Seymour entered the room where AP Calculus AB was hosted, very early this time, and experienced a conflicting mesh of joy and horror as he saw Audrey sitting in the seat next to his that had been left unfilled the day before. He felt joy at seeing her again and at realizing that she did in fact share this class with him for a total of three and horror corresponding to the quickly following realization that she had been absent the previous day because Orin had tied her up before Seymour had even seen him for the first time… she must've been in whatever the left wing was for six periods… Audrey looked over at him and grinned oh so beautifully while gesturing for him to take the seat next to her, that just happened to be the seat he had belatedly claimed yesterday anyway, thus bringing his emotional rollercoaster back up to sheer exhilaration. He quickly moved towards her after returning her grin hopefully not too awkwardly, sitting down where she had indicated. "What do you like to…" Seymour cringed, probably visibly, as he realized that he had just mindlessly started asking one of the questions he had planned out to ask her, that he had rehearsed more times than he would ever admit to her even under threat of death, instead of starting off with a greeting like a normal person.

"...Hi." She laughed slightly, the sound enchanting despite the cause of it and his newfound desire to live as a monk in solitude in the mountains. "Hi, Cecil." …Why did she think his name was… ohhhh… that was what Orin thought his name was… The possibility of being known by a name other than his own at this school hadn't seemed so bad when he had thought Orin would be the only member of the student body regularly addressing him by name, but with Audrey he felt compelled to tell her his actual name. "...It's Seymour." She offered up an "Oh! Sorry, Seymour. I don't know why I thought…" with much more embarrassment and guilt than he had expected, and he struggled to find something to say to make up for it if it had been rude for him to correct her about his name… he… thought? it wasn't, but he could never trust his judgment about things like that… or in general… eventually landing on "That's okay! …Y-you look radiant today, Audrey." Seymour didn't have much time to get lost in the sheer depths of the stupidity and forwardness of what he just said, as Audrey quickly perked up, looking away from him and at the floor for a moment while moving a lock of luscious golden hair behind her ear before redirecting her warm gaze and smile at him.

"Thank you… you're pretty cute yourself." He barely registered the contemplative, questioning look that came across her face through the euphoria of her thinking that about him, quickly tuning back in to reality as much as he could as she continued. "...I'm sorry, what did you want to ask me?" Seymour tilted his head confusedly, only remembering what she was talking about after a long moment. "What do you like to do after school?" Audrey lifted a graceful hand, making the 'one second' gesture, before digging something out of her backpack… much more quickly than he would've ever been able to find anything in his, although it made sense that she was better at keeping things organized than him. He looked at it carefully, only successfully deducing that it was a keychain with a clipart of… some kind of ball… "I'm on the varsity volleyball team. This" She moved her hand slightly, emphasizing the keychain. "...is from when we got fourth in the state last year! …We could've gotten a better place if I had been a better captain…" Seymour gave her as reassuring a look as he could manage, wondering why she was being so hard on herself. "Hey, I'm sure you did great. Fourth in the state is really impressive! And maybe you'll get a higher one this semester."

Audrey sighed wistfully, staring off into the distance as she neatly put her keychain back in her backpack. "...I sure hope so… we need to be the best in the state to have a chance at full ride scholarships…" Audrey was trying to make it to college while literally hailing from Skid Row? She was even more impressive than Seymour had thought… he couldn't remember a time before he had placed college into the ever expanding category of 'things that weren't for him;' it might've just always been there from the moment he had learned what it was and how much intelligence and money it took. As Seymour attempted to remember how college worked so he could properly ask her what she was planning on… majoring in? that was how you said it, right? she dipped her head. "Sorry… I've been talking too much. What do you like to do after school?" He tried and failed to come up with an answer to that question that encompassed more than his sad little world of schoolwork and plants and was eventually saved by the bell that signaled the start of class. At least, it saved him until they were walking in the hallway together after class; their second period classes were in the same direction, and Audrey was for some reason interested enough in him to ask the question again.

