“Here we go? Sorry for not being on board The Caleb Train, I guess!”

Caleb laughed. “Wow, you went ahead and said it right out loud. Can’t do anything that takes attention away from Mateo Dixon, Broadway star!” he said, punctuating his words with jazz hands.

“Give me a fucking break.” Mateo jabbed a finger at him. “This is not about me, this is about you continuing to do whatever the fuck you want, including leaving your fellow dancers hanging out to dry while you strut around the theater like a goddamn folk hero.”

“The audience loved it, Mateo,” Grace chimed in. She shrugged and began to peel her sari off. “What’s the big deal?”

There were a few murmurs of agreement around the room.

Mateo’s jaw flapped. His eyes met Archer’s.

“It’s not the choreography, Caleb,” Archer said tiredly. “It’s hard for the rest of us when we don’t know what’s going on up there.”

Caleb narrowed his eyes at Mateo, ignoring Archer completely. “The crowd was eating it up. Maybe it should be in the choreo.”

Mateo threw his arms out. “Then let’s fucking talk about it and plan for it, and not spring it on everyone in the middle of the show!”

“Oh, right, talk about it, as if you’d listen to a word I said.”

“For God’s sake, fine, let’s have a fucking meeting about it tomorrow, then.”

“And who’s going to make the final decision at this ‘meeting’?”

So it went, back and forth, around and around, on and on.

Then Caleb pulled the same stunt at the second show. This time, Grace joined him.

Mateo didn’t say a word to anyone after, slamming his locker shut and stomping out of the greenroom.

Caleb had spent the entire walk back to the dorm bitching about Mateo. “He is such a dick! Why did they even hire him here anyway, after what he did to Abby? Who would even want to work with him?”

Archer suddenly couldn’t listen to Caleb trashing Mateo for another second. “It’s not true, you know.” The words burst out of him.

“What’s not true?”

“What you told me earlier. You said he was horrible to her, but that’s not really what happened. They were friends.”

“They were?”

“Yeah, they got along great. He just lashed out at her one time when he was—when she confronted him about something. They had a fight and he told her she only got the role because she was trans.”

“Is that what Mateo says happened?” Caleb asked, skeptical.

“Yes.”

Caleb considered a moment. “Still a dick move.”

“Mateo would completely agree with you, and he felt terrible about it. He still does. And, you know what, his parents had both just died and he was dealing with being this huge star. That’s a lot for someone to take.”