“I feel like I have to,” I say, shrugging. If I don’t audition for the show, that might give him a bad impression of me, which would ruin my chance of getting the scholarship. I’m so close to being a Brockton Scholar. I can’t blow it now.

“Girl, you can’t act,” she says, her eyebrows hovering up by her hairline.

“I’m . . . okay at acting.”

She fully cackles at that, which is great for my self-esteem. “You look like you’re being tortured when you’re onstage. Seriously. Like, you’re a beautiful singer. Facts.” She smacks me lovingly on the shoulder.

“Thanks.”

“But watching you act is painful.”

Oh god. I hadn’t considered that part of it. What if I suck so bad at my audition that Mr. B never wants to see my face again?

We drive into the parking lot of the strip mall where we work, chug the rest of our coffees, and run into Pilar’s Potions. The jangling bell on the door announces our presence. Pilar eyes us with amusement from where she stands at the counter.

“Aprons on, mijas,” she says.

Pilar is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She’s a short, middle-aged Afro-Cuban woman who’s always wearing the most colorful head wraps and outfits you’ve ever seen. I’ve never met anybody with such a calming presence. Just being around her makes me feel more relaxed. She’s also a master apothecary with a magical license, so as long as she’s in the building, Lex and I can legally make potions for the public.

Pilar’s place is one of the last few hole-in-the-wall potion stores left in town after the Super Walmart opened nearby. That Walmart sells ridiculously cheap potions, but they’re less effective than fresher-brewed ones. We brew all of our potions in-house at Pilar’s.

Lex and I tie on our brown aprons, take turns washing our hands in the big sink in the prep section, and then wait for Pilar’s instructions. I breathe in the scent of patchouli and smile, feeling calmer already.

“Lex, you’re on the counter today,” Pilar says. “Grind the sage and the fennel seeds when there aren’t customers. Shay, we’ll start the prep for tomorrow together.”

Lex swaps places with Pilar behind the counter. “Lucky,” she mouths at me over her shoulder.

“We’re going to need a big batch of Awakening potions for this weekend, so you should get started on that,” Pilar says to me.

I smile. Making Awakening potions always feels special to me. It was the very first potion ever discovered. It lets people see and manipulate the magical currents in everything. We brew it all the time because every baby is given a dose soon after birth. But every time I brew it, I feel this connection to potions history that’s kind of cool.