The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees Read Free Book Online Page A

evaporate under his hands, study.ing the way they were made.
    “Paper’s different,” he said. “Aye, and the bindings. But what riches ye have, Miranda. Even in London there’s no such place as this.”
    Finally we ended up in the magazine section, which was right next to the coffee. The magazines absolutely transfixed Edmund. Or anyway, the covers did.
    “Such images. How d’ye ever…” he breathed as he looked at all the bright-color pics of cars, pretty girls and famous heads.
    But before I could display my vast erudition again, there was a voice behind us.
    “Hey, Miri. What’s up?”
    I turned around and saw Bobby Ruspoli smiling at me.
    “Hey, dude,” I said.
    Edmund also turned.
    “Bobby, this is my cousin Ed,” I said quickly, and feeling rather proud of myself for being such an adroit thinker. “He’s from England.”
    “Hey, Ed,” Bobby said.
    “Give ye good even.”
    “Ed, this is Bobby Ruspoli from school,” I said.
    “You guys busy?” Bobby asked.
    “Not exactly,” I said.
    “Then come on over and help me work on Drew. I’m try.ing to talk him into reading tomorrow. Stubborn geek says he doesn’t want to be on stage.”
    I would have agreed in a ten-thousandth of a second, if I’d been alone. But I had Mr. Shakeshaft to consider. “What do you think, is it okay, Ed?”
    “Yes. It is okay,” Edmund said.
    So Bobby led us over to his table and we sat down with Drew.
    “Hey, Drew,” I said.
    “Hi, Miranda.”
    He had an empty espresso cup in front of him, and a paper.back copy of the play.
    “Drew, this is my cousin Ed, Edmund, from England,” I said. “Edmund, this is Drew Jenkins. He’s in school with me, too.”
    “Give ye good e’en,” Edmund said.
    And Drew smiled and said, “Give ye good e’en, as well, fair sir.”
    “Ye speak English,” Edmund said.
    “Fairly well for an American,” Drew said, and the three Americans laughed.
    “Bobby says he wants you to read for the play,” I said.
    “No way in hell.”
    “Please,” I said. “We need guys.”
    “You need actors,” Drew said. “That lets me out.”
    “Drew, there were guys on that stage today you could act the asses off of,” Bobby said.
    “I agree there were some dreadful impersonations of act.ing,” Drew said. “But the fact that they were god-awful doesn’t make me good.”
    “Dude, you have got to get over seventh grade,” Bobby said.
    “Shut up—”
    “This guy,” Bobby said, “used to do shows with me all the time in grade school. He was the beautiful white pony. I was the blue car smooth and shiny as satin. That was sec.ond grade—”
    “Third. Second grade I was the woodcutter and you were the prince.”
    “Oh, yeah,” Bobby said. “But the point is, he was good. Then in seventh grade—”
    “Shut up, Bobby. Nobody cares what happened in seventh grade.”
    “Apparently you do,” Bobby said.
    “Okay, I do. So shut up about it,” Drew said.
    “We were both cast in the Children’s Musical Theater Holiday Spectacular,” Bobby went on. “You didn’t know Drew could sing, right? Well, he can. Better than me. And he got a solo. ‘Christmas Is a Time of Giving,’ right at the end of act one. I mean, it’s the big act finisher, right? And he dries up. Can’t remember his song. Just stands there and—”
    “Shut. Up. Now,” Drew said.
    “All I’m saying is, it’s time to get back on the horse, Drew. The beautiful white pony. It’s been four years.”
    “And all I’m saying is, you’re wrong. It’s not that I’m scared. Scarred for life, definitely. But not scared. I’m just not interested.”
    “Miri,” Bobby said. “Explain to him why he’s interested.”
    “I can’t,” I said. “But, Drew. Cast parties.”
    “I come to those anyway,” Drew said.
    Which was true. Whenever there was a cast party and Bobby showed up, Drew was with him. This was whether Bobby had a girl on his arm or not.
    “They’re more fun when you’ve just finished a show,”