The Cast List

Chapter 6

Hello, reader. A couple of people have shocked me by asking when I was going to update. I didn't write this thinking anyone was going to think it was the next great American novel, but I wrote a specific, chapter-by-chapter outline for the rest of the story, so I should be able to finish it. I don't know how regularly I'll update, but it shouldn't be too long. To the side is a link to my favorite Matthew Sweet song from his album, "Girlfriend," which I refer to in this chapter. 

Happy reading! And, as always, please offer any feedback you have, the harsher the better.

"Did you ever see Girlfriend?" I asked Lena.

"No, what was that?"

"It was this play that came through a few months ago. I saw it when I was on vacation in Miami for spring break."

"Was it good?"

"Oh my god! It was amazing! It's based on an album by Matthew Sweet. He's still touring and stuff, but his heyday was the 90s."

"What's it about?"

"These two guys who just graduated from high school who fall in love. If it comes through again, we should go. It's absolutely worth it."

Lena leaned back against the couch, resting her head on the seat. We were sprawled on the floor of my parents' basement, in the middle of an Emma Thompson movie marathon. Every couple of months, whenever we both had a hiatus in our packed schedules, we would get together and have a movie marathon of whatever theme we hadn't yet done. Last time it was Quentin Tarantino. Generally we only watched three or four movies at the most, because we'd pause between each movie and pretend we weren't addicted to technology. 

With her head tilted back a little bit on the seat, Lena threw up pieces of popcorn and caught them in her mouth. It was a testament to her perfect control of her body that she was able to catch every single piece. 

"Mel?"

"Yeah, Lene?"

"What happens when we go off to college?"

"We gotta graduate first, darling. I don't know about you, but I'm probably gonna flunk," I joked. "And obviously you're the worst in your class." Lena was one of those ridiculously frustrating people who is amazing at everything, the person you try your hardest to hate but simply can't. 

"No, I'm serious. I don't know where I'm going."

"Come on, Lene. Didn't you apply for early acceptance to, like, everywhere?"

She raised her head up off the seat and stirred the popcorn bowl with her finger. She nodded. 

"Have you gotten anything back?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"I've been accepted to Tisch, Yale, Juilliard, and Joffrey."

"Holy shit!" I yelled, not bothering to keep my voice down. My parents were both out of town, on separate business trips. My mom was in California and my dad was in Texas. "Lena, that is amazing. Have you decided which--?"

"No," she whispered. "And I know I sound like such a spoiled brat when I say this, I don't have any right to freak out about which elite college I'm going to go to, but the thing is, they're all so far away." She looked right in my eyes as she said this and I saw something I'd never seen in her eyes: fear.

"What do you mean?"

"I've never been out of Oregon." 

We lived in a tiny, little town in Oregon, about two hours southwest of Portland. It wasn't noteworthy enough to be put on a map. I loved the town, I did, but I was so tired of a town with less than four thousand residents. There simply weren't enough people. I longed for the hustle and bustle of a city like NYC, with a new person on every street corner. I didn't want to be able to leave my wallet out on a picnic bench in public, leave for twenty minutes, and come back to find it exactly as it was. I'd done this several times to serve my unhealthy need for thrills.