Ah it took me a mere month longer than I expected to finish this. Lmao I'm sorry but if you've been keeping up with Waning Moon you know I've had Some Shit going on. Anyway. This has been a really lovely project to work on bc I know it has like 0 broad appeal but I really care about it. Ok so let's finish up.

also uh a note to the guest reviewer. this is set in an artsy high school's theatre club. statistically, if anything more of them should be LGBTQ. right, that's all.

- Fredrik -

Improbably, I am having the most trouble with my playlist. Your music taste is a very tender, personal thing in my opinion, and I worry that my combination of The Horne Section, Tiny Meat Gang, random sea shanties that sound like they were recorded on a Nokia toaster, and Harry Styles will perhaps be ruthlessly judged by my soon-arriving guests.

"Just do Arctic Monkeys!" Isa calls from the other side of the house where she's arranging snacks. "Doesn't Baru love them?"

"Moiz loves them." She is clearly not caught up on her Tandon lore. "Oh, whatever," I mumble, flipping through Spotify for the millionth time. I'll just play what I want and whoever gets judgy will be ejected through the chimney. With any luck, we won't be listening to music for too long.

The Malvolio pinata is in fact a 'mean school principal' pinata, but I think it's close enough. I took a highlighter to its socks. Isa has handled the drinks and snaccs wonderfully; we have a nice buffet table of processed sugar and saturated fat, and little pyramids of cans of pop. Dad is in Tokyo for work, timezones away from our madness, and as I knew it would, the spa coupon worked beautifully on our mom. Now we have the house to ourselves and a carefully selected itinerary of teenage delinquency. Well, extremely PG deliquency. I hate drunk people more than anything and I'm somewhat afraid of what part of myself might emerge if I got high.

It feels like a quarter of a century before the doorbell rings, chiming through the house's speakers. I sprint up from the basement but Isa gets there first, looking the perfect hostess with her white braid and blue romper—Seasonally incorrect, but family gets leeway—and pulling open the door to reveal a small crowd of Blaire, Belle, Daphne, Julio, and Ivy.

Unsurprisingly, Julio's elected to show up in a hoodie and jeans. Everyone else is a little more dressed for the occasion, which for Blaire means a cute orange dress and for Ivy means a walking advertisement for Hot Topic. Isa beckons them in and starts herding them to the living room.

"Sup, Julio." I suspect he may only be here because Blaire kidnapped him, but if Isa's going to be sticking with her crowd of friends I may as well latch on to the only guy I'm even vaguely friends with.

He nods. "Lee 'n Mel are coming. I think Mel's with her girlfriend and Lee went over to drag Haiza here."

At the mention of those two, I glance at where Ivy's paused at the archway to the living room and grin. "You've lost, eh? Julio?"
"Nah, they're still not together," Julio confirms, drifting over to Ivy with his cane mapping out our house in front of him.

Ivy folds her arms and then steps aside to let Julio head into the living room with the girls. "I said cast party, Freddy, not before the cast party. I've still got a fighting chance."

Somehow, it got through the cast that there was a betting pool on when Haiza and Leandro would get together. My money's on 'never' because they're both deeply awkward people and the sun will die before one of them comes clean about their feelings. Ivy and Belle are slightly more charitably betting on 'by the end of the cast party.' Heloise, Isa, Moiz, and Blaire have all already lost their ten bucks when nothing happened on the last performance. Cory was absurdly optimistic and deeply wrong with her estimation of 'dress rehearsal.'

"We'll see," I say, and the doorbell rings again. "Right. Off you go. I must greet the guests."

"If you sabotage them, no one will find your body," Ivy promises in a tone that suggests we're discussing the superior Starburst flavour (lemon), then disappears off to the living room with the rest of her friends.

It is in fact not the targets of my sabotage. Instead, the Feddersens and Mel have turned up on my doorstep in varying levels of 'I spent time on my appearance.' The bottom rung is Cory. She may have trimmed her shaggy hair and I will take that as a compliment. Then Mel, but she's always in semi-dressy clothes. Heloise has gone unexpectedly masc with a navy blazer and her hair up, and Pendleton Woolen Mills is wearing a truly jealous-making galaxy-patterned jacket and sunglasses. Also utterly wrong for early spring but she looks so snazzy it makes me angry.

"Ah, look what the cat dragged in." I direct them on leaving their shoes in the mudroom, then escort them to the living room. "Everyone's in here. Mel, where the hell is your brother?"

"Lee? Somewhere with the Tandons. They're probably late," Mel says.

This was my very subtle way of asking after Baru. Moiz is chronically punctual, which makes me very afraid that something terrible has happened to them all. Or maybe Leandro and Haiza got together minutes ago, the sun died, everyone's about to freeze to death instantly, and I just lost ten bucks.

