“Sadly, as some of you may have noticed, Tom, the guy who did the electronic stuff, graduated this summer. So, until we find someone who’s good at stuff like that, I will have to try to do the lights.” He ran his fingers through his hair, grimacing a little, before he clapped his hands. “We’ll start with the third scene. Into position, everyone, we don’t have all night. Also, please appreciate the tower I spent the last week building with all the other early comers.”

The others got up as soon as he was finished talking, rushing to stand in their positions. Two of them pushed open the curtains, revealing the stage, completely empty save for a tower made of papier-mâché and wood that stood in its center.

It had one window, and that’s where the head of a boy with dark skin and even darker curls now appeared. At Jasper’s signal, another guy, this one with a buzz cut, entered the stage and cautiously neared the tower. His eyes widened when he saw the boy sticking his head out of the window above, but before he could get too close, a girl wearing a scarf around her head and leaning on a walking stick shuffled across the stage.

While Buzz-cut Boy hid behind the tower, she croaked,

“Rapunzel! Rapunzel, let your hair down!”

I sat up a little straighter, carefully closing my Spanish book.

Curly looked down at his mother with an exaggerated eye roll before he threw down some bedsheets that he had knotted together. “I cut my hair, Mom! Those extensions were tacky!”

The girl huffed, but grabbed the sheets and pulled herself up. Apparently, she was on the cheerleading team Amelia had talked about or something, at least I was sweating just watching her climb the tower. Once she reached the top, she sat down on the surprisingly sturdy windowsill and gave Curly’s cheek an affectionate caress. “How was your day, my love?”

Curly slapped her hand away. “It sucked! Do you know how boring it is up here? You promised you’d install Wi-Fi . . .”

“Watch your tone, young man!” the girl scolded. “The last time I allowed you to be on the internet, all you did was text on Grindr! The last thing I want is to catch you up here with MuscleMan68.”

“MuscleMan 69,” Curly corrected her.

I stifled a laugh as a few other students chuckled. A gay Rapunzel adaptation was . . . surprising, to say the least.

The girl shook her head with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Tomato, to-mah-to. I have to go now. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Whatever,” Curly huffed and crossed his arms.

Seconds later, the girl was back on her feet, muttering something about how difficult teenagers were before she exited the stage.

“Say that line louder next time, Gina,” Jasper said from the side.

The girl nodded and went back to her seat, slightly out of breath. On the stage, Buzz-cut Boy was rounding the tower to stand beneath the window and yelled, “Hey, Rapunzell. . . Come out!”