"I, uh… mostly do AP and Honors work and take care of plants… like the one I showed you yesterday…" Much to his relief, Audrey did not appear to be repulsed by this; in fact, she nodded enthusiastically. "That was really cool! I'd love to see some of the others, if you'd like to show me." Seymour processed this for a moment, hoping against hope that she meant what he thought she had meant and eventually answering under the assumption that she didn't. "...Like on my phone or…" She stopped at what was presumably the door to her next class, AP French Language and Culture, which was such a sophisticated choice, and he did as well after a delay. "Or your house, whatever works for you. I'll see you in AP Environmental Science, Seymour." Seymour practically floated through the rest of his classes, that remark and the warmth with which she had said it and smiled at him carrying him through even the toughest subjects and concepts. Eventually, they got a chance to talk some more in the few precious minutes between their arrival at AP Environmental Science and the bell signaling the start of class. The exhilarating grin that Audrey gave him as he sat down next to her was quickly followed by a look of apologetic realization.

"...I just remembered, I need to tell you, I'm not gonna be in Botany today. I'll be leaving a few minutes before the end of this class, so me and the other Pink Lilies can get ready for our home game after school." Seymour remembered that he would be staying after school as Mr. Mushnik ran auditions for the school's upcoming production of Fiddler on the Roof and thus was available to watch Audrey's game. "Sounds great; I can't wait to see it. You're gonna do amazing." She stared at him with amazement that made his heart skip probably more than one beat. "...You… you wanna watch the game?" Seymour looked down at the floor, overwhelmed. "...Yeah… it'll be in the gym, right?" He looked up at her in shock as he felt her elegant hand move over his. Audrey nodded in response to his question, more warmth than he was used to or ever would've expected in a million years in her gaze, before continuing. "Thank you, Seymour." Thankfully, the bell interrupted his attempt to stammer out something at least partially resembling an "Of course" before it had gone on for too long. Mr. Mushnik walked into the classroom a few moments later, immediately looking over at Audrey. Relief and frustration crossed his face for a brief moment as he saw her, then disappeared as he made his way to the front of the room with his customary scowl.

Seymour successfully got through his last two classes of the day, the euphoria of sitting next to Audrey in AP Environmental Science helping to carry him through the frustration and infuriation of sitting next to Orin in Botany and enduring an onslaught of small talk from him. The last bell of the day finally rang, signaling his freedom from his classes and Orin's presence, and he practically jumped out of his seat, unceremoniously shoved everything into his backpack for Future Seymour to sort out, and speedwalked towards the door. Apparently, his speedwalking was not sufficient to stop Orin from blocking him at the classroom door, meer inches from freedom. "C'mon, I'll show you where the auditions are." Seymour stared desperately at the hallway behind him for a moment before managing to force himself to look up at Orin, attempting to conceal his immense contempt for him. "Auditions?" Orin grinned at this, pulling him into said hallway with concerning and enviable strength. "Yeah, they're right this way!"

Seymour dejectedly walked at his side and slightly behind him, vowing to work on his habit of instinctively saying yes to every question that was asked of him… because he had probably agreed to this somehow while Orin had been asking him questions and he had been thinking about how cool it would be if his head exploded… and realizing with increasing horror that there was no way out of this situation. He couldn't tell him he wanted to skip out on the auditions to see the woman who was through some cruel trick of fate his girlfriend play volleyball; he had no idea how he would react to that, with him or with Audrey. She would hate him when she realized he hadn't come for sure… Maybe he could tell him he had just remembered he had homework to do and get out of this that way? As Seymour attempted to put his new plan into action, he felt himself being herded into what he realized a moment later was the auditorium. "Orin, I, uh… I just remembered, I have a really hard AP Biology assignment I need to work on, so I'll be seeing you later…" Once again, Orin stood between him and the now seemingly heavenly expanse of the hallway.

"That class was my favorite last year! I'll help you after the auditions. What's givin' you trouble, Mendelian inheritance?" Seymour desperately tried and failed to think of any possible way he could get out of this situation for a long moment, eventually resigning himself to this horrific fate of losing Audrey. Not that he had ever had her… "...It's more non-Mendelian…" His AP Biology homework on non-Mendelian inheritance was real, the supposed difficulties he was having with it not so much. Orin started to respond, quickly stopping and turning around to face Mr. Mushnik as he addressed Seymour from where he had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "...Seymour? What are you doing here?" Orin slapped Seymour on the back, hard. Hard enough to be infuriating even if he wasn't abusing Audrey. "He's here to audition! Isn't that right, Cec- Seymour?" Seymour shrugged while looking at the floor, thinking dejectedly of Audrey hating his guts right now after he had failed her and eventually looking back up at Mr. Mushnik as he continued.

