“I wasn’t going to let five avocados go to waste,” Henry says. “Five! Do you know how rare it is, to have five perfect avocados? I mean, it was more than a much-needed homework break. It was an obligation.”

Danica laughs. “Maybe you’re just bad at buying avocados.”

I raise my eyebrows. Henry’s passion for avocados is a… new development.

“Sounds like yesterday was productive,” Fitz says, stuffing a pizza bagel in her mouth.

Yesterday, Henry and Danica couldn’t work on HAVE A HE(ART) after school because of an AP Spanish project on Cien Años de Soledad.

“It was! After we finished, we also watched Frozen,” Danica says. “For inspiration.”

Okay. Wow. Guacamole AND Frozen?

Maybe Fitz isn’t so off base.

“Cool,” Fitz says.

“Cool,” I repeat, equally perplexed. When I asked Henry how yesterday went, his response was almost a nonresponse. “Danica is cool. It was chill.”

I swallow my questions and open my laptop, ready to jump into HAVE A HE(ART).

Tonight there are three items on the agenda:

1. Outline the specific details of our HAVE A HE(ART) event
2. Write a petition to present to the school committee demanding that the budget be redistributed among the arts clubs
3. Strategize all things execution: how, when, and where to pitch this to the school committee

But when I log into Google Drive I’m… confused because the first item under recent files is the Melted proposal deck Henry and I created to prepare for our meeting with Mrs. Mulaney. I haven’t opened that since… well, since the rejection.

I click into it.

The title slide reads: BOILED: AN ODE TO THE PLAY THAT COULD HAVE BEEN.

“Oh my God! I’ve been hacked. Reid!” I spin my computer screen around so it is visible to the entire table. I click through the presentation. It’s gone. Melted is gone—replaced by a twenty-slide presentation listing every reason why there is no hope for Melted because, of course, it is not Boiled. Twenty! Slides!

“Callahan… hacked into your Google account?” Arjun asks.

“Why?” Danica asks.

“Reid and Natalie react to each other in pranks,” Fitz explains. “It’s been a while, but it’s their thing.”

“What did you do?” Henry asks.

“Nothing!” I protest. Henry and his victim-blaming are cancelled for the foreseeable future. I click on the presentation to edit and see if I can undo this travesty, but mine and Henry’s admin access has been revoked and the presentation is marked “view only.” I open a new tab and shit—the Melted script has also been freaking Boiled. I’m locked out of my own script!

“This is a message. He’s worried about HAVE A HE(ART).”