“Hey Kay! They put up the cast lists!” Ashley exclaimed, ripping down the hallway towards me.

“Did you already check?”

“Nope! I’m on my way!” she snags my arm and drags me down the hall. I regain my footing and match her pace.

“Race you there!” I speed past her towards the auditorium lobby.

“Last one there pays for pizza Friday!” she yells running down the opposite hallway. She always takes the left hallway.

 I whip around a corner and crash into something tall that smells like a campfire. Oh no.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I was racing my friend and I wasn’t looking. I ‘m so, so, sorry, are you ok? I’m ok- I forgot to ask, sorry!” I yammer on as I help pick up the guy’s books, not looking up. I spot his neon high-tops. Cool I just met a guy with shoes like that.

“Kaylie, it’s ok. I’m fine. No one got hurt, no big deal,” says the boy. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up. I’m met by dark grey eyes filled with mirth. I then realize it is the guy from the audition.

“I- Hi, again,” I struggle. I can see the laughter in his eyes grow with his smirk and I can’t keep mine in anymore. He joins me on the hallway floor, the halls are mostly empty, a sure sign of the school day’s end.

“What’s got you so pumped anyway?” he asks once the laughter dies down.

“They put up the cast lists and I was racing my friend Ash- Oh shoot, Ash!” I jump up and start running down the hallway, waving, “Sorry got to go! See you later, good luck on your casting!”

“You too!” I hear him yell back.

I sprint through the last 2 corridors and see Ashley standing by the casting lists with a hand on her hip. She taps her foot impatiently, “Girl, you know I’m faster than you, but not that fast. Where’d you go?”

“I crashed into someone,” I stated dully.

“What, really- who?” she asked quickly.

“I crashed into, and knocked over, A-uh,” I forgot to get his name! “Actually, I don’t know. Some guy I met at the auditions, didn’t get a name though,” I internally kick myself for forgetting to ask.

“Oh ok, James or Josh probably knows them,” Ashley states confidently.

“Yeah, ok. So what did we get?” I ask turning to the cast lists. I scan the rows for my name or Ashley’s. I find her name under Stage Manager. “Hey, Ash! You got Stage manager.”

She fist pumps and does her little victory dance. “You got Louisa!” I freeze. She texts James about the casting. “James says he’s lighting director and Josh got Rolf, but he transferred to set crew.”

“When am I going to meet this Josh guy?”

“Rehearsals I guess, he keeps cancelling on our group plans for some unknown reason.”

“So are you ever going to give me your name?”

“Why do you care so much?”

“I’m curious at heart,” I say while practicing the choreography for the play.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he replies with the same smirk he always does.

“Satisfaction brought it back.”

“You don’t need to know my name.”

“Says you, Mr. Show-up-out-of-nowhere-knowing-my-name-and-wanting-to-be-my-friend.” Practically best-friend.

“And yet, you became my friend despite the mystery.” Just a friend. Yes, just a friend and will always be just a friend.

“I’m the new girl, I don’t know many people. You seemed to be the least crazy of the bunch.”

“What about Ashley?” He knows Ashley? We both freeze, he finally slipped up. “Different Ashley,” he tries to recover.

“I never said which Ashley.” He sighs in defeat, sitting down on one of the set boxes.

“Yeah ok, I know Ash of the famous James and Ash.” I pull out my phone, prepared to ask Ashley a million questions about Green Sneakers.

“Please don’t text them, then the game will end.”

“What game?”

“Our game. The mystery. I don’t know why but it’s important to me.” Because it’s fun.

“Ok, I won’t ask who you are, but I will figure you out. I want hints. One hint a day and I won’t end the game early,” I sit down next to him.

“Deal,” he says with a smile, a real smile. The smile that is slowly becoming my favorite thing.

“So, hint number one please.”

“Ah- um, I know Ashley.”

“That’s not a hint, I already knew that!” I exclaimed, shoving him with my shoulder.

“How was supposed to know that?” he asks innocently.  I groaned in response. This boy will be the death of me.

I spot Green Sneakers backstage and attempt to sneak up on him. I walk slowly up behind him, only to be foiled by my shoelace and clumsiness. I stumble into him, knocking us both to the ground.

“I-uh-Hey Greenie,” I stutter, sitting up.

“Greenie?” he asks, following my lead. There’s that smirk again. He really needs to stop doing that. I look down at his shoes, he follows my gaze, “Oh, ok.”

“I have to call you something, right? Speaking of- I want my hint.”

