A Whole New League (Briarwood High Book 2)

by Maggie Dallen

  “Come on, baby, do it for me,” she wheedled.

  I leaned back against the hood of my car as she leaned into me, her hands stroking my chest in a way she knew I liked. Damn, she was good.

  Practice had just ended and I found Hayley waiting for me by my car. I should have known something was up. She’d been weirdly distant lately, a fact that had been making me anxious. We hadn’t been together long—we’d started hooking up at the end of last year and then made it official when we showed up to our friend Melody’s Fourth of July party together.

  Everyone seemed to think we made the perfect couple. For a while there I thought they were right. We’d had fun, we made each other laugh, we had the same friends.

  And then things got weird right before school started up. It was also when football practices started in earnest so I figured maybe that was it. Maybe she wasn’t cool with how much time I’d been spending with the team or something.

  Then they announced homecoming court and we were on it and that seemed to get some of our mojo back, but things still seemed off. Like she wouldn’t text me back right away, or she’d get cranky with me for really weird things.

  I didn’t have a lot of experience with relationships so I couldn’t tell if I was overreacting or what. I didn’t want to talk to the guys on the team about it and I wasn’t close enough with her friends to ask.

  But now today, suddenly she was back to being all sweet and lovey-dovey again. I mean, she just called me “baby,” when’s the last time she did that when no one else was around?

  I grinned down at her, so happy with this new turn of events in my relationship that I didn’t really think about what she was asking me to do.

  She was kidding, right? I mean, she had to be kidding. Brian Kirkland didn’t do plays.

  Her pout turned to a small, secretive smile, like she knew she’d gotten her way. Man, my girlfriend was a force of nature. “So you’ll do it?” she cooed. “You’ll try out for the role of Ernest?”

  “What? No,” I laughed. “Are you crazy? I can’t act.”

  “How do you know unless you try?”

  See? I told you she was stubborn. Maybe it was because she was an only child, or maybe because she was hot as hell…whatever the reason, she was used to getting her way. As her boyfriend, I was very well aware of this fact.

  She always got her way with me. But this? This was asking too much.

  I ran a hand through my hair, trying to ignore that thing she was doing with her fingers as her hands trailed over me. “Babe, I’ve got football practice and games and—”

  “Rehearsals won’t really get underway for a while, and opening night isn’t until well after playoffs ends. You can totally do both.”

  I stared down at her for a second. She was serious.

  Hayley wanted me to audition to be her leading man. Even though she’d only auditioned an hour ago and the auditions weren’t even done yet, it went without saying that she’d get the part she wanted.

  Did I mention that Hayley had a way of getting what she wanted?

  “Why?” I asked, honestly baffled. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why she’d want me to do this when she’d never seemed interested in me acting before. Hell, she’d never even shown much interested in my football career. Which was fine, I didn’t need her to love football or anything, just like I assumed she didn’t need me to love the theater.

  I shifted from foot to foot. Is that what this was about? Was she trying to give us something in common other than homecoming and our mutual friends?

  The thought was oddly touching.

  She tugged at my T-shirt and looked up at me with those doe eyes of hers from beneath her thick black eyelashes. “I think it’ll be good for us, baby. Just think of all the time we’d spend together.”

  My heart just about melted in my chest. I honestly didn’t know Hayley had such a soft side. I mean, I’d seen her be nice to people—it’s not like she was some raging harpy. But I’d never really seen her be vulnerable and open. She’d never asked anything of me, at least not emotionally, and this…this felt like a step, of some sort. Like she was opening up to me.

  I almost said yes to that alone, but then…me? In a play? I still couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. I was a jock, everyone knew that. I lived for the game and so did all my buddies. We all thought it was cute that Hayley was into it. But then, she was a girl. Singing and dancing in front of a crowd of people was hot on her. But me?

  The guys would never let me live it down.

