{108}✔️

A/N: updating again bc I'm no longer dying of asthma woo!

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Dahlia's POV

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"To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come."

The girl on the stage waved a hand in front of her face and smiled, drying the tears that she'd produced while delivering that soliloquy.

"That was amazing, ugh—" I looked down at the clipboard for her name. "Misty? Great job! It's just...We're literally doing Annie. Not Hamlet."

"Oh, I know!" She nodded quickly. "It's just that, ugh, well, I don't have any of the lines from Annie memorized. I've never seen it or...read it...if it's a book? Never even heard of it until we had the first meeting! You know...Yesterday." She grinned.

"Right...So, you'd like to play Annie, the lead, but you've never...I-I'm Sorry—" Cadence snatched off the glasses she'd bought to look more serious before letting out a small laugh. "Honey, I have to laugh. To be Annie one has to be Annie. We're looking for someone who knows how to embody everything that Annie is. We need someone who knows everything there is to know about Annie. Do you even know why it's a hard knock life? Do you know why Annie's an orphan? Do you even know who the character Miss Hannigan is?"

"Well, I—"

"I don't think so. With all due respect—And very little is due—I'm going to have to ask you to get off of my stage!" Cadence yelled, gesturing for her to get off. The girl slowly began to walk off before Cadence yelled "Quickly!" And then she began to jog.

"Ugh, but wonderful job, though, Misty!" Mrs. East shouted through her mic. She turned to us and gestured for us to turn our mics off and we did before she began talking again. "Cadence, we've talked about this! You have to be nicer!"

"We have thirty days to get everything done. We have thirty days to cast these parts, get props, costumes, make sure everybody knows their lines...If my calculations are correct, and they damn well are because I'm always correct about everything, then we don't have the time to be nice. But, yeah, if you want this play to be a total train wreck, I can be nice!" Cadence hissed.

I was in the middle of them both, Mrs. East on my right side and Cadence on my left, and I just stared forward as they talked, not wanting to get in the middle of it...I mean, well, technically I am, but you know.

"Next!" Cadence yelled after turning her mic back on. I watched as some girl that I didn't recognize shoved the guy that was supposed to be up next out of the way and then ran up the stairs and onto the stage in front of us.

"Hi!" She shouted into the mic as soon as she was in front of it. She cleared her throat, sent us a small smile and then began belting lyrics.

"WHEN I'M STUCK WITH A DAY

THAT'S GRAY,

AND LONELY,

I JUST STICK OUT MY CHIN

AND GRIN,

AND SAY,

OH

THE SUN'LL COME OUT

TOMORROW

SO YA GOTTA HANG ON

'TIL TOMORROW

COME WHAT MAY

TOMORROW, TOMORROW

I LOVE YA TOMORROW

YOU'RE ALWAYS

A DAY

AWAY."

It was more screaming than it was singing, her voice trembled the whole time, she kept flailing her arms around as she sang and letting out small, annoyed screeches when she couldn't hit the note that she was trying to hit, and I don't know what was happening with the mic but it kept making a loud, high pitched sound that made everybody cringe all while she was singing.

When she finished, the room was filled with laughter and groaning. The people who weren't doing that were just sitting there with their mouthes wide open.

She stood there and stared at us for at least two minutes as we stared right back at her, trying to figure out what the hell to say.

I looked behind me, sending Billie a look as her loud laughter drowned out practically everything else. She was scream laughing, in the front row right behind our table, with Caden and Gigi, and I waved my hand wildly, trying to get them to stop before turning back around.

I began blushing as I stared at the poor girl on the stage. I get secondhand embarrassment and this...Oh, boy.

"Um—" I started.

"Oh, I know you guys are just at a loss for words right now!" She chuckled. Her accent was very thick and it was clear that she was Southern. It sounded like how the girls from all the movies from the 1920s spoke or something.

My cheeks burned even more as she went on.

