Free 13 by Jason Robert Brown Page B

he would realize how silly he sounded. I hoped he would give up on his dreams about Kendra. I hoped he would let me off the hook. I had even gotten Steve on the phone back in New York and asked his advice about what to do in case Archie showed up. “Do?” Steve had said. “If this Archie kid is as weird as you say, pretend you don’t know him.”
    Which is what I wanted to do when I turned to see Archie clomping down the aisle, wearing the most outrageous getup I had ever seen in my life. I had told Archie to wear something casual, nothing too fancy. Instead, there he was, head to toe in this wild purple suit. I don’t mean that just some of it was purple, I mean that everything was purple: his jacket, shirt, pants—even his socks—like he was a member of some psychedelic rock band.
    â€œHey!” he shouted. Then louder: “Hey! Hey!”
    The nightmare had begun. Now that Archie was here, I had to stave off disaster. So I jumped out of my seat, dragged Archie back up the aisle, and got him to a dark corner of the lobby.
    â€œWhat are you wearing?” I yelped. “Everyone’s gonna make fun of you!”
    Archie ignored that completely.
    â€œI’m ready,” he said. “Let me at her!”
    I swear, he was practically panting.
    â€œOkay, listen, here’s the plan,” I said. “You stay in the lobby until the right time.”
    Archie looked confused. “The right time? How am I going to know the right time?”
    I thought fast. “I’ll come and get you after the movie’s been going a little while. I’m going to make sure I’m sitting next to Kendra. Then you come in and take my seat.”
    Archie smiled. “So that’s when I slip her the tongue, right?”
    â€œNo,” I said. “No tongue! Forget the tongue!”
    I could not believe that a boy who looked like Barney the Dinosaur thought he was the George Clooney of Indiana.
    Archie looked taken aback. “No tongue?”
    â€œJust talk to her, okay? Say ‘Hi, Kendra,’ and then take it from there.”
    To that, Archie winked. “Relax. The love guru has everything under control.”
    â€œLove guru?” I said.
    Archie nodded. “I’ll have Kendra eating out of my hand by the Bloodmaster’s first killing. Watch and learn.”
    â€œOkay, whatever,” I said, trying not to get sucked into a ridiculous discussion. Still, I had to cover my tracks. I couldn’t let Brett and the gang know I knewthat Archie might crash the movie. “Just remember: You’ve got to pretend you didn’t know any of us were here. You just happened to wander into the same movie.”
    â€œYeah, yeah,” Archie said. “Whatever you say.”
    â€œFine,” I said. “Just stay here and wait for my signal.”
    As I reentered the theater, the credits were rolling, so I hustled down the aisle. By the time I reached the front row, Kendra and Lucy had already come back from the ladies’ room, and Kendra was sitting next to Brett with an empty seat on her other side. Maybe the Higher Power wanted Archie to get his shot at Kendra after all.
    â€œHave a seat, Evan,” Kendra said.
    She patted the empty chair.
    â€œRighto,” Brett said. “The Brain’s gotta be in the front row.”
    I breathed a sigh of relief. This could work out after all.
    Seated behind Brett was Fudge. Lucy was next to him. From the way she was pouting, you didn’t need to be a genius to see how badly she wanted to be next to Brett.
    And then there was Patrice, still a row back, now next to Fudge with an empty seat between them, which made the first two rows look like this:
    screen

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    â€œHey, Evan,” Patrice said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWhere’s your friend?”
    â€œWhat friend?” Brett asked.
    Thankfully, I was saved.
    â€œYo, yo!” Eddie called. He pointed to the screen. “Check this