  Hayley seemed to be reading my mind. “You know everyone will think it’s cool if you do it.” She rolled her eyes as she gave me a teasing grin. “Every freshman on the team will be lining up to audition behind you if you say it’s the cool thing to do.”

  I grinned down at her. Yeah, I knew she was stroking my ego but it was still working. Because, quite frankly, she had a point. Not to be too cocky but, I was kind of a trendsetter like that. I’d learned long ago that if you had enough confidence you could make anything cool. You just had to own it.

  I straightened a bit at that thought. Could I really make everyone think it was cool if I did a show with my girl?

  She batted those pretty eyelashes at me and I felt myself crumble.

  Hell yeah, I could. I’d own it. I’d be the best damned actor this school had ever seen and I’d show them how it was done. By the time the spring musical came around I’d have half the team vying to battle it out for a lead role.

  Hayley tugged on my shirt. “What do you say, baby? Will you do it?” There were those big, impossible-to-deny doe eyes again. “For me?”

  Ah hell. I was a goner. “Sure,” I said with more confidence than I felt. But then, that’s the key to this game. You’ve got to act like you know exactly what you’re doing.

  Hayley let out a little squeal and clapped her hands. “Really?”

  “Sign me up,” I said, all gallant and noble. I couldn’t lie, my ego was loving this. First Hayley was opening up to me and asking me to join her in something she loved, and now?

  Well, now I was her freakin’ hero.

  She went up on tiptoe to plant a kiss on my lips, her hands grasping my cheeks as she made an over the top “mwah!” sound that made me laugh.

  “You are not going to regret this,” she said.

  Famous last words. The voice came from somewhere cold and cynical and I refused to listen.

  Just look at her. Those gorgeous eyes were lit up with joy. I’d done that. Was it a little crazy to be trying out for a play when I didn’t know the first thing about acting? Maybe. Was it even weirder that I didn’t know what the play was or what I was supposed to be trying out for?

  Um…yeah.

  “So, what exactly am I getting myself into here?” I asked.

  Hayley started rattling off information but all I really got was the name Ernest. I was going to play a guy named Ernest? Lame name, but okay.

  “Auditions for the male roles are tomorrow after school,” she said.

  “I’ve got practice and I—” My protest was overruled.

  “I’ll talk to Alice,” she said. “I’m sure they can wait for you to audition after practice.”

  Something inside me took a nose dive at the name. “Alice?”

  “Alice Kern?” Hayley said as though I might not know the name. As if Alice hadn’t been in our class since kindergarten. As if Alice hadn’t been my best friend for the first thirteen years of my life, give or take.

  “Yeah, I know who Alice is.” Did anyone not? Actually, yeah, quite a few of my buddies on the team probably wouldn’t recognize the name, but those would be the idiots who’d taken one too many hits to the head. Some of them were clueless that there were any other students other than the team and the cheerleaders. Add to that the fact that Alice seemed to have made it a mission to become invisible in the halls of Briarwood, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them had forgotten she’d ever existed.

  But I wasn’t one of the
m.

  Hayley kept talking, seemingly unaware of the ill effects that particular name had on me. “She’s the stage manager,” Hayley explained. “She runs the auditions and schedules the rehearsals. You know, all that boring stuff.”

  “Mmm.” Sounded about right. Alice always did love to be in charge, but she hated attention. Stage manager was right up her alley.

  “Find her tomorrow,” Hayley said as she pulled out her phone and started texting someone. “See if she’ll give you a copy of the scene they’re doing for auditions so you and I can rehearse together at lunch.”

  I stared down at her but Hayley didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t keeping up with this plan. I mean, I understood it intellectually, but I was so not into it. I hadn’t spoken to Alice in years, I didn’t exactly relish the idea of asking her for a favor.

  Hayley finally looked up. “What’s wrong?”

  “I think you should ask her tomorrow morning,” I said. “You know her and I’ve got an early morning workout in the weight room, and—”

  And I’m a wuss.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Hayley said with a shrug. “I’ll get a copy and meet you before lunch. We can—”

  Her attention was caught by something behind me. Her face lit up again and she squeezed my arm. “We don’t have to wait. I’ll get it for you now and we can rehearse tonight at my house.”