"...Alright… Orin, you're up first. Seymour… figure out what song you're using before I call you. I'll give you plenty of time." Seymour's mind had been so full of panicked thoughts about Audrey, he hadn't even begun to panic about the audition. Orin obnoxiously swinging his strangely heavy backpack against his leg with a "Break a leg!" before making his way onto the stage certainly didn't help his anxiety either. At least there was absolutely no chance in Hell of him getting any kind of role in this thing… Even in spite of his immense hatred of Orin, he had to admit that his rendition of Any Day Now was… decent… of course he could get Perchik's passion right, he seemingly spent every waking moment in an egotistical fervor. The other auditioners weren't… as bad as Mr. Mushnik had said… they weren't great either, being fairly easy to tune out as he stressed over the question of what song he should perform. What songs did he even have memorized? The only one he could fully bring to the forefront of his mind through his anxieties right now was Maria… but that was such a difficult song! Maybe if he could get his phone to load the lyrics to an easier song sometime in the next century, he could refresh his memory of them?

While frantically waiting for the lyrics to Cool to load and desperately hoping that the fact that his exact search had ended up being "Coop West Side Storh lyrics" wouldn't interfere with the results he got, he heard Mr. Mushnik call his name with a tone that suggested that he was not doing so for the first time. Seymour froze up for a moment before shakingly putting his phone back in his backpack, his embarrassment only increasing as he practically jumped up from his seat at the sound of Orin's voice and the realization that he had been sitting next to him for presumably the entire time since his audition. "You're gonna do great! Knock 'em dead!" Seymour threw something that probably vaguely resembled a nod behind him before forcing himself up the stairs to the stage and to its center, feeling the tens of eyes now staring at him boring into him as if they were threatening to kill him. He wished they would at this point. Seymour swallowed several times before managing to start, completely forgetting to announce the song he was doing but finding it surprisingly easy to insert himself into Tony's state of mind.

His relationship with Audrey had lasted about as long as his with Maria and been just as doomed, after all… But Tony hadn't been thinking about practicalities like that in that scene, and he wasn't really, either; the song allowed him to get back into something resembling that perfect, exhilarating yet immensely calming feeling of seeing the most wonderful person that ever lived for the first time, that had since been diminished by setbacks such as realizing that Orin was treating her with none of the respect she deserved and ruining his budding friendship with her but that would never be able to be fully extinguished from its now permanent residence in every fiber of his being… even in the event that his most recent failure had made her fairly hate his guts, he would never stop saying Audrey. His audience offered a smattering of applause, realizing that his song had come to an end before he did. And then Orin put a damper on the mood by whistling, but at least it seemed like he had… maybe done okay? Mr. Mushnik came onto the stage a moment later, prompting Seymour to hurry up and get back down off of it. As he resentfully forced himself to sit back next to Orin, Mr. Mushnik addressed his audience. "Thank you, everyone! That was… great…" Seymour could tell that he was almost pretending to try to put enthusiasm into his voice, a rarity for him. "I'll have the cast list posted outside the auditorium by the end of school tomorrow."

Abruptly, Mr. Mushnik left the stage, his speech apparently over, and was met with another polite smattering of applause. Seymour's already swift heart rate quickened as he approached him, stopping in front of him and Orin. "...Seymour, that was…" His face contorted strangely, sending hesitant pride shooting through Seymour; he knew that if the adjective he was looking for was a negative one he would've found it already. After a moment, Orin's stupid booming voice filled in the gap in that sentence. "Great? That was great, Seymour!" Seymour wished that either he or Orin or both of them were dead as he punched him in the shoulder, and Mr. Mushnik hesitatingly nodded after a moment, annoyance at Orin's interruption crossing his face. "...You could say that… Orin, you're playing Tevye. Seymour… hmmm… you'll be his understudy." As Mr. Mushnik left to go do something else and Orin started spouting some asinine bullshit at him, Seymour tried and failed to get the Earth to swallow him so that he wouldn't have to spend all those rehearsals with him and potentially make a complete fool out of himself on stage. Maybe even… in front of Audrey…