"My mama always told me I was gone be a star, and although this is just some silly school play that nobody really cares about, I think this is gonna be the thing that starts my career! When people walk into this auditorium on the night of the play, they'll expect to see absolute trash happening on this stage! But when I walk out with my red Annie wig on and I say my first line, oh, they won't know how to act!" She jumped and clapped, giggling as she thought about it.

I was flipping through the papers on my clipboard quickly, trying to find her name, but I stopped once I heard somebody yell.

"She doesn't even go here!"

"Ugh—um...What's your name?" I asked weakly.

"Oh...Oh, you won't find it on your clipboard, but that's okay—"

"Yo, seriously! She doesn't even go here!" They yelled again.

She blushed and let out a nervous laugh. "Okay, I—Well, actually it's funny. See, I'm a college student now, but when I was in high school I always did wanna be the star of a play, but I just never got the chance and I—You know, I-I just thought—"

"How did you get in here?" Mrs. East questioned. "Did you even go by the front office or did you just sneak in? Mr. Rodney—" She gestured to our school police officer who was standing by the side of the stage. He slowly began to climb the stairs and the girl gasped.

"N-Now just wait a minute, just think about this, okay!? When—When I heard y'all were doing this I just had to—Okay, okay! I'll just—Listen to my lines, okay?" She held her hands out, trying to put distance between them as he got closer to her.

She began running around the stage, trying to avoid him as she frantically screamed lines from the play, not even just Annie's, but all of them. She made it a point to put on different voices as she said the lines too, so it was even more ridiculous.

"Annie!

Annie!

It's okay. Everything's gonna be all right.

There, there.

It was only a dream, Molly. It's all right.

How am I supposed to get any sleep?

It was only a dream. Everything's all right.

Molly shouldn't be in this room.

She's a baby. She cries all the time.

She wets the bed.

I do not!

You're the one who shouldn't be in here!

Brat, stop! We're gonna get in trouble.

Go, Duffy! Go!

Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!

Cut it out!

I mean it! Do you want Miss Hannigan to come in?

Go back to bed.

Now. Or you'll have me to deal with!"

The room filled with loud gasps as he finally tackled her. They struggled on the floor of the stage for a few moments before he yanked her up, snatched the microphone from her hands, and led her off of the stage. She kicked her arms and legs around wildly, putting up a fight and screaming about how she was born to play Annie and she'd get her revenge, but he managed to drag her all the way outside the auditorium after kicking open the door.

We all watched in silence as they disappeared, the door slamming shut after they were gone.

"Alright...Let's take ten." Mrs. East sighed as she stood up. "I need to go out and have a smoke." She whispered to us.

"Mrs. East!" I yelled in disbelief.

"Oh, shut up!" She huffed. "If you had my life you'd be smoking too. It's a wonder I'm not a crackhead yet. Of course, there's still time."

She walked off grumbling to herself and I sighed, leaning back in my chair.

We've been in this meeting for...About forty-five minutes. We've still got plenty of time and I hate that. All I want to do is go home.

On the bright side, Saturday is three days away.

On the not so bright side...I've still got to come to the meeting on Saturday, and I've got an adventure club meeting Saturday too so...No rest for me until Sunday.

Cadence and I stood up from our spots as well and made our way over to Billie, Gigi, and Caden.

"I hate this." I grumbled as I sat down between Billie and Caden and shoved some fries into my mouth. They went to go get some food before coming to the meeting, despite the fact that everyone's supposed to come at 3:00, right after school ends.

"I know, but on the bright side...I'm having a great time!" Billie slapped her knee as she cackled wildly. I sent her a death glare and she held her hands up in defense.

I pulled out my veggie burger and quickly unwrapped it before taking a huge bite. I didn't realize how hungry I truly was until now.

Cadence sat on the floor in front of me with a handful of scripts. She must've decided to go ahead and start sorting through them so she wouldn't have to later. "How'd everything go with your dad?" She asked, looking at me.