Could be either.

Still, everyone's in the living room with a bottle of pop and performing an oral history of every slightly entertaining thing that happened during the entire course of rehearsals and show week by the time the doorbell rings again. There's not a chance in hell of Isa stealing the first greet this time; I shoot off the couch next to Penny-farthing and through the house faster than I've moved since I electrocuted myself with a pipecleaner that one time.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome," I sing as I fling the doors open to reveal Tandons-plus-Leandro. "I'm so glad—" I clear my throat. "Uh. Glad to see you all. Coats there. Shoes there. Living room through there. Grab a snack."

Lee and Haze drift over to the dining room to peruse the selection of soda, Moiz waves then strolls off to the living room, and Baru is… intimidatingly attractive, considering what I was gonna try tonight. He got a haircut, silky black hair neatly combed to one side, and he's wearing a sort of v-neck pink sweater that I'm pretty sure I've never seen him in. It may belong to his older brother.

In for a penny. "You clean up nice, don't you?"

He raises his eyebrows, then slips off his shoes and says, halfway into his own sweater, "Yeah, so do you."

I clear my throat again. Well, this is going horrendously. "Can't believe you didn't let me cut your hair."

"Don't chase me with a razor next time and we can talk."

"I was only chasing you because you wouldn't sit still."

"Sure, but non-consensual long-distance hair-cutting shouldn't be your next step."

Such a stupid thing to laugh at but it still gets a snort out of me. Baru grins at that. Agh. I swallow quite determinedly then nudge everyone's shoes further onto the rack and wave Baru on. "Right. Go get something to drink and meet back up with everyone in the living room."

Baru steps out of the mudroom, then pauses and turns back to me. He worries at his lip, giving me an unreadable look, then says, "Did you invite Bruno?"

"Naw." Something loosens in his shoulders. I squint at him. "Didn't want an outbreak. And, y'know, Daphne was coming… didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Y'know." Y'know. Y'know.

His brows raise. "Huh. When'd you get…" He gestures vaguely. "Thoughtful?" I just sort of stare at him. He stares back, then gives a half-strangled laugh. "Forget it."

"You're always welcome to tell me how great I am," I assure him, which comes out less confidently than it was supposed to. Baru turns like he's gonna go into the dining room, then turns back to me. Fuck. I had a plan.

"Thanks for not inviting Bruno," he mumbles.

"Huh? Why?"

Baru starts fiddling with his hair, messing up the perfect comb-over. Fuck, fuck, fuck. "I dunno. Forget it." But he keeps talking. "I just feel weird around him. Like, grade ten versus grade twelve…" He waves his hand as if that's gonna explain it. "And I know you probably like him better."

"That's the most insane thing I've ever heard you say and you once told me you were confident you'd survive in a zombie apocalypse because learning to drive stick-shift would mean you could commandeer a helicopter."

He frowns. "Stick-shift is apparently—"

"I don't like Bruno better. You should chill, eh? Don't compare yourself to everyone else."

Baru swallows. "Yeah."
"Besides, you're—" Now I'm the one miming like an idiot. "It's not like…"

"What? What?"

I huff a laugh. "Literally, fuck this." Then I reach out and sort of pull him toward me with his arm.

"You're not—" Baru sort of gapes at me, now very much closer than he was before, looking up at me with a mixture of confused skepticism and fear. Not ideal. Surely I can fix this. "This isn't a joke."

"No, it's not." And then I lean down and kiss him. In its infinite wisdom, my brain blares Ladies and gentlemen, we got him, at me when Baru reaches up to wrap his arms around my neck, and then I don't think anything at all when he kisses me back.

- Ivette -

"Bad luck," I whisper to Izzie across Daphne and Blaire. Our illustrious host has reappeared with a root beer in one hand and Baru Tandon's hand in the other. Both grinning. Izzie doesn't share their glee.

"Goddamnit, Freddy," she says under her breath, then puts on a big smile, stands, claps for our attention, and says, "Alright, who's up for karaoke?"

Blaire is first to grab the disconnected microphone that Izzie's produced for the occasion and cues up a song on Izzie's laptop that's instantly recognizable by its first chords. She blue-steels us as the lyrics kick in, and Daphne collapses into giggles next to me.

"Baby can't you see, I'm callin'. A guy like you should wear a warning. It's dangerous, I'm falling." Daphne, Izzie, and even Belle and I begin to sort of dance along on the couch, swaying to the beat of Blaire's confident singing. She's not got a bad voice for it, honestly; low, hitting the notes hard enough not to go flat. And clearly having fun.

