Bit Players, Has-Been Actors and Other Posers: A Must-Read for Fans of Glee, High School Musical and Twilight by S. Stevens Page B

off this year’s show without the two of them making it worse, and that maybe it would be better to cancel altogether.”
    “That doesn’t sound good. Maybe we can talk to Ellison on Monday.” Emboldened by the toast, I swallowed the pills with the water. “What’s the second thing?”
    Adrienne took an unusual amount of time to re-settle herself on the couch under her sleeping bag.
    “Do you like Nigel?” she asked, picking up her empty cereal bowl and fishing around for flakes she may have missed.
    I nodded. “He’s adorable, don’t you think?” I started to smile but the movement made my face hurt.
    “He is really good-looking.” She was staring at me now. “But I have to tell you something.” I waited. Adrienne inhaled and released her bad news. “I overhead him talking to some of the senior guys last night, before you two went for your walk out back. I was waiting for the bathroom, in the hallway around the corner from them, and they didn’t know I was there.” I massaged my forehead and waited. “Nigel was asking which girl at the party would be easiest to, you know, get in bed – ‘who would give it up easily’ is what he said.”
    I stopped rubbing my head. “What?! And they said me?”
    “Not exactly. First they mentioned Lucey, but she was hanging all over Nick last night. Then they mentioned a senior who wasn’t at the party. Then Nigel asked about you.”
    Just the thought of him asking about me sent a warm shot of satisfaction through my throbbing veins. “What did he say?”
    “He said something about the girl needing to be pretty, he wasn’t desperate, but at the same time, he was in a foreign country and wanted to have some fun. Then he said, ‘What about Sadie?’”
    “And?”
    “One of the other guys – I wasn’t sure whose voice was whose – said he didn’t think you had a boyfriend. Then the other one said you were the history teacher’s daughter, so be careful. Then the first guy said you were kind of cute but definitely a little different.”
    My fuzzy brain struggled to process this. “I don’t get it. Were they saying I’m easy? Because there is no reason for them to think that.”
    “I know. And they never said you were. But Nigel ended by saying something about you being a wallflower and wallflowers being grateful for attention.”
    “Wow. What do I do with that information?” I wasn’t prepared to give up on Nigel because of one offhand comment. We really clicked last night. I knew I wasn’t imagining the chemistry.
    “Sadie, you don’t want to date a guy who just wants to get into your pants.”
    I laughed.
    “How can you laugh about that?” Adrienne asked in horror.
    “I’m not laughing at that, exactly. But according to Jesse, they all want to get into your pants.” Adrienne’s eyebrows shot up. “The week before he left for college, he was out late with his friends one night. When he got home, he sat next to me on the couch – I was watching Chicago again -- and he put his arm around me. That’s rare for him, so I knew he had something important to say.”
    “And?” Adrienne asked, pulling the sleeping bag more tightly around her shoulders.
    “He said: ‘Little sister, I have to give you a warning before I leave you all alone in Smalltown, without me to watch over you. Boys are all jerks, and we’ll do anything you let us do. So you can’t do two stupid things at once, like get drunk at parties and then hook up with guys. Or drink and drive. Or have sex without a condom. You have to be the smart one, and the sober one. So be careful, because guys won’t be, okay? I know, because I am one.’”
    “Smart boy, your brother,” Adrienne said, grinning. “You should listen to him.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I know. So I got drunk at a party. But it ended up okay. I didn’t let Nigel take advantage of me.”
    “If you consider vomiting self-defense, then I guess you can take credit for that.”
    I ignored her sarcasm and asked what else I’d