LEX: lololololol DUH

LEX: just be chill and find a good time to tell her. I’m 100% sure she likes you too.

SHAY: lex I can’t be chill. I nearly set myself on fire in potions class because she got too close to me. That is literally the opposite of chill!!!

LEX: lmao you can do it lady, I believe in you!

I spend the rest of the school day proving that Lex’s belief in me is entirely misplaced. By the time we get to rehearsal after school, I need a break from my own nerves.

Ana and I are dropping our backpacks in a side aisle of the auditorium when Mr. B waves us down. “Shay, can I grab you real quick?” he calls.

“Sure,” I say, trotting over to him.

“We have some time before rehearsal starts,” he says. “I want to work on your solo a bit.”

“Oh. Um, okay.” I glance back at Ana. I’m not thrilled at his insistence that I need extra help, but at least I can pull myself together without her in the room.

“Great. Let’s go to my classroom,” he says. “Good thing you’re always early, huh?”

He hustles me to his classroom and drags his rolling chair out in front of his desk. As he sinks into the seat, he cues me to sing with a hurried gesture. We’ve worked on my solo, “My Soft Place to Land,” once before. I hated it then, and I hate it now.

I close my eyes, centering myself before I sing. Focus, Shay. Don’t let your anxiety about whatever happened with Ana this weekend get in the way.

“How did that feel?” Mr. B says after I sing through it. He leans forward in his chair, resting his tented fingers in front of his mouth.

Pretty mediocre, if I’m being honest. Partway through the song, the memory of Ana singing it at the audition popped into my head. After that, I couldn’t stop wondering why Mr. B decided to cast me as Valeria instead of her. “Okay,” I say, because I’m a liar. “Um, should we go back to the auditorium for rehearsal? I think we’re supposed to be starting soon.”

“We’ve got plenty of time.”

“But—”

“It’s fine, Shay.” He stands and crosses over to where I stand in the middle of the room, watching me with an air of amusement. “Relax,” he says, clapping his hands onto my shoulders. “You’re too tense. Shake it out.”