"You're dangerous, I'm lovin' it," she continues. Julio's sitting just under the little 'stage,' which is just the step up into the kitchen. Blaire's sitting in front of it in her chair. "Do you feel me now?"

She passes the mic to Julio as the chorus hits and I genuinely can't tell if they planned it or not but Julio says in monotone, "With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride," and passes it back to Blaire.

"You're toxic, I'm slippin' under!" Most of us are singing along. Daphne's still in a fit of giggles.

It's the perfect song to start karaoke, really; fast-paced and everyone's singing along until we reach the end and all fall back in our chairs, laughing. Blaire pretends to bow a little and we bring her down with a round of applause.

Freddy's the next to launch himself up from his place next to Baru and chooses, in what should probably be predictable enough after going to school with him for three years, Lady Gaga.

"I stand here waiting for you to bang the gong," he jumps straight in, flaunting more than a little, "to crash the critic saying, is it right or is it wrong?"

We clap along, and Freddy begins to add in the single worst robot dance I have ever seen. The only thing preventing me from administering first aid for the stroke he's having is that he's still singing strong. Also I don't know first aid. I glance over at Baru to see him watching with the silliest grin. Penelope backs him up with the A-P-P-L-A-U-S-E.

"Give me the feeling that I love! Turn the lights out!" He throws up his hands like a rockstar and Belle starts chuckling next to me. I turn to her, mostly on instinct, just so I can really appreciate the way it happens. I think her laugh might be my favourite thing about her, though it's a close competition with the way her lips press together when someone says something stupid, like she's physically restraining a sarcastic comment. Still, as she tilts her head back and she grins, revealing the way one of her canines is a little higher than the other, giving it a crooked, genuine look… This is getting embarrassing.

Cory drags Lee and Heloise up for Rasputin, which turns into the entire cast doing it. We're hardly singing at this point, just yelling the lyrics and intermittently bursting into laughter. I have no idea what Freddy did with his parents but there's no chance they're within a square kilometer of us or someone would have come down to tell us to the shut the fuck up.

When it ends with everyone bright red, one spilled soda, and Cory, Lee, and Heloise taking their bows, Mel stands and clears her throat, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes as she watches her brother jump down. "Well, I had that one planned but I guess I'll have to think of something else."

Cory passes the mic to her and apologizes, still giggling with exhilaration, which Mel waves off. "No worries. I've got something better."

It's a faintly familiar song, but I can't quite place it as Mel gently sings the first bars.

"A long, long time ago, I can still remember, how that music used to make me smile." She smiles. Everyone settles down for a quieter song. "And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance and maybe they'd be happy for a while."

Her voice is nothing show-stopping, if I'm being uncharitable, but there's a kind of power to it that I can't really describe. I think she loves this song.

"But February made me shiver, with every paper I'd deliver. Bad news on the doorstep, I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride, but something touched me deep inside, the day the music died…" She pauses, with a little grin like she's about to tell us a secret. "So bye, bye, Ms. American Pie. Drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry."

Oh! I know this song. I tap my foot along.

"And good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye, singing this'll be the day that I die. This'll be the day that I die." Mel starts to sort of bounce along as the music picks up and I see the cast react, with more tapping feet. She knows the lyrics well enough that she's not looking at the laptop anymore, singing to us each in turn. "Did you write the book of love and do you have faith in God above?" She sings to Cory and Heloise, then moves on to her brothers. "If the bible tells you so… And do you believe in rock 'n roll?" She casts a hand over Moiz and Haiza. "Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?" She turns back to Heloise with a grin and does a little fake strum of an air guitar. "Well, I know that you're in love with him! 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym. You both kicked off your shoes, man, I dig those rhythm and blues!"

I take it back, Mel is a fantastic singer. She's not even singing really, just performing the shit out of every lyric. Pretty confident every girl in the room just remembered why they were in love with her.

"I was a lonely teenager bronckin' buck, with a pink carnation and a pick-up truck. But I knew I was out of luck, the day the music died!"

Everyone who has recognized the song joins in for the chorus.

"Bye, bye, Ms. American Pie, drove my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry. And good boys were drinking whiskey and rye singing this'll be the day that I die!" She points the mic towards us even though it's not even connected to anything. "This'll be the day that I die!"

"Now, for ten years, we've been on our own," she continues. "And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone. But that's not how it used to be… When the jester sang for the king and queen, in a coat he borrowed from James Dean, and a voice that came from you and me. Oh, and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown. The courtroom was adjourned, no veredict was returned! And while Lennon read a book on Marx, the quartet practiced in the park, and we sang dirges int he dark. The day the music died."

It's a long song, and probably would've been terrible for karaoke in any other case, but I'm having too much fun to care. Finally we hit the end.

