“Like how’s the pizza, I’m transgender?” I joke.

Juliet laughs. “Well,” she says. “I’ll say something like, did you hear the new messed-up thing the government is doing to trans people? Or, I’ll just say, you know I’m trans, right?”

I’m afraid to ask the next question, but I do anyway. “Has anyone ended it when they found out?”

“Once,” she says darkly.

“When you . . .” I trail off as Yazmin walks by, carrying a tray and walking with the most handsome guy I’ve seen at this school—and there’re a lot of good-looking people here. He’s African American, tall and built—muscles visible under his baggy shirt. He says something and Yaz laughs loudly, covering her mouth with her hoodie sleeve.

“Who is that with Yazmin?” I ask Juliet.

“Elijah Covington,” she says. “He’s a big deal.”

“Does he live in Jersey? Does he drive a car?” I ask, wondering if that’s her boyfriend.

Juliet looks at me, confused. “Those are oddly specific questions?”

“I swear I’ve seen him before,” I say.

Yazmin’s eyes find mine, causing time to stop and everything else to go blurry until it’s just our eyes. It lasts one second, but the sparks could jump-start a car. Two days ago, I followed Yazmin on Insta—or at least I requested to follow her private profile. She has nearly a thousand followers. I wonder what she’ll think of my eighty. As of ten minutes ago when I last checked, she had not followed back.

“Earth to August,” Juliet says.

“Sorry, sorry. Very distracted by this monologue. I’ve never felt this kind of pressure before.”

Juliet laughs. “August, that’s so cute. Please don’t be offended,” she says, then turns to the table. “August is still feeling the pressure.”

Huge laugh from Jack and Anna. Meena smiles. “This school breaks you down to build you up,” Anna says.

“And then it breaks you again, just for fun,” Jack adds.

I get up and put on my backpack. “I can’t wait for that. But for now, the actor must prepare.”

Anna pinches my elbow. “You’ve got this, Augustus.”

“Break every leg in the room,” Jack says, then the table cheers as I walk off.

I pace around the hallways on the first floor with my earbuds in, music cranked. I took Mr. Daniels’s verbal kick in the butt seriously. I’ve been playing the role of the Serious Student by sitting in the front row, taking notes (never done that before), and not joking around.