In Dead Men's Shoes

Chapter 35

It's play week.

That was my first thought upon waking up Monday morning the next week. Opening night was in less than twelve hours, and I had to act out a spin-off of the story that I had just resolved barely two weeks ago. Images of Isaac and Anne's ghostly forms still drifted in my head like the spirits that they were, keeping me up every time I tried to go to bed. So not only was I about to act in front of an audience for the first time ever, it was also on the subject of my best friend slash crush slash romantically confusing pal's possession, and I was also doing it on three hours of sleep.

"Who's ready for opening nightttttt!" Andrew cheered as I walked into the multipurpose room after school. A few people let out casual whoops, but I remained silent.

"Jess?" he asked, looking specifically at me. "Ya ready?"

I nodded faintly.

"Hey, where were you all break?" he asked. "After, ya know..." Andrew lowered his voice briefly. "Bodie, and all... you totally just dipped."

"Just resting, I guess. Getting sleep." Or lack thereof. More like spending hours in bed tormented by the very moment that awaited us in three hours. And trying to cram in a shit ton of catch-up schoolwork on top of it.

"Okay! Well. Glad you're rested, then," Andrew said. Either he was obliviously energetic, or his peppiness was a deliberate attempt to lift my clearly less than perfect spirits.

Either way, once Emma walked in, I didn't have time to contemplate it. Andrew and her greeted each other with a good thirty-second long handshake, involving multiple complex hand gestures and at least a couple sound effects.

"So, I guess you guys had some fun over break, then?"

"Hey, we tried to invite you!" Andrew said as he cranked up the radiator in the corner. He clapped his hands loudly, and rubbed them together as he spoke. "Alright people, it's that time! Final rehearsal before we debut this lovely lovely show for the world to see!"

Emma leaned in towards me as he got people in order. "I know it seems like he's obliviously happy right now, but... you know, Bodie really hit him hard, too. It was scary. I think he's just trying to let this experience neutralize all that, you know? To let himself have something really great after what we went through. So don't take it too personally."

"Thanks, Emma. I get it." She cast a final responsive smile in my direction before sitting in a fold-up chair right in front of the stage that was in spirit the co-director's seat. Andrew slid into a chair next to her, and Mikaela Corbin stepped onstage, her blonde hair swishing in a picturesque high ponytail.

"Jess?" she asked, clearing her throat. "You ready?"

"Yup. Hundo percent."

Mikaela made a face, but of course it didn't tarnish her comically perfect beauty. I grimaced, in what I hoped was a mostly inward way.

I stepped up onto the stage. Mikaela lay herself down on the floor and spread out her limbs at odd angles, running a hand across her nose before lying back down still.

"And, action!" Andrew called out in his classically dramatic way.

"I'm so sorry," Mikaela choked out.

I swallowed. "Catalina?"

**********

Andrew clapped me on the shoulder when I walked off the stage. "That was a great runthrough, you guys," he said, though his glance was particularly sympathetic when it met mine. "Just a couple shows and we'll knock this thing out."