"I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news. But she just smiled and turned away. I went down to the sacred store, where I'd heard the music years before, but the man there said the music wouldn't play…" She pulls a fake serious expression, but as ridiculous as it is, it's working. "And in the streets the children screamed, the lovers cried and the poets dreamed." She smiles at Heloise.

"And they were singin'..."

We let her do it alone, then as the second repetion join her.

"Bye, bye, Ms. American Pie!"

There's something weirdly satisfying about this kind of karaoke. A bunch of high schoolers, most of whom can't sing for shit, just all enjoying a song together. I wonder how everyone else heard it first. I remember a street party our parents brought us to when we were little. The bigger kids had waterguns and Daphne and I had to wait ages to get our hotdogs, listening to this song over someone's tinny radio. I know she's thinking about it too, smiling to herself as we all clap for Mel.

Then my sister grins and I know exactly what she's about to do.

- Haiza -

I can't say I'm entirely surprised when Daphne launches us into the Twelfth Night musical without a hint of shame. Freddy's eyes widen, nearly glowing with delight when he recognizes the music. I guess a lot of us checked it out, and checked it out enough that we all yell,

"Feste! If music be the food of love, play on!"

And so it starts. It looks like Ivette, Daphne, Izzie, Freddy, Heloise, and Blaire know it best, all enthusiastically joining in for the chorus. Then it hits Viola's solo and I clear my throat. I don't like singing in front of people, as a general rule. I don't like people looking at me, I don't like knowing they're all waiting to see if I mess up, and I don't like the chest-pressure anxiety feeling that builds the longer the solo goes on. But I'm warmed up from Toxic and American Pie and all so I might as well give it a shot. Lee gives me an encouraging nudge from his place on the couch next to me as I straighten up.

"What country, friends, is this?"

"This is Illyria, lady!" Freddy answers with a flourish.

"And what should I do in Illyria?" Just spoken lines. All good. Then I draw in a breath and start singing, shakily. "Sebastian… Have you seen my brother? My twin brother? Sebastian… did he swim to shore too?"

I finish the monologue without too much trouble, I think. I wish my voice was steadier.

"Who governs here, in Illyria?"

"Poor Orsino!" Everyone choruses, and Lee begins to strike poses in time with the music. I giggle as he whips his hair out of his face, all Byronic and tortured. "Our lovesick Duke. Poor Orsino!"

"What a stud!" Freddy shouts, provoking more laughter, and an answering shout from Daphne,

"Ew, puke!"

Lee's got a good voice too, warm and fairly confident of the lyrics, even as he gestures vaguely when it hits a line he doesn't know. "Oh, oh, Olivia…"

"Who's Olivia?" I elbow him.

"Poor Olivia!" Our little Greek choruses starts up again.

Cory doesn't know the lyrics at all but she takes a shot at lip-synching and playing up the drama ridiculously. I brace myself for more singing.

"Oh, disguise, make them see, what kind of man I've gotta be!"

Then a music break. Everyone cheers wildly as we finish out and I almost forget to be self-conscious, chiming in for the, "Play on!"

We all tumble back, breathless and giving appreciative rounds of applause to Daphne and Freddy who seem to have an intuitive understanding of which part the other is about to pick up. When nobody steps up to change the music, we roll right ahead with the whole soundtrack.

Word on the Street gets chaotic when no one knows who's singing which part, leading to multiple instances of two people singing one and nobody singing the next, but something about it works. It helps that we don't have a proper karaoke track; the studio singers fill in the holes.

"Not my type!" Heloise exclaims of Orsino.

"Or Olivia's type!" Freddy chimes in.

"No one's Olivia's type!"

We finish it out with more applause even though we're two songs in and the wheels are falling off. Freddy beckons to Lee as the next one starts. "D'you know it?"

"Well enough," Lee answers, already breaking into laughter. "Hey man, it's in my range, I'll take what I can get."

I feel myself going a bit red as I realize this is the duet between us, but stand up anyway with a little prodding from Moiz and Cory.

"I've only known for three days," Lee declares as the bouncing piano comes in. "But it feels like it's been years. Something about you, kid, makes me wanna pour my secrets in your ear."

I'm vaguely reminded of how Claudio killed Henry Senior. I wouldn't mind melting into the floor, dead, at the moment, just from how Lee's swaying, all lovestruck and giggling at the edges. I nod my head along, trying not to visibly flush.

"You're the only one who knows my heart," he sings. "So you're perfect for this part! I want you, I need you… To tell her I'm her man! I know you can make her understand!"

I hear laughs as people catch on to the joke of the song; the way he stretches out 'I want you… I need you…' Clearing my throat, I assure him,

"I think not so, my lord."

