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.”
    “C’mon.”
    “No thank you.”
    “Pleeeease?” How could I go out on that stage in front of an audience with lights blazing down on me and not have you nearby?
    “No,” you said firmly. “Acting isn’t my thing. You know that. And anyway, I don’t have the time.”
    “What is your thing, then? Art?”
    I know I sounded pissy, though I wasn’t sure why.
    Your face fell. “Good luck today.” You walked away.
    Sam got the part of Hamlet and I was cast as one of Ophelia’s friends. I know, I know, Ophelia doesn’t have any friends in Hamlet , but this was Ms. Eisenstein’s version. Sothat meant I got to be one of Ophelia’s bitchy high school friends who thinks Hamlet is a big waste of her time. This truly tested my acting talents, considering we were talking about Sam Fitzpayne.
    You would have made a killer Ophelia.
    I just thought you should know that.
    Anyway, I didn’t sign up just to get closer to Sam, though that’s exactly what happened. I wondered at first if he’d start dating Isabella Jones, his Ophelia, because that’s how it goes with movie stars—people fall in love when they play people in love.
    But I guess I was imposing a Hollywood version of falling in love onto a high school where there really isn’t much use for love, or even dating. There’s hookups and people who hang out and all sorts of variations, but the actual boyfriend/girlfriend is a rare breed at City Day.
    There’s Brian Belsen and Katie Hulquist, who’ve been together since they were sophomores, and if the frequency with which I’ve seen him shoving his tongue down her throat is any indication, I can believe they’re in love. I’d heard that Hugh Feldman had started dating a freshman named Ava Price, though I couldn’t confirm that, because I didn’t know Hugh well enough to ask, despite the fact that I’d seen his nether regions.
    Sam and I didn’t get close right away. First of all, I was with Felix all the time, and I’m pretty sure Sam thought Felix and I were a couple. Everyone always thinks that. It’s just part of having a boy for a best friend.
    The truth is I think I did have a crush on Felix at first, butI was in fourth grade and it was hard to sort out my feelings back then, not that it’s much easier now.
    All I know is that when Felix came to school as the new kid, I did everything I could to get near him. He was shorter than me by a half foot and skinny as hell.
    I know this sounds cheesy, but he just crackled with life. He never stopped moving and he was always fun to be around. As he used to say: There ain’t no party like a Felix party cuz a Felix party feels good!
    Felix is still funny, and he still crackles with life, but now he doesn’t feel the need to win over the room.
    Felix got a great part in the play—Jess, Claudius’s sidekick, who was Ms. Eisenstein’s reimagining of the classic court jester, a spot-on role for him.
    Since Felix and I were in about five scenes total we spent a lot of time in the back of the auditorium whispering in fake Shakespearean dialect and plotting our rise from bit players to leads in the life of the school.
    Now that I’d admitted my obsession with Sam Fitzpayne, Felix had vowed to help me make some headway.
    “Thou mighteth beginneth by the removal of thy peasant’s head from my most regal lap,” I said.
    Felix was resting on me like he often does.
    “ ’Tis all right, milady,” he said without moving. “ ’Tis besteth he believeth he dost have competition for thy royal heart.”
    What I said next I couldn’t translate into our Fakespeare because it was hard enough to find the words in my native language.
    I leaned in close. “The problem is,” I whispered. “I think he’s sort of in love with Layla.”
    “Pffff.” Felix waved his hand in my face.
    “What does that mean?”
    “You think everyone’s in love with Layla.”
    “What’s your point?”
    “Does Layla like him?”
    “No. She thinks he’s a boy.”
    “He is a