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~Corbyn~

I was stopped in the hallway on my way to dance, and I wondered who would dare to approach me. Who felt so bold that they thought they were worthy enough to talk to me and touch me?

I shouldn't have been surprised. I didn't need to see who it was to know.

"Nico Marlay, this had better be good," I grumbled firmly, sending him a seething glare.

"No need to get your blood pressure too high."

He stepped in front of me, daring to come closer.

"I have a class to get to. We're practicing for the pep rally on Friday."

"I don't care about the rally. You remember my name."

"Why wouldn't I? You bug me a lot."

"Yes, but I'm sure you don't despise me."

I grimaced in confusion. "What?"

"Last night, you said you only remember names of people you love or completely despise. So where do I fall on that spectrum?" His smirk made me roll my eyes.

"You're outside that spectrum, to be determined. Get out my way."

"Wait." He held me back and I grunted, gazing up at him. "I need to know why you ran out like that last night. It seemed you recognized Jett Michaels, then you fled. Who is he to you?"

I tightened my lips and ripped my arm from his grip. "I have no idea what you're talking about or who that is. Now, I need to get to class. Excuse me." My voice was so sharp that he knew I wasn't messing around. I didn't know why he was so concerned; shouldn't he be somewhere worshipping fallen angels?

I walked to my dance class, trying to expel all thoughts of Nico from my mind. It didn't exactly work out very well.

"You're late," the teacher acknowledged me when I walked in.

"Nice observation," I mumbled, kicking off my shoes. I received stares from the other students who had already began warm-ups. I frowned, rolling my eyes. Yes, I was wearing a sweatshirt and my hair was unkempt. Did I have to look perfect every single day just to be taken seriously?

I couldn't recall much about dance class that day, or any other classes that followed for that matter. I'd been in my head and I couldn't focus on reality.

That happened to me a lot these days. There was always this... disconnect. Like I needed to hold onto something or someone just to stay grounded in the world, rather than lose myself in my mind. But I didn't have that someone or thing.

That was the problem.

"Alright, I want you two to gaze into each other's eyes and have a moment. You're falling in love at first sight," Mr. Price directed during play rehearsals. I was sitting in the audience seats, staring at Jaden and Kris on stage as they acted one of the first few scenes.

I wanted to puke.

I sighed, reaching into my bag of pretzel sticks and chewing on one. I didn't even like pretzels. I was soon startled when someone crashed into the chair next to me, digging into the bag in my hand.

"Please disappear," I said without looking at my offender.

"I wanna know what he is to you."

"Kris is my boyfriend, and I'm currently holding down the vomit I want to project onto the stage if I have to watch this for another minute."

He ate his pretzel stick, unimpressed.

"You know who I meant. Besides, we can always ditch this shit." Nico turned toward me and I willed myself to block out his voice. "Okay, well, if you don't tell me, curiosity will get the best of me. So it's either you tell and I drop it, or I visit my boy Jett and ask him if he knows any Corbyn Starr."

I swallowed the piece of pretzel I was nibbling, appearing completely unfazed. "Go ahead. He knows no Corbyn Starr."

"I was joking, you know. If he's a dangerous person to you, I wouldn't point him in your direction."

I placed the bag of pretzels on his lap and sighed, turning to him as well, ignoring the act on stage. "He's not a threat to me, Nico. I'm a threat to him as I am to everyone."

He stared at me, his entire body still as if he wasn't expecting my answer. "That's bullshit. Or else you wouldn't have fled. Something about him scares you, and I don't know why. He's a nice guy; he's helped me a few times."

"Good for him. Pay attention," I nodded toward the scene in front of us. "We might be the ones acting up there."

We were both silent for a minute or two before Nico leaned closer to me and whispered, "My parents are gone."

"Why are you telling me that?" I inquired.

"Because you asked. Last night, remember?"

"This isn't a secret for a secret. No one knows any of mine, not unless I want them to. I don't want you to."

"What about that journal I read in your room? The one I could've made public to everyone at school. It talked about how you didn't belong or fit in, how insecure you felt, how small you were compared to everyone else."

"That was Ivy's. Obviously."

"You're a better liar than that, Corbyn."

I ignored him, propping my head up with my fingers as I watched the scenes play out before me. We managed to get further than expected in regards to the script in today's rehearsals.

But I wasn't satisfied.

"Can I just say something, Mr. Price?" I asked loudly, standing to my ,feet and stopping the actors on stage.

"The hell is it now?" Tiana groaned from her seat in the first row of the middle section. "This is an important scene!"

"Don't you think I know that?" I shot, blinking at her as if she was an idiot for pointing out the most obvious. I looked toward the stage where Jaden was frowning at me, clenching his reference script from irritation. "You're falling for Prince Luca," I said to him while gesturing at my boyfriend, "with every passing second, you fall."