"Dear lad, believe it!" Lee genuinely has a good voice. For all his assurances to me, I think he's pretty embarrassed of his own singing too, but there's a sweetness to him in song that makes my stomach flip. "You walk in the room, and it's like summer come in early. You open your mouth, and I feel twenty-two again."

We laugh it off again, but there's a smile lingering at the side of Lee's mouth that makes me smile too.

"And your smiiiiiiile," he continues, playing it up, shifting from foot to foot and snapping along. "How can she say no to that smile? I want you. I need you… To tell her she's my girl, boy you gotta get her for my girl."

I'm red, I know I am, but I dance along to his terrible little routine, nearly forgetting the dozen teenagers around us.

"I want you," Lee repeats.

"So, so, you want me?" It comes out high and plaintive, just like it's supposed to. And maybe I'm not acting a whole lot, but no one can tell, right?

"I need you," he adds, still grinning.

I cough an aggressively manly cough. "You're sure you need me?"

"To tell her," we sing.

Lee begins to stumble through the bridge, less sure of the words but still smiling wide and bright, dancing around ridiculously. Finally, he settles down. "Prosper well in this, and thou shalt live as freely as thy lord to call his fortunes thine."
I like that line. The double-meaning of Orsino promising to reward Cesario for a job well done, and the final resolution of the play where Viola will literally call his fortunes hers because they'll be married. But we're not done.

"I want to," I sing quietly. "I need to... tell you how I feel. I can never tell you how I feel." And I try to keep up the goofy smile, but the energy of the song wanes in the final chords and something in my chest pangs. I'm really not ever going to tell him, am I? Stupid, some part of myself says. Every piece of advice I've ever been given has usually boiled down to "Shoot your shot! What do you have to lose?" But really, looking at him now, collapsing into laughter at the end of the song and dropping back onto the couch with me like a big dog curling up after a game of catch, I remember exactly what I have to lose. This. I could make everything so painfully awkward that we never speak to each other again. And isn't this enough? Can't I just be happy with sitting a careful two inches away and praying he doesn't notice the way my breath catches when he smiles?
The next song goes quite skewy. Cory knows far too little of it and eventually Daphne jumps in to help.

"Here madam, at your service," Julio shouts from across the room.

"I'm not for him!" Cory exclaims. "Hie, thee, Malvolio."

This part is going to go down in flames, certainly; Olivia, Orsino, and Viola all singing in a sort of triolet with different lines blending together. Daphne carries it off well but Lee gets distracted and starts laughing again.

"If you were my beloved!" we all finish with varying levels of… getting anywhere near the correct notes.

I stand up for Viola's Soliloquy, and even though it's a solo, I'm a little more confident now that I also don't have to manage my proximity to Lee. "But I never gave her a ring…" I muse aloud to giggles. "So then… why's she giving me a ring?"

More laughter. The music stops.

"Oh, shit." I like this adaptation. "What could Olivia see in me?"

On a whim, I pull Penelope up to sing too; I think it's more on-brand for her than me. Still, we end up having a lot of fun, hamming up the drama of the song and abandoning the concept of 'singing.'

"Would I be enough in my own skin?" Penelope mopes, wiping fake tears. I'm glad to be free of this bit. Let's not get too real with this disaster karaoke.

As you'd expect from the most raucous song sung by the three people evidently most familiar with the soundtrack, You're the Worst gets wild.

"My friend, I know you best, but I like you anyway. And a real pal tells the truth, warts in all the way. Instead of a phony toast, you deserve an honest roast. So let's all raise a glass to my favourite pain in the ass!" Freddy declares, hoisting his root beer. We join in with a cheer.

As the roast moves on to Baru and his inability to flirt his way out of a paper bag, then a failure to roast Daphne when she ambushes Blaire with a kiss, who comes away positively beaming as she announces, "Actually, Maria's kind of the best, I got nothing."

And so it continues with Freddy.

Then Julio catches it, Blaire having far too much fun calling him a high horse riding son of a bitch, before the entire cast joins in with,

"Let's hear it for your true friends, who tell you straight to your face, that you're a disgrace! Hear, hear!"

Freddy flings himself into a chair. "Right, that's cleaned me out. Haze, you have to do the next one."

"I have to do the…" That's familiar music. Oh, fucking hell. "I mean, I…"

"Yeah, you should." Lee's nudging me. I give him a death stare, and he laughs. "No pressure. But, y'know, it's… a nice song. And you have a nice voice, and everything."
On the scale of subtextual love confessions, I'm not sure if Shakespeare verse or karaoke sits higher. All the same, the part of myself that should never be allowed to make decisions seizes control and propels me to my feet, up to the little step by the dining room. I look over my cast and take a shaky breath. Right. Better make it a good one.