  I was distracted by the sexy come-hither way she smiled when she said “my house.” My mind instantly went to what was inside Hayley’s house. Her bedroom, for example.

  We’d been taking things slowly, and they’d slowed down to nearly nonexistent these past few weeks. That was another reason I’d thought she’d been pulling away. But now everything was different. She was different. And maybe if I was lucky, that meant we wouldn’t be in the slow lane for much longer.

  Those dirty thoughts had me so thoroughly occupied that I didn’t fully think through what she’d said. I didn’t piece it together, not until she shouted out a name. “Alice!” she said, already heading past me to catch up with the tiny blonde who was walking with her head down toward the beat up old VW bug that was so familiar to me.

  I saw that junker parked on the curb in front of our house every day. Every time I saw it I got annoyed. Didn’t she have a life? Didn’t she ever go out?

  But none of that mattered now because I’d lost control of the moment. My girlfriend was chasing down my former best friend and I had no idea what to do with myself. Did I just stand here like a moron and let my girlfriend ask a favor on my behalf, or did I man up and go over there and get this over with?

  If I was going to do this stupid play I’d have to get used to being around Alice Kern. And she was just going to have to deal with being around me.

  With that thought, I chased after Hayley who was chasing after Alice, shouting her name. What a sight we must have made with our impromptu game of tag. I caught up to Hayley quickly and once we drew near Alice it was clear why she was ignoring us.

  She hadn’t heard us. She had earbuds in and her expression had that vague look of someone who’s lost in thought.

  What’s she daydreaming about? There was that unbidden voice again, chiming in when it wasn’t wanted. But despite my annoyance I found myself honestly curious. It had been so long since we’d been friends, I no longer had a clue what she dreamt about. I didn’t know what she wanted, what her plans were for the future, who she liked.

  Pretty much all I knew for certain these days was that she didn’t like me. That much she made abundantly clear.

  We were only a couple feet away when she finally heard us and she literally jumped in the air at the sight of us running toward her.

  Can’t say I was too surprised. She’d always had been a fraidy-cat.

  She scrambled to take her earbuds out and gave us each a searching look, though she looked away quickly when my gaze met hers.

  Yup. She still hated me.

  Whatever, it didn’t matter to me. I just had to deal with her for Hayley’s sake, that was all.

  “Alice,” Hayley said with a big smile. “I’m so glad we caught you.”

  Alice’s eyes darted in my direction warily before turning back to Hayley. “Um, you are?”

  Hayley wrapped an arm around one of mine like I was her ginormous teddy bear. “I finally convinced Brian that he needs to audition.”

  Alice blinked at her, clearly not nearly as thrilled with this announcement as Hayley was. “Audition?”

  Or maybe she didn’t speak English. The statement seemed to have thrown her for a loop. Granted, I was still trying to wrap my head around what I’d just agreed to as well, but still…she didn’t have to look quite so perplexed. It wasn’t like Hayley had just announced I was running for president.

  And then I caught it. That smirk. There and gone in an instant but it was classic Alice. That smirk made me want to spit. All the old anger came rushing back. I’d forgotten how smug and sarcastic she could be.

  “For The Importance of Being Earnest,” Hayley explained quickly, as if anyone had any doubt what she was talking about. “I think he’ll make an amazing Ernest, don’t you?”

  Alice’s features scrunched up as if she was still confused. “Um…”

  No. That “um” was a no, but Hayley didn’t seem to notice.

  I stiffened though. What the hell did Alice Kern know about acting? And how would she know if I could act or not?

  Perhaps because she’d stood next to you while you nearly peed yourself in the fifth-grade production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown?

  Well, yeah. There was that. But that was ages ago. I wasn’t that kid anymore, just like Alice wasn’t the sweet, quirky, funny little girl she’d once been. Now she was just…bitter. Cold. She was like a little old lady with her big sweaters and her severe looks of disapproval.

