After rehearsal was over, I walked off stage with a strange mixture of pride and something else. What we'd done tonight had been remarkable, and somehow, there'd been no in-fighting, but something big had changed both in Jack and me. I just wasn't sure what.

When I'd seen him at the beginning of rehearsal, I thought it would be uncomfortable. We had only texted since the hospital. Now, his eyes were a little bloodshot from lack of sleep, and the thick layer of stage makeup we were all required to wear covered the dark shadows under his eyes. I couldn't even see the bandage on his arm under his Shakespearean costume.

On stage, he became Orlando, and when I looked at him across from me, there was no trace of the taunts and teasing. It was as if what had happened to him over the last few days had completely transformed him.

When we finished, he disappeared with Lilly. After I took off my costume, part of me hoped I'd find him in the lobby waiting for me, but he was already gone. Instead, I found Rita leaning by the door, twirling her phone in one hand.

"You said you wanted to talk," she looked uncertain.

"Yeah," I said.

Rita was easy to have a conversation with. Maybe it was because she wasn't wrapped up in attending more than ten years of school with everyone else in the cast, but also, I knew she wouldn't tell anyone anything behind my back. That was why I texted her before rehearsal, saying that I wanted to talk when we were done.

Before I could say anything else, Carson, Kai, and Hugh walked through the lobby to the door, having a heated conversation about the best way to achieve an egg drop. We waited for them to pass in silence.

"Thanks for staying," I said.

"That's what friends are for," Rita said. "So, what's up?"

"Hey, Rita, you ready?" Jules's voice behind me made me jump.

I turned to see them standing in the theater doorway, pulling their short, bushy, auburn hair back with a headband. They'd changed from their Shakespearean costume into their usual torn black jeans and a dark shirt covered in red paint splatters.

"Jules, do you mind waiting in the car?" Rita asked. "I need to talk to Shayna. I promise this won't take long."

Jules looked from me to Rita. They just sighed and shouldered their backpack uncomfortably.

"Sure," they said.

"Jules," I said. "I can take Rita home. You don't have to wait."

"You live in the opposite direction," Jules said. "I can wait."

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Maybe I can do brunch with you guys after the festival. I heard Samantha talking about it."

Jules snorted. "Well, we didn't exactly invite her, but yeah. That sounds fun."

They left with a smile on their face. Rita looked at me oddly but clutched her purse and moved closer to me.

"Thanks again for staying," I said.

"I'm always here if you want to talk," Rita said.

I twisted one of my tight curls around my finger. "I'm not sure where to start."

Rita nodded. "Is this about Juan or Jack?"

I shrugged. "Both?"

"Ok," Rita nodded. "Talk to me about it."

I decided to start with the simplest facts first. The ones that we both already knew.

"So, Juan dumped me for Samantha," I said.

Rita raised an eyebrow, but she played along. "Yes."

"Why?" The question had been nagging me since I'd found them together.

Juan liked me. He'd shown me more attention than anyone. He'd called me beautiful. We had a lot in common beyond our mutual hatred for Jack Garrison. We both loved milkshakes. We couldn't agree on movies, but we both listened to the same pop-country music.

We'd shared personal frustrations. I met his family. Then I found him sneaking around with Samantha, and suddenly, none of that mattered anymore.

Rita sucked in her cheeks. "I heard rumors she liked him," she admitted.

"Really?" I sighed. "And he went for that?"

"I don't know," Rita said. "A guy's motives are a mystery to me. Maybe he thought she was cute or something?"

Getting into the mind of Samantha Chance was the last thing I wanted to do. Juan and I had dated in public. He had loved doing PDA in the hallways, especially when we walked past football players. Everyone knew about our relationship, and Juan was anything but subtle.

Yes, Samantha had somehow gotten his attention, but Juan had also chosen to pursue her. As soon as I'd announced we were broken up, he started parading around Samantha like he'd paraded around me.

"Weird," I said.

"I don't see it either," Rita shook her head.

"I agree," I said.

Samantha said it felt good to have someone pay so much attention to her that she didn't know when to stop.

I knew Samantha's father was a lawyer, and her mother was a yoga instructor. She had three older siblings whom she liked to brag about being in medical school and law school, and the eldest being the CEO of his own business.

