It Had to Be You

three

"Great!" Schneider claps her hands excitedly, either oblivious to the tension between us or choosing to ignore it. "That makes this so much easier."

"Makes what so much easier?" Adrian asks, furrowing his dark eyebrows. His eyes flicker back and forth between me and Schneider—his new boss.

Schneider doesn't get a chance to answer his question as Landon whisks her away, needing to settle an argument between him and a back-up dancer about who knows what. She does, however, toss out a quick sentence over her shoulder: "Norah will fill you in."

Turning to Adrian, I rest against the stage, needing some type of support before my knees buckle and send me tumbling just like my future. "You're not going to like it. Hell, I don't even like it."

"You don't like anything."

"That's not true." I angle my head slightly to look at him. "I like a lot of things, but spending time with you is not one of them."

He folds his arms across his chest, stretching the thin material of his dress shirt. "When I accepted this job, spending time with Norah Webster wasn't in the criteria."

"Then you should've read the fine print." I say. "She wants me to be your confidant."

"Fuck no." He replies instantly. "No way am I confiding in you with anything. If I need anything, I'm going to West."

I'm not even sure this blow was intentional, but his nonchalant mentioning of West felt like a slap to the face. It's been over a year—thirteen months, but who's counting—and hearing my ex-boyfriend's name still causes my heart rate to spike. Although now it's more of anger than heartbreak.

It's bad enough that I have to see West everyday in school, and even worse now that he plays Shane, my love interest in the musical. But hearing the guy I despise talk about confiding in my no-good ex-boyfriend, it feels like betrayal.

Which is stupid. So stupid.

"Fine by me." I keep my voice level, not wanting to give away how much his words affected me. "Just make sure when you mess up to tell Schneider I had nothing to do with it."

"I'll make sure she knows it has everything to do with you."

I scowl. "Why do you have to play piano? If you were still just a stupid jock we wouldn't be in this mess."

"If you were just a preppy cheerleader with stage fright we also wouldn't be in this mess."

I narrow my eyes. "Out of all the piano players, it had to be you."

With a scowl of his own, he opens his mouth to respond until Schneider interrupts, her voice cutting through the large room like a knife to announce rehearsal is finally starting. I push off the stage, making sure to brush my shoulder against Adrian's as I walk past. I meet up with Caroline and Hadley, a girl from Riverview High who plays Caitlin, onstage and take a seat beside them, mimicking Care's stretches.

"All right gang, listen up." Schneider whistles. "Mr. Lee has decided to leave us at the best time, with only two months to go until our opening night. But, calm down, I've found a replacement. This," she beckons Adrian with her hand and, reluctantly, he steps beside her. His hands are shoved into his slacks and his head is angled toward the floor, "is Adrian. Our new pianist.

"Look, I know it's a little bump in the road, but if we can all cooperate and help out in as many ways as we can, it'll run as smooth as peanut butter. Adrian is open to suggestions and constructive criticism. He's here to help us out, so help him out, welcome him in, and let's work with what we've got, okay?"