Casey Barnes Eponymous (28 page)

She looked down.
 
“I
didn’t know you were going to ma--”

“Why, exactly, is this your business?” Alex asked.

“He’s in my band,” she said.

Ben looked away.

“Whatever,” Alex said.
 
He glanced at the other end of the hall, where Peter was motioning for
him to come over.
 
“I better get
back.
 
But, uh, I’ll see you
later?”
 

With his head still turned away, Ben shook it ever so
slightly.
 

“Um,” she said.
 
Alex raised an eyebrow.
 
“Yeah,” she said flatly.
 
He
nodded and walked away.
 
“Ben,” she
hissed.
 
But he would not look at
her.
 

Ms. Vernon stomped over again.
 
“Final warning, Casey.
 
I mean it.”
 
Samantha came over and told them that if
anyone had to use the bathroom they better go since it was almost their turn to
play.
 
Casey sighed, stood, and went
off.

When she exited the bathroom a few minutes later, Danny from
Alex’s band was entering the guys’.
 
“Break a leg out there.”
 

“Thanks.”

“Oh and hey I hope you liked those songs.”

She stopped.
 
“Alex
told you about the list?”

He smiled.
 
“What he
actually told me was to come up with three songs I thought you’d like.
 
Thing is, I was studying all night so I
had my girlfriend do it.
 
Then I
remembered that she’s not exactly the music person you are.
 
But as long as you like the songs, all’s
good.”

Her jaw dropped open.
 
She closed it.
 
Then she
laughed.
 

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I mean I guess you probably had--”

“No, no, it’s not the songs.
 
I mean,
thanks.
 
No, it’s…”

“Alex?” Danny asked.
 
Suddenly, she had the feeling Danny’s slip had not been unintentional.
 
She nodded, and he nodded back.
 

“Thanks,” she said.
 

She started to walk back towards the back hall.
 
As she did, the door opened, and Alex
came out.
 
“Yo. Getting
psyched?
 
I for one can’t wait to
hear your song again.”

“Well you won’t,” she said.

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’re playing another one.”

“You are?”

“Yup.
 
One I wrote
for you, in fact.”

“Seriously?” He smiled.

“I wrote it for you at the beginning of the school year.
 
Thing is,” she hesitated,
 
“It’s for someone else now.”

His smile faded.
 
“You mean your imaginary boyfriend?”
 

“How could I write something for someone who’s not real?”

“Okay I’m confused,” he said.

“It’s not only that you got someone else to write the playlist,
even if that is reprehensible times one hundred.”

He looked towards the guys’ bathroom Danny just disappeared
into.
 
Recognition dawned on his
face.
 
His smile faded but he maintained
a cocky posture.

“It’s also that I just finally got you,” she continued.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re kind of a prick.”

He stared.
 
All
traces of cockiness were gone.
 
“You
sure you still wanna play that song you wrote for me?” he asked.

“Sure.
 
I have
someone else to play it for now.”

Alex’s eyes winced.
 
He was too in control to let his whole face show it.
 
But his eyes did.
 
“That guy in your band, the drummer?”

She nodded.
 
She
turned and started to walk away.

“Hey,” he said.
 
She
stopped.
 
When he spoke, his voice
was quieter than it had been before.
 
“I meant it when I said I like you.”

She looked at him.
 
His green eyes were so nice.
 
But the power they had was not what it once was.
 
She wondered if she should be
bookmarking the moment as a lesson in boy nature.
 
She and Leigh once read something about
the strange phenomena of winning over boys like Alex Deal.
 
And there it was, happening in real time
and living color.
 
But she did not
bookmark the moment or ask Alex questions about why his brain made him do the
things he had done.
 
Instead she
turned and walked back inside.

36

When Pop Wire first got onstage Casey was nervous.
 
It was a big crowd.
 
Not only were students there, but
teachers and parents.
 
And she was
about to play a slow, personal song about love.
 
But she had a few things in her
corner.
 
For one thing, her
conversation with Alex Deal helped her confidence.
 
Telling the truth could do that.
 
She had never let herself admit it about
him until Danny said his girlfriend wrote the list, even if she had always kind
of known.

And something else happened before Pop Wire went onstage that
bolstered her confidence.
 

When they launched into their song there were confused looks in
the crowd below.
 
People were
awaiting the Maxine French ditty.
 
But after a verse and the first chorus, the looks changed to ones of
appreciation.
 
Casey’s voice got
louder.
 