“Needy.”

“Curious.”

“Fine,” he takes a moment and stares at the ceiling, “Ummm, my best friend has a girlfriend.” I look at him confused.

“I want hints on your, oh so secret, identity.” I glare pointedly, “Not your best friend’s love life.”

“It’s a hint, take it or leave it.”

“I want another hint, about you this time.”

“Nope.”

I put on my best doe eyes and put my head on his shoulder. Comfortable.

“Please?” He tenses at the action. I lean away from him to look him in the eye, catching the pink on his face.

“Uh-I, youshoulder, cute,” he looks towards the ceiling and chuckles quietly, “You really have to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Being so adorable, it’s not fair.”

 My face turns a red to match my hoodie, “I-you-ugh,” I facepalm, “Great, now I’m doing it too,” I laugh.

He turns to face me, “Ok so here’s the new and improved deal Kay, if I give you a fact you have to give me a fact.”

“About ourselves, correct?” I ask playfully.

“Yes,” he states with an eyeroll.

“Deal.”

“Really? Actually- I’m just gonna agree before you change your mind.”

“Smart.”

“Ok so your new fact, hmmm, I can play guitar.”

“Really? Cool. Um-I’m ambidextrous.”

“Cool.”

Green Sneakers Facts and Observations

Knows Ashley (connection unknown)

Plays guitar

Likes cats more than dogs

Always wears green high-tops

Puns and laughs at his own jokes

Can sing

Rubs back of neck when nervous or embarrassed (along with frantic hand gestures and running hand through hair)

Likes hot chocolate (hates coffee)

Is a sophmore

Likes me

I stare down at my list before sighing and erasing the last one. Not a proven fact- yet. I pack up my bags when the bell rings and jog where Greenie and I have been meeting for our Daily Fact Swap. Although he still refuses to give me his name, he has slowly been opening up to me.

“Hey, Princess. How was your day?” And so the ritual begins.

“Eh, good enough. You?”

“Better now that you’re here.” Note to self: Add flirt to the list.

“I let the ‘Princess’ thing slide this time, tone down the flirting Greenie,” I sit down on our usual bench outside the auditorium.

“Why? It’s fun, especially when you blush.” His statement proves correct and he laughs as my face reddens.

“Not funny.”

“Very funny.” I stick out my tongue at him in protest, he returns the gesture.

“So, is today the day I find out who the mysterious Greenie is?”  

“Nope, you have to figure it out for yourself.” I groan sarcastically.

“Fine, my fact for today is that my favorite food is Mac n’ Cheese.”

“Excellent choice Princess, my fact is that my phone number is- “he gestures for me to hand over my phone. I unlock it and watch him input his number, then change his contact name to ‘Greenie ;)’.

“You’re a dork you know that, right?”

“Yeah, but I hope to someday be your dork.”

“What did I say about the flirting?”

“That making you blush is my favorite thing ever.” I shove his arm and move to get up.

“Leaving so soon Princess?”

“Don’t you have homework Greenie?” I question, gesturing to his, obviously full, backpack.

“Yeah, ok, see you tomorrow then?” he asks. His eyes always darken when we leave.

“Same time, same place.” His face lights up slightly at my confirmation. I wave goodbye and walk towards my car.

“Hey Ash, what’s up? We still on for Pizza Friday?”

“Yeah, about that, it’s me and James’ anniversary, so we’re going to have to cancel.”

“Oh ok.” My heart sinks a little. It’s their anniversary it has nothing to do with you, you did nothing wrong. “Yeah, I’ll be fine, maybe, next week?”

“That would be great Kay, thanks for understanding.”

“No problem.” I hang up quickly. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong. You. Did. Nothing. Wrong. My mind races with scenarios, none of them good. Then why do I feel this way? I realize it’s the anxiety kicking in. Talk to someone. I open my contacts and call the first name in my Favorites List. He picks up.

“Hey, you ok?”

“Not really.” The worry in his voice comforts me. He cares.

“Do you need anything? How can I help?”

“Do you want to get pizza on Friday, after rehearsal?”

“Uh-yeah sure. Do you want to meet there or can I drive us?”

“You can drive.”

“Ok, it’s a date?” The slight pickup in his voice at the end makes me giggle.

“Yeah, it’s a date.”

“Is that why you called?”

“Well, no, but I’m feeling a little better now.”

“I don’t plan on hanging up until you feel all better.”

“Okay,” I sigh with relief.

