“One, two, three, four, and pose!” Ms. Langford yelled after we’d run through the whole thing with music for the first time. Groans echoed through the auditorium because most people didn’t have the steps down yet.

“You’ll get it,” Ms. Langford said, running her hands through her orange curls, frizzing them out even more. “Girls, take a short break. We’ll run through it one more time in five. Harrison, stick around so we can go over that footwork.”

As most of the chorus stampeded off the stage, I stayed put, stepping into a calf stretch. Of course I was staring at the auditorium doors when Jude walked in, followed by Ethan, Diya, and Celia Breed, a bouncy-haired blond senior. Diya immediately broke from the group, setting her things down in the front corner of the auditorium while the rest of them stayed in the back, joking around. I looked away before Jude saw me, my heart pumping fast.

“Hey.” Someone tapped my elbow and I jumped. It was a sophomore girl with pale, freckled skin and dark hair swept into a high ponytail. She was wearing the brightest shade of pink lipstick I’d ever seen. Beside her was a tiny blond girl in a cat-ear hoodie. “Whoa, sorry,” Lipstick Girl said, backing up a step. “We were just wondering if you could show us how to do that lean steppy thingy?”

“The tombé pas de bourrée?”

“Uh, yeah.” She smiled. “That.”

I showed them how to do it slowly, breaking down each part. The lunge, the three-stepped pas de bourrée with flowing arms, and the ending pose—our upstage arm stretched up into fifth position as we looked out into the audience. They kept laughing about their arms. “I feel like I’m flapping!” Cat-Ear Girl said.

“Try relaxing them first,” I said, taking her forearm and gently tugging it up and down, like Kira used to do. “And then keep your elbow in line with your wrist. There should be less flappage that way.” She laughed, and I demonstrated the steps for them again.

Lipstick Girl sighed. “Seriously, how does it look so pretty when you do it and when I do it, it’s like, ca-caw! Ca-caw!” She flapped her arms like the most ungraceful bird in the world as she “ca-cawed” so loudly several people looked over.

Including Jude. I dropped my eyes again.

“Shhh,” Cat-Ear Girl said. “This is why Harrison doesn’t want you to meet his friends.” We all looked over at Harrison, whose forehead was wrinkled in concentration as he watched Ms. Langford demonstrate the steps for the hundredth time.

“Are you and Harrison dating?” I asked Lipstick Girl. I didn’t know if sophomores dating seniors was a common thing, but it would easily explain why he was in the musical.

“Only in our imaginations,” Cat-Ear Girl said.

“Okaay,” I said slowly.