The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet by Jake Arlow

Author:Jake Arlow [Arlow, Jake Maia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2023-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

WE ARE NOT DEFYING GRAVITY

“That was the greatest thing my eyes have ever seen in my whole entire life,” Leo says as we push through the crowd to find a table at the café. He’s wearing the beanie his mom just bought for him at the merch stand that says Defy Gravity, and he’s glowing.

I grin at him, because honestly I’m still buzzing from the show too. I can’t imagine wanting to be an actor like Leo, but seeing how much it takes for a musical to come together—the performers, the lights, the sets, the costumes—I think I’m starting to get why he loves it. He kept turning to me during the big numbers, and when he looked at me, it was like we were the Al and Leo Club again, even if it was just for the show.

“I’m glad you thought so, bubs,” Beth says as one of the employees calls out her name to let us know our food is ready. “Ooh! I’ll go grab our treats!”

“What’d you think, Allie?” my mom asks.

“It was really great,” I admit.

My mom and I rarely come into the city, even though it’s so close, and when we do, we never do touristy stuff like this. But today with Leo and Beth has been different, and I don’t want the day to end. We saw a matinee, and now we’re having dessert at this really cute café near the theater that Leo told us we had to go to.

“Peregrine said he eats there after every Broadway show he sees,” Leo had told me on the train. “And he sees, like, so many. So, he’s the expert.”

I just nodded.

Beth returns to the table with four matcha cream puffs and two brown sugar tea lattes for me and Leo. We both wanted a fun drink, but our moms wouldn’t let us have coffee, so this was the compromise.

“Did you know that Wicked has the shortest quick-change of any show on Broadway?” Leo asks as he scrolls through the Wicked Wikipedia page. “Elphaba only has fifteen seconds to change her dress.”

I lean over to read along and let Leo’s excited chatter wash over me. This is the most normal day I’ve had with him in a long time. Earlier, when we arrived at the theater, we snuck into the gender-neutral bathroom and took a million selfies, and our moms let us get M&M’S that we ate super quickly before the show so we “didn’t disturb the cast,” as Leo said. It was pretty great.

It’s nice to hang out with him when he’s not distracted by the show or Peregrine.

I take a sip of my drink, which is in a bowl-sized mug. The sugar makes my teeth hurt, so it’s basically perfect.

“Remember to take it slow, Al. You don’t want to overwhelm your stomach, do you?” my mom asks as we all start to dig into the cream puffs.

“Um, no?” I’m about to add something else, but when I look at her, she seems nervous. Maybe she’s worried about not making our train home or something.

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