A/N: My sincerest apologies for such a short chapter. It was either a short chapter, or a long wait. I figured most of you would rather have a short wait. Usually I would have updated by two days ago, my bad. Hope you like it!

A week later:

Jeremy kept his distance at rehearsals and whenever someone asked how it was going to the dance with me, he'd just give them an odd look and walk away.

"James, are you listening to me?" Eric questioned.

"Hey, don't you go and steal my lines." I joked back. Though he was right about Jeremy acting strange and all that, I still didn't like him. At least, that's what I've been trying to convince myself of.

"Not stealing lines, just trying to get your attention."

And rehearsal droned on and on. I sure hope this play is worth it because I would be royally pissed if something happened and we had to cancel. How utterly frustrating that would be!

It was odd, very recently at rehearsals; I would see a woman standing outside the auditorium doors. She had long blonde hair, but that was all I could gather from being so far away. At first, I thought she was a parent. Then she began leaving just before rehearsal would end, about five minutes before, without anyone with her. And I always felt as if she were watching me and no one else, me specifically.

Of course, this made it all the more difficult to pay attention at rehearsals, such as the one today. Everyone was constantly trying to get me to pay attention when I tried to get a better view of the woman. Whenever I caught her eye, she'd turn away.

Sometimes, when I see her, I think I'm seeing mom, my real mom. They look very similar.

When I told this to Mrs. Lovett, she said it was just because I missed my real mom. She also had a kind of hurt look on her face. That was when I hugged her and said, "Thanks for the talk mum." It seemed to make her feel better.

Sweeney stopped asking how rehearsals went because I would always give him the same answer ("It was fine"). Mrs. Lovett would always ask, and I made sure I gave a different answer every time, just so she wouldn't lose interest. It was nice when someone cared.

At school, it was apparent on my performance that things were not going well. My grades were dropping lower and lower each week with every test and homework assignment. Not because of the play, I am perfectly capable of balancing out drama and school. I'm just unable to balance out school and home, especially with recent events. 186 Fleet Street is not some place where the need to do homework is felt.

I understand perfectly by what Toby meant when he said I was in danger. He didn't mean me at all, he was talking about Sweeney. Makes sense, same hair, same last name, I guess a ghost like Toby could get easily confused, especially in his state. But I still don't know what he meant about the warning. Was he actually talking to me, or did he think he was talking to Sweeney again? I may never know.

Toby hasn't shown up for days. I guess I should be happy about that. Whenever Toby shows up, it's because of something really bad (at least, that's what it's been like so far). He seemed almost like a Bad Luck charm, if ghosts could be bad luck charms of course.

I've been doing a lot of research on it, reading by candle light. It's really difficult to not get caught staying up so late when your parents could just pop in (literally) at anytime. Everything's becoming difficult lately, rehearsal, school especially, being around Sweeney.

In one of the books, it read that ghosts stay on this Earth for one hundred twenty-five years. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett have been here one hundred sixty-two years. Something's going on, something's up.

Something's wrong.