"So whose Brian?" asked Jeff.

Troy looked in the backseat. Yolanda was still writing her note, bobbing her head and singing along to the song. "My jerk brother. Well, I always have to deal with him and his stupid jock friend." Troy told Jeff about his usual run-ins with Richard and Brian.

"That Richard guy's a tool," Jeff said.

"Feel free to spread that around school," said Troy.

Jeff laughed, but Troy was hoping he'd take that seriously and tell people what Richard was really like. "And it's only going to get worse with this basketball crap now. You should've seen the crowds and stuff the first game, it was sickening." Troy described the crowds shouting "C!", Brian's casual wave, "the royal wave," Pat called it. She and Troy were only ones in the family not totally impressed with the whole thing. The rest of the family, aunts, cousins were very loud.

"Well," Jeff said as they pulled into Seb's parking lot, "if it's any consolation, I only know him because of you and Andee. I hate sports."

"Yeah well, you're like the only one," Troy said. He let Jeff change the subject as they walked into the theater.

With the entire cast there the theater was more crowded than he had ever seen it. People were going over scripts and different groups were running back and forth to where Rita and Jess were holed up in a corner, bent over the Jess' ever present clipboard. Different spotlights were coming on and going off as Roy Escobar and Mr. Rome talked and pointed down on the stage. Troy looked around, satisfied. It was good to be in a world that didn't care about Brian. His world.

David came up behind Yolanda and put his arm around her waist. She turned around quickly.

"Hey! You surprised me!"

"Well, who'd you think it was, Chris?"

"No," Yolanda answered, a little sharply. Somehow a rumor had gotten started that Yolanda was getting a little too into her part and developed an offstage crush on Chris Beck, who was playing Mr. Barringer, the teacher her character had a crush on.

"Just kidding." David rubbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes until she smiled at him. "I know who the man in your life is."

He was about to lean in when Yolanda suddenly pulled out the note she wrote in the car. She opened up a breast pocket on his shirt with her index finger and slipped her note in it. He patted his pocket with a smile. Troy knew Yolanda didn't want David to kiss her in front of him and everyone in the theater. He turned and saw Kathey Templeman, Michele Lynch and Kelly Baker watching them. He suddenly got a good idea of who started the rumor. Michele and Kelly turned away, but Kathey kept watching David, who was still holding his sister. She saw Troy looking at her and turned back around to Kelly and Michele.

Did Kathey liked David now? Well, if she wanted to chase after a hopeless case that was her business. Troy was relieved that she wouldn't be following him around anymore, of course, but it still was a little weird. He wondered if he should tell Yolanda.

"Andee!" called Rita. "We need you!" She and Jess were looking up. Rita beckoned urgently.

Yolanda looked at David. "I'll be right back."

"You just got here," David said.

"I know, I know. One second."

David reluctantly let go of her and Yolanda went down the steps to where Rita and Jess were sitting. He turned to Troy.

"Hey T-roy," he said with a grin.

The way he was talking reminded Troy of Brian. His answering "hey" was unenthusiastic.

"So what's up, I haven't talked to you," David said.

"Well, you don't call our house for me anymore," Troy said. He knew he wasn't being fair to David, but he was really sick of people acting like this nickname of Jeff's was something he gave himself.

"What's with you?"

"Nothing," Troy said. There actually wasn't anything wrong with him, until David said something.

"Brian again?"

"No, why does everything have to be about Brian?"

"C'mon man, I know you," said David.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

David looked surprised at Troy's tone. "Nothing. I was just going to say you're usually in a good mood that the only thing that brings you down is Brian."

"Oh," Troy said. Now he felt stupid, which didn't improve his mood. "So what's going on?" Troy nodded over at Rita and Jess, who were now gesturing over clipboard with Yolanda. Another group approached them. Jess stood, shooing away Rita and Yolanda.

"Improv groups," David said.

"What's that?"

"Improvisational exercises help you focus on your character, they..."

"I know what improv is David, we've done it in class, remember? I meant the groups," Sometimes David overdid the professional actor bit.

"Excuse me." David started to move down the stairs towards the seats. Troy went after him, but they were intercepted by Kathey and her Seb buddy, Donna Davis. Leaha appreared from nowhere and grabbed Troy's arm. Troy jumped.

