Free Scripted by Maya Rock Page B

handle playing—says her heart starts pounding way too fast—but she loves to watch.
    Lia pushes her way through and bumps into a burly senior whose name I can’t remember. “Look where you’re going,” she chides him.
    When he recognizes her, he falls into conciliatory mode. “Oops, my fault,” he says, putting his hands up. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
    â€œNo kidding,” she says, surging past him. I sneak a look back and see that he’s still watching her, enthralled. Lia’s always been liked, admired—feared, even. But something changed when we were sophomores, after she dated Martin, grew three inches, and got the starring role in last season’s play. Even the freckles around her eyes turned sexy.
    â€œA lot of boys will be glad Callen’s out of the way,” I offer as she pulls me down a short alley between the Game Palace and Music Maven.
    â€œMaybe,” she mutters, picking up her pace again when we emerge back onto the street. She points up to a set of bay windows with flower boxes above an ice cream shop. “We should live in those apartments after graduation,” she says, arms stretched out, balancing on the curb like it’s a tightrope. “It’s near the Blisslet Theater and all the most plus-ten restaurants on the island. I’ll be able to walk to the theater for rehearsals and performances. You’ll be able to walk to work too.” She glances over at me mischievously. “To your work as a math teacher at Bliss High.”
    â€œDon’t jinx me.” I give her a gentle push, and she pauses and teeters, but her feet stay planted on the curb, and soon she starts walking it again, even faster. “Living here would be fun,” I say, catching up with her. A lie—downtown is too noisy for me—but I want to keep her mind off Callen.
    I’m not really sure where on the island I want to end up after graduation. If I saved enough, I could apply for a beach house, like Lincoln’s family has. But my ratings would have to be higher for Media1 to give it to me—as with apprenticeships, housing is a joint decision between Media1 and the Character owners.
    â€œLet’s scope out the plaza for the Double A.” Lia hops off the curb in front of the town hall and rounds the corner of the building, me right behind her. We emerge onto the plaza, which is blazing with light from the dozens of lamps Media1 installs on all important sets. Lia sits down on the fountain’s ledge and bops a mermaid’s hollow bronze tail.
    â€œHe won’t be sitting with us at lunch anymore,” she announces as I walk over toward her.
    â€œYeah, that’d be strange,” I say, dipping my fingers into the fountain’s cool water. Coins glimmer at the bottom; all those swallowed-up wishes. I want to prove my support. “I don’t even want to talk to him after what he did to you.” I cringe. I can hear the lie loud and clear, but Lia seems so caught up in her own thoughts that she doesn’t notice.
    â€œThanks,” she says. “He doesn’t deserve me, and he doesn’t deserve my friends. Let him have all the tracs he says he doesn’t fit in with.”
    â€œYeah.” I sit on the ledge next to her. “I hate that he hurt you.”
    â€œMe too.” Lia’s shoulders droop, her earlier gloom returning. “I always wanted us to be closer. I don’t mean like the close-up, I mean, like, with feelings, and I hoped one day we would get there, but . . .” Her voice trails off, and she studies her shoes, subdued.
    â€œIt seems like Callen just wasn’t right for you,” I say, putting my arm around her. She doesn’t respond, so I change the subject. “I went to the aquarium yesterday.”
    Lia raises her head, grinning. “You went to see Scoop? Give in already, you two were meant for each other. He’s tall,