"It actually went a lot better than I thought it would," I muttered before taking another bite. "Dad didn't freak out because the house is just four houses down, as I predicted, and Denny was just happy that somebody wanted to live with him. Cora took it the hardest."

"Was she sad?" Billie tilted her head.

"No, she was mad. She said there'd be nobody in the house to argue with anymore except for dad, and arguing with him isn't any fun because he can ground her." I snickered. "She's excited for us, though. Made us promise to let her come over whenever she wants."

"So, you're really moving." Caden sighed. "Our time together was nice, I guess. I'll miss you."

"I'm not moving to Alaska, dude." I rolled my eyes. "I'll still see you every day. Anyway, so, dad let Denny stay out of school today so that they could go to the bank and do all that shit, you know? He's already been talking to a real estate agent. Denny was telling me this morning that hopefully, we can start moving into the new house in June if all goes well. That's really quick, so—"

"So we've only got a month left until you move away." Caden shook his head. I glared at him and reached over to steal one of his fries instead of eating my own. He just pouted. "I guess I'll allow it since...This is the last month of junior year and after this month you'll never get to steal a fry from me during junior year again."

"You're being ridiculous," Cadence chuckled. "What about Kit? How'd things go with her and Julia?"

"Really, really good! They've both been thanking me nonstop for helping them find each other and it's really looking like they're gonna be moving in together. They've just gotta sign some paperwork and all that and then boom, roommates." I smiled.

"So, adventure club. What are you guys doing in there?"

I rolled my eyes. "We're literally gonna go into the woods tomorrow and do some sort of stupid scavenger hunt that Mr. Tomlin threw together last minute, so I already know it's gonna be awful. That's adventure number one. On the bright side, adventure club doesn't take nearly as much effort as drama club."

"I think I'm gonna have fun doing shit with the adventure club." Caden grinned, perking up. "I hope one of our 'adventures' is a trip to a buffet, though."

"I am excited for adventure club, I like to be outdoors." Gigi smiled.

We sat and talked for a few more minutes before Mrs. East came back in and clapped her hands, telling us it was time to get started again.

Cadence and I made our way back to the table in front of the stage and took our seats.

I smiled once I noticed it was actually Billie's turn to audition.

She walked onto the stage slowly, smirking and winking at me, and then took her place in front of the mic. "Now, I signed up to audition for Miss Hannigan only because Mrs. East felt that the role of Annie wasn't for me, but I truly believe I'd be great as Annie!"

"Billie—" Mrs. East sighed.

"Let me do my rap version of 'It's a hard knock life!" She pleaded. She didn't give Mrs. East a chance to reply before she began.

"It's hard out here for a little orphan bitch,

it's hard out here for a little orphan bitch,

instead of treated we get tricked

Mess with me bitch, you will get hit

It's a hard—"

I slid down in my seat and covered my face with my hand as she started trying to moonwalk.

***

"I know the decision is really up to Mrs. East, but do you think I have a good chance of being Annie?" Jules asked nervously, twiddling her thumbs.

I smiled, grabbing her hands. "I think you were, like, the best Annie! If she doesn't pick you I'm gonna be shocked. I don't know if you know this, but—" I leaned closer to her and Madison and lowered my voice. "Not many of these people are actually good at acting. Options are limited as shit. You know how to read, so that already puts you ahead of a lot of people." I snickered.

She let out a few small giggles before letting out a small sigh. I tilted my head and raised my brow, knowing that there was something else she wanted to ask.

"It's just...Do you think she'd let me play the main role even though I'm...You know..." She muttered, looking down.

"Trans?" I smiled softly. "That doesn't matter one bit, Jules. Mrs. East wouldn't not cast you just because of that. You're really talented! Do you wanna be an actress for real?"

"I don't know," She shrugged, smiling shyly. "I don't know if there'd be a lot of roles for me to play, but it'd be fun."

