I talked it over with coach before moving on to crew. He didn't seem to have a problem with it. Just basically told me not to get too comfortable because as soon as my foot healed he expected me back for drills.

I knew he'd work me hard to make up for lost time too. In a strange way I was looking forward to it. It's been weird after doing so much activity to have things come to a screeching halt. It leaves you rammy and on edge.

I meet Brynn at the doors to the auditorium and she takes my hand and leads me down the aisle. When we reach the curtain I'm immediately reminded of our first kiss and can't stop smiling or staring at Brynn who is currently paying no attention to me and looking for something or someone, not sure which.

"What?" I hear her say after a few seconds.

"You really are beautiful. You know that, don't you?"

"I know you really are stupid." She laughs and leaves me to put on the lights back stage. 

Looks like we are the first to arrive. "Possible Valedictorian, here!" I yell up to her.

I see her face pop up in the caged off area to the left of the stage. "Book smarts don't count."

I smirk at her and she sticks her tongue out at me, before disappearing again. The whole stage is lit up and I look amazed at the props that are stored here. They had come a long way. Most were nearly complete. I couldn't wait to see the one I knew Brynn had been working on.

She appears back at my side and I put my arm around her and kiss the top of her head. I would love to do more then that but I can see she's eager to get to work.

"Most of the scenes are completed we just have a few more..." She suddenly laughs. "You know I never thought to ask you. Do you even know..."

"What's HE doing here?"

"Adam," I say with a forced smile. He refuses to acknowledge my presence even though I'm right in front of him.

"He's come to help," Brynn fills in.

"Him? Help?" Adam makes a face like it was dumbest idea he's ever heard. "Seriously, Brynn. Whatever this is..." He uses some weird hand gesture to include Brynn and I together as one, "has no place here. He'll only slow things down. We need REAL help. Not a guy whose only here in some desperate attempt to impress you."

I lean over to Brynn and whisper loudly. "He knows I'm standing here, right?" To which she smacks me in the stomach and I try to stifle the chuckle I feel building up in my throat. "Just asking?"

"Does he even know what to do with a paint brush?"

"You paint with it," I say in a mocking tone, of a five year old who's over excited to answer a question. "Whew, that was an easy one! The answer is in the name," I whisper to Brynn, behind my hand.

"Not helping," Brynn mutters back, although I can see she's having a hard time trying not to smile.

So, I clear my throat and stand up straight and act as if I'm at least trying to take this guy seriously.

"Adam. Dude. Really, I'm just here to help out. You don't trust me to paint something? Fine. I'll sweep up. I'll move things around. Put things away. I'm a team player, and I'll do whatever you want ... well within reason," I add as a second thought not knowing exactly what tasks are available on crew and knew he'd stick me with whatever is considered the worst of those jobs.

Adam looks at me like he's trying to figure out my angle. Paranoid much?

Brynn links arms with me. "Don't worry I'll keep an eye on him, and make sure he doesn't use any of the power tools."

"You got power tools?"

She makes a face at me. I grin back at her before saying, "Shutting up, now," making the zipping up my lip and throwing away the key movement.

Adam sighs. "We really don't have time for this." He suddenly looks like a deflated balloon.

Brynn walks over to him and lifts up his chin to look him in the eye. "I promise. All work and no play until we're done. I got this."   

Adam looks over at me and then back to Brynn. "Fine, just keep him out my sight."

"Done!" Brynn agrees enthusiastically. Leaving Adam to walk away sulkily.

I'm not use to people not liking me, but I have no desire to win this guy over. There is just something about him that rubs me the wrong way.

"So CAN you paint?" Brynn asks, bringing my attention back to her.

"I can," I tell her.

"Then follow me. We go behind the second curtain to where the larger sets are kept and we are weaving in and out of them. They are incredible.

We get to the one I know is Brynn's. "Wow!" The words come out before I even expected to say them and she squeezes my hand. The amount of detail in it is incredible. Most of which I doubt would even be seen from a distance. It's like an epic level of detail. The kind you find in the Behind the Scenes videos of your favorite film.

"Brynn, this is incredible!" She bent down to pop open some cans of paint and smiles up at me. "Thanks! It just needs some highlights and it's done."

I run my hand reverently over the painting. "Can I take a picture of this?"

She looks a little shy. "Uh, sure."

I get in a good position and go to pull out my phone and then realize I don't have it. "Damn, no phone privileges'." I can't take the picture I want.

Brynn laughs. Stands up and hands me her phone. "Take it with mine, and I'll text it to you when you get your phone back."

"She's not just pretty. She's smart too!" I tease, before taking the phone from her.

She shakes her head at my non-sense and goes back to her paints. I line up the shot and get a good picture of the entire canvas, which isn't easy as it's 12 ft high by 12 ft wide. I take another look at the shot I took and zoomed in just to be certain it came out clear. I would love to get this printed for her on canvas so she'd have a smaller version she could keep as a graduation present.

I thought of how she felt about those elephant legs from the Barnum play and thought this may be a way of giving her something permanent she can keep with her. I wished I could be permanent. I look down at Brynn who's mixing the color she needs when a sudden pang of fear grips me for a second.

What if she doesn't choose us? What if she walks away? The thought of Brynn not being a part of my life, makes my heart hurt. Like a physical hurt. Oh, Finn Nash you're in deep. In way over your head.

Brynn hands me a brush and I wonder how she manages to get anything done with this mangled excuse for a paintbrush. I look for another brush and find the others are the same. Either the bristles are spread out making them look more like a feather duster and less like a brush, or they are as hard as a rock from the paint not being washed out of them properly.

