Within the Lines

13.

"Yo, Turner!" 

Jonah greeted me with an enthusiastic wave as I walked into the theatre club's rehearsal space, making the five other girls and guys still present in the room also turn to me. 

By calling me 'Turner' he immediately set the trend. I guessed I'd have to get used to responding to my surname both with the theatre kids and with the football guys. 

"Turner?" a black-haired guy with dark, phoenix eyes lounging in the burgundy chair repeated. "Coach Turner's son? Heard you sucked at football, though." 

"And I heard y'all sucked at paintin' your sets," I shot back jokingly. "Which is why I'm here."

"Ooh," one of the other theatre kids exclaimed, and Jonah and a bunch of others started laughing. 

"I can see why people like you," Jonah told me, getting to his feet. He gestured me to follow him. "Come on, I'll take you to our storage. Corey and Becky already brought your work here last Sunday."

"Bye, Turner!" One of the girls called after me.

I vaguely smiled at her over my shoulder, still preoccupied with what Jonah said. People liked me. Was he referring to Atticus, too, or was I simply looking too hard hints?  Probably the latter. My brain made connections where it wanted to see them. Not where they were logical. 

"What kind of prop adaptation were you thinkin' about anyway?" I asked, following Jonah down the hallway with my hands in my pockets. 

 "Well you see..." Jonah said, opening twin doors that lead to a storage space with a sheepish smile. "Our next project will kind of have nothing to do with animals I'm afraid." 

"So, a complete redo basically," I concluded. "A whole new design and lots of work." 

Jonah clapped his hands together in a pleading gesture. "Yes, but you'd get credited on the website, and you'd get free tickets to every school play, and flowers on stage after every show, as long as you attend Pinewood if you do it?" 

I pretended to be thinking it over for a moment. "Fine," I finally replied. "It sounds like fun. I've never designed stage props before." 

Jonah sighed exaggeratedly in relief. "Great! Of course, you wouldn't be working alone. We have many other techies. We could just use someone with more experience in painting, aka you. Would you like to meet some of them? I can introduce you." 

"Sounds like fun," I said, earnestly meaning it. Unfortunately, a glance at my watch said no to socialising. "I have to go, though. I'm goin' to the football match." 

"Right. You have to cheer on your dad's team I suppose... and your stepbrother, Atticus." 

Jonah was watching my reaction very closely. Given that I knew what I knew about Atticus made it extremely hard to act natural. My laugh sounded like the fake work- laugh I'd heard Mom use around clients she'd later vent about when we got home.

"It's obligatory for me to visit their matches," I said. "Don't think I'll get out of it until my mom arrives. She's still looking for houses."

At this rate, she'd have to live at a hotel for a while before she'd find anything that matched her high expectations. 

Jonah prodded my ribs with his elbow and grinned widely. "Don't act like it's a punishment now. You don't enjoy watching all those fine jocks? Not your type?" 

He looked way too much into my replies again, and it felt a lot like fishing for answers. Maybe Jonah thought he was being subtle. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed his prying, or thought he was  prying, if I hadn't seen the chat. I decided to go with honesty anyway.