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"Alright, everyone, please settle down!"

Mrs. Trelawney's voice boomed over the din of conversation, and the assembled group of forty students turned their attention to the front of the music classroom.

"Thank you. First of all, welcome! It is so lovely to see you all here as we embark on our collective artistic endeavor. Most of you know me well by now, but for those of you who are performing with us for the first time, I am Mrs. Trelawney, and I will be your director. Mr. Flitwick will be helping as well. I have been directing shows at GHS for almost twenty years at this point, and yet I can honestly say that I've never been more excited about a show than I am about this one.

"As many of you know, Wicked has been a long-running smash hit on the Broadway stage for more than two decades, and I'm thrilled that we're among the first high schools that will be allowed to perform it. With that honor, however, comes great responsibility. I think those of you who have participated in years past will agree that while I am quite fair-minded and make every attempt to be reasonable, I will hold everyone in this room to a high standard. We have had one of the very best theater programs in our region for years now, and I expect that we will continue to uphold that tradition this year."

A general murmur of assent swept through the room, which caused Mrs. Trelawney's face to light up with cheer.

"Excellent! Let's get started then, shall we? Everyone please take a copy of the script as they're distributed."

The books started making their way down the aisles, each actor taking one as they passed. Hermione and Hannah were sitting at the end of their row, and while they'd both already memorized their lines and lyrics, they were still eager to receive their own printed copies. The past weekend had been spent listening to the Wicked soundtrack on repeat to the point where Hermione felt she could start rehearsals that minute and be ready to go.

As she'd listened to the songs over and over again, she'd not only paid attention to Elphaba's parts but also to Fiyero's. She and Ron hadn't spoken since she'd given him a ride home at the end of the previous week, but that didn't mean he hadn't been on her mind. Day and night her thoughts kept circling back to him, wondering what he was up to, thinking about the conversation they'd shared. And his voice. Good God, she had no idea how she was supposed to listen to him sing every rehearsal for the next few months and not just throw herself at him daily.

But there was no time for that. The musical was serious business, and it was time to buckle down and get to work. All of the time she'd spend with Ron would be a delightful bonus, but she knew what she needed to do and wasn't going to let anything stop her.

"All set? Okay," Mrs. Trelawney continued. "Now, for the matter of introductions. Again, I'm assuming most of you know each other, but I'd like to introduce the principal cast members for those of you who don't know them. First of all–"

"Hi, everyone!" The sickly sweet voice came from the front of the room, and Hermione didn't even need to turn her head to know who was talking. "I think most of you know me by now, but just in case, I'm Lavender Brown and I'm so excited to be doing this show with all of you! I'll be playing Galinda, also known as Glinda the Good Witch. Hmm, what else. I'm a junior, I'm an Aries, of course; we're number one! Oh, and my Dad invented Hot Pockets. Can't wait to act with all of you!"

While some of the younger cast members seemed intimidated enough to offer a round of applause, Hermione turned her head toward Hannah and mimicked a gagging motion much to the delight of her friend.

"Thank you, Lavender," a confused Mrs. Trelawney said. "That wasn't quite what I had in mind, but the spirit of the stage has moved you, I suppose!"

"You're welcome," Lavender replied with a smile.

"Yes. Anyway, moving on, I'd like you all to meet our Elphaba, one of the other main leads in this story. For those who don't know her, Hermione Granger!"

Being the center of attention on stage was one thing. Hermione loved it when a whole auditorium full of people would watch her sing or dance or pour her heart out through a gut-wrenching soliloquy. But being singled out as Hermione Granger had always been more nerve-racking for her, and she could feel the blush rising in her cheeks as she turned toward the room and gave a small wave. Ron was sitting on the other side of the room next to Harry, and her whole body tingled when he shot her a quick wink.

"Next up, we have Ron Weasley as Fiyero!"

Ron stood up and gave a tip of the head. In response, some of the underclassmen gave a whoop and sang, "Elphaba and Fiyero, sitting in a tree…"

If Hermione thought her face was red before, it was nothing compared to the shade it achieved after that. The kiss scene was weighing heavily enough on her mind without other people's opinions being thrown into the mix. All she could do was turn away and pray that Mrs. Trelawney would move on quickly. Fortunately, Ron didn't seem too bothered, responding with a dismissive grin.

"Now now," Mrs. Trelawney chided, calling for silence. "We will be approaching this show with a level of maturity and professionalism at all times. As many of you know, the show does involve a bit of a love triangle of sorts between Elphaba, Fiyero, and Galinda, but I expect everyone to be serious-minded about this piece of theater."