"How do you do that? I never see you," Troy said. Leaha laughed and poked him until he smiled himself.

"They're doing the improv groups," Leaha said, "Donna and I want to start one before we get assigned one by their majesties," she nodded over at Jess and Rita.

"We figure they were going to do by who's playing students and who's playing faculity, and we're all in a lot of scenes together," explained Donna.

"So," Leaha looked around, "it could be the five of us, and Dean said he was in," she said to David. Dean was David’s drama buddy.

"Are you guys in?" Kathey said, looking straight at David.

"Uh, I don't know." David looked over towards where Rita and Jess were sitting.

"Not to discourage you, but it looks like Queen Rita has already claimed her." Kathey said.

Donna and Leaha exchanged glances, then Donna said, "We were supposed to be assigned by roles, but Jess lets Rita do whatever she want, so she probably got to handpick her own group. That's why we want to get ours together and just go up to her and tell her who we want. What can she say about it?"

"Um, I guess," David said. They all followed David's glance towards Rita's corner. Yolanda had her back to them. She was surrounded by a group of high school principals, Laura, who played the best friend of Rita's character, Chris, and Ron, who played Joe Ferone, a student that had a lot of scenes with Rita. Rita was in the center, jabbering back and forth , her hand on the top of Yolanda's head. Troy had to admit that it looked pretty final.

"So, is it cool?" Leaha asked. She looked at Kathey, who nudged David.

"I promise, we don't bite," Kathey said.

David looked at her and smiled. "Darn," he said. David looked over at Troy. "You gracing us T-roy?"

Troy lifted a eyebrow. "Right behind you Dr. Love." They looked at each other. Kathey looked away.

"Oookay," Donna said after a bit. "We've got our group then. Let's go inform their majesties."

The four of them trooped down to get in line in front of Jess Frietag and her ever-present clipboard. Li-Chen Ma and Carrie Leath were ahead of them negotiating their own group, while Jeff was at Jess's elbow, hurrying her up on behalf of the impatient Mr. Rome. Troy's group relaxed, realizing they had awhile to wait.

"So" Leaha leaned into Troy, "now that I got you in an improv group are you going to talk to your brother?"

"You were supposed to get me into an improv group, you're my buddy," Troy answered. "Plus like I told you 100 times, he doesn't talk to me."

Kathey turned from talking to David and Donna. "Uh-oh, Brian again, don't get him started."

"Bad subject?" Leaha asked.

Troy stared at her in disbelief. As if this was the first time they had talked about Brian! Leaha Knew he didn't like his brother, but she kept talking about him anyway.

"Trust me, I've heard it all," said Kathey.

"You have not," snapped Troy, "you don't know anything about it." That was another thing. The way Kathey pretended to know him so well just because she liked him. When she said things like that, usually Troy rolled his eyes at David, but David was just nodding.

"Yes she does. Everyone who knows you does," He looked at Kathey, who smiled. Troy frowned. What was with them becoming big buddies all of a sudden anyway?

"Who's your brother?" asked Donna.

"You don't know who Brian Coppenhagen is?" Leaha asked. And that started them off, talking about varsity basketball, the sophomore class, popularity in general. And suddenly the theater was like every other place in his life, with no one understanding why Troy didn't think Brian was as great as they thought he was. Disgusted with his group's conversation, he slipped behind Li-Chen, Carrie and Jess to get to Yolanda.

"You guys don't have any seventh graders," Jess was saying.

"That's right," answered Li-Chen, "you guys are doing the buddy program, so they're your guys' responsibility."

He reached up and tapped Yolanda on the shoulder.

"Hey!" she said, surprised. "Have you seen David?"

Troy pointed over to his group, where David was still talking to Kathey. "We're waiting to get signed up."

"Signed up? He didn't wait for me?" Yolanda craned her neck around to peer down at Troy's improv group. She frowned when she saw Kathey. "I should've known, that little wench. Troy, why didn't you do anything?"

"Me? What was I supposed to do? You were over here with these guys, he tried to get your attention."

