom said, “Okay, Mango, we’ll be here.”
As soon as I got to my room, I face2faced Izzy, but she didn’t pick up. I tried just regular calling and got voicemail, so I texted:
The little dots didn’t start pulsing. Was she busy? Or maybe her phone was off? I wracked my brain, trying to figure out what she could be doing . . . and then I realized that I hadn’t spoken to her in, well, almost a week. I had been so busy with run-throughs and tech rehearsals, for adding the lights, sound, costumes, and set changes to the production. There were some nights I didn’t leave the theater until one in the morning. If anybody would understand how hectic tech week could be, Izzy would. . . . Wouldn’t she?
There was a knock at the door, and Hailey Joanne popped her head in.
“What did Izzy say?” she asked, coming to sit beside me on the bed.
“Nothing! I tried everything, but she hasn’t answered my calls or my texts. Maybe she’s out and she left her phone at home?”
“Have you ever known Izzy to move five feet without her phone?”
“No.” Izzy broke out in a cold sweat if her phone wasn’t in reaching distance.
Hailey Joanne held up her phone. “You want me to find out what’s up?” I nodded, and Hailey Joanne face2faced Izzy, motioning for me to keep quiet.
I almost couldn’t believe it when Izzy picked up immediately. “Hailey Joanne?”
“Hi. I was just calling to see if you were okay. You know, since you didn’t come to New York and all.”
“Did Mango ask you to call?”
“No. Why?”
“Come on, Hailey Joanne, it’s not like we’re close enough for you to face2face me.”
“Okay, look, Mango is really upset that you’re not coming to see the show. She’s wondering why.”
“Tell her to check her phone log. Maybe then she’ll understand why.”
I knew it. She was mad because I hadn’t talked to her for about a week. How petty could she be? Hailey Joanne gave a slight shake of her head to keep me from talking.
“She’s been really busy with the show, you know.”
“Well I think the show has gone to her head. Now that she’s a star in New York, she’s too good to talk to her friends or at least the people she used to consider her friends.”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I grabbed Hailey Joanne’s phone, “How dare you say that about me! I haven’t changed at all!”
“Yes, you have. You only think about yourself. Every time we talk, you jump right into what’s happening in your exciting Off-Broadway life and then it’s 'Oh, by the way, what’s up with you?’ I’m always an afterthought.”
“I thought you wanted to know what was going on in New York. I was sharing what was happening to me to make you forget about how sick you were of your miserable cousin!”
“Don’t call my cousin miserable!”
“You’re the one who says you can’t stand her!”
“Only I can say that she’s my miserable cousin!”
“Great! Well, I hope you two will be miserable ever after together.”
“She already went back to Texas! Which you would have known if you answered any of my calls!”
“Then you can be miserable by yourself!” I ended the call and tossed Hailey Joanne’s phone on the bed. “I don’t care if I ever speak to her or see her again,” I declared.
“Mango . . .”
“I mean it! You know what, she’s just jealous. She thinks she should be here in New York because she thinks she’s the greatest star who ever lived. I was trying really hard to include her and make her feel like she was a part of everything, and then she goes and accuses me of being selfish and having a big head!”
“Mango, you need to calm down. Your show is opening tonight.”
“That’s another thing, she would pick today of all days to show her true colors. I would have been so happy if she’d come to see the show. I never meant to make her feel bad.” My face was hot. My eyes filled with tears. I lay down, turning my face away from Hailey Joanne. “Will you tell my parents I’m gonna shower, and then I’ll be down for lunch?”
“Sure,” she said. “Sorry. I never should have called her.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.”
When I heard the door close after Hailey Joanne left the room, I couldn’t help myself. I broke down and cried. Losing a best friend was something I should have been used to by now, but it really hurt. It hurt just as bad as it did before.
I felt strangely out of sync as the rest of the day went by, like when you watch a movie and the actors’ mouths are moving but the dialogue is a beat behind. I couldn’t get Izzy out of my mind. I was so angry with her! I kept making up arguments in my head to convince myself that it was all her fault and I should be glad she wouldn’t be a part of my life anymore.