"I can tell you anything, my friend." It's quiet, maybe too quiet, rasping a little over the ends. "Except how I feel about you. 'Cause I know you don't return it."

Another deep breath. I can do this. They're not looking at me like they're waiting for me to fail, just like they're enjoying the music and maybe hoping I'm a really good singer. I don't know if I am, but I can sing stronger.

"Though ain't it obvious, my friend? I'm not myself around you… but I like who I am turning into." Here we go. Here we go. Deep breaths, Haze, drop him a clue and he can decide if he wants to act on it or not. "'Cause I been missing parts of me… But when I'm with you, I feel put back together. And I know I shouldn't say it, but baby… Why don't you see it?"

Lee was smiling, and now he isn't. What does it mean? Too late to think about it.

"Is this not love?" Tisk tisk tisk. My heart's thumping. "Is this not love that I feel for you? Do you feel it too? Is this not love?"

I'm forgetting to think about my singing again, and it's coming out a little too real. Well, it sounds better anyway.

Lee's voice rasps as he comes in with his line a second too late. "Once more Cesario, get thee to yond same sovereign cruelty. Tell her my love."

"But if she cannot love you, sir."

"I cannot be so answered."

Now I'm choked up. Not the ideal for singing. Keep it together, Haze. The next verse is a little easier, right?

"But sometimes, your eyes catch mine, and I dare think it. Oh, I think you know it. Is this not love?" Chills wash over my body and I can't seem to get out enough air to stop each line from choking me. "Is this not love that I feel for you?"

Then we're back to the text. The text that was first read to me when I was too young to even understand the normal words, back to help me try to tell him without showing so much of my hand that I ruin everything.

"Say that some lady, as perhaps there is, hath for your love as great a pang of heart as you have for Olivia. You cannot love her, you tell her so; must she not then be answered?"

"Make no compare between that love a woman can bear me and that I owe Olivia," he says.

"Aye, but I know."

"What does thou know?"

"Too well what love women to men may owe. In faith, they are of true of heart as we." And I know we're both remembering the moment in his room.

We continue through the lines, from rehearsals and late night line practice and dress and opening night and finally, now, when I almost feel like we're alone but performing one more time. Does anyone believe we're friends anymore? Can't they all see what I'm desperately trying to show?

"Was not this love, indeed?"

"But died your sister of her love, my boy?"
"I know not." Then another breath, a little more steady. I'll put it in every word and I'll wait for him to act. Please, Lee. The music begins again, and I sing, "Will I die without saying a thing? Will I wait here, for years, silently? Or will I risk it all? Lay bare my heart?"
And as fucking embarrassing as it is and as much as I want to move to a new country and forget I ever fell in love with my best friend and then wasted years on silence, I lock eyes with him and repeat,

"Is this not love? Is this not love that I feel for you? Oh, I know you feel it, too. Is this not love? Is this not love, that we're feeling, we're feeling, oh, I know we're feeling it, yeah." And I'm finally hitting the kind of notes that come out with no audience, made all the more honest by his dark eyes trained on me, unreadable. Fuck this. He has to know. It's gonna kill me, green and yellow melancholy and all that. I'm moving through the living room, back to his side as the last bit repeats. "Is this not love? Is this not love? Is this not..."

Lee's smiling a little now, a little shy and a little pleased with himself, and a little of some other thing that's so quintessentially Leandro that I don't know if there's a word for everyone else. Sharing in someone else's joy.

"Sir, shall I to this lady?" I sit back down again, trying not to turn exactly to him but still staring.

"To her in haste…" He blinks, then stretches out his hand to take mine. "Give her this jewel." And he doesn't take his hand away. I'm barely breathing, I think. "There's for thy pains."

My mouth moves to form the next line, and as easy as breathing out he closes the distance between us, a hand coming up to cup the side of my head and draw me into him. I don't faint. It's a near thing. And it's just the smallest, sweetest kiss, but I hold onto him, feeling something finally, finally snap into place. The music quiets behind us.

First thing that pops out of my stupid mouth is, "Thanks."

Lee looks like he's about to either laugh or keel over dead, settling on, "What…?"

"For uh, making the first move." I gesture. "I mean. Shit, man."

And then he does laugh, and without too much exaggeration, it's literally the greatest sound I have ever heard. Someone else is saying something, but I am slightly distracted, something new fluttering in my chest. Fuck, we've got a chance, don't we? An incredible feeling, to be un-turbo-fucked at long last. Thanks, Shakespeare.