"Yeah, I'm sure he could really do that with her big fat butt in his face," Yolanda threw her script in a chair and sat down with a huff.

Rita leaned over her. "What's up, Andee? Did you get him?"

"No, Kathey got him for her group. He didn't even ask me," Yolanda hissed at her buddy, nodding towards David and Kathey while at the same time instructing Rita not to look. Yolanda turned away, wiping at her eyes. Rita looked up at Troy, who shrugged. He began to feel useless standing around as Rita rubbed his sister's shoulders and talked softly to her.

"Okay!" Jeff walked up, clapping his hands, "What's going on over here, are all the improv groups done?"

No one answered him, Rita was bent over Yolanda, Jess was still arguing with Li-Chen and Troy's group talked amongst themselves. Jeff looked over at Mr. Rome, then at Troy.

"This is my life," he said to Troy.

Troy smiled. "Well, we've got kind of a crisis," he said, pointing towards Rita and Yolanda. Jeff bent over and Troy hissed, "David joined a different improv group without telling her."

"Uh-oh," Jeff said.

He motioned to Troy and they bent down in front of Yolanda. Her eyes were no longer shiny, she was nodding at Rita, who seemed to be offering some sort of pep talk.

"Hey Andee," Jeff said, "what do you want to worry about that kid for? You still have Chris," He poked Yolanda in the side.

"Oh yeah, very funny," Yolanda grabbed his finger and pushed his hand away. Troy saw his group watching them from the corner of his eye.

"Excuse me, I was giving a pep talk here," said Rita.

"Excuse me, I was trying to run a rehearsal here. Can we move it with these groups or what? It took less time to form continents," Jeff said. Troy and Yolanda looked at each other and laughed.

Rita shrugged. "I don't know man, I just work here."

"Well ask your better half over there how it's going." Jeff nodded at Jess.

"My what?"

"You know who I mean."

Rita lifted a brow and looked at Yolanda, who smiled and patted her arm. "Oh Jessica! Can you come here a second?" Rita called.

"What?" said Jess.

"Herr Stage Manager would like to know what's going on with the groups," Rita said.

This time Jeff frowned at Troy, who provided the understanding smile.

Jess excused herself, walked over and plopped down in the seat next to Yolanda. "We seem to be at an impasse. Li-Chen wont take any seventh graders in her group.

"So shuffle around Jess, we've gotta get rehearsal started," Jeff said.

"Easier said than done, Jeff. What are we going to do with the ones that don't have buddies who are cast?"

Jeff signaled for the clipboard and Jess reluctantly handed it to him. "Li, your group is good," he said. Li-Chen and Carrie nodded to each other with satisfaction and went back to their corner. "Who's next?"

"Our group," said Troy. He saw Yolanda visibly stiffen and Rita pat her shoulder. "We've got a lot of seventh graders in ours. Well, three of us anyway. " He motioned to Leaha.

"I see we're being summoned by the royals," said Leaha as she led the group over. Jess and Rita heard her and stared, but Leaha looked straight ahead and addressed Jeff. "This is our group, " she said, "Troy are you still with us or what?"

"Yes," Troy snapped. "what do you think I've been doing over here?"

"We were wondering," Leaha looked around for support and got a nod from Kathey. Donna shrugged helplessly and David was trying to get Yolanda's attention.

"For your information, while you all were busy discussing my brother I was trying to sign us up," Troy said.

"What does Brian have to do with anything?" David said, apparently having given up on Yolanda.

"My point exactly," grumbled Troy.

Leaha wasn't about to be diverted from her original issue. "Anyway," she said, to Troy, "I don't see how we were supposed to know you were with us when you've been over here with them the whole time."

"Okay," Jeff handed the clipboard back to Jess. "Sign this group up, take another seventh grader besides Andee and give the rest to Joe and them." He took Leaha and Troy each by an arm. "Can I see you guys for a minute?" Leaha slipped her arm out from Jeff's, and stalked up the aisle and out of the theater with Jeff and Troy following.

"Well, this group's off to a winning start," remarked Rita. Yolanda's answering laugh was nice and loud for Kathey's benefit. David walked away to another row of seats. Kathey followed him.

