When I look around the table, most people are nodding fervently. I glance over at the other leads to gauge their responses—Mikey and Ed are cheerfully ignoring Mr. B in favor of transfiguring bits of paper into tiny Pokémon figurines, while Ana is staring at her script with a blank expression on her face. If I had to guess, I would say she’s not into what Mr. B is saying either.

“All right, let’s get this party started,” Mr. B says, flipping his script open with a flourish. “From the top, people.”

We start our read-through of the whole show, which people don’t take too seriously. Everyone is free to sing along to all of the songs, and people ham it up for laughs during their scenes as much as they can. There are, unsurprisingly, a few weird moments where people have lines in Spanish that they can’t pronounce correctly.

Almost nobody sings along to “Sueños,” Ana’s song in the first act. It becomes very clear why as we hit the first verse. “ ‘Ya sabes, el que no se puede tirar, se jondea,’ ” Ana sings along with the cast recording. “ ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Keep pushing forward.’ ”

Luckily, I don’t have any of the songs with lots of Spanish lyrics. Ana and Ed have most of those.

We take a quick break between acts, and I text Lex to tell her it’s going okay. I send her several funny GIFs for good measure, because she’s been down ever since she took the MATs on Saturday. She won’t talk about it, but I don’t think it went well.

LEX: glad rehearsal is going good

Then she sends me a selfie where she’s grinning at the camera, a sheen of sweat on her forehead. Based on the background and her bright pink sports bra, I would guess that she’s on a run in her neighborhood.

LEX: missing my running buddy!

SHAY: lol when have I ever been your running buddy? you’re the only one who likes running like that

LEX: if I say it enough, that’ll make it true

SHAY: yeah good luck with that

“Pizza!” Ed yells, jumping up from his seat and throwing his hands in the air. I flinch, surprised by his sudden outburst, and turn to see what he’s yelling about. Mr. B raises his armful of pizzas up victoriously and does a little dance down the aisle toward us. Brittany trails behind him carrying two liters of soda.

No wonder Mr. B is the most popular teacher on campus. The way to high schoolers’ hearts is pizza. Proven fact.