I see Brynn doing her best to smooth out one of the brushes with some water. I marvel all the more at the detail she put into this canvas knowing the poor quality of tools she had to work with. "How old are these brushes?"

Brynn shrugs, "No idea. They get a lot of use as they come from art class so you figure the number of classes each day plus when we use them here. They've seen a lot of action."

I watch a moment as she starts highlighting some leaves and try to copy what she is doing. I find it difficult with the paint brush I have and go to look for another. 

"So, this is just from being used all year?" I ask holding up another mangled brush.

"Year?" Brynn laughs but keeps her concentration on her task. "Years." She corrects me.

I pause, dumbfounded for a second. I couldn't imagine us using the same equipment for years when playing ball. At the end of the year we do an inventory of any old or worn out equipment and it goes in the trash. New equipment is waiting for us before the beginning of the next school year. Never gave it much thought before but obviously the art program is not on an equal playing field.

Brynn taps my nose with the tip of her brush. "Earth to, Finn. Come in, Finn."

I touch my nose and come away with some green paint from my face. "You are treading on dangerous ground, Mi' lady."

Brynn laughs and I love the sound of it. "Not my fault I was talking to you and you completely zoned on me. What were you thinking?"

"Just that there's a lot I've managed not to pay attention to in my four years here at Lenape High."

"Like what?" She asks, right before going back to work on her painting.

I shrug. Like the how not all things or people are treated fairly. The Basketball team gets updated equipment as needed, but you guys are dealing with... Can you even call this thing a paint brush?" I ask looking at a brush that is even more mangled then the rest.

Brynn walks over and takes the brush out of my hand looks it over and shrugs, puts the brush back and hands me one that's more tamed.  "More work less talking."

"Yes, boss. Am I allowed to talk while I work?"

Brynn, mock sighs and says, "If you feel you must."

I swipe the paint off my nose and get down to business. After a short while, Brynn inspects my work. "You're pretty good with a brush, mangled or otherwise. So, is there anything you can't do...WonderBoy?"

"WonderBoy?"

"Yeah, it's a little known fact that is your nickname among us mere mortals," she informs me.

"I got a nickname. Huh."

"You've never heard it used before?"

"I think I would have remembered it if I had. Why WonderBoy? Why not WonderMan?" I muse.

"Guess you're good but not that good," she teases.

"Gee, thanks! So who are these people that have given me this designation?"

"You know... people like me."

"So this is a name given to me by extremely attractive young women who are dying to kiss me?" I put my hand on my chest, "Then I accept."

She rolls her eyes at me. Letting me know without words that she finds my statement completely ridiculous.

"Uh, no. I'm not sure ANYONE fits THAT category. I mean the misfits, outcasts, nerds... we have more nicknames then you'll ever acquire, I'm sure."

"Well why would...? Hey wait... what you mean no one...?"

"See that's why you're called WonderBoy and not WonderMan. WonderMan would have picked up on my sarcasm much sooner."

"Oh yeah, well then I'm happy to be called WonderBoy as WonderMan would be too mature to do this..." And I tap her cheek with my paintbrush.

Her eyes enlarge and she gets the most evil grin on her face and it's a full out war, which after a few minutes I'm still uncertain as to who is the definitive winner.

"How's it going?"

It would figure Adam would take this moment to sneak up on us. We both face the canvas refusing to turn around. Both of our faces are painted a light green. We pretend to be completely into our work.

"I heard a lot of noise back here."

"Good. We are doing good," Brynn stumbles, still refusing to turn around. "Turns out he can paint after all."

She's trying really hard to keep from giving us away but I can see she is struggling not to laugh.

"Of course he can," Adam says grumpily, before walking away to check on the other's work who had wandered in.

Once in the clear we both laugh hysterically at how ridiculous we look and Brynn pulls out her phone and flashes a selfie of the two of us. "I'll send you that one when I send the painting." She tells me, handing me a soft cloth to wipe my face.

I see her staring at me and my heart picks up pace. "Did I miss a spot?" I ask her. She nods her head yes, and she steps into my space "MmmHmm, right here." She has to get on her tippy toes to reach the spot she is referring to.

She's so close. She is practically leaning against me. She smells good. I look at her and our eyes meet. "Thanks," I say as she pulls her hand away.

She looks shy again. I don't know how she does it. She always talks so confident and acts so brazen but when she looks at me like that I just... "You missed a spot."

"I did?" she touches her face and I pull her hand away, taking the cloth I move to a spot near her eyes and she closes them instinctively. I couldn't help myself, her standing this close, her eyes closed, my lips sought hers.

She sighs.

We hear a click of a phone camera, and two of the girls on crew were caught giggling behind another set piece.

"Shawna! Come on!" Brynn says annoyed.

"Hey, not my fault. Public space. Besides the rest of us girls are stuck fantasying about kissing him... You're the one who get to do it. I just want a memento. You know...Proof that there may be hope for the rest of us girls?"

Shawna disappears unapologetically among the sets.

"See I told you," I say to Brynn nudging her arm with mine. She was frowning but now grins.

"I should have never told you. There will be no living with you from here on out, will there?"

"Ah, nope. And truthfully I'm a little shocked at your work ethic Ms. Shelby. I wouldn't have taken you for someone who could be so easily distracted."

"Well, you know what they say. All work and no play makes Brynn a dull girl."

"There are many words I'd use to describe you Brynn Shelby but dull..." I shake my head at her, "will never be among them."