I'll spare you all the 'woe is me' story and just say I'm sorry for the delay (for those of you waiting on the final chapter of Just Enough...I've been working on it for months. I suck. I'm sorry.)

Trigger warnings for mentions of gun violence in this chapter, and for otherwise implied injury.


Ralph didn't understand why they couldn't just be inside. The college had a perfectly good stage in there. Of course, the outdoor one, positioned so the performance area was ten feet above the audience assembled in chairs and cross legged on the lawn, was also stellar, with space on either side and behind for the performers to hang out when not performing. People loved going to concerts outside.

Ralph, not the indoor cat his mother used to joke that he was, still preferred that events with a lot of food took place away from insects' natural habitat.

Or rather, "food."

"This is tasteless popcorn."

Patty rolled her eyes. "It's for charity, Ralph."

"But if they invested just a little bit more in their concessions, it would taste many times better, allowing for a higher price point, which then results in a higher profit."

"Bring that up to the Green Room Committee at their next meeting," Patty said, reaching into the container.

"I will. You think I'm joking."

"You are joking."

"I don't even know when they meet," he admitted, acknowledging she'd called his bluff.

They meandered up toward the stage, stopping in the second section from the front. The very front section was low, and with the way the stage was built, the people way up by the front almost couldn't see the performers unless they were right up at the edge. The second section, where Ralph and Patty settled in the second row, was higher up on the hill, giving them a good view of the stage while still being able to remain sitting and see over the heads of those standing up front. They picked at the popcorn, making small talk until the spotlights darkened and one of the senior performers walked out onto stage to thunderous applause.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome, I'm Colt Wheeler, and this is the fourth annual Rayburn Community College Cares charity event, raising money to help victims of gun violence following the tragic shooting on our main campus in 2018. I do realize the irony of a guy named Colt being the host of such event, but rest assured, the only thing I'm packing is…"

Colt's mouth continued moving, but no sound could be heard. He frowned, turned toward those managing the sound, and threw up his hands. They exchanged words, then Colt cleared his throat, the microphone back on. "Sorry, they assumed I was about to make a crude joke and cut my mic, what I was saying is the only thing I'm packing is a ton of great music into the schedule for tonight." He raised an eyebrow dramatically at the sound guys. "See? You made it weird."

There was scattered laughter in the audience.

"To open, I want to introduce some lovely people who have all graduated by now, but who have returned to Rayburn, Texas from their successful post college lives to reprise their roles to sing for this cause, give it up for our 2020 In The Heights production!"

The audience went wild. The college theater had put on the show just months before the release of the movie, and the cast had become immensely popular, almost like superstars in the town. It was before Ralph and Patty had moved there – Scorpion had still been piecing itself back together in 2020 – but they'd have had to live under a rock to not know about it, even if Daisy hadn't come into their lives.

"Remind me what song this is?" Ralph whispered to Patty.

"Uh…"

"96,000," said the girl in front of them, turning around and smiling in a way that made it impossible to tell if she was happy to help or judging them for not knowing.

"Thanks," Patty said. She offered Ralph the popcorn. He shook his head. "Whatever. More for me, then."

"Shhhhh" chided the woman next to Patty.

Patty opened her mouth as if to reply, then shrugged and faced front. She had been talking during the performance.

The next two numbers were unfamiliar to Ralph, and then the audience went wild as Phoebe Meyers came on stage. She'd been an ensemble member of Rayburn productions until a video of her singing from Beauty and the Beast went viral on YouTube. She was currently starring in Chicago on Broadway, but everyone knew before the music even started that she was going to sing the song that propelled her into the limelight from her bedroom in 2023.

"Tale as old as time,

True as it can be,

Barely even friends,

Then somebody bends,

Unexpectedly…"

Patty offered the popcorn to Ralph again. This time, he took it. Phoebe was swaying to the music, her dress gliding back and forth as if it was an animated ensemble created to move impossibly. Of course she'd made it. She had a way about her.

"Ever just the same.

Ever a surprise.

Ever as before;

Ever just as sure as the sun will rise…"

The audience started applauding, even though the song wasn't over. They lived for Phoebe Meyers. There was an oil painting of her in the school's hallway near the auditorium.

Phoebe let the last line hang in the hair, drawing it out, drawing a roar from the concert – goers right along with it. Ralph and Patty clapped along. Ralph wasn't a theater person; Patty was compared to him, but not next to most of the other people here. But they knew the talent in front of them. And Ralph, being his mother's son, knew how to appreciate a good singing voice. Phoebe Meyers was, in a way, who Paige Dineen could have been, had things worked out just a little differently.

Colt came back out onstage. "That was beautiful, Phoebe. I'm reminded of how I felt when we all crowded around Jeremy Phipps' phone two years ago watching and going 'wow' why did we only make her the officiant in Waitress?"