I wait for Greenie at our spot after Friday rehearsals. After 10 minutes he sneaks up and scares my from behind. I jump a foot in the air and he almost falls over from laughing.

“Why did you do that?” I exclaim, pushing him and making him stumble.

“You’re just mad that my plan succeeded and I didn’t trip and knock you over,” he laughs knowingly.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m hungry. Let’s go,” I huff and turn towards the parking lot.

“Feisty.” I stick out my tongue as he leads me towards his car, he rolls his eyes and chuckles.

“So why the not-so-sudden pizza craving?”

“Well, its Ash and James’ anniversary and we usually go for pizza on the last Friday of the month. The 2 events just happened to fall on the same day, so they cancelled,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing.

“Oh yeah, I forgot their anniversary was today.”

“Are you close to them?” I ask, tuning in further to our conversation.

“More James than Ashley, but you can’t really have one without the other, can you?” I giggle at his slightly jealous tone.

“Yeah, it seems that way.” We get in his car, chatting absent mindedly during the car ride. When we pull up he gets out and jogs around to my side of the car, making a show of his chivalry, opening my door.

“M’lady,” he says with a flourish.

“What happened to ‘Princess’?” I question, rolling my eyes at his dorkiness.

“You’re still my Princess,” he states firmly.

“This princess doesn’t date nameless knights you know.” I decide to play along with his game. He’s just being silly.

“Maybe I won’t be nameless for long.” I freeze.

“After all of this you’re just going to tell me?” The game was so important to him. What changed?

“If you can figure it out by dessert I’m paying.”

We slide into a booth, sitting across from each other. I stare quizzically at his face, trying to put name to the picture. A waiter comes by and takes our order and leaves.

“My fact for today is that I like vanilla ice cream over chocolate ice cream,” I state, deciding to get the ball rolling.

“My fact for today is that I like cheese pizza.”

“How appropriate,” I say with a smirk.

“I thought so.” He says, mimicking my expression. He smiles with his eyes.

For a while we chat and keep comfortable eye contact going. Being awkward was never really our thing was it?

The pizza comes and goes as we continue eating and laughing together. When the waitress comes for our dessert order I decide to try and win our game. Our game.

“What’s that?” Greenie asks as I pull out my, now much longer, list. I take it with me everywhere. Just so I can figure him out.

“A list of all the facts you’ve ever given me, plus observations,” I say confidently, my eyes jumping from the list to his face. My eyes widen as he pulls out a similar list, but with my name at the top.

“Guess we both have something new for the lists,” he chuckles, “Organizes things that are important to them.”

“I’m important to you?” Please say yes. Please let the words just a friend be banned from existence.

“Yeah, Kaylie, you are very important to me.”

“Why did you even want to be close to me anyway? I’m not important.”

“You are very important, do you think I would cancel plans with my best friend, his girlfriend, and her best friend, just to keep our game going?” he asks, looking me straight in the eye.

My eyes read the answers from his and suddenly everything clicks. Cancels group plans, transferred to stage crew even though they can sing, knows Ashley, and is close to James.

“Josh?”

“Guess I’m paying for dinner then,” Josh says with a smile, one that reaches into his eyes.

“Why did you hide your name the whole time? I don’t have anything against Josh, even less Greenie,” I state exasperatedly. I like Greenie. Greenie is Josh. I like Josh.

“I know, but I wanted to get to know you before the other two tried to set us up for double dates,” he sighed.

“Yeah, ok, that’s a valid reason,” I say sincerely. They wouldn’t have left us alone until we hated or fell for each other.

“You’re not mad?” he asks, his eyes darken with doubt and his smile disappears.

“No!” I exclaim quickly. I never want him to doubt me, ever, he should never have to feel like that, “Uh- I mean, no, I’m no mad. I get it. This has been fun, and I hope it will continue to be.” I say timidly. The game is over. Now what?

“Kaylie, the game isn’t over, we still have a lot to learn about each other,” he says, as if he could read my mind.

“Like what?”

“Well for starters I’d like to know if you’d be my girlfriend, but we can go slower if you want,” he says simply. Gone was my confident Greenie and our open banter, in front of me was a boy putting himself out there. For me.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I’d like to be your girlfriend Greenie,” I state, rolling my eyes.

“Really?” His eyes light up with enough hope to save the world. I never want this to end.

“Yeah, on one condition,” His smile falters for a moment, awaiting my response, “I’m going to need some green sneakers.”