Nix arrives last and claims the seat in front of me, swinging around to show me a TikTok on their phone of three kids doing the new On Blast dance challenge on top of a tower somewhere. “This could work, right?”

We’re trying to come up with something memorable for the drama club banquet. Nix is emceeing and I’m presenting the first award, and there is no chance I’m going to just walk up and read “First-Year Rising Star” off a notecard. The On Blast dance has possibility, but it has this twerky bit three-quarters of the way through that I’m not sure Nix is built for. On the other hand, I know the other drama geeks will eat it up—they’ll be on their feet in seconds. I show it to Cheng to get his opinion.

“Language.” That’s all he says as he passes the phone back to Nix. It’s hip-hop, and the lyrics are kind of heavy on blow jobs, which isn’t our fault. Nobody thinks they mean anything anyway. But the drama banquet is held on campus, so Mrs. Somboon-Fox (who is sure to show up and just gush about what great kids we are) could invoke the code of conduct. And honestly, even Ms. Silverthorn would complain. She’s the most liberal teacher we have (though Kuranchabi is gunning for the title), but she has her limits.

Nix is not easily deterred. “I can find a song with the same time signature in two seconds flat. It’s even better: we switch it up and people won’t know what to expect. When we bust out On Blast moves, kids are gonna lose their minds. We’ll kill it.”

Now we’re talking. “Not just on-trend but beyond trend. I like it.” The vision is taking shape, twerk and all. It has to be good because drama club made me who I am; as Snoopy, in my first show freshman year, I wiped the floor with Charlie Brown, and people really ate it up (everyone except the kid playing Charlie Brown). That was enough celebrity to make me a class officer my sophomore year and now Student Body President two years running, and to make sure my crusades always have an audience. If I’m ever famous famous, I’m so going to be one of those kids who thanks their drama teacher.