For the first time ever she
got what it was to be so lost in a performance that a song takes on a life of
its own.

There was a lot of applause when they finished.
 
A few people even stood and
clapped.
 
Granted Yull was one of
them and King Yull standing might have influenced a few other kids.
 
But whatever.
 
Casey took it.

When they returned to the side hall, the last act of the show
was still onstage but Leigh was waiting.
 
She was smiling for the first time in days.
 
“That was amazing.”

Then Yull appeared.
 
“I’m proud of you.”

Before she could think better of it, Casey hugged him and
quickly backed away.
 
“I’d savor
that hug if I were you.”

“I will.”
 
He patted
her on the head.
 
She swatted his
hand away.

Samantha walked by and said, “Great job!”
 
Again she did not so much as look Ben’s
way.
 

Suddenly, something occurred to Casey.
 
“That thing you told me about Samantha
liking Ben,” she said to Yull, “was it true?”
 

He shrugged.
 

“You sneaky devil.
 
That’s like something I would do,” she replied.
 
He winked at her, and left.
 
Casey turned back to Leigh.

“You guys sounded like a real band,” Leigh said.

“You think?”

“Oh my god yes.”

“You really can’t go to boarding school now that your best
friend’s a rock star,” Casey said, “You’d be a fool to give up such a social
opportunity.”

Leigh smiled.
 
“You
know how you never used to play music in front of people and then one day, and
granted it was because of
AD
--”

“Not anymore.”

“The point is that you needed time to
not
play in front of people to be ready to play in front of people.
 
At least that’s how I see it.”

“I still don’t think you should go to boarding school.”

“I know you don’t.
 
But I need time away now, from everyone, to process what I found out
this week,” she paused, “Get it?”

Casey sighed.
 
“Possibly.
 
But if you leave
I’m not gonna have any friends.”

Leigh motioned with her head towards the other end of the hall
where Ben was talking to Sukh.
 
“I’m
not so sure about that.”

Casey looked at Ben.
 

So.
 

The other thing that happened before Pop Wire took the stage
that helped bolster Casey’s confidence was this:
 

When she finished talking to Alex and went back inside, Ben was
standing just inside the door, as if he had been waiting to walk out.
 
And the door was open a crack.
 

“Did you hear what I just said to him?” Casey asked.
 
Ben only offered a mysterious smile and
told her eavesdropping was not his game.
 
But there was something in that smile that told her he heard every word.

Ben looked back at her.
 
She blushed and turned her eyes to Leigh.
 

“I saw that,” Leigh said.

“Whatever.”

Leigh hugged Casey. “I’m outta here.”

Casey made a face but Leigh stepped away and walked down the
hall.
 
The last act of the show
finished, there was applause from the auditorium, and the back hall began to
flood with people.
 
Clayton Gould
and Tricia came backstage and over to Casey.

“Clayton Gould,” Casey said, “I had no idea you were in the
audience.”

“Well I did get the text you sent threatening water boarding if
I didn’t make it.”

“Oh that.”

“You did a very good job, Casey,” Tricia said, “I was
impressed.”

“Thanks ma.
 
Does
that mean I’m not grounded anymore?”

“No.”
 
Tricia leaned
over and kissed her on the cheek.
 
“But I am proud of you.
 
Now
if you’ll excuse me, Jim and I are going to dinner.
 
Enjoy your last night of freedom for a
month.”

“Bon appétit, madre.”

Tricia walked away.

“I should be going as well,” Clayton Gould said, “I have an
online chess match in an hour and I assume you want to be left to your
post-rock debauchery.”

“Thanks for coming Clayton Gould.”

“It was a treat.
 
And
I mean that.
 
You kicked some
serious rear-end tonight.”
 
He
turned and started to walk away.

“Hey Clayton Gould.”

He stopped.

“You know that thing you said, a few weeks back, about how I
was the one who had to make it happen, not the rock star boyfriend?”

“I remember.”

“You might have had a point there.”

“Of course I did.”
 
He
left.

Casey looked around.
 
Ben was still down at the other end of the hall, with Kate now.
 
Casey started to walk towards them.

Ben looked taller.
 
He wasn’t hunching over like he usually did.
 
That piece of hair was sticking up, as
always.
 
And his glasses were
misaligned.
 
She was beginning to
think she liked them, though.
 
In
fact she was beginning to think that, in a disheveled, insolent boyfriend who
introduces you to Le Loup kind of way, Ben was rather cute.
 
Even it there hadn’t really been a
Samantha.