The week after, Andrea found herself walking idly backstage in the auditorium's stage with a basket of chocolate chip muffins wrapped in a baby blue bow. She rushed past the traveling students looking for her friend, Nicky, until someone surprised her by touching both her shoulders.
"Looking for me?" asked Nicky, smiling.
Andrea turned around as soon as she heard him. "Hey, Nicky-Nicky!"
Nicky bent over and kissed Andrea on the cheek. "These muffins for me?" he pointed to the basket.
"Oh, yeah. I wanted to congratulate you on getting the part in the Hearts play. So I bought a package of chocolate chip muffins and put them in this basket. I wrapped the bow by myself."
She handed Nicky the basket.
"Oh, thank you, Andy!" he said. "You are out of this world."
"Well, I'm thoughtful, so..."
"Hey, can you stick around? We're all going over our lines."
"Sure. I don't have anything better to do. Well, I have homework, but it's not like I got to put out a fire."
"Andrea!" shouted a girl.
Andrea looked beside herself, seeing Madeline running towards her.
"Hey, girl!" Andrea greeted.
Madeline jumped in front of Andrea and grabbed her arms. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see me my caramelo."
"It's great that you're here. I have good news."
"Spill it."
"I got the lead role!"
The girls jumped up and down while squealing.
Then Andrea stopped. "Wait, I thought Nicky got the lead role."
"He did. As Lee Hamilton."
"And Madeline got the role of Ashley Dawson," Nicky added.
"The play revolves around a couple."
"Oh, yeah, Skye told us that," said Andrea. "So you two--"
"We play the couple," Nicky responded.
"And we get ninety-five percent of the attention," said Madeline.
"Oh, okay," Andrea said. "So what do you two got to do in the play? Hold hands? Sing songs?"
"We can't sing songs," said Nicky, "because 'Hearts at the Fountain' is not a musical. But I think Madeline and I do have to hold hands. And I think... kiss a little."
Andrea slowly lost her smile and stared at Nicky. "Kiss?"
"A little," he added.
"So you guys... have to kiss?" Andrea said, holding her stare.
"Are you mad?" asked Madeline.
Andrea scoffed while starting to finally blink. "No, I'm not mad. It's a play. You guys are playing. It's all pretend. Make-believe."
Madeline giggled. "I thought you would get mad. Just know that nothing will change. It is only a play."
"Yes, a play," Andrea nodded. "I know. I know nothing will change."
"And Andy," Nicky started, "if you do start to feel a bit anger, just know that when I'm kissing Madeline, I'll be thinking of you."
Andy smiled her little-kid-smile.
"Aw, that's sweet," mumbled Madeline. "Come on, Nicky. Let's rehearse."
She pulled Nicky away onto the center of the stage as Nicky looked back at Andrea and smiled sweetly at her. Andrea sighed and lost her smile.
"Andrea!" another girl called.
Andrea's eyes followed the familiar voice.
"Can you come over here?" Skye waved from the grand piano.
Andrea walked onto the stage and down the steps. She walked quickly over to Skye and rested her hands on top of the piano.
"Can you help me rehearse?" asked Skye. "I got a lot of songs to do."
"What kind of songs do you have to do?" Andrea asked.
"Show tunes. Classical music. A bunch of songs that make me want to die. But, hey, if I play the piano to the school's most famous play, I'll get my picture in the yearbook."
"You care about that?"
"No. But I'm trying to convince Miss Sunstreet, the music director, to add more rock music to the programs. You know, to get teens listening."
"What about some Latin music?"
"It's not a Latin play. But I do know some songs by Enrique Iglesias and Shakira. Ooh! And Ricky Martin."
"Ricky Martin!"
"Yeah! Oh, you know the words to 'Jolene'?"
"Girl, I live for those words."
"Let's practice with that song together, shall we?"
"Sure, Skye."
Skye cracked her knuckles and position her hands onto the piano keys. She started to play the rhythm of the song "Jolene" by Dolly Parton; her fingers dancing lightly on the white and black keys.
Then the girls started singing on-key in their various yet sweet voices:
Jolene, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you, please, don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene
Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can
Skye continued to sing the song as Andrea stopped singing to look back at the stage. She frowned deeply as she stared coldly at Madeline and Nicky, who were laughing together while they went over the lines from their scripts.
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