Aunt Zendaya came to the Saint Voltaire to join Mom, Dada, and me for lunch, but even though the food was delicious and I was happy to be surrounded by my family, I had to force myself to stay present and pay attention. After we ate, Dada actually did have a meeting with Ms. Altovese to go over the menu for her vow-renewal ceremony. Mom and Aunt Zendaya decided to visit their old neighborhood, go shopping, and stop by my favorite Jamaican bakery so Mom could, in her words, “hug Miss Clover’s neck and give her a pair of tickets to the show.” I thought about going with them—maybe a plantain tart would make me feel better? But I decided not to, telling them I needed to rest up for opening night.
&nb
sp; As I headed back to my room, I must have looked some kind of way because Hailey Joanne offered to cancel the plans she’d made to hang out with Claxton. I assured her I would be fine. I wanted to be alone and I had lots of lost sleep to make up for anyway if I was going to be ready for tonight’s performance.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Yellow Roses
Backstage on opening night, everyone and everything was buzzing with excitement. The “company of parrots” had obviously been chattering, because as soon as I arrived, Bob called me into his office. He was wearing black cargo shorts and a T-shirt with a tuxedo print on it. He offered me a seat and sat down across from me.
“I heard about the fight with Izzy.”
“How?”
“Well, Hailey Joanne told someone and he told someone and so on and so on until TJ told me. He’s a little worried about you, and so am I. I know you girls are close.”
“Were close. We were besties. At least, that’s what I thought.”
Bob nodded sympathetically. “How’re you holding up?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was so angry before, but now I just feel numb . . . and maybe a little distracted.”
“When I’m feeling distracted or numb, it’s usually because I’m trying to avoid feeling the feelings I should be feeling. I don’t want to admit when I’m afraid or nervous or sad or hurt. So I retreat to a place inside myself where I don’t feel anything. But what do I always say when you get confused or worried about how to play a scene?”
I thought back to the first time we did Yo, Romeo! back when I was insecure so much of the time. “Start from where you are?”
“That’s right. Start from where you are. Your character is feeling exactly what you’re feeling.”
“But right now, I’m feeling nothing.”
“That’s what you think, but really, deep down, you’re feeling a lot. Right?”
My throat started to tighten, and my breath started coming in gulps. I was trying to keep the tears from spilling over. Bob took my hand and said, “Let it out, Mango. Let it all go.”
I cried. Not just an ordinary cry, but a big, gulping kind of cry with giant tears streaking my face and snot running from my nose. Bob came from behind his desk and held me as I sobbed into his shoulder. It was a good five minutes before I pulled myself together and realized I was wiping my nose on his tuxedo T-shirt.
“Sorry.”
“It’s A-okay. It’s 'snot’ a real tux anyway.”
Despite everything, I had to giggle at his corny joke.
“Now that you’ve got your feelings working again,” Bob said, “use them. You are Juliet, and Juliet is you. Start where you are and let the character and the play take you where you need to go.”
“I will,” I said, standing up.
“I’ll have the crew move your costumes and things downstairs to the second star dressing room, just for tonight. Is that all right? I think your feelings might still be a little tender to be hanging with the gang.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“And I’ll dig up an ice pack. So you don’t have to make your Off-Broadway debut with puffy eyes.”
“Five minutes. Five minutes to places!” Acorn’s voice rang out from the second star dressing room’s intercom.
“Thank you, five!” I called, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me. I looked at myself in the mirror. The ice pack had de-puffed my eyes, my hair and makeup were done, and my costume completed my look. I was Juliet. I was still feeling a bit fragile but I was ready to go. There was a soft knock at the door. “Come in.”
TJ stepped into the room, his hands behind his back. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Bob told the company to give you space tonight, so I guess I’m sort of breaking the rules.”
“I’m glad you did.” After the big fight with Izzy this morning, I had almost forgotten about TJ, what he had told me last night, the kiss . . . Looking into his kiwi green eyes now, I felt heat rising to my cheeks and I had to look away.
TJ cleared his throat. “I hope I didn’t weird you out with the stuff I said last night.”
“No, you didn’t . . . but . . . yeah, you kinda did.”
“Sorry.”
Just then, Acorn’s voice sounded over the intercom again. “Places. Places for the top of act one.”
“Thank you, places!” TJ and I said simultaneously, and then we both burst into laughs.
“Can we talk more later?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” TJ said. “I’m supposed to be on stage left, so I’d better scram.” As he turned to leave, I saw he was holding a vase with yellow roses behind his back.
“Nice flowers,” I said.