"You are too sweet, Colt," she said, slinging her arm loosely around his shoulders. Ralph hadn't realized how tall she was. "I would like to take this moment to thank you all for the wonderful applause, and I will also be matching, up to five thousand dollars, the funds raised here tonight. No parent should have to stress about medical bills for their child, especially not when they were so gravely injured at school or in church."

The audience applauded again, almost with more vigor than before. By comparison, the next song almost seemed to be a lull, which wasn't fair, since the two newest breakout members of the theater group did a wonderful job with Light My Candle. Upon consulting his program, Ralph noted that Layla Barajas would be back later in the night to perform Mimi's iconic song.

Next was Louie Westing – Daisy's ex, Ralph had learned just that morning – performing Aaron Burr's solo from Hamilton. The song gave Ralph a warm feeling inside – and if there's a reason I'm by her side when so many have tried, then I'm willing to wait for it, reminded him of his parents. And he'd heard Toby quote that very line to Happy, too. It made him almost homesick.

"Daisy is coming up," Patty said, grinning and bouncing in her seat. "Soon."

"Yep," Ralph said. Just the other day, Daisy had gotten the part she'd auditioned for. She was headed to New York in just a few days. Ralph was impressed at how supportive Patty was, considering she was about to enter a long distance relationship. "I'll still have my best buddy," she'd said, grinning and attempting to give Ralph a knuckle sandwich. He'd joked that he wouldn't mind if she took off too, but in reality, he'd miss her way, way too much.

The next song was another one Ralph didn't know. Then Colt came back on stage from the waiting areas on the side. "Thank you, everyone. Remember, the 50/50 raffle will still be selling tickets for another twenty minutes. Isn't all this music great so far?" The crowd cheered. It was getting crowded – not everyone knew that In The Heights would be performing first, but it was common knowledge that Phoebe Meyers needed to catch a flight back to New York, preventing her from closing out the show, and that had caused many to show up in the first quarter when they would have waited to come later. Some stood almost directly underneath the stage's overhang. Colt continued to speak, reminding everyone about the food options, and announcing that the In The Heights cast had signed some posters which would be given out per $100 donation at the front of the stage at the end of the concert. People pushed forward, wanting to get the jump on something that wouldn't start for more than an hour.

Colt clasped his hands together. "And now, the next Phoebe Meyers? One of our own is off to the Great White Way. You are so very fortunate to be present at her last engagement before heading off to play Alyssa in the Broadway revival of The Prom, here is Rayburn Community College's former Cady Heron, Daisy Kahn!"

"Whoop whoop!" Patty shouted, clapping enthusiastically as the crowd cheered. Daisy had gotten incredible reviews as the star of Mean Girls, and everyone who had known about her recent audition believed she would get the part. Of course, she hadn't told that many people. She was too modest, and too nervous.

Daisy ran out on stage, and there were whoops from the audience upon recognizing that she was in costume. Patty wrapped an arm around Ralph's elbow, grinning.

"I'm sixteen, living in paradise, with the lions, and birds, and stuff,

But I'm sixteen, and it's not enough."

Patty leaned her head on Ralph's shoulder. He grinned. His best friend was, as the show he'd seen ten times if he saw it once (always with Patty, always to see Daisy) put it, stupid with love.

Daisy leaned forward, staring down at the audience, acting as if they were part of the performance, singing directly to them.

"Did you ever get a feeling everybody else is happy?

Everybody else has friends,

And they're better friends than yours?

It's a very recent feeling, but it's running through my body,

And it roars. It roars."

In the musical, there was a speaking part next, but here, a couple students dressed as animals – it was Lion King costumes, as I Just Can't Wait To Be King was the next number in the program – came out, and there was a simple choreographed dance to fill the space. Ralph wondered why they didn't have someone come out to pretend to be Cady's parents; after all, without the discussion of them losing their research funding, the next lyrics made little sense.

"Mom, I would love that, it's time for something new.

We live in a tent, adventure's what we do!"

Patty pulled away from Ralph, swaying, along with the rest of the crowd. They loved this song. They loved Daisy Kahn.

"Did you ever get a feeling, that a whole new world is waiting?

Bringing happiness and friends to the brave girl who explores?

It's a scary kind of feeling, but it's so exhilarating,

How it roars. It roars. It roars!"

Daisy held out her arms, her face glowing as she belted out the note, and Ralph wondered if this song resonated with her even more now, that she was about to be off on a new adventure by herself.

She was joined by a few other students, intended to portray the ensemble students at the musical's high school. Colt was among them, as was a couple other performers from earlier in the night.

Then, suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise. Ralph looked up, thinking it was thunder, worried the skies were about to open up on them, proving his point about having these damn things inside.

But it wasn't thunder. Ralph realized when the lights on the stage flickered, the right half pitched forward, and then the entire setup twisted and collapsed in on itself to the sound of metal on metal and cracking, the sight of smoke and sparks, and then the screams of those in the audience.

The sound Patty made was unlike anything Ralph had ever heard.