How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come Tr - By Sarah Strohmeyer Page 0,6
who doesn’t eat steak.”
With a slight lift of his chin, he indicated Dash.
Two
The rosiness had returned to Jess’s cheeks, and her mood seemed much improved when I found her sitting cross-legged on the grass laughing with a curly-headed kid in a Life Is Good T-shirt and a hipster black guy with perfectly coiffed dreads; a white short-sleeve, oxford-cloth shirt buttoned right up to the throat; skinny jeans; and ironic, if expensive, Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, color red.
“How’d it go?” she asked as I came over with my fruit and coffee. I was dying to replay my conversation with Ian, including his zinger of a parting line, but this was not the place, unfortunately, so all I could do was raise my brows—our signal to talk later.
“Zoe, this is Karl,” she said, gesturing to the curly-headed kid. “He’s from Maine, and he’s exhausted because he had to get up at two a.m. to catch a flight here from Boston.”
Karl was laid flat on the ground, eyes closed to the sun. “I’d get up to introduce myself, but I’d probably just pass out.”
His voice was a strangely high falsetto.
“Don’t bother,” I said, plunking myself next to him. “Been there.”
“And this here is RJ.” Jess patted the arm of the hipster. “It’s his second summer at Fairyland, since he was an intern the year before. Now he’s an RA in the boys’ dorm and going to Columbia in the fall.”
“Don’t forget the Fairyland Executive Training Program,” Karl murmured.
Jess said, “Oh, yeah. RJ’s in the Fairyland Executive Training Program because he was such an awesome intern the year before.”
RJ leaned over and extended his hand. “Ask me anything. I’m here to help.”
It was all I could do not to loosen that top button. How could he wear a collar that tight?
“He’s Mr. Fairyland,” mumbled Karl, who seemed to be half asleep. “He picked me up at the airport, and by the end of the drive I knew to avoid the Chef’s Surprise and where to chill in the park after-hours and that unless I was looking for a killer case of Lyme disease I shouldn’t go beyond the Haunted Forest. Oh, and that he’d better not catch me with a girl in my room after ten.”
With a nod RJ said, “Yes, I’m the one you’re gonna want to avoid when you’re sneaking out at four in the morning.”
A quick wit, I thought approvingly as I sipped my coffee.
“Seriously,” Jess said. “That’s one of the rules. No girls in the boys’ dorms past ten and vice versa.”
Karl yawned. “Quit talking about dorms. I couldn’t sleep one wink on my flight. All I want to do is take a nap. When are they going to give us our cast assignments?”
“I can tell you now, if you want,” RJ said, pulling out a slip of paper from his back pocket. “Obermann, Karl. You’re a Red Riding Hood wolf.”
Karl let out a moan. “A wolf costume. That’ll be so hot. And not in a good way.”
“Yeah, but it’s also cool,” RJ said. “Don’t you know? Kids go crazy for a predator in heels and a nightgown.”
Jess tried to read over his shoulder. “Do you have everyone’s assignments there?”
“Most of them.” He ran his finger down the list. “Except yours, Zoe. Next to your name, it says Character Yet to Be Determined.”
I knew it—a mistake!
“Ooooh. That’s my favorite,” Jess teased. “Goldilocks and the Three Characters Yet to Be Determined.”
I said, “Shut up! You’re just jealous because you wanted to be a Character Yet to Be Determined, too.”
Jess cocked her head. “In a way, at our age, Zoe, we’re all characters waiting to be determined.”
“Don’t get philosophical on me, Swynkowski.” I bit into a slice of cantaloupe and turned to RJ. “What does it mean that I don’t have a part? Is that bad?”
“It means they hadn’t cast you by the time they were drawing up this list.”
Jess went, “Duh.”
“Now, let’s see. Swynkowski.” RJ squinted at the bottom of the paper. “Ah. Here it is.”
Jess slapped her hands over her ears. “Don’t tell me.”
“Red Riding Hood Number Two.”
Not even a #1. Bummer.
Jess slumped. “I told you it was bad when they didn’t put me in the Princess Tower.”
“Buck up. At least you’re not a generic elf,” I said, rubbing her back. “Anyway, who knows? You might end up loving it.”
RJ folded up his paper. “That’s a great character. What’s your problem?”
I knew Jess didn’t feel like going into it, so I said, “My cousin really wanted to be a princess .