"Sis, I'll become a director or a scriptwriter or something and I'll make roles for you if that's what it takes!" I grinned, nudging her.

I turned to look at Madison who was staring at the ceiling as always. "I think you did amazing too, Madi!"

"I said fifteen hundred and seventy-two words while I was up there. I messed up three of them." He sighed.

"Hey, that's okay! I don't think Mrs. East noticed anyway. She was too busy gushing over how smart you are! I don't think anybody else was able to memorize so many lines on such short notice, hm?"

"That is true. I am superior when it comes to memorizing things." He giggled. "You are getting closer to being liked...mm...By me."

"I'm glad I'm making progress." I laughed. "So, I was wondering if you guys might wanna hang out with me and some of my friends Sunday? We're gonna go to the park and have a picnic type of thing. I know you mentioned that you love the park, Madison, so...You know." I shrugged a little.

"Um...I mean, I'd love that, but are you sure your friends won't mind us being there?" Jules blushed.

"Of course not! It's whoever shows up shows up. Nothing too exclusive." I laughed.

"Yeah, but, like...It's just that we're not exactly normal, I guess. Madi is autistic and I'm trans. A lot of people don't really...Like that?"

"I guess you're not exactly normal, whatever that is," I shrugged. "But that doesn't matter to me and it doesn't matter to my friends either. I mean, if it did matter to them then we wouldn't be friends in the first place." I chuckled.

"Listen, I know some people may judge you guys and make fun of you or whatever, but you don't have to worry about that with me and my friends. We're all different and weird in our own ways and none of us like to judge other people. You're safe with us, I promise." I smiled. "And we've got your backs too! If anyone messes with you, we'll handle it."

"Damn right." Billie came up next to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. "I mean, I didn't hear most of that, but it sounds like she's threatening to kick people's asses for you and I happen to like to fight so...I'm in." She grinned. "Anyone messes with you, you just tell Bil daddy and she'll handle it."

"As you can see, if anything, you guys should be judging us." I sighed.

"We are!" Madison shouted before giggling.

***

"I'm home!" I screamed after unlocking the door. I threw my bag down on the chair next to the door and then made my way into the kitchen.

I furrowed my brows and shook my head, trying to make sure I wasn't hallucinating or some shit. "Kit, why the hell are you going through my fridge? And where is everyone else?"

She jumped and spun around quickly, almost dropping the stuff she was holding. By the looks of it, she was just about to make a sandwich.

She smirked as she walked over to the table and put all the stuff down. "Well, hello to you too. Cora and your dad decided to go to the movies and Denny's upstairs. I'm making him a sandwich."

"You're making my brother a sandwich?" I asked in disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with his hands?"

She chuckled and shook her head a little. "It's okay, I offered. He's teaching me a few cords so this is the least I could do."

"I thought you already knew how to play the guitar."

"I can play a few songs, but he's teaching me a new one. Teen spirit." She grinned.

"That's a good one." I drifted off, looking around awkwardly. "So...You joined adventure club for the extra credit, right? Cause if so I'll be seeing you again Saturday!"

"Yeah, I joined everything I could possibly join for that extra credit." She laughed. "Not drama club, though. Stage fright."

"I feel you..."

It was awkward yet again as I tried to figure out what to say and she made Denny's sandwich. I was hoping he'd come downstairs and break the awkward tension or something, but nope.

She sighed after a few moments, finally looking up from the sandwich and back at me. "You're still really nervous around me. I think we're gonna be seeing each other a lot more, you know, cause of adventure club and me and your brother being friends and me most likely moving in with Julia soon...Maybe we should try to get over the awkwardness of it all?"

"Yeah, I agree. I'm sorry—" I sighed.

"No, it's okay! I get it!" She smiled. "Hey, I know Saturday's gonna be a busy day for you and all with the clubs and everything, but I'm going to a friend of mine's party and...I was just wondering if you wanted to come too? Could be fun."

