The Taming Read Online Free PDF Page B

guessed it either, but she’s awesome.”
    These two were probably easy to impress. Simple minds amused by simple things. I nodded along.
    “That’s the part that surprised me the most,” Danny said. “She’s usually so quiet that you don’t even notice her, but up there on the stage … she’s … she’s different .”
    “Yeah she even looks different,” Josh said. “Okay, now this is going to sound strange.”
    “Look who you’re talking to,” Danny said. “I like strange.”
    “It’s just that … well … you know, when she walks around the school, she’s okay looking, even cute, but once she gets on stage … well …”
    “It’s like you can’t take your eyes off her,” Danny said.
    “I thought it was only me!” Josh actually looked a little embarrassed.
    “Nope, me too. It’s like she changes before your eyes. The only reason nobody’s noticed I’m staring at her is because everybody else is staring too,” Danny said.
    “She’s going to be incredible,” Josh said, “which, of course, only makes me look worse by comparison.”
    “Maybe her talent will rub off on you.”
    “I’m not counting big on that.”
    “Now I’m curious,” I said. “I guess I’ll see her for myself at the rehearsal tonight.”
    “You’ve actually seen her already,” Danny said. “She’s in our drama class.”
    “She is?”
    “She might even be in the cafeteria now,” Josh suggested. He stood up and looked around. “There she is!”
    I turned around and half stood so I could see, but I couldn’t tell who he was pointing at.
    “The table at the side … where there are a bunch of girls and Travis … she’s wearing a blue top.”
    “There are lots of tables with lots of girls and lots of people in blue, and who’s Travis?” I asked.
    Without answering, Josh stood on his chair and then climbed up onto the table. “Katherina!” he yelled out, waving his arms above his head.

Chapter Seven
     

     
    I n a single bound, as they say, Josh leapt onto a cafeteria chair and, horror of Stephen King horrors, called out to me. Or to Katherina, to be more precise.
    “It is I, your husband to be, Petruchio!” Josh yelled. “Kate …  Pluck up your spirits! Look cheerfully upon me! ” It looked like the new guy was feeding him lines, without a book.
    “That’s not bad,” Travis snorted. “The best I’ve heard from him yet. Maybe we should do the play in the cafeteria instead of the auditorium.” He crossed his arms and his eyes. “Hmmm … he’s supposed to be so fearless on the court. How about we go to a game?”
    “Over your dead body,” Lisa groaned. “Look, Josh is in his element here, with an ever-adoring cafeteria crowd and someone feeding him lines. That boy is going to suck on a proper stage no matter what you do.”
    Josh, followed by Danny and Evan, stood up and—worse, way worse—headed our way.
    Oh. Dear. God. You could actually hear “ He means Katie Rosario ,” in whispered waves breaking throughout the cafeteria. I responded with my new thing, championship sweating.
    Josh continued towards me, stepping from chair to chair and then right onto our table! He didn’t seem to be worried about people staring at him.
    “Kate, dear Kate.” Josh bowed elaborately. “I apologize, ahead of time, for making tonight’s rehearsal unbearable for you and everyone else! Forgive me, dear, dear shrew!” The Droopy Diaper was riveted.
    “Don’t worry,” Lisa muttered. “There aren’t two of them that know what the hell a shrew is.” She raised an eyebrow. “Are you perspiring?” she whispered.
    I answered by pinning both my arms to my sides.
    Josh extended his hand towards me.
    “Can you get down from the table?” I asked. “ Please?  … It’s sort of embarrassing.”
    “I will, fair Kate, if you will agree that Sunday is our wedding day!” he bellowed.
    By now everybody in the whole cafeteria had stopped eating and talking and was gawking and