  She was a spinster librarian in a cute teen body.

  No, not cute. She could have been cute if she ever tried, but instead it was like she went out of her way to be a boner killer.

  Hayley smiled up at me after her request for scene pages. “I’m going to help him rehearse. I just know he’ll get the role.”

  I grinned down at her. At least my girlfriend had confidence in me.

  “I’m sure he will,” Alice muttered. It was so low I almost missed it, but the words shocked me so much I looked straight at her. Was she being sarcastic?

  No. Not sarcastic, just…pissed. I was so stunned by the sudden hatred in her eyes I felt my jaw go slack. What the hell was that about?

  She covered it up quickly, giving Hayley a tight smile. “I have the scenes for tomorrow’s auditions in my car.”

  “Great!” Hayley followed close behind her, seemingly oblivious to Alice’s intense dislike for me and the fact that I was auditioning for her precious play.

  Soon enough, Hayley had the scene pages in her hand and was giving me a triumphant smile. “Come on, baby, let’s head to my place and get to work.”

  I nodded, falling into step beside her as she led the way back toward my truck.

  I snuck one look back at Alice but she was already climbing into her front seat. Only a pint-sized thing like her could fit into that car. I waited to see if she’d turn around and look at us, but she didn’t.

  What had I hoped to see? I don’t know, but I had this uncomfortable feeling going on ever since I saw her anger. It made me unsettled, like I’d forgotten to do something but I didn’t know what.

  Truth be told, I always felt that way around Alice, but I’d learned to ignore it. Honestly it had gotten easier to ignore the feeling once I’d started ignoring her.

  Guilt made my mouth taste off, like I’d eaten something sour. Not that I had any real reason to feel guilt. I mean, she’d been just as much to blame for our going in separate directions as I was. She didn’t have to get all weird about me joining the football team, and I would have helped her to become popular too if she hadn’t been so jaded and judgmental about it all.

  So no
, it wasn’t guilt I was feeling, just regret. I wished things hadn’t ended between us like they had. And I wished I hadn’t ignored her for so long because after a while it had only gotten harder and harder to break that silence.

  I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d seen her leaving her house as I was coming in or vice versa and we both just stared past each other as though we didn’t exist. We’d formed a sort of unspoken and unpleasant détente these past few years, but at least it had kept things simple.

  But now? Well I didn’t know what to make of that angry reaction. I didn’t think it was just seeing me that had triggered it. I tried to shake it off and listen to Hayley’s monologue on how to audition well. But that was easier said than done when my mind kept replaying that interaction with Alice.

  What had she meant that she was sure I’d get the role?

  Chapter Three

  Alice

  I watched in horror as Brian Kirkland singlehandedly destroyed everything I loved about Oscar Wilde. He butchered the eloquent phrasing, completely missed the subtext, and the wit—oh, the wit—the wit was lost, never to be heard from again.

  I slinked down in my seat next to Mr. Brenner, unable to look at him. Unable to tear my eyes away from the train wreck in front of me as Brian blithely repeated a string of words with that dumb smile on his face and absolutely no emotion in his voice, other than a sort of detached amusement as if he was laughing at the fact that he was on stage pretending to act.

  His whole performance was like a stupid prank. Maybe someone had dared him. I perked up a little at that. Maybe this was a stupid team prank and at the end when Mr. Brenner offered him the lead role in one of my favorite plays, Brian would turn it down with that easy, confident laugh of his that everyone seemed to love so much.

  And Mr. Brenner would offer him the part. That was what was so tragic about my current situation. I knew without a doubt that no matter how badly Brian performed up there—the part would be his.

  Why? It was the Hayley Hayes effect. I was officially naming it. I might even patent it. Since our former leading male star left for college, the selection was pitiful, I could admit that. No star material, that was for certain, and of the few who actually grasped that lines needed to be read with nuance or humor, they lacked severely in other ways.