Maybe Juan gave her more attention than her parents bothered to give her. That still didn't explain why Juan could so easily trade me for her.

"So, Jack?" Rita posed the topic as a question.

"Jack..." I said, trying to clear my thoughts, but thinking about Jack seemed to muddle them somehow.

"What are you going to do about Jack?" Rita asked.

The more I thought about Jack, the less concise my thoughts became. "What about Jack?"

"You're in denial," Rita raised an eyebrow. "We both know he likes you."

I nodded. "I've never seen Jack shaken, Rita. He's always been solid. I'd never seen anything get to him, but that night..."

The great Jack Garrison had broken. I watched as he shattered into a million tiny little pieces covered in his sister's blood.

"He watched them cart his father away," Rita said. "He had to testify against his own dad."

There had been so much blood. My eyes still couldn't help but see where it had once pooled on the stage. "I was there. I know."

"Now what?" Rita asked.

That really was the question. I preferred to keep my emotions bottled up in tiny jars, each labeled on a shelf. Now it felt like the jars had exploded, and all the gasses had escaped, running together, and were swirling around, conflicting with one another.

"I can't hate him anymore," I said. "That feels wrong. He's a good guy. He was in over his head. The theater is his distraction. I can't hold the past against him."

"That's a step in the right direction," Rita said. "Now you have to decide."

"Decide what?" I asked, trying to deny the answer but knowing that Rita wouldn't let me swerve around this one and pretend like it wasn't there.

"Give the boy an answer," she said.

Except I wasn't sure I could. At least not right now. The exploded emotions of my break up with Juan, anger at my dad, and my former hatred for Jack, now mixed with pity and something else I couldn't name were all too clouded and mixed together.

"I'm not ready for that," I said.

Rita frowned again. "Why not?"

I picked at my nails. "I'm nervous."

"To thine own self be true," Rita said.

Her Shakespeare quote came out of left field. "What?"

"It's from Hamlet," Rita stated the obvious.

"I know," I said. "Why did you say it, though?"

Rita sighed. "Don't lie to yourself. Make the decision best for you."

"Odd love advice," I said.

"Follow your heart, Shayna," Rita said. "It won't lead you astray."

"Is that Shakespeare, too?" I asked.

Rita shrugged. "Just good advice."

"That's why I came to you," I said.

"Doesn't your cheerleading squad give advice?" Rita asked. "You could always talk to them. I'm the kid who moved here a few months ago."

Those girls weren't my friends. I should stop pretending they were. I needed to treat Jules, Novah, Rita, and the other cast members with higher regard. They'd been there for me when my so-called friends had wanted me to cash in on Jack.

"I trust you, Rita," I said. "And I'd like to think we're friends."

Rita smiled. "I'm glad you're my friend Shayna Porter."

We walked out to my car. I let Rita pick the music and plugged her home address into my car's GPS. Jules had been right. Rita's house was out of my way, but it would give us more time to talk.

"I hope the boys finish their physics project," Rita said.

"Speaking of boys," I said as I pulled out of the theater parking lot. "Hugh has a huge crush on you."

Rita blushed. "I suspected that might be the case when we visited his house earlier this week."

I smiled. "Go for it, girl."

"The last thing our production needs is more drama," Rita said, and it made me laugh.

"Right," I said. "Rita, I really appreciate this. I don't have too many girlfriends I can confide in."

"Not a problem," Rita said. "Remember that nothing on the stage is real, Shayna. Don't get acting mixed up with reality."

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," I said.

"A cheerleader reciting Shakespeare," it was Rita's turn to laugh. "I'll admit I never thought that could be a reality."

"Hang around the theater more," I said, stopping for a red light. "Things might surprise you."

Rita turned up the music as "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele came on. We sang through the first four songs of Adele's 21 album before we pulled into Rita's driveway.

"I'll see you tomorrow at rehearsal," Rita said. "Isn't Jamie coming back?"

"Yes, and the play will go on," I said. "We might actually win the festival."

"Just because we've come this far doesn't mean we'll win," she replied. "There could be other kids better than us."

"We've already won with all the obstacles we've jumped," I said. "See you tomorrow."

I watched Rita walk up to her door. Once she was inside, I pulled out of her driveway, humming along with Adele. For the first time in a while, I didn't even need to call my brother as I drove home with a smile on my face.