I was suddenly immensely grateful that I didn’t have to get onto the stage with the others. If this was already making me nervous, I couldn’t imagine what the actors felt like now with only two minutes left until the play began. Letting my eyes roam the auditorium, I spotted Amelia’s copper hair and, in the row in front of her, Evelyn and Noelle. Noelle had her arm draped casually across the back of Evelyn’s seat while Evelyn leaned closer and whispered something in her ear; even when they tried to be subtle, it was still so obvious that, even in the sea of people, they were only gravitating towards each other.

I turned back to the task at hand and went over the entire control panel, checking if everything was working.

The curtains opened and revealed the stage just as I was done.

I quickly switched the big ceiling light off and turned a single spotlight on, which I directed at the center of the stage.

Into the light stepped Jasper. With his silver hair illuminated like a halo, he looked like he couldn’t possibly be a man of flesh and blood, much less the same seventeen-year-old who had almost run into his dresser in front of me a few days ago.

The expression that spread across his face as his eyes drifted over the crowd in front of him didn’t hold even a hint of the nerves he had practically been shaking with only a few minutes earlier.

“Bienvenue, everyone. Welcome to this year’s play,” he said.

His voice was deep and smooth through the speakers on the wal s, impossibly attractive with the noticeable French accent.

“It’s a pleasure to have so many of you here tonight to watch what the drama club and I have been working on for the past months. I would like to thank everyone who had a part in the process and supported us along the way.”

Claps, more whistles. Jasper drank them all in like they were water and he had been thirsty for ages.

“Some words about the play: This is not your typical fairy tale adaptation but something completely different. I know that some of you might not like it, but truth be told, I don’t care.

The reason I wrote this was mainly to set a sign for the kids like me. For the kids who are struggling, who are uncertain, who are hiding, who are hurt. For the kids who are different than most people and who don’t have it easy.” He was silent for a moment, letting his words sink in before he continued. “I want to show you that it’s okay. That you, no matter who you are, are not alone, no matter how hopeless things might seem sometimes.

That whatever makes you different isn’t something you need to be ashamed of, but something to be embraced, to be celebrated.

That, if no one has told you yet, I see you—you are valid and so loved. So, this play . . . well, it’s honestly just really fucking gay.”