I thought about it for a moment. I've only been to two damn parties and look how those turned out. Not great at all. But every party can't be god awful, and I'm determined to go to one that isn't.

"Can I bring a friend?" I asked.

"Of course! As many as you want."

"Alright, cool. I'm not making any promises, but I'll definitely see. I'll text you tomorrow to let you know."

She nodded and we said our goodbyes before I headed up the stairs and into my room. I immediately pulled out my phone and dialed Billie's number.

She picked up after a few rings and shouted her usual 'Hello, baby!' And I laughed as I greeted her as well.

"I know we literally just saw each other, but I've got a question." I told her, biting my thumb nervously.

"Alright, shoot."

"Do you wanna go to a party with me Saturday night?" I asked quickly. She was silent for a few moments and the ball of anxiety in my stomach grew larger and larger as each second went by.

I know how protective she is of me and I know how she feels about parties. The last ones we went to sucked ass so I'm sure she's not gonna wanna go to another one, but I'm sure I can convince her.

I'm determined to go to one damn good party and have a good fucking time, and I'm gonna do that if it kills me!

"You must've lost your mind," She chuckled. "No, I do not want to go to a party with you Saturday night! First of all, I'm gonna be busy having dinner with my parents, and second of all, you know parties never go well for us."

"I know," I sighed. "It's just that Kit asked me if I wanted to go to one with her so that we could get to know each other and I really want to go to another one. The last one we went to was way back in October and I just think—"

"The answer is no. You can't go."

I paused for a moment and let out a small laugh, shocked by her tone. "Excuse me? Billie, I completely understand you not wanting me to go and I respect your opinion, but it's not like you're the boss of me. You can't just tell me no and expect me to follow orders—"

"The hell I can't. I said no. You're not allowed to go. You're banned from going. I forbid it. I don't know how else you want me to say it."

"You've gotta be fucking joking," I laughed. "You don't get to tell me what to do like that, Billie. You can't—"

"Dahlia, listen, I have to go," She sighed. I heard Finneas yelling about something in the background and then a loud crash and I cringed as she yelled back at him. "If that would've hit me in the head I would've murdered you! No, shut the fuck up, booger brains, I'll be off the phone in a second!"

"Bil?"

"Yeah, sorry, I really have to go." She mumbled.

"Okay, but we haven't finished talking about the par—"

"Yes, we have. There's nothing else to discuss. I said what I said and I meant it. You're not going to a fucking party with or without me. Do literally anything else, I don't care, but you can't go to that party. And don't mention it again. Bye."

She hung up before I could respond and my mouth hung open as I stared at my phone for a few moments, thinking about what she said.

I can't believe how fucking bossy she was being. I can't believe she literally just treated me like a little child and didn't have a second thought about it. She's acting like she fucking owns me or something!

Truthfully, I would've been good with not going if she hadn't acted that way. It's just one party after all, and I'm sure Kit and I could've found another way to get to know each other soon—A better way, if I'm honest.

But the fact that Billie just tried to demand that I not go, the fact that she wouldn't even listen to me and just acted like what I wanted didn't even matter...Oh, you bet I'm going to that fucking party.

I'm gonna have a good time without her.

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A/N: idk how I feel about this chapter. I rewrote this and the next chapter like three times each because I had writer's block and everything I wrote was trash but I think this is the best version of it even tho it's not the greatest.

I was doped up on cold medication while writing tho so at least I've got an excuse lmfaoo

Btw I'm mad at you hoes for picking Annie over Peter Pan. I love them both but I'm still mad bc originally the play was gon be Peter Pan bc I stan that movie so much. But then everyone chose Annie so I was like okay FUCK I guess we'll do Annie lmaooo

Anywhommmm I haven't forgotten about Spotify. I'm currently making a chill playlist and eventually, I'm gonna (try to) make a playlist for this book. Maybe a song for each chapter? Idk I want to but it'll take a while.

What other playlists should I work on tho?