As soon as the words "love triangle" popped out of Mrs. Trelawney's mouth, Lavender subtly spun toward Hermione and shot her a determined look. Hermione was taken aback; she and Lavender hadn't been friends for years, but they tended to coexist well enough. The glare was an unmistakable marking of territory, though, and it left Hermione feeling extremely uneasy.

What was that all about?

"They'll all be brilliant, I have no doubt," the director concluded. "Now, in the role of Nessarose and Boq, we have Hannah Abbott and Neville Longbottom!"

One by one, she went through all of the other main cast members. Harry had been selected to play Dr. Dillamond, a teacher who also happened to be a goat, Parvati Patil was Madame Morrible, the wizard's accomplice, and Draco Malfoy would play the wizard himself.

Once the cast had been properly introduced, Mrs. Trelawney went on to discuss the rehearsal schedule, musical and dancing elements that they'd be incorporating, and some brief bits about costumes and sets. While the time commitment was going to be substantial, that didn't bother Hermione at all; she loved spending all of her free time working on a theater project. Instead of listening to the instructions, her mind pondered Lavender's response over and over again.

Maybe she's actually just jealous. I'll bet she actually wanted the part of Elphaba, so perhaps she's just a little sore that I got the part and she didn't. I should talk to her after rehearsal. We probably just need to clear the air.

"Alright, now that the nitty-gritty details are out of the way, let us all do what we do best; sing!"

Everyone stood up and meandered over to the piano, forming a semi-circle around the baby grand and leafing through their new music books. Much to her delight, Ron came right over to Hermione and stood next to her, Harry trailing behind him.

"Ready to go?" he asked. His ocean-blue eyes were shining down on her, and his lopsided smile caused her to forget her own name.

"Yeah, I think. Pretty exciting, huh?"

"Super exciting, if you ask me!" Lavender said, appearing out of nowhere and inserting herself between Ron and Hermione.

Ugh, what now?

"Oh, uhh, yeah," Ron said. "It'll be great to get going."

"I couldn't agree more. And if you look at the schedule here, Mr. Weasley, it looks like the first number we're starting to rehearse today is our big show-stopper, Dancing Through Life."

Mr. Weasley? He hates being called that. Good luck with this thinly-veiled charade, Ron will be able to see right through it.

Instead, though, he smiled back at the interloper who was pressed up against his side. It wasn't an enthusiastic smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Can't wait."

Umm, can't wait? What?! What's going on here?

Sixth Grade

May 8th

Dear Diary,

Hmm. Okay. Well, false alarm, I guess. Yesterday was the most exciting day in my entire existence, but today was…kind of a huge letdown.

Not that you need reminding, oh omniscient diary (BTW my word-a-day calendar is amazing!), but if you'll remember, RON KISSED ME YESTERDAY! Sure he was a little weird after and left a few minutes later, but it still happened!

Anyway, today. I got to school, went to homeroom (didn't see him there of course, our last names are nowhere near each other), and sat through history (which was even a little boring for me, surprisingly), but then I saw him in the hallway on the way to my next class. And do you know what he said?

"Hey."

HEY?

HEY!?

HEEEEY?!

"Hey" was the best he could do. I even tried being a little cutesy in my response to him just as a little test of sorts. I batted my eyelashes (I think) and gave him a little smile (I know, who AM I?) when I said hi back. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. No change whatsoever. AND THEN! He asked me if he could borrow my calculator for math class! A CALCULATOR!

So I guess that's it. He kisses me, I spend the rest of the night thinking it's some huge new and exciting thing, and in reality, it meant nothing to him. So that's not great.

What do I have to do, diary? I know I'll never be as pretty as some of the girls in our class, and I'll always be nerdy and bookish. But I thought he was okay with that. He was the ONLY ONE who seemed to be okay with that, the only one who still wanted to spend time with me despite all that. Sure, Harry's nice and so are some of the other girls in our class. They're still my friends too. But Ron is different. WE'RE different. There is NOBODY that I can be myself around like I can with him.

Who knows, maybe once I'm done with puberty, things will be better. Maybe I'll magically be hot like in the movies. Like I'll just do my makeup one day and it'll distract from my buck teeth and my bushy, crazy hair and my pale skin (probably because I avoid the outside world in favor of school work). I'll just walk up to Ron and he'll get that stupid, shocked look on his face like the boy always does in the movie when he realizes how beautiful the girl was all along.

I know I shouldn't want that. I know it should matter more what's on the inside. But if that's what it takes to get Ron to like me, you know what, diary? Sign me ALL THE WAY up. Because I don't think I can deal with nothing but "Hey".

Love, Hermione Granger, Age 12

"So, Ron," Lavender continued, reaching over to help him find the right place in the music book, "we're actually going to have a lot of parts of this show together, you know."