I watched them glance at each other for a single second before Jaden looked back at me, failing to hide his feelings. I rolled my eyes in annoyance but continued nonetheless. "You finally get the chance to talk to him yet I, as part of the audience, feel zero connection between the two of you. Which is ironic, considering I could choke on your off-stage chemistry."

"Corbyn, you are in no position to give critiques; that's what we're here for," one of the assistant directors, Ms. Renly, told me. Jaden placed a hand on his hip and lifted his eyebrows at me.

"I'm the president," I reminded the assistant teacher. She smiled politely.

"You are. Maybe you can go check on the props and see how our set is coming along?"

"We have weeks to worry about measly props. As Tiana said, this is an important scene. At least get it right the first time around, or we won't have much of an audience when opening night comes."

"Corbyn," Kris called, trying to calm me down.

"No, it sucks," I refused to back down. "Have some passion. I wanna see reverence. For goodness' sake, he's a prince. He's powerful and dominant, and you're a lowly servant who was given a position in royal court out of pity. You came from war, your family is gone. Where is that emotion? You like this man, your character has to be in awe of his very presence. Because soon enough, you'll be nothing without him. You have to pull some feeling out from a chamber of your heart, or am I the only one who understands that here?" I looked around at all the drama students and teachers. "No, seriously."

Everyone was quiet for a second until Jaden spoke up, gazing at me. "He's right."

"I know I am, thanks," I deadpanned.

"Wow, that was actually slightly inspirational," Tiana told me, writing on her clipboard of papers.

"Yes. I like to inspire many things. Hatred, fear," I agreed.

"So should we restart the scene?" Kris inquired, going back one page in his script. "Any tips for me, Corbyn?"

I folded my arms. "No, you play the arrogant role perfectly." I turned away to walk back to my seat, mumbling incoherent words in the process. "We'll be singing covers of songs for the play. I'll choose them," I announced.

"Wait, shouldn't they be original? I'm sure we can come up with our own," Tiana responded, looking to Mr. Price for his opinion.

"We can incorporate an original out of the three songs we'll use. Ms. Muller is working on choreography for us, nothing too major."

"That's fine," I obliged. "The other two songs that I choose will have impossible vocals."

"What?" Jaden piped up in disbelief. "We don't all have award-winning voices."

"You have a great voice, J; you can handle it," Kris encouraged, stepping closer to him hesitantly. What? Was he really trying to comfort him? Oh I'm sorry, did I hurt fairy's precious feelings?

"Impossible vocals," I repeated, smirking. "With notes only the best singer can hit. And not just hit- but nail."

"You can't be serious," Ms. Renly sighed.

"I am," I reassured. "There's no room for mediocrity in art. I'll have some songs picked out by tomorrow's rehearsals. The directors, president and writer will vote on the best two. And whoever under-performs will be replaced."

"The cast is final, Corbyn," Mr. Price firmly stated. "That's the rule for this show."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Presidents make rules."

"With the approval of the teachers in charge."

I lifted my head challengingly. "Only if said teachers' jobs aren't in jeopardy. Right?"

Mr. Price exchanged looks with Ms. Renly before clearing his throat and gazing back at me with a nod. "Right."

"Good. So we're all in understanding then." I sat down in my chair, stealing my bag of pretzels back from Nico.

"Alright, back to scene 4," Ms. Renly said. "Let's run through it again."

"You know, you're like an actual terrorist," Nico whispered to me. "Hot."

**

~Jaden~

After an hour more of rehearsals, we were dismissed for the day. I sat down on the steps of the stage to catch a break

"Mae's looking for a new extracurricular," Tiana told me, sitting next to me. "It sucks seeing her so sad about not being in cheer. All because of the selfish king and queen of the school."

"And Ivy took her spot. Don't think she'll let go anytime soon. What's she trying to do now? She hasn't told me."

"Anything, really. She said she wants to fit in somewhere. I told her to come to theater with the both of us."

"That would be incredible!" I agreed. "And she doesn't need to fit in; she's Mae Struss. Her own person."

"Right. You did wonderful today. Forget Corbyn, he's just way too passionate about his opinions."

"No, he just likes using his status against other people. I'm tired of it."

"Aren't we all?"

I ran my fingers through my hair when someone tapped me on the shoulder. We both turned to see who it was.

"Mind if we talk for a bit?" Kris asked in his smooth voice. Tiana smiled at me.

"I'll see you in a few." She got up and walked away, soon to be stopped in her tracks by none other than Corbyn. I squinted my eyes at them before I noticed Kris hold a hand out to me.

"Maybe somewhere private," he said.

I smiled softly and accepted his hand. I let out a breath as he took me back stage where we found a spot to have a conversation away from prying eyes and ears.

"You were amazing today," Kris complimented, making my heart swell up with pride. "Nevermind what Corbyn does. He's picking on you."

"No. I get it now. It's like you said, he's going through something and it could be one of his parents."

"It could be." He ran his fingers through his hair while we stared at each other for a few seconds. I just admired his otherworldly beauty, especially his eyes that I found myself so lost in. He must have known how gorgeous he was. He must know that he was tugging the strings of my heart. It had to be obvious.