He turned back, blushing. “Oh! These are for you! Happy opening!” He handed me the vase.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful,” I said, blushing even harder.
“For hundreds of years, yellow roses have been a way to tell someone how much joy they bring to your life and how much you appreciate their friendship.”
The intercom speaker crackled a third time. “Places, people!”
TJ jumped. “Gotta go!”
“Break legs!” I called.
I lifted the flowers to my nose and took a whiff. No boy had ever given me roses before. It made feel special. After setting them in the center of my dressing table, I finally left my dressing room and headed for stage right, where I’d make my first entrance. It was time. My parents, my aunt, and my friends were in the audience, and I was ready to give them my best performance ever.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
A Lot to Learn
Opening night. Off-Broadway, in New York City! What could be more exciting? I was in my first professional production. I was one of the stars of a show that could go all the way to Broadway! It should have been the highlight of my summer, but then the curtain parted and Gabriel Faust swaggered onstage and nothing went as I expected.
The actual show went pretty well, I guess. At least the parts of it I could hear. The thing was, whenever Gabriel Faust appeared onstage or sang a song, about fifty girls in the audience screamed their throats out. Fifty girls, in a theater with only ninety-nine seats! It was so weird. When he made his first entrance and the screams started, I thought the set must be falling or that something else catastrophic was happening. But it was just him. These “Faustnatics” were relentless! The only time they calmed down was when he wasn’t onstage. Then the energy level in the theater plummeted—until he returned. At least that was how it felt to me.
During the curtain call, the Faustnatics rushed the stage, tossing flowers and gifts to their idol. He winked and blew kisses at them, reveling in the sensation he was causing. It was a little weird for the rest of us, but at least we would probably sell out the entire run if Gabriel and his Faustnatics kept this up.
When I got back to my dressing room, I was so tired, I didn’t even close the door and just plopped down on my chair without removing the silver sequined gown I wore in the final scene. I heard a knock, and then Bob poked his head in. “Mango, you were magnificent!” he gushed.
“I was?” I couldn’t be sure, with all the fan-demonium over Gabriel. I didn’t think anyone could hear the dialogue or the songs.
“Are you kidding? You had half the audience in tears when Juliet died.”
I sighed. “They were probably crying for Gabriel Faust.”
“Listen, don’t fall for that stunt.”
“Stunt?”
“I’ll just say this, and if you tell anyone, I’ll deny deny deny. Frances Francisco, the manager to the stars, demanded a block of fifty tickets and, well . . . let’s just say she tilted the scales in her client’s favor.”
My jaw dropped. “For real?”
“Oh, my sweet, innocent Mango. You have a lot to learn.”
“Mango!” A bunch of voices called my name, and when I looked to the door of my dressing room, all of a sudden, there were so many people! Mom, Da
da, Aunt Zendaya, Hailey Joanne, Ms. Altovese, TJ, and the Yo, Shady-O crew all piled in, congratulating me and showering me with hugs and kisses. Surrounded by all these people I cared about, I started to feel like maybe I did pretty okay after all.
The cast party was held onstage. It was pretty low-key, especially compared to the party we’d had at Hailey Joanne’s the night before. Gabriel Faust never really joined us, except for the toast from Bob, Larry, and the producers. Afterward, Frances Francisco escorted her client to the stage door, where he signed autographs and posed for selfies with his fans. Then he and Destiny Manaconda were whisked away in his luxury SUV.
With Gabriel gone for the night, everyone seemed to let out a breath and relax. TJ was in the pit, jamming with the band. Aunt Zendaya and Acorn were sitting very close to each other on the stairs leading up to the dressing rooms, talking and laughing. Hailey Joanne and Claxton were dancing on the stage. Chelsea, Chanté, and LaRon were all busy entertaining their boyfriends, so I was kind of by myself. But that was fine. I wasn’t in much of a party mood anyway.
Walking back to my dressing room, I was intercepted by Zippy. Ever since she accused me of lying and quit being my escort, we hadn’t had much to do with each other outside of our shared scenes. So I was surprised when she grabbed my arm and told me, “Hey, kiddo, you were surprisingly good out there tonight.”
“Uh . . . thanks.”
“I was laying bets you’d choke. I mean, with all your best friend drama and this being your first time in a real show and all, I figured you’d go down in flames. But on the contrary, you came through. Good for you.”
Summer in the City Page 17
