Virgil wasn't wrong about this year being not too bad, but he wasn't right either.

The first few months of school had gone pretty average, he wouldn't allow himself to say good. He and Patton had become pretty good friends, they hung out during morning-break and lunch. Neither of them were the best at making friends. Patton was too excited for most people, and Virgil was too unexcited for most people. However, they seemed to balance each other out, so it worked for them. However, Patton soon got busy co-running the school's GSA group once clubs had begun running again, so Virgil had gotten used to eating alone again. He didn't really mind though, it was kind of nice, no interruptions, no constant questions, though he didn't seem to really mind them most of them time, just quiet.

Quiet never lasted long though, not in high school.

Virgil soon found his usual hang-out bench to be taken over by a group of freshman. He was a bit annoyed, but not at the fact that he had lost his spot, but at the fact that he lost his spot to freshman.

He wasn't going to stand up to him though. There were around five of them, and one of him. Not to mention it wouldn't be worth it, if he won, great, a Junior just kicked out a bunch of small, helpless freshman who are probably off right now complaining to their senior friends about it. If he did nothing, well, just that, nothing. Nothing would happen, other than Virgil would move. And that was fine, it was just a bench.

////\\\\

Roman found himself with problems of his own. Specifically, casting calls.

Every year, the school held one, big show that performed once a night for five days out of one week, in a row. It was usually a well known play, and this year, the school was putting on a performance of the iconic Phantom of the Opera! And Roman just knew that he had to be a part of it. For years he had watched countless other student-actors get up on stage and perform their parts, stunning parts. Roman had longed to play those parts. Not just any parts though, the lead roles. The hardest roles to get.

There were multiple reasons as to why it was so hard to be selected as a main-role. For one, half the theatre department was auditioning for those roles, and for two, there was an age limit.

If you wanted to land a lead-role, you had to be a Junior or a Senior, no exceptions. And this year, finally, finally Roman was a junior, and so, he promised himself, that this year he would land a lead-role...he had to.

///\\\

Virgil found himself snickering at the enthusiasm of all the Theatre geeks as they paraded onto stage. There were open-auditions today for the lead-roles of Chris, Raoul and The Phantom today.

Virgil was able to see each and every one of them walk up onto stage from his post as Curtain-Boy, opening and closing the curtain for every individual act. It wasn't hard but it was annoying. There were so many and just when he thought the line of auditions was getting shorter, more would arrive. And truthfully, half of them weren't that good. Though Virgil wasn't planning on saying this out loud.

Finally, one of the judge-directors called a cut for all the auditions and waiting for results auditions to take a break.

Virgil turned to go get a drink of water when he felt someone grasp his shoulder. A second later he was being spun around and someone was taping something to his forehead. It took a Virgil a moment to react before he cleared his throat, "Excuse me?"

"What?" The boy placing the item on his forehead furrowed his brow.

"Who are you and...what are you doing?"

"Logan...? And what do you mean?"

"Why are you- what's on my forehead?" Virgil frowned.

"Your mic, of course." Logan rolled his eyes, stepping back once he was done setting up the tiny, skin-colored device.

"Why- why do I need a mic?" Virgil bit his lip, thoroughly.

"Weren't you informed?"

"...About...?"

"We're not going to make you pull that curtain for another hour, your arms will cramp up. You'll be announcing the person going up on stage to audition and we'll put Talyn on curtain duty."

Virgil felt anxiety rise in his chest and his throat felt thick, "L-Like- publicly speak?"

"Sort of, I mean- here." Logan I clipped a clipboard from his waist and handed it to Virgil, "Read the name off from here, and the role they're trying out for, right there next to their names in the second column- easy?" Logan pushed his glasses up on his forehead.

"Yeah...easy..."

"Great!" Logan gave a thumbs up before tapping Virgil's mic, then covering it with his hand, "Your Mic is on now so don't say anything stupid, got it?"

"...Mhm..."

"Okay." Logan nodded and took his hand away, giving a thumbs up before slipping past Virgil and announcing that the break was over.