Ron chuckled as he flipped through the pages. "Oh, really? I see."

"Yeah, like, lots of lines back and forth, songs, choreography, you name it. Which made me think a little bit. Why should everyone else have to sit around and watch us rehearse and perform? Sure, they might want to; they could learn something, after all. But besides that, why should they give up their evening when we could just do it on our own? Privately."

The way Lavender said her last word made Hermione's stomach flip. Thinking about her and Ron alone together was enough to send her anxiety through the roof. Even though she didn't think he would be interested, how many teenage boys could resist someone like Lavender throwing herself at them? She was a walking fantasy, bestowed by God or whoever with curves, clear skin, and charisma. And money. Heaps and heaps of money that she threw around like it was nothing.

Two years ago, when all three of them were freshmen, Hermione remembers Lavender hitting on him a little bit during the show. At that point, though, he was still going through puberty and wouldn't have recognized flirting if it slapped him in the face, so her advances went unrequited. But things had changed over the last few years, and Hermione was sure he couldn't still be that oblivious.

So why wouldn't Ron, who was tall and funny and athletic and handsome and friendly and pretty much every other good thing, be into someone like Lavender if she started to show a little interest? What almost seventeen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance, in fact?

How can I compete with that?

"Privately?" Ron clarified.

"Yeah, privately. You can come over to my place sometime. My Dad had a stage built into our movie theater in the basement once I started doing all the musicals, so we'll have plenty of space to practice. Not that we'll need it, most of our dances will take place in confined quarters."

"Oh, okay. Well, if it's for the good of the show, I guess, yeah, we could do that."

Lavender jumped up and down, grabbing Ron's arm. "Great! I can't wait. We'll have a great time. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Umm, yeah, we'll see. I'd have to…check, but probably?"

"Sure, just text me. You have my number, right?"

"Hmm, not sure," he replied, pulling out his phone.

Without another word, Lavender grabbed it from him and started to tap at the screen. When she returned it to him, Hermione snuck a peek before he could pocket the device. She had listed herself just as Lav, but she'd included several heart emojis on either side as well as a lips emoji for good measure.

While Hermione considered herself a fairly confident and self-assured person, her thoughts of a romantic future with Ron were dwindling fast. It might've been objectively stupid to freak out just because another girl showed him attention, but Hermione knew she was prone to bouts of overanalysis. Images of the two of them dancing alone on Lavender's private stage invaded her mind. The spotlight was shining down on them, and as the song went on, they moved closer and closer. Just thinking about it made her want to run to the bathroom and have a good cry.

"Thanks. I'll let you know."

"So, page eleven of your books, yes?" Mrs. Trelawney stated. "Let's start with my sopranos, shall we? Sopranos, follow my lead."

As the group of girls began singing through the score with shaky confidence, Hermione drowned them all out of her mind and tried to puzzle out the situation as rationally as she could.

Lavender was throwing herself at Ron, but that didn't mean Ron would reciprocate.

Of course he would, have you seen Lavender? Even I have to admit that she's objectively gorgeous. Throw in her popularity and wealth and it would almost be social suicide not to date her if the chance arose.

Maybe, but this is Ron we're talking about here. He doesn't necessarily think like that. That's one of the things I like about him; he's never chased status. He's one of those people who's cool despite not even trying.

All the more reason she wants him! They both have that effortless, 'of course you would think I'm great' vibe to them. It's a match made in heaven!

But just because they're similar in that one regard doesn't mean they're meant to be or anything. Have faith in Ron, he's a good judge of character.

But as much as I hate to admit it, Lavender is a good actress. If she wants him, I'm sure she's quite adept at being who he would want her to be if necessary.

Stop! Just stop! I'm driving myself crazy!

"Altos, are you ready?" Mrs. Trelawney's voice was coming vaguely from somewhere in front of her.

I know I should stop, but I can't! This could ruin everything! This could turn the entire musical experience into a nightmare!

"Altos?"

A gentle nudge to her ribs came from her side, and when she turned towards it, Ron was gazing down at her with a grin. "You ready?" he asked.

"Oh," Hermione answered, feeling the heat rising into her face. Even his gentle tone couldn't prevent her embarrassment. "Yes, sorry. Ready to go."

Mrs. Trelawney nodded and turned her attention back to the sheet music. "Perfect, from the top!"

The words and notes were simple; she barely needed to think about them as the group started to sing their part. Instead, her brain refocused on the problem at hand. What was she going to do about the mansion-sized elephant in the room?

Am I just deluding myself this whole time? Am I sitting around daydreaming about a literal impossibility? Am I…oh God, what if I have to kiss another woman's man on stage?