"All first-year students to the auditorium, please, all first-year students!" The PA crackles after this announcement.

Theo grabs her backpack and stands up. It takes me several minutes to jam all of my papers into my bag. There are a few other first-year students- Harriet, Philip, and George London, a few boys and a couple of girls. We're all from different homerooms, but we all converge in the corridor.

"Hello, Laurens." A British accent comes up at my shoulder.

"Hello there, London," I snap, not even bothering to turn around. "That's not my name."

George stops beside me, running a hand through his hair. "I thought your father was John Laurens."

I stop, too, and turn to face him. I know my cheeks are red, but I couldn't care less at the moment. "I have more than one father, and you know it. Now, what do you want?"

He pouts. "What says I need to want something? Can't I just say hello to a friend?"

"No, you can't- not when it's me you're talking about. What do you want?"

George waits until most of the class has filed into the auditorium. "I wanted to apologize for getting you suspended."

I snort derisively. "Why? You got off scot-free, so what do I matter to you?"

"I feel rude. It's incredibly gauche for me to hit a girl like yourself." He hangs his head, then brushes an imaginary speck of dust from the shoulder of his fancy sweater.

I fold my arms. "So, you're not sorry you said all those rude things, just sorry you broke your own rules?"

George cracks the barest hint of a smile. "You know, you're quite funny, when you're not punching me in the face."

I reach back and adjust my ponytail, sending spiralled curls into a waterfall over my face. "And you seem like you'd be a decent guy, when you're not trash-talking my family."

He reaches out and pulls one of my curls, stretching it until it's straight and then letting it release and spring up. "I did apologize for that."

"Do not touch my hair. People who touch my hair are dead people." I finish my dancer's bun, sighing as the inevitable happens- kinky little curls pop out of the bun, one by one and then all at once.

"Alright, fine. I'm fully aware that what I said was wrong, and I'm sorry." George looks just a little contrite, and I laugh in spite of myself.

"I guess you're forgiven. I'm sorry I messed up your face." Realizing that my hair is not going to listen to me, I shake the bun out completely and slide the elastic back onto my wrist.

"I suppose I'll forgive you for that." George nods. "Are we friends?"

I giggle. "Nope. More like frenemies."

He smiles wider. "Good- I like a challenge. Now, shall we go into the auditorium before they worry about us?"

"I mean, I'm already worried about you, so I think you've failed in that department," I quip, and he hooks his arm with mine.

When we get into the auditorium, everyone is sitting in the first row of chairs. It's hard to slink in unnoticed when there are two gapingly open seats and three teachers glaring at us. I sit down between Theo and Harriet, one of whom is grinning like mad and one of whom is staring at the stained carpet, deep in thought.

"Kathryn!" Theo hugs me, beaming. Today is a day of Spirit Week, Era day, so we're all in costumes. Theo's got a red bandana wrapped around her head and a blue button-down with the sleeves pushed up past her elbows. "I have fantastic news!"

"Hey, Kat," Harriet says glumly. She looks fabulous- her flapper dress is glittery, deep red, and utterly Harriet. Her feathered headache band is sliding down almost to her eyebrows, and there's a hole in her leggings. "You look pretty cool."

I do a twirl, sending my scarf flying out to hit me in the face. My outfit, unlike theirs, isn't a pretty dress. It's a vintage suit that I found in the back of John's closet. The pants have been cuffed way up, but I like it. The pants and vest are the color of blueberries, as is the matching fedora. I've got a yellow collared shirt and a blue tie, plus a long periwinkle blue coat and a soft yellow scarf. It's early June, so I'm rather hot, but I don't mind. "Thanks! So do you two."

Theo shakes her head, letting a lock of hair spiral out the front of her bandana. "I stole my dad's shirt. I mean, he's probably not planning on wearing it today, right?"

Harriet sits up a little and tries to smile. "This was Nina's, from a costume party ages ago. She gave it to me."

I straighten my tie, suddenly glad for my jacket in the air-conditioned auditorium. "I found this in John's closet. Don't know why he has it."

"Well, you look rather snazzy. Also, you almost match his Royal Highness over there." Theo jerks a thumb at George, who's dressed up in full '20s regalia. He tips his newsboy cap when he catches me staring.

"Nah. I'm an era late, thank God." I try again, fruitlessly, to contain my hair in a bun. Once again, it's not working very well, but I get about half of it to fit under my hat. "Anyway, why are we in here?"

Harriet pushes her headache band up. "Every year, the school has an open house on the last day of school. The vocal students do a music showcase, the school play is that day. The dance kids have a combination performance, the art students have an art show, and the poetry kids do a poetry slam for everyone. Each year, the first year kids do a group speech about what the school means to them, and it ends in a song."

I mutter something under my breath that I heard John say when he tripped over a paint can and fell down the stairs. It's in Spanish, and I'm not exactly sure what it means, but I think it's appropriate for the situation. "I can't sing, Harriet."

"Anyone can sing, Kat." Harriet adjusts her dress.

"No, I literally can't. My voice cracks singing a scale. Back at Christmas, John and Alex wanted to take me caroling, and I couldn't sing Silent Night. It is physically impossible for me to stay on key." I flick the brim of my hat up.