"Next!" A voice rang down from the stage-floor, where the judges were.

Virgil took in a shaky breath before continuing.

///\\\

Roman burst into the room where auditions were being held, "Am I late!? I'm late, aren't I? Oh my stars, I'm so sorry I-" Roman was interrupted by a storm of SHUSH!s, and he immediately shut up. He looked around at the people here, there were only two people in the line of people auditioning, the rest were either stage-crew mixed in with stage-Art students that were helping out or those who had already went and were waiting for results. Roman let out a sigh, he wasn't late. He quickly made his way into line as one of the other two people was called on stage. Roman flattened his dress-shirt to look more presentable, looking up a moment later when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He met the eyes of someone he thought he would never see again, but remembered nonetheless.

The timid, eye-shadow-driven boy handed Roman a piece of paper on a clipboard along with a pen.

Roman furrowed his brow at the bow offendedly Fine by me if you're staying silent... He grabbed the clipboard nonetheless and began writing his name, and desired role down. He wished to play the part of the Phantom, after all, he felt he resembled quite a charmer in himself.

Roman then shoved the clipboard back at the boy who gave him a startled look and took a step back. Roman began to feel a sliver of guilt rise up in his chest but forced himself to ignore it with a roll of his eyes. He then awkwardly waited while the final act in front of him performed. He took in a shaky breath and balled up the hems of his dress-shirt, straightening his red tie as the student-actor walked off stage with a nervous smile.

Roman waited until the curtain fully closed to ease up his nerves.

"Roman! You're up!" The negative boy called out, sounding over the speakers.

Roman immediately felt that sliver of guilt transform into a wave of guilt as he realized the boy had had an active Microphone on, thus explaining why he couldn't speak. He made a mental note to apologize later...maybe. But for now, he had to perform. Roman prepared himself in the center of the stage, positioning the mic that was on a stand in front of him and giving a thumbs up to the boy to signal he was ready.

The boy nodded and tapped the curtain-boy on the shoulder, an in an instant, Roman was blinded by lights.

"What will you be performing today...Roman?"

Roman took in a deep breath and let it out quickly and quietly before continuing, "I'll be singing the song, Freeze Your Brain, from the musical Heathers."

"Whenever you're ready."

////\\\\

Virgil was absolutely blown away at Roman's talents. The boy had a strong, hardy voice that came out so smooth. He had hardly even noticed that the song had ended because of how caught up he had gotten in its movement, the curtain boy had to tap his shoulder for him to leave. Virgil simply nodded and made his way down from the stage and onto the floor.

It was quiet there, with only the hushed voices of the judges as they made their decisions. He kept hearing the ring of the fanciful boy's voice in his head, Virgil wouldn't particularly like to admit it, but he did have an ear for music and he did truly enjoy it. He used to practice singing as a kid, but-

Bullying.
You don't choose to be a victim.
You don't get a say in who you're cast as in the situation.
It happens.
And it happens for the most unfair reasons in the world.

In Virgil's case, it was singing.

So why did he find himself singing right now? It was baffling to even himself but he found himself unable to stop, the words spilling out, he knew the words very well. It wasn't that he necessarily sang them but...Virgil wouldn't deny the fact that Heathers the Musical was indeed pretty great. So naturally he was singing in between sips of water, Dead Girl Walking REPRISE, specifically. He paused before quietly singing out his favorite part, though surprisingly able to sing it with substantial strength, "I wish your mom had been a little stronger..." His voice gradually began to raise in volume, "I wish she'd stayed around a little longer...I wish your dad was good, I wish grown-ups understood, I wish you'd come with me-"

"Excuse me?"

Virgil froze when he heard the voice behind him, he turned his head and in horror, met the icy look of one of the Judge-Directors, "Y...es?"

The Director tapped her forehead and pointed at Virgil.

Virgil slowly raised his hand to hand forehead and pelt something plush under his hand.

The mic.

The god. Damn. Mic.