“You’re not supposed to be here,” Juliet says. Her voice is quiet, tired, and she’s still sitting down.
“Did you know about this?” he yells again.
Juliet covers her face with her hands, the same way she did on my kitchen floor last night. I want to run between them, to gather her up and protect them both from each other.
“Answer me,” Rob bellows. I can see the veins of his neck bulging out. He has this one vein by his left ear that pops out when he gets angry. I’ve only ever seen it once, when we got into a fight about whether or not white was a primary color. Completely stupid, but he got so worked up about it, the vein practically disconnected. It makes me almost scared for her.
“I’m sorry,” Juliet says. It’s just above a whisper, but it’s so quiet in this auditorium, you could hear a pin drop.
“I should have known,” he says. “I thought I could trust you. I believed in us, despite everything that people said. But they were all right. You’re just a liar.”
Juliet exhales, picking her head up. “Let’s talk about this,” she says.
“What’s to talk about? You betrayed me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what? From the truth?” He steps back and holds his head in his right hand.
“Your family—” Juliet starts, but Rob cuts her off.
“Don’t do that. Don’t talk about my family like you know them.” His face is screwed up tight, like if he lets go, he will unravel completely.
And then Juliet stands, and even though I know she’s a good foot shorter than him, from up here they look like they’re nose to nose.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m sorry I don’t know your family better. I’m sorry I can’t be there for you the way you need. I’m sorry I’m nother.”
“This isn’t about her,” Rob says. He looks a little self-conscious now, and he’s glancing around the auditorium.
“Of course it’s about her,” Juliet says, her voice rising. “You’re still in love with her.”
There are a million thoughts bouncing around in my head at once. Juliet is talking about me, I know that much, but I’ve also realized something else, too. Rob is in love with Juliet. He’s angry and hurt because he actually cares. How is she missing this?
“Don’t go using this as an excuse to do something stupid again,” Rob says through clenched teeth.
Juliet’s eyes get wide, and she takes a step back. Rob reaches out and grabs her shoulder. “You can’t just walk away.”
Juliet is looking straight ahead, and when Rob’s hand reaches her shoulder, I see her close her eyes, briefly. “Let me go,” she says, and then she leaves, her feet picking up speed as she races out of the auditorium.
Rob slumps down into a seat, his face in his hands. A few of the underclassmen start to giggle, trying to defuse the tensionthat has just swept across the room. They look like little bobblehead dolls in the wings. Different heads, same bodies. Like all of them are interchangeable. Like the entire cast could be switched out and no one would even notice.
Then Rob looks up. It feels like our eyes lock, even though I know I’m lost in the shadows up here, the lights making it impossible for him to see me. Rob just keeps looking upward, toward me, almost like he’s sending up a prayer. Then he stands, pitching Juliet’s chair over, and ducks out of the auditorium after her.
Scene Seven
“I know you’re bummed outabout Rob, and wrapped up in Juliet’s latest circus,” Charlie says, “but I hardly think gallivanting around with the class clown is the solution.” She’s driving me home and gesturing wildly.
I lean across the seat and give her flailing arm a squeeze. “?‘Gallivanting’? Really?” I tease.
“Affection will not break me,” she says, making a halfhearted attempt to swat me off.
“I can still try.”
She sticks her chin out at me and frowns. “They may break up over this, you know.”
“Maybe.”
“I’m just saying, it’s a pretty big deal. Not an easy fix.”