- Heloise -

I'm happy for them, even if it took too long for me to get my money back. Despite also losing his money to a grinning Ivy, Freddy's watching Lee and Haze talk with a certain fondness of a person who's been privy to way too much pining, and I certainly haven't missed how the constant sliver of space between him and Baru has apparently dissolved. Penny's also looking pleased with the outcome of karaoke.

"Feels like a cheesy teen movie," Mel remarks from next to me, but she's smiling too.

"What would your preferred ending be to all this?" I tease.

"Serial killer picking us off one by one." She shrugs. "Well, we're a bunch of teenagers alone in a house and a lot of us are brown and gay, so I'll hold out hope."

I laugh and lean back against the couch cushions, just savouring the feeling of being surrounded by people I like. More karaoke follows until everyone that wants to has had a go with microphone, then assault and battery against a pinata that bears no ressemblance to Malvolio at all, then a few rounds of Truth or Dare and Paranoia, where we discover that Blaire would throw Julio to the horde in a zombie apocalypse, Belle can do the Macarena in three seconds, Izzie is 90 gummy bears tall, and Freddy is unanimously voted 'most likely to be found in a ditch.'

As people's creativity with their dares and truths and questions wanes, Izzie puts a stop to the game so everyone can refill snacks, then takes the centre of the room.

"I have a new game to propose," she says, clapping. "Now, as many of you know, I'm addicted to British panel comedy."

Freddy nods as if to confirm it, while the rest of us are baffled. Of course she is. What is this school?

"And I was inspired by it to come up with my own little game. As we're all theatre kids, I hope you all have sharp improv skills. Let's divide into two teams and I'll tell you the rules."

I end up on a team made of mostly tech crew with Mel, Izzie, Freddy, Baru, Julio, Daphne, and Blaire. Belle, Ivy, Moiz, Haze, Lee, Cory, and Penny make up the other, friendly competition already flickering to life despite no one yet knowing the rules of Izzie's invented game.

"Right! The way it goes is one person tells us all something about themselves or something they've done. It can be true or a lie, and then the other team quizzes them about the details. The aim of the game is to fool the other team, so once the team's done questioning, they have to say whether it's true or not. If they're right, they get a point. If they're wrong, the storyteller gets a point."

Izzie pauses, evaluating whether we're catching on.

"Bluffing, then," Belle sums up.

"Basically. Whoever thinks of one first can start." Izzie sits down again.

Freddy cracks his knuckles, then raises his hand. "I've got one."

Izzie nods, looking a little concerned that her brother might completely destroy the conceit of the game before we get through a single round, but Freddy waves off the look with a grin.

"I'm the reason Bruno missed a performance."

"What?" Haiza bursts into laughter from the opposing team. "Well, that's a lie, he had the flu."
"Ah, but it was my fault he got the flu," Freddy says, stroking his chin. I'm suddenly glad he's on our team; I have absolutely no idea.

"How?" Moiz asks.

Freddy grins. "That is the question."

"You have to actually answer them for this to work," Izzie reminds him, and Freddy grins wider.

"Right. I sent him into a contaminated zone."

"What… The chicken soup," Haze says suddenly, eyes widening. "Oh, god, I forgot. He brought me soup."

Cory erupts into laughter. "Why the hell did he bring you soup? And what, did you sneeze on him?!"

"No!" Haiza blushes. "I don't know. Freddy, you sent him with the soup?"

Freddy nods.

"Was this on purpose?" Belle interjects. "Did you poison my brother?"

"Poison is a strong word." Freddy bats his eyelashes, then drops the act. "Nah, it wasn't on purpose. I felt bad, so I called in a favour and sent him over, and then he got sick and I realized you must've passed it to him."
Cory raises a brow. "Yeah, this sounds like a bunch of lies. Passing soup to someone wouldn't get you sick, would it?"

"And Freddy would have done it on purpose," Moiz adds.

Freddy barks a laugh. "Oh, c'mon, I wouldn't!"

"What was the favour?" Haze asks.

He colours, red as his hair. "Uh… I gave Bruno a present to give to Baru for his birthday because he forgot to get him anything."

Baru shoots him an amused look and Freddy purses his lips, still red.

"Right, it's a lie," Cory announces, and Haze and Moiz nod.

"Freddy?" Izzie asks.

Freddy grins wide. "It's true, actually. I think, anyway."

And the game continues much in that vein. We grill Cory on whether she totaled someone's drone on her first in-car driving lesson, then Mel convinces the other team she bit a snake as a child.

"But why?!" Penny repeats and Mel chuckles.

"I saw the snake and thought 'I bet I can bite that.' I dunno, I was like, seven."
Lee's doubled over. "I genuinely don't know," he says into his palms. "I don't… she's a good liar, I'm warning you all. It could be true."
Moiz frowns. "And who would make that up? Too weird."