"Make yourselves useful please," Jess said. She handed Rita the list containing the rest of the seventh graders and the improv group she formed for Joe Taylor and his friends.

Out in the hall, Jeff shut the door to the theater. Leaha was standing in front of him and Troy, arms folded, looking at the floor. Troy leaned against a wall, hitting the heel of one sneaker against the toe of the other.

"So what's the problem here between you guys?" Jeff said.

Troy was quiet. He figured Leaha would jump right in. But when she didn't say anything he offered his view. "I don't know. Everything is fine, then she gets mad at me."

Jeff looked at Leaha. Finally, Leaha spoke. "I just think you need to decide who your drama buddy is once and for all."

"It's you!" Jeff and Troy said together. That seemed to make Leaha madder.

"Look Lea, I explained to him that you were assigned to him, not me. When you see us talking it's because I went up to him. Don't take it out on Troy if you're mad at me."

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself."

The comment made no sense to Troy, but Jeff was patient. "I know we need to talk about some stuff okay? But Troy doesn't have anything to do with it."

"Right," Leaha said. "I know you told him everything."

Jeff turned to him. "Troy, do you have any idea what we're talking about right now?"

Troy shook his head. "I don't know what the heck's going on, I swear to God, Leaha."

"Troy, don't lie, you know about Jeff and me."

"Yeah, what you told me!"

Leaha looked at him a minute, then up at Jeff.

"Okay?" Jeff said.

"Fine," said Leaha.

"Are you guys done with me, then?" Troy asked with his hand on the door. Leaha nodded and he went back into the theater before they could say anything else.

Mr. Rome had Yolanda's study group up on stage and was explaining an improv exercise. Troy spotted his own group and slipped into a seat next to Donna, deciding he wasn't in the mood for David and Kathey, who were sitting together in front of Donna. Apparently, they didn't want to talk to him either; neither turned around and tried to get his attention.

Donna smiled when Troy sat down. "Everything okay?" she whispered.

Troy shook his head. "I was just in the dumbest conversation I've ever had. But yeah, it's fine now." He dropped his voice even lower as Chris Beck paced behind Yolanda, who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the stage. "What are we doing?"

Donna explained that it was an exercise in thinking on your feet. Person A, Chris, was responsible for starting a short scene and as person B Yolanda had to follow his lead and try to figure out where the scene was going. Mr. Rome, blaming their improv group for the delay, had made Chris and Rita go first. It was now Chris's turn to start a scene with Yolanda, who was next in line.

"Hello, you must be my three o' clock," Chris said, crossing stage left to Yolanda with his hand out.

"Hi! " Yolanda jumped up to shake his hand, "Sorry I'm a little late," she said.

"Oh, not at all," Chris said. He continued to hold onto her hand, stepping back to look at her. "I would say it was worth the wait," he said with a winning smile.

There was a catcall from the audience. Yolanda reddened. "Um, thanks, I think," she said, withdrawing her hand and sitting back down.

Chris pulled up a chair next to her with a little chuckle. "You think; you don’t know?" he said playfully.

She gave him a weak smile. "Thanks I guess."

Chris patted her knee, sat back and shuffled through imaginary papers. "Well Yolanda." He looked up, "is that your real name?"

"Yes it is."

"Verrry exotic," Chris said.

"Well, it's a family name," Yolanda said.

"So let's find out a little more about you."

Yolanda straightened up in her chair. "Sure, what would you like to know?"

"Let's start with types of men. What do you like, young and naïve or old and rich?"

Yolanda shook her head. "Excuse me, what does this have to do with the job?"

Chris leaned back. "Well, I think it's important, don't you?"

"For a waitress job?"

Chris sat up suddenly. "Who told you this was a waitress job? I'm hiring female escorts, honey."

There was a burst of laughter from the audience at Yolanda's expression. "WHAT??" she yelled, jumping up.

"An escort service," Chris said calmly.

"I think I'm in the wrong room," Yolanda said. There was wild applause as she ran offstage and ended the scene.

Yolanda walked back onstage and stood next to Chris. She didn't take the hand he offered as he went down into a bow, but made a playful curtsy in front of him and jumped down off the stage to go to her seat.