Unscripted - Nicole Kronzer Page 0,14
to pretend we’re only best friends,” Sirena said, rolling her eyes. “But Dad’s cool. We’re working on Mom together.”
That sucked. I took a moment to be grateful for Will and my parents.
“Maybe you should tell her she should be happy about it because neither of you is going to accidentally get pregnant,” Hanna said.
Paloma moaned. “Hanna.”
Hanna looked at Paloma, shocked. “What?”
Sirena and Emily laughed, so I joined in. “I’ve tried that one, actually,” Sirena said. “No dice.” She took Emily’s hand. “It’s okay. It’s better than it was. And the guys on our team are . . .” She looked to Emily for the right words.
“Less grossly into us being together than they used to be?” Emily suggested.
Sirena pursed her lips. “Yeah. Sometimes.”
“Well, I think that sucks,” Hanna said. She threw up a hand. “You don’t suck. Let’s be clear, Paloma. The situation sucks.” She gestured to Emily and Sirena. “The situation should be if you two are happy together, everyone else should be happy for you. And not gross-happy.”
Sirena and Emily cracked a smile.
“We love the guys on our team,” Emily insisted. “And we love improv.”
Paloma nodded. “But just being a girl is hard enough without also being . . . Do you have a label you like?”
Emily beamed. “Thanks for asking.” She turned to Sirena. “Isn’t that nice? To be asked?”
Sirena chuckled, squeezing Emily’s hand and nodded. “Yeah, it is.” She looked at their clasped hands and smiled. “We like ‘gay.’ And ‘lesbian’ is fine, too. In certain contexts, ‘queer’ makes the most sense. Right, Em?”
Emily nodded. “I did have a boyfriend freshman year, and he was really nice to me, but dating him felt mostly just weird. Like I was playing a part? And then I met this girl during the play, and at first I was like, ‘She’s really cute. Oh my gosh, do I like girls?’ and then I was like, ‘Yes, I do, because, this is what kissing is supposed to—’ ”
Sirena coughed. Paloma and I caught each other’s eyes and grinned.
Emily giggled and leaned her head on Sirena’s shoulder. “Sorry! Sirena doesn’t love me talking about Bailey. I’m Sirena’s first girlfriend.”
Sirena shook her head and smirked. “Not true. Tiana in Princess and the Frog was my first girlfriend.”
We all laughed.
“Anyone else have a label they like?” Emily asked.
“I’ve never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend,” Paloma said, gazing at the ceiling, “but I’m pretty sure I’m straight.”
“It’s a shame it’s such a long label,” Hanna joked, “because ‘I’ve never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but I’m pretty sure I’m straight’ doesn’t really fit on a T-shirt.”
“If you could manage it, I’d order one,” I said.
“Me, too,” Hanna said, pulling her shirt close to her face. “Maybe if we make the font smaller . . .”
As the laughter died down, Paloma sat up straight. “How have we not talked about this yet? Five girls showed up here. Out of two hundred campers. And the Pauls are excited!”
“Yeah . . .” Hanna said slowly, straightening her shirt. “That worries me, too.”
Sirena reached for a large satin scarf in her robe pocket. “And we’re all here for the first time. Does no girl ever come back?”
“People get busy,” I said. “It could be just a coincidence.”
“Maybe,” Sirena said. She folded the scarf into a triangle and tied it around her braids. “But did anyone talk to you about not having a counselor? Is that related?”
We shook our heads.
“The freedom’s nice and whatnot,” Paloma allowed, “but it seems a little irresponsible.”
Now we were all leaning forward.
“I talked to one of the coaches,” I said, not mentioning Ben’s name on purpose. I mean, even with all this openness with the Gildas, after Will and Jonas’s reaction, I wasn’t sure there wasn’t another round of flirt-shaming in my future. “He was surprised that Laura—who was supposed to be our counselor—wasn’t here. The gig was super last minute, I guess.”
“Huh,” Paloma said, tapping her knee with her pointer finger. “I kinda wish she was. We’d have someone to answer questions, you know?”
“Like auditions tomorrow,” Sirena said. “Are we all going to make the upper-level teams because we’re good? Or because they need women?”
We were silent for a moment.
I sat on my hip and tried to channel Will’s encouragement from the car. “Come on,” I said, “we can’t think like that. We’re good. It’ll be fine. We’ll just go in, stay out of our heads, and be in the moment.”
Sirena exchanged a look with Paloma.
“What?” I asked.
“It’s just . .