directly at him, as if the BROOKLYN'S FINEST FOTOsign was so fascinating, I couldn't take my eyes off it.
"Kind of?" he asked. He shifted his backpack higher up on his shoulder and I got a great view of his hands. The fingernails were square and very clean. I looked back at the BROOKLYN FOTOsign.
"I mean, not really," I said. Josh stood there, like he was waiting for me to say something. I, too, was waiting for me to say something, but the only words materializing in my brain were Pictures in 1 hour or your money back.
"Hey," he said after a minute, "I heard you're babysitting Hannah tomorrow night."
"Yeah," I said. There was a long pause.
"Well," he said finally. "See you around."
"Yeah," I said again. Rebecca was staring at me like I had two heads, something that might have enabled me to think of a better parting line than the one I finally came up with. "See you around."
"Wow," said Rebecca. "Your rapid-fire wit was so dexterous I could barely follow it."
"I want to die," I said, watching Josh's retreating back. "I want to be dead."
"Maybe you are dead," Rebecca suggested. "You seemed dead."
I was still watching Josh, who was getting smaller and smaller in the distance.
"This is not my fault," I said.
14
"Of course it's not." Rebecca sprinkled some Parmesan on her plate and pressed her finger into it.
"I know we used to think Mr. Kryle was all that, but I lay the blame for what just happened entirely at his feet," I said, shaking some ice cubes into my mouth.
Rebecca licked the cheese off her finger, which she then pointed at me. "Remember, there's always Tom Richmond."
"It's too late for that," I said. "I can't live in the past."
"You can't live in the past? Jan, yesterday you couldn't shut up about him and his stupid baseball cap," she said.
"That was then," I said, swallowing the last of the ice. "This is now."
Only that morning Mr. Kryle had been my favorite teacher and English my favorite subject, especially since we had just finished reading Romeo and Juliet, which, only that morning, had been my favorite play.
English stopped being my favorite subject, Mr. Kryle stopped being my favorite teacher, and Romeo and Juliet stopped being my favorite play at approximately 10:56 A.M. eastern standard time, which is when Mr. Kryle ruined my life by calling me up to the front of the room to act out the last scene in the play, the one where Romeo finds Juliet sleeping in the tomb and thinks she's dead.
Normally, I hate when English teachers make me act something out, but this morning I was in such a good mood thinking about how funny and cute Tom Richmond had just been in history that I didn't even
15
mind when Mr. Kryle cast me as Juliet. Plus my part wasn't exactly demanding, considering all I had to do was lie down on Mr. Kryle's desk and pretend to be dead.
Plus, he cast Josh as Romeo.
As I lay down, folded my hands over my chest, and closed my eyes, I was thinking how ironic it was that the very day after Sarah asked me to baby-sit Hannah, her son and I were acting out one of the most famous love scenes in the history of the world. I mean, could the foreshadowing of our upcoming romantic evening have been any more obvious?
Then Josh started Romeo's speech, " 'O my love! My wife!/Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,/Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.'" He read his lines perfectly; suddenly nobody was talking or joking around like we usually do when people act out scenes. When Romeo described Juliet's "crimson" lips and cheeks, Josh touched my lips and my cheeks very gently, and it made my skin tingle. At one point, he even twirled a piece of my hair around his fingers, and then he tucked it behind my ear. I had expected to lie there trying to decide who I liked better, Josh or Tom, but once Josh touched my face, I couldn't concentrate on anything except what he was doing. Then I noticed how good he smelled, like shampoo.
At the end of the speech, Romeo's supposed to kiss Juliet. He
"Kind of?" he asked. He shifted his backpack higher up on his shoulder and I got a great view of his hands. The fingernails were square and very clean. I looked back at the BROOKLYN FOTOsign.
"I mean, not really," I said. Josh stood there, like he was waiting for me to say something. I, too, was waiting for me to say something, but the only words materializing in my brain were Pictures in 1 hour or your money back.
"Hey," he said after a minute, "I heard you're babysitting Hannah tomorrow night."
"Yeah," I said. There was a long pause.
"Well," he said finally. "See you around."
"Yeah," I said again. Rebecca was staring at me like I had two heads, something that might have enabled me to think of a better parting line than the one I finally came up with. "See you around."
"Wow," said Rebecca. "Your rapid-fire wit was so dexterous I could barely follow it."
"I want to die," I said, watching Josh's retreating back. "I want to be dead."
"Maybe you are dead," Rebecca suggested. "You seemed dead."
I was still watching Josh, who was getting smaller and smaller in the distance.
"This is not my fault," I said.
14
"Of course it's not." Rebecca sprinkled some Parmesan on her plate and pressed her finger into it.
"I know we used to think Mr. Kryle was all that, but I lay the blame for what just happened entirely at his feet," I said, shaking some ice cubes into my mouth.
Rebecca licked the cheese off her finger, which she then pointed at me. "Remember, there's always Tom Richmond."
"It's too late for that," I said. "I can't live in the past."
"You can't live in the past? Jan, yesterday you couldn't shut up about him and his stupid baseball cap," she said.
"That was then," I said, swallowing the last of the ice. "This is now."
Only that morning Mr. Kryle had been my favorite teacher and English my favorite subject, especially since we had just finished reading Romeo and Juliet, which, only that morning, had been my favorite play.
English stopped being my favorite subject, Mr. Kryle stopped being my favorite teacher, and Romeo and Juliet stopped being my favorite play at approximately 10:56 A.M. eastern standard time, which is when Mr. Kryle ruined my life by calling me up to the front of the room to act out the last scene in the play, the one where Romeo finds Juliet sleeping in the tomb and thinks she's dead.
Normally, I hate when English teachers make me act something out, but this morning I was in such a good mood thinking about how funny and cute Tom Richmond had just been in history that I didn't even
15
mind when Mr. Kryle cast me as Juliet. Plus my part wasn't exactly demanding, considering all I had to do was lie down on Mr. Kryle's desk and pretend to be dead.
Plus, he cast Josh as Romeo.
As I lay down, folded my hands over my chest, and closed my eyes, I was thinking how ironic it was that the very day after Sarah asked me to baby-sit Hannah, her son and I were acting out one of the most famous love scenes in the history of the world. I mean, could the foreshadowing of our upcoming romantic evening have been any more obvious?
Then Josh started Romeo's speech, " 'O my love! My wife!/Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,/Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.'" He read his lines perfectly; suddenly nobody was talking or joking around like we usually do when people act out scenes. When Romeo described Juliet's "crimson" lips and cheeks, Josh touched my lips and my cheeks very gently, and it made my skin tingle. At one point, he even twirled a piece of my hair around his fingers, and then he tucked it behind my ear. I had expected to lie there trying to decide who I liked better, Josh or Tom, but once Josh touched my face, I couldn't concentrate on anything except what he was doing. Then I noticed how good he smelled, like shampoo.
At the end of the speech, Romeo's supposed to kiss Juliet. He
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