I just like talking to him. Like today he was telling me all about how close he is with his sister, and I was telling him all about playing cello. I even almost told him about the audition but changed my mind at the last second. I’m weird about that. Superstitious. Like if I tell too many people, I won’t be invited to the next round.

“Hey, Jay,” I say, mustering up a big smile.

She glances at Ridley. “You work here now?”

“Just helping out.”

Jayla hums and then checks the time. “My shift starts in a half hour, but I wanted to talk to you, Jubi. Alone?”

“Okay,” I say, following her into the back room.

“You two sure are hanging out a lot,” she says the second I’m behind the curtain.

“Is that what you dragged me back here to say?”

“No, I dragged you back here because I miss my best friend and you never answer my texts anymore.”

My face falls. “I know—I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy. I’ve had to cram in practice around all these extra shifts. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to—”

“Yeah, what’s up with that? You never work extra shifts, because you don’t get extra pay and it cuts into cello time.”

“I’m just trying to help out more.”

There’s a shuffling sound on the other side of the curtain then, and I hear Ridley sliding comics into the rack right beside us.

“Yeah, seems like there’s a lot of that going around lately.”

I want to be mad, but I can see in her face that she’s genuinely upset. And she’s right; I haven’t really been around lately. She’s used to my hard-core musician schedule and constant studying, but this is different. Adding in Bats and Ridley lately has meant dropping the ball on other things, important things. And it’s not cool.

“Listen, I’m out at eight tonight. Are you working till nine still?” I ask, and she nods. “I’ll ride my bike over when I’m done, and we can hang then. Okay?”

“What about cello?”

“I practiced before school. I knew I was meeting—I knew I was working late tonight. Seriously, I’ll be there right after we close.”

She smiles, but it looks forced. “Whatever you say, Jubi.”

She pushes the curtain back, nearly tripping over Ridley on her way out. “Sorry, I have to go. I have to get to my actual job that pays me money to be there.”

“We should all be so lucky,” Ridley says, and I can’t tell if that’s a joke about us not paying him or something else. Jayla flashes him a look and then leaves. I slide the curtain into place, taking a second to regroup before stepping back out onto the floor.

•  •  •