the ax. “Zelda.”
I tucked a curl behind my ear. “Jesse.”
“Is everything okay?”
I opened my mouth, but, for once, thought about speaking before I spoke. What if I told Jesse about Ben? About how controlling he was? How scared I’d become? He’d probably tell me to tell the Pauls. But I wasn’t going to do that. So what good was it going to do? Better for him to just see me as funny, fun, carefree Zelda. Better to have one person here who didn’t feel sorry for me. Plus, I suddenly realized, I didn’t want him to think there was something going on between Ben and me.
Make statements and assumptions. “I . . . I’ve got this script to revise. I wrote the cold open. You’re coming, right? Saturday night?”
“To the improv show? Yes. I don’t know what a cold open is, but I’m glad you wrote it. I’m sure it’ll be the . . . coldest, most open one there.”
I laughed. “See you tonight.”
He nodded slowly and grinned at me. “The gate. Seven o’clock.”
Feeling lighter, I watched his progress through the trees.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Two hours later, waiting for JV to settle in to watch a run-through of my revised cold open, I was under strict instruction from Ben to “just sit still” and let him “do all the talking.” I alternately bit my nails and sat on my hands.
“Okay, JV,” Ben called in a commanding voice. “What you are seeing is a revised version of a sketch we’ve been developing this week.”
I couldn’t help it—I looked over my shoulder at the JV teams and caught Will’s eye.
“Didn’t you write this?” he mouthed.
I nodded and shrugged.
He rolled his eyes and threw an arm around Jonas, whispering something in his ear. Jonas nodded and gave me a thumbs-up.
I smiled and turned back to face the stage.
“Okay!” Ben started toward the seat next to mine. I tensed. “Lights up!” he called.
Someone flipped off the house lights, leaving the seats dark but the stage lit. I leaned in with my script to catch some of the light so I could still see to write notes, but Ben pushed me back so I was sitting upright.
“I need the light—” I whispered, but he shushed me.
I started to vibrate with anger. How much was this guy going to try and control me? How much more could I put up with? What would happen if I really stood up to him?
Xander came on stage.
“Thank god for the Colorado woods,” Xander said, miming setting down a heavy hiking backpack. “Rugged landscape, vistas for miles, and all the solitude a person could dream of.”
Immediately, Brandon stumbled on stage, joining him. “Oh my god!” He grabbed Xander by the shoulders. “I’m so glad I found someone! I need to monologue all my feelings!”
The laughter began. And my anger dissipated.
As the scene progressed, it got sillier and more complicated, and by the time the sleepwalking bear showed up, I thought JV was going to lose their minds. At my new favorite part with the pilot, I glanced over to see Ben’s reaction—out of habit, I guess—but his face was stone cold. He was clenching his jaw. His arms were folded across his chest.
I thought this sketch was good—maybe the best I’d ever written—but clearly it didn’t meet his expectations.
“Scene!” Ben called.
JV broke into applause, and Will shouted, “Go, Zelda! That’s my sister!” Laughter accompanied more whoops of appreciation. I turned and waved.
When the clapping died down, Ben stood and faced the audience. “Clearly there’s still a lot of work that has to be done,” he said.
I looked up at him skeptically.
“Really?” Roger asked, frowning. “That sketch looks show-ready to me. Who wrote it? And why isn’t Zelda in it?”
“Yeah!” Hanna’s voice called out. I stared at my hands.
“We really developed it as a team,” Ben said.
My ears began to burn. I looked up on stage. Would any of them stand up for me? But once again, they were silent.
I would feel so stupid claiming writing credit. Plus, Ben had shown me what could happen when I disagreed with him.
“Thanks for coming.” Ben forced a smile and waved like everyone had already made their intentions of leaving known.
“Didn’t Zelda write it?” Will called out.
I couldn’t help smiling into my lap.
“As I said, we developed it as a team,” Ben insisted. “That’s a wrap, everyone. Let’s get the tables set up for dinner.”
The guys on JV started to stand.
“Why wasn’t Zelda in it?” Sirena demanded.
Emily joined in. “Yeah. Why isn’t Zelda in it?”
“Not enough