Lunch

Iko and Peony dropped their bags off under the stairs and went to buy their lunch. A they waited in line, Peony saw Cinder in the corner of the cafeteira, in lunch detention.

"There's Cinder," Peony pointed out.

"Cinder's been acting weird lately," Iko whispered, but she followed Peony's gaze to the detention table in the corner of the cafeteria. "Ooh, she's sitting with a cute boy," Iko craned her neck to see across the cafeteria. "Okay, we need an excuse to talk to them."

"Say you want a ride home after your audition,"

"Ooh, good one."

After they got their lunch, Iko dragged Peony over to the detention table and slid in a seat next to Cinder.

"Cinder, is someone driving you home?"

"Probably, why?"

"My audition will be finished at four, can I ride with you?"

Cinder shrugged. "I guess."

"Thanks." Iko turned to Thorne. "Who are you?" She smiled sweetly.

"Carswell Thorne, at your service." He flashed her a smile, and Iko giggled.

"Iko, stop flirting," Cinder groaned.

"Hm. See you after school." Iko took her lunch and went to her spot under the stairs, Peony following close behind. Cress was performing her audition monologue for Winter. Iko sat down and started eating her broccoli noodles. When Cress finished, Iko made her start again so she could hear the whole thing.

"Wow, Cress, you are really good," Iko praised when Cress finished. Cress hunched her shoulders and let her hair fall in front of her face. "Just be confident. Don't get all scared at the end."

"I don't know if I can do this," Cress whimpered.

"What? Yes, you can! You're amazing!" Winter gushed.

"Yeah, but I'll get really nervous, and then I'll panic and mess up, it just-"

"No, no, you'll be fine. What do you have eighth?"

"Physics."

"Okay, during physics, take deep breaths, ten seconds in, hold ten, ten seconds out, hold. That will make you feel more relaxed. Remind yourself that the outcome of this audition has no major impact on your life, and try your best not to panic because you'll do amazing anyway. Okay?" Iko smiled encouragingly at Cress.

"Okay."

After School

Throughout physics, Cress felt her stomach getting more and more knotted. She took ten second breaths and held them for ten seconds, just like Iko taught her.

When the bell rang at 3:00 she went down to the auditorium and hung around, waiting for her audition time.

"Crescent Darnel."

Cress whirled around. Levana from engineering. She leaned against the door.

"What are you doing here?" Levana snapped.

"I'm auditioning," Cress said, reminding herself that she had nothing to be sorry for. She wasn't doing anything to Levana.

Levana scoffed. "You're auditioning? You've been homeschooled your whole life, barely been out of the house. You know nothing about theatre."

"I... how do you know that?"

Levana giggled. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She reached out and fingered the hem of Cress's shirt, a hand-me down from a neighbour. "Don't get in my way, Darnel." Levana whirled around and went into the auditorium.

Cress wrung her hands together. She sat against the wall and read over her monologue again and again. Taking slow breaths, Cress tried to ignore everyone around her.

When her time slot came, Cress went into the auditorium. Ms. Fateen and Mr. Torin, the choir director, were sitting at the far end of the auditorium. Cress squeezed her paper in her hands.

"Hello, Cress," Mr. Torin smiled.

"Hi," Cress said softly.

"Okay, Cress. Whenever you're ready," Ms. Fateen instructed.

Cress squeezed the papers again, then put the paper on the floor. She took a deep breath and started.

The monologue was about a princess in a castle, talking to her mother. Cress quickly got lost in the character. She didn't panic like she thought she would, and when she missed a line near the end, she recovered quickly.

So far, so good. After the monologue, she sang her song. Being home alone had given her plenty of time to sing it, and singing came easy to Cress. She loved singing. When she was finished, Ms. Fateen and Mr. Torin thanked her and dismissed her. When she was out, she leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. She did it. It was over.

Theatre Tech

The only new person to join theatre tech was Kinney, Jacin's friend who Cinder had met on the first day of school. They spent their hour showing him the basics of the light equipment. He was a fast learner and quickly caught on as to what all the buttons did.

Around four, when they were just finishing up, Iko came in and sat down in one of the swivel chairs.

"How'd it go?" Cinder asked her.

"Good, I think. It could have been better, but it also could have been a lot worse."

"Good." Kai had asked Cinder in French if she needed a ride, so after a confirmation from Jacin and Aimery that they didn't need her anymore, they left for the band hall. Kai was sitting outside the band hall, reading a book. He didn't look up when they arrived, so Cinder tapped his foot with hers.

"Oh, hi, Cinder," he smiled brightly. "Ready? Let's go."

Kai led them to his car. Cinder sat shogun, and Iko sat in the backseat. Kai gave Cinder the aux cord again. When they pulled out of the parking lot, Kai asked Iko how her audition went.

"I think it went well," Iko pondered. "I messed up on a line, but I recovered quickly and I think my acting was good."

"Good assessment," Kai approved. "And how's Theatre Tech?"

"We have one singular new member, Liam," Cinder answered.

"Oh, Liam Kinney?" Iko said.

"You sound disgusted," Kai noted. What's wrong with him?"

"He's just a jerk, that's all," Iko shrugged.

"He seems fine," Cinder said, now unsure.

"How's Peony?" Kai asked, changing the subject.

"Peony's sick," Iko muttered.

"Wait, what?" Cinder turned in her seat to look at Iko. "Since when?"

"Since this morning, when she didn't come to school," Iko snapped.

Cinder frowned and turned back to the front, trying to recall the ride to school that morning. All she remembered was sitting shotgun next to Pearl.

"Well, tell her I hope she feels better soon," Kai sympathized.

"Thanks. It's just the flu," Iko mumbled. Cinder turned again to look at her and got a death glare from Iko. She guessed it meant how could you possibly not have noticed she wasn't there??

Cinder turned to stare out the window.

When they got home, Iko rushed to Peony's room. On the way to her own room, Cinder paused outside the door.

"Peony, he asked about you," Iko was saying.

"He did?" Peony gushed, weakly.

"Yeah, he said tell you he hopes you feel better,"

Cinder knew she should go in and talk to Peony, but she was tired and she didn't want to talk to Iko, so she did her homework and went to bed early.