Tonight was for me. Nobody else’s opinion matters. Nothing else matters but my being okay with that.
And . . . we’re . . .
Asleep.
And then from nowhere, Libby: “You wanna go on Twitter and see what they’re saying about you?”
“You bet your freaking life.”
“Yay!” Libby says, bolting upright and typing my name.
I let the rabbit foot drop behind a cushion for probably a million lifetimes. Who needs a dead animal’s foot when you’ve got the luck of your own racing heart?
“Loading, loading,” Libby says, shaking her phone.
And we sit arm in arm, legs intertwined, and stare into her iPhone (because everyone has an iPhone except for me), and we wait for Nate Foster to turn up some results on Twitter.
“Here’s one,” she says.
And I don’t even care what they’re going to say, because Libby and I are back to normal again, even if everything else is different.
“Eh,” I say, flicking to the next Tweet, “I’ve been called worse.”
Because as long as I’ve got my best friend—as long as one thing stays the same—everything else can change in a kiss or a curtain call.
Oh, One Last Thing. No Big Deal
“hey u up?”
“whos this”
“um its jordan. i got ur # on the contact sheet.”
“oh hi jordan! yeah im up couldnt sleep tonight”
“me too.”
“:)”
“”
“oooh your phone does fancy emoticons”
“haha. yeah. so . . . my mom killed me when i got home bc i snuck out.”
“i was just gonna ask about that”
“yeah but its ok it was worth it.”
“:)”
“ so anyways . . .”
“hey . . . my aunt heidi and calvin are seeing a movie this weekend and we should go with them? i’m already invited i bet calvin would pay for ur ticket too”
“oh i’m sort of grounded now. excpt when im at the show ”
“oh no”
“yeah.”
“sorry jordan”
“but maybe we could like watch a movie on my laptop sometime at the theater. like on a matinee day between shows or something?”
“ok!”
“or whatever.”
“sounds fun :) <<< pretend thats a fancy emoticon”
“haha ok natey.”
“hey any ideas what movie we should watch?”
“we can figure that out whenever bc i have netflix streaming we can watch like a zillion movies whenever.”
“awesome!”
“yeah night nate.”
“night jordan. oh btw have u ever seen something called ‘whatever happened to babe jane’?”
“haha no whats that is it for babies?”
“mayb im not sure. heard its really funny and important though”
“ok cool ill see if netflix has it hey i should go before my mother finds me awake.”
“oh alright cool”
“hey nate?”
“yup”
“i like u. or whatever ”
“hey jordan i like u or whatever too. insert fancy emoticon here”
“haha ur funny.”
“thanx”
“if theater doesnt work out u should consider standup comdy. thats a compliment.”
“haha ok”
“srsly nate i need u to teach me how to nail elliott’s jokes sometime.”
“ok but then u have to teach me how to not crack on the high note in act 2 sometime”
“its a deal.”
“its a deal”
“it’s a . . . date i meant.”
“me too”
“ok then. c u soon nate.”
“c u soon jordan”
“”
“well now ur just showing off :)”
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the entire cast and crew at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers—especially Navah Wolfe and David Gale—for all you do.
Thank you to the booksellers and educators and authors and librarians—and kids!—I’ve met since the publication of Better Nate Than Ever. Also, thank you to my friends, both online and off, for putting up with the breathless self-promotion of a debut novelist.
Thank you to my boyfriend, Brian, for being my boyfriend, Brian.
Thank you to Karen Katz for always pointing out the offensive jokes in my first drafts.
Thank you to my family—especially my dad, for paying for all those theater classes, and my mom, for driving me to them.
Thank you to Brenda Bowen for being so Brenda Bowen-ish (Google her).
© dirty sugar
Tim Federle lives in New York City in an apartment that is half the size of your kitchen. His debut novel, Better Nate Than Ever, was inspired by Tim’s adventures on Broadway. Say hi at TimFederle.com and on Twitter @TimFederle.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
SIMON & SCHUSTER • NEW YORK
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Also by Tim Federle
Better Nate Than Ever
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Tim Federle
Jacket design by Laurent Linn
Jacket illustration copyright © 2014 by Scott M. Fischer
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Book design by Laurent Linn
The text for this book is set in Minister.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Federle, Tim.
Five, six, seven, Nate! / Tim Federle.—First edition.
pages cm
Sequel to: Better Nate than ever.
Summary: Now on Broadway as second understudy for E.T., Nate Foster keeps in close contact with his best friend, Libby, as he faces his nemesis, Jordan Rylance, and his own insecurities as the cast member with the least training and experience.
ISBN 978-1-4424-4693-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4424-4696-0 (eBook)
[1. Musicals—Production and direction—Fiction. 2. Theater—Production and direction—Fiction. 3. Best friends—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction. 5. Broadway (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. 6. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.F314Fiv 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2012051239
Contents
Chapter 1: The Fun’ll Come Out, Tomorrow
Chapter 2: Blurp
Chapter 3: And You Thought P.E. Was Bad
Chapter 4: Nothing Ice Cream Can’t Solve
Chapter 5: Ladykiller
Chapter 6: Masks
Chapter 7: A Delirious Pinball That’s Made Out of Sugar
Chapter 8: Paper Towels As Distraction Technique
Chapter 9: Adventures on a Stove Top
Chapter 10:
The Last Person Who Expects to Hear from Me
Chapter 11: Awake at Dawn—and Not to Watch Cartoons
Chapter 12: Oohs and Aahs
Chapter 13: Stairwell Races and You Won’t Believe Who Wins
Chapter 14: Koreaaaah Spaaaaaah
Chapter 15: William O’Keefe
Chapter 16: Dressing Rooms and Prunes
Chapter 17: The Nearly Main Event Almost
Chapter 18: The Main Event For Real
Chapter 19: But This Was Supposed to Be the Best Day Ever
Chapter 20: Is Somebody Dead?
Chapter 21: Get Me Calvin
Chapter 22: Twitter Is Ablaze
Chapter 23: Like If Kindling Could Talk
Chapter 24: What Just Happened
Chapter 25: Fade-out
Chapter 26: Oh, One Last Thing. No Big Deal
Acknowledgments
About Tim Federle