"Not to be rude, then, but how did you get into performing arts school if you can't sing?" Harriet leans back over and stares at her shoes again.

I groan as my hair comes flopping out of my hat again. "I'm a dancer. Ballet is my thing- dance, with no words involved. And that was kind of rude, actually. Where did that come from?"

Harriet sits up and looks at me full-on. For the first time today, I notice the bags under her eyes, and the way the corners of her lips are turned down. "I'm sorry! I'm tired and stressed and I got absolutely no sleep last night!"

"Why?" Theo pulls her hair out of her Rosie the Riveter bandana and runs her fingers through it. "You usually sleep like a rock on tranquilizers."

Harriet sighs. "Theo, let me do your hair or you're going to make a mess of it." Theo turns around obligingly, and Harriet begins to finger-comb it. "I've been thinking about what my sister said."

I undo my tie and begin to redo it. "We would miss you if you moved to California. You're our best friend, and the only one of us who can actually sing. We'd be lonely at school without you. Sleepovers wouldn't be the same, and we wouldn't get to go into the city for Christmas or goof around on Halloween."

"I would miss you all so much." Harriet begins scrunching and twisting Theo's hair, making a bun. "Stanford is such a great opportunity, though. The performing arts coaches are some of the best in the country. Plus, I could get a full ride to college there if I do the junior program. If I ever want to get my music out there, California is the place to do it."

"You're thirteen, Harriet. What if, in the four years you're studying the junior program, you don't want to do music? You're too young to make that decision now." Theo hands Harriet her red bandana to wrap back around her head.

"Music is what I want to do more than anything. My dad says that if you have a gift, you need to use it. I'm not as smart as Nina, I can't dance like Kathryn, and I can't draw a stick figure. What I can do is sing, and sing well. It's my talent, and I'm going to use it." Harriet unties the bandana and begins to fold it again over her knee.

I shake my head vehemently, sending my hat drifting to the floor. "I don't want to lose you!"

Harriet finishes tying up Theo's hair and turns to look at me. "I think the two of you should let me make this decision for myself!" She jumps up and runs out of the auditorium, screaming "Bathroom!" at any teacher who tries to stop her.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, when I call your name- in no particular order because I don't care- please step onto the stage." Chad, our dance master, is standing on the stage glaring at all of us. He's made no nod to the Era Day theme, still clothed in all black dancer's garb. "Sarah Franklin, Mimi Marquez, Christine Daae, Naomi Rodriguez, Millie Dillmount?"

Five girls- a short girl with glasses, a tall black girl in leopard-print boots, a girl in a dancer's costume, one in a snapback hat that she's tipped awkwardly to the side, and one in a cherry red flapper dress all walk onto the stage.

"George London, Philip Seabury, Zac Mooneyham, Nigel Bottom, Erik Phantom?" George stalks up onto the stage, followed by a boy with an Afro and a guitar strap slung over his shoulder, a boy with a giant notebook in hand, and a boy with a hat that shades his face from view. A minute later, Philip comes rolling onto the stage from the left wing.

"Kathryn Laurens-Hamilton, Theodosia Burr, Harriet Hemings?" I stand up and take Theo's hand, and we walk onto the stage together.

"Um, Harriet had a f-family emergency. Her grandmother died." I don't like lying, but best friends cover for each other. I send up a silent apology to Harriet's grandmother, wherever she is.

"Just make sure she's back in class after the assembly." Chad nods.

Theo whips out her phone and taps something into our group chat. My phone buzzes.

ooo-DiscoGirl-ooo: BTW, Harriet, your grandmother's dead if anyone asks.

YellowBrickRad: Wait hold up what now

ballyay: I may have had to tell an itsy bitsy lie to get you out of trouble...

YellowBrickRad is typing...

ballyay: Please don't be mad at me...

YellowBrickRad is typing...

ooo-DiscoGirl-ooo: She didn't do it to be mean

YellowBrickRad: I'm sorry 4 freaking out @ you guys. Your my best friends, and I know you were just trying 2 help me decide. I'm just under a lot of pressure- You guys and my parents want me to stay, and Nina wants me 2 go, and I don't even know what I want anymore. It's been keeping me up at night and I don't know what to do at all. Im scred that ill never find the answers.

ooo-DiscoGirl-ooo: *For *at *You're *to *to * I'm *scared *I'll

YellowBrickRad: Love you too, Theo

ballyay: It's okay, I know it's not an easy decision. We're proud of you, you know.

"Miss Laurens-Hamilton and Miss Burr, if you could kindly direct your attention to what's going on in front of you?" Chad smacks his walking stick down onto the floor in front of us. We nod and shove our phones into our pockets. "Anyway, any dance students in here?"

Christine, Naomi, and I all raise our hands. He snaps his fingers, and the three of us walk downstage a little.

"You three, along with the rest of the dance students, are assigned to create your own individual dance, less than three minutes in length, that you will perform at Open House next weekend. Get thinking about what music you will use and what you will perform. Choreography is entirely up to you."

I grin for a moment- I know exactly what I'm going to do.

ballyay==>Not-your-French-fry:

Hey Emmy, can I ask you a favor?