Scene 9

“You okay, Maya?” Aislinn asks, nudging me a bit as she helps to set up the stage props. We’re practicing the blocking today so the campers can get used to moving around the actual stage. It looks really cool to see all the props and furniture set out!

“I couldn’t really talk to Jules last night. Or the night before.”

“Maybe she was just busy?” Aislinn shakes out a blanket that was hanging off the end of a chair. A little bit of dust hits me in the nose and I sneeze. “Oops, sorry! I should have known this blanket would be ancient.”

“It’s okay. And I don’t know. We’re supposed to call every night. She promised before she moved,” I explain.

“Every night? That seems a little bit hard to do, even in the summer.”

I wish I could tell her that it might be hard for other people, but my friendship with Jules isn’t like that. We’d always keep promises to each other and hang out every day in the summer. I’m more worried that Jules is mad at me, but I don’t know how to say that. Saying it out loud feels scary.

One of the camp leaders calls us over to help move the backdrop. It’s on wheels, but it’s still pretty heavy and needs more than one person to push it into the right position. We push it slowly until it lines up with the taped “x” on the floor.

“I guess it’s just that she hasn’t seemed all that excited about what I’m doing lately and she’s never home when I call and she’s doing all this other stuff now. I don’t know what to do,” I say, after we’ve placed the backdrop in the right spot.

In the corner of my eye, I see her nod. She scrunches up her mouth like she’s really considering what I’m saying.

“Maybe wait a couple days? Then you’ll have more stuff to talk about and Jules might be more excited to hear all about it?” Aislinn suggests. She sits down in the chair, crossing one leg over the other. She looks like she belongs there, on the set. There’s something about how Aislinn sits in the chair that makes her look not-Aislinn. Just for a minute, she turns into Janet, and then she slouches and turns back into Aislinn. I wish I could slip into a different character as easily, one that knew what to do all the time.

Gio pops up next to Aislinn. “Hey Ash, do you want to go over our lines? Maya can help make sure we’re staying in bounds, since we can’t use the stage yet.”

“That’s a great idea! What do you think?” Aislinn says, turning to me.

I nod. Maybe it will distract me from worrying about Jules.

We make our way out of the gym. Gio asks me about the motivation behind Man in Chair’s performance. It feels good to have someone actually listen when I start sharing what I know, instead of walking away.

When we get outside to the yard where we usually have lunch, I draw some imaginary lines with my foot in the grass.

“Okay, so this is where the edge of the stage is. And over there will be your chair, Gio. Aislinn, your spot will be over here,” I say, motioning to where I drew the lines. As the wind picks up, the grass bends and shifts. I watch as my work disappears in front of me.

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to remember where your lines were, since they aren’t going to be around very long!” Gio laughs. “I’ve been practicing, so I think we’ll be fine.”

Gio starts the scene. Then the focus shifts over to Aislinn as she recites her lines, Gio interrupting as Man in Chair. When they finish, both of them look at me.

“So . . . what do you think?” Aislinn asks. Her eyes are staring right into me.

I can feel Maya in Public trying to take over and “say that they did a great job,” especially since Aislinn is my friend and I don’t want to say the wrong thing again. But I set Maya in Public down into a seat in the audience of my brain and say, “You both had some great moments, but I think we should do it again. The interrupting should feel more, uh, natural.”

Gio crosses his arms. “Yeah, I can see that. I feel like I’m holding back because I don’t know if you’re going to say your line, Ash.”

Aislinn nods. “Same. Let’s try it again.”

They go over the scene another time. Aislinn and Gio start sounding like a pair, working together to make the scene feel real to the audience. When they get to the part where they’re talking together, I feel a little bubble of happiness form in my heart. They were almost perfectly in sync! It’s starting to sound like it does in my head. When they finish the scene this time, I don’t even need to suggest we do it again.

“Five . . . uhm, five . . . four . . .”

“Hey Maya.”

“Hi.”

“Before you, uh, start talking, I just wanted to apologize for . . . how I’ve been acting. I . . . it’s just that my parents told me the other day that we’re going to be living here, like for real. They even signed me up for a school here and everything. I thought maybe we’d be coming back once we helped Bà but . . . that’s not happening, so.”

“But that—that doesn’t mean you have to stop being my best friend. We can still be friends if you don’t live here. My dad has to work far away, but he’s still my dad. We vidcall every week.”

“No, Maya, you don’t understand. After they told me, I started thinking about living here. Like, really thinking about it. And I like it here. Even if I have to take care of Bà Linh sometimes, I don’t have to do only what you want. I can go to swim class. And my friends on the swim team . . . they actually listen to me and try to understand what I’m going through with my family right now. I’m . . . I’m glad we moved here.”

“Jules . . . I’m sorry, and I’m going to listen to you more now—”

“I—I don’t . . . this is really hard for me to say, but I don’t want you to call anymore. My new friends think you’re just using me as a dumping ground and I . . . I think they’re right. It’s not fair. My parents, they’re doing so much already with taking care of Bà Linh and setting up a new practice and everything. I don’t want to wait around for you to call me and complain. I want to—to do things that I like, not just listen to what you like.”

“J-Jules . . .”

“I want to, uhm, thank you for being my best friend for all this time but . . . please stop calling me for now. I have to go. Talk to you, uhm, bye.”