"When I was fourteen, I dated this girl. I was so infatuated with her, did everything she asked of me, followed her around blindly. She was awful to people. And it seemed like everybody could see that she was bad for me except me. My point is that I know what a toxic relationship is like. I'm no idiot, and I don't want people to think I'm blindly in love with Corbyn."

"What're you saying?" I blinked, almost holding my breath.

"I can't be the guy notorious for consistently dating bullies. She was a bully. Corbyn is a bully. I have to cut him out of my life. I don't know how, but..."

"You're confused," I figured.

"Very," he admitted.

"Well, I tried to sabotage your relationship which was wrong of me. So I don't think I'm in any position to give you advice."

"You did what you did for a reason."

"Yes, because I wanted to show you Corbyn's true colors, but you know already."

"And the other reason?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and folded my arms defensively. "What other reason?"

Kris took a patient breath and shrugged before changing the subject. "I'm going to be your first kiss," he bluntly stated.

My eyes widened. "W-why do you say that? What does that mean?"

He chuckled, and his laugh made me happy but even more nervous. "At the pool party Corbyn threw, when we talked you said you've never been kissed."

"I haven't," I confirmed.

"Right, and the play has kissing scenes between our characters. I remember you telling me you wanted your first kiss to be real. Do you think that'll happen or are you gonna sacrifice that for the play?"

I blushed and he smiled at me. "I don't know," I answered. "I'm not used to getting what I want so..."

"And what is it that you want, Jaden?" He softly asked me.

I didn't know how to respond to that. The truth or a lie?

"You can be honest." He touched one of my curls and moved it back behind my ear.

I shook my head. "I-I... I don't know-"

"I won't pressure you then. So um... When the scene comes, by next week I believe, I guess we don't have to do the kiss. Not until you're comfortable. Hopefully by next week, that crush of yours... whoever he may be, gives you the real first kiss that you always wanted."

I slowly nodded. He knew. He totally knew. It was written on his face. Besides, he said it himself; he was no idiot.

"I mean, I doubt it but... Yeah hopefully."

"I better get going. I have homework then I gotta get up early tomorrow for football practice."

"Yeah, of course. Homecoming game is next week, isn't it?" I said awkwardly, trying to forget the fact he almost pried the truth out of me. I was positive he'd have pulled the words out of my mouth with his own fingers if he could.

"Will you be there?"

"I'm sure my best friend is going to drag me there so I don't have much of a choice in that department."

"Good, I'd like to see you. Even more reason to bring home the victory."

I smiled shyly and felt my cheeks heat up. "Yeah, I'll be there, I promise. Um, so I'll see you tomorrow? I have to go practice a few songs the violin."

"That's true; you know, you have yet to play me a song." He shook a finger at me accusingly.

I took a step back with my eyebrows raised. "Me? Play you a song?"

"Yes?" He teased, laughing.

"What would I even play for you?"

"I don't know, something meaningful. Something reserved for me and only me." He shrugged, a mischievous smile on his glowing face.

"If you come over one day, I'll play you a song. How about that?" I offered.

"Saturday night it is then."

Wait... He agreed? I had to catch my breath and nod.

"Saturday night," I repeated in approval. We exchanged even more smiles before he turned and walked away, all while I tried to keep myself from squealing to the gods of gay-dom.

A minute later, I walked out onto the stage to find Tiana aggressively packing her papers into her bag.

"You okay?" I jumped down the steps to approach her. "Tiana."

"I'm fine. It's just..." She sighed, drawing her bag closed and slinging it over her shoulder. "Stupid Corbyn; what's new?"

"What did he say?" I grabbed my own backpack and we started to leave together.

"For starters, he officially kicked me out his inner circle -again."

"And you're upset about that?"

"I'm upset because he used Mae to threaten me. He said if I don't stay away from her, she isn't getting her spot back on the cheer team."

"Tiana, even I can tell he's bluffing and you've known him longer than I have."

"Corbyn Starr doesn't bluff, Jaden."

"Then why does he keep promising her spot back without doing shit about it?"

"Who knows? Maybe doing nothing is part of his plan." She shrugged.

"And what is his plan exactly?"

"Hell if I know, or if anyone else does for that matter."

"You and Mae like each other. He can't control who she dates, so don't listen to him. I don't even know why she believes he'll give her a spot."

"He promised her more than that, J. He's giving her Brooklyn's spot, as captain."

I raised my eyebrows. "You're kidding? I remember Mae saying co-captain, not... But... Brook's his best friend."

"Oh please. He doesn't keep friends, he recycles them. I doubt Brook is any different. Mae knows that when the cheer scouts come, she'll have the spotlight as captain and it'll serve as revenge on Brooklyn."

"I don't know about this... Corbyn wouldn't give her that spot without a big price. What do you think it is?"

She huffed. "I really wish I knew."

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