I dig my nails into my skin. “Okay. I should not have ripped up and hidden the letter. But can we at least acknowledge that you were prepared to completely leave me and the entire cast hanging this whole time? The ultimate prank. You cared about the music because it gave you a portfolio. But codirecting? Kicking Toby out? Becoming Moritz—you did all of that when you knew your audition would be the same weekend if you got one. Now everyone is screwed. My senior year will be gutted, and just because I’m not a prodigy like you doesn’t mean my art doesn’t matter.”

Reid stares at me with the most dumbfounded look on his face. “Wow.”

My nails leave imprints in the skin on my palms. “There’s one piece I don’t understand. Hurting me is one thing—but screwing over the band is something else entirely. How could you do that? To your friends? To my dad. It’s not like… I told you what I overheard.”

He closes his laptop. “First of all, I’m not even going to dignify you bringing Toby into this with a response. Second, you really think I would put that much effort into Melted just to abandon it? I love this show. I love what we did. Don’t put words in my mouth or act like I don’t care or try to tell me that I’ve treated Melted—and you—like one big joke. That’s bullshit.”

“If that’s true, why did you agree to do Moritz when Melted weekend is the only audition weekend?” I challenge him. “It says right on the website, no individual requests.”

“Because it isn’t! There’s a deferral period for school- related activities. I would have submitted for a deferral and auditioned the makeup weekend. Now I can’t. So thanks, Nat. Now it is Albany or Melted. If they even give my audition slot back to me. By the time I called back, no one even answered.”

The air rushes out of me. “Oh. I… didn’t know that.”

It’s not like the Albany Institute website said anything about audition deferral. I checked the website but—I jumped to the worst conclusion. I didn’t think.

I… didn’t trust him.

Reid’s laugh is cold. “No shit.”

“But then why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.

“Because it was a nonissue! Until you made it an issue.”