"True, then," Cory says.

"Mel?"

"Thank you, Leandro, I am a good liar. I didn't bite a snake as a kid."

Our team claps for her as she takes a mock bow. Izzie's marking down points, but no one much cares.

"I've got one," Lee pipes up, then shoots Haiza a grin. "Haiza and I got together last summer. We decided to pretend we were still just friends before the school year started because we wanted to fuck with you all."

Haiza has a grin twitching at the edge of her mouth, but then she schools her face into neutrality and nods. "Yep. It's true."

"No chance," Freddy bursts out, looking like his life is a lie. Cory's grinning from the other couch.

Mel and Julio are both frowning in thought. Then Mel says, "I'm pretty sure that's not true."

Daphne laughs. "Maybe it is. They're good actors."

I look at Mel, and see that she's genuinely considering it. Then she shakes her head. "Naw. No way."

"Who made the first move?" Izzie asks them.

"I did," Haze says, still repressing that little grin that keeps seeping in at the corners.

"Set the scene," Blaire suggests. "Lee. This is your terrible lie, so let's hear your improv."
Lee looks delighted to be caught in the lie and is already spinning a story full of holes. "Right. We went to the beach."

"What beach?" Julio exclaims, incredulous. "We live in downtown Toronto."

"Oh yeah, I meant, we went bowling." Lee takes a minute to compose himself as we laugh at his perfect recovery. "Yeah. We went bowling, and… uh. Haiza can tell you what happened next."

Haze starts laughing too. "Um, yeah, we were bowling, and I said 'If I win, you've gotta go on a date with me.'"

"Like hell you did!" Baru shouts from our side, grinning at his sister. "Not in a million years." Moiz has his head in his hands.

"Yep, that's what she said," Lee confirms. "And I'm actually incredibly good at bowling, but I threw the game because I wanted to go out with her."

"And Haze got ten strikes in a row," Izzie adds.

"And then everybody clapped," Freddy finishes.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Haiza giggles. "Were you guys there?"

"Let's not draw this charade out any longer," Mel says. "It's obviously a lie."

Daphne holds up a hand. "On the other hand, maybe they're doing such a bad job of lying in order to throw us off. Maybe it's true."

"No chance," Freddy repeats. "S'a load of bullshit."

"Lie, we're saying?" Izzie checks. "Okay. Lee?"

"Of course it was a lie."

Still, we give him some applause as Izzie marks our point down. The game continues, Julio avowing that he once pretended to be deaf and blind in an elevator, Penny failing to convince anyone that she's an ex-horse girl despite it being true, and Izzie eventually joining in with,

"I once nearly destroyed the auditorium's curtains because I was laughing so hard."

Thus comes out the embarassing tale of Mel staying after school with Izzie to teach her the ropes, as it were, with the intention of flirtation, and Izzie's obliviousness leading to a laughing fit in which she came close to tearing the curtains down when she fell over, and Izzie gaining the title of 'only girl who wasn't interested in Mel when she joined tech crew.' Mel keeps up a good humour throughout, laughing at Izzie's re-enactment of her reaching over Izzie to help pull the curtains, and chiming in with extra details about the moment she realized Izzie was straight.

"Definitely true," I say when they finish.

"You're on our team," Mel giggles, swatting me.

"Yeah, but it's obvious."

We probably waste another few hours that way, rotating between the lying game, Truth or Dare, and Paranoia. A couple folks have to go, and things eventually wind down. I rest my head on Mel's shoulder, just lingering in the feeling of the whole cast being together one last time. I guess we'll all still be at school together, but this feels like the end of something, and I think I'm just… really grateful. I'm glad I ended up going here, I'm glad Penny tried out, I'm glad I joined tech and met Mel and the others, I'm glad that we did this and that everyone cared enough to really try to make it good.

When Baru and Moiz get ready to go, I know it's pretty much over. Lee and Haze are still chatting quietly, then she stands up to leave too. I peel off Mel and Penny and I start heading toward the door. Mel rounds up her brothers, and we all put on our shoes and coats.

"Thanks for coming 'round," Izzie says.

Mel smiles. "Yeah, no worries, it was a lot of fun. I guess I'll see you when I have to train you for tech head."

"I'll try not to wreck any more of the auditorium."

She laughs, then touches my arm. "And I'll see you Monday. We've got a tech meeting—talent show is in a month."

I feel oddly relieved. I want to keep going to tech meetings, have an excuse to keep seeing them, and all that.

I clear my throat. "Cool. Yeah. See you, then."

"See you."

And just like that, it's over.

Thanks for reading. Like I said, I loved writing this and I hope you enjoyed it. And uh of course, please leave me a review! It's been a good time, thanks.

~Akila