I look around for Anna and Elijah. I need them to be here. I see Jack dancing, and Meena filming them. Jamaal is at the bar with a girl, and Yaz is talking to a group of friends. I have met so many awesome and creative people at SPA. Then I spot Elijah and Anna talking by the pool table. I’m relieved they are here, and now nervous because of what I’m about to do.

On my way to the stage, I run into Tess.

“August,” she says, ignoring the people trying to talk to her.

“Tess, that song was amazing,” I say, being honest. “I’m sorry about the other night. I shouldn’t have said those things.”

She shakes her head. “No, August, I’m the one who needs to apologize. I’ve been beyond rude.” She stops and takes a breath. “I’m sorry about how I have acted toward you. Everything you have, you deserve. I just get weird when I feel threatened. I’m working on it with my therapist.”

I smile. “I have one of those, too.”

“Everyone in New York has a therapist,” she jokes.

“I have to go,” I say. Before I leave, Tess hugs me.

I walk directly to the DJ table on the side of the stage. Mitch Oswald is the weekly host and a senior at SPA. We’ve never spoken, but now I need a favor.

“Hi, Mitch,” I say, “I’m—”

He cuts me off. “August Greene, yes I know. Dude, how is Conversion?”

“Guess we’ll see at opening night tomorrow.”

“Any chance you can get me some tickets?”

“If you’ll do me a favor?”

“Anything,” he says.

After we talk for a bit, Mitch takes the stage and adjusts the mic. “We have a special guest here. A first-timer to our stage. A Haswell Green’s virgin!” The crowd cheers. “Come on up, August.”

I walk across the stage, owning my virgin vibes. Mitch queues up my song selection, and the music begins. I tap the mic and hear the thud echo through the bar. A couple of people scream my name, but I can’t tell who. “This song is for my two best friends, Anna and Elijah.”

The recorded track of piano picks up, and I sing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story. The audience sings along—because every theater person knows the words—and we really lean into the chorus, practically yell-singing, “We stick together and we see it through, ’cause you’ve got a friend in me.”

I try to be fully in this moment. I’m in New York singing in front of my whole school. I’m going onstage tomorrow with Broadway actors, and I’ve earned my spot alongside them. Maybe they call them dreams because when they happen, it doesn’t feel real.