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The heat nearly suffocates me as I climb out of Mum's air-conditioned car. It's supposed to get to thirty-eight degrees today and I'm dressed in the Rockstar Bay Academy uniform: a white shirt, grey skirt that ends above my knees, a gold tie and blue blazer. I'm going to die of heat exhaustion before the day is over.

"Have a great first day of school, honey. I'll see you this afternoon."

I shut the door and lean through the window once Mum lowers it.

"Be good. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Mum sticks her tongue out at me, and I smile before walking around to the boot of the car to grab my bag and guitar. After closing the boot, I give the car a quick rap with my knuckles and step out of the way so she can drive out of the car park. Waving her off, I look around the manicured lawns for anyone I know.

Aside from a few acquaintances from my year, who I wave at, I can't see any of my friends. Kennedy booked a rehearsal room for the hour before school, so I won't see her until the bell goes. Mason, Briony, Lana and Dean - the rest of Kennedy's and my crew – must be close by, though.

After bounding up the stone steps and through the heavy wooden doors, I head towards the music room where I need to store my guitar. I take in the new posters that have been put up over the break. Posters and pictures of famous musicians and graffiti dedicated to music grace every wall.

"Lilah!"

I turn around when I hear someone call out my name, quickly spotting Briony running down the hallway towards me.

"Hey you!" I hug her when she reaches me.

"Thank God, I found you. I was starting to worry my dream came true and everyone died."

I point to myself. "Not dead."

She grins. "Well, I know that now."

I look behind her. "Where's Mason?"

Mason Kendricks and Briony Webber started dating around the same time Ethan and I did, and they were best of friends before then. It's rare to see one without the other.

She pulls a face. "Talking to Kurt about the new video game he bought."

I laugh at her expression. "How was your time in Byron Bay?"

Briony smiles dreamily and blushes. "Pretty good."

"Say no more. Please," I beg theatrically.

When Ethan and I split, it was difficult to be around Mason and Briony without feeling envy stab through me every time they were affectionate. But I kept reminding myself the two of them were perfect for each other and focusing on how happy they were. I haven't felt the need to avoid them for a while.

That said, I don't want to hear details about their hot summer nights.

She grins then turns serious. "How about you? How are things with Ethan? How was the wedding?"

Briony would have been there, but she and Mason had already paid for holiday accommodation in Byron Bay.

"You really didn't miss that much. Well, except for me almost slapping Asher and the entire incident being caught by the press. Oh, and the interview Ainsley gave about me."

"What? I'll bet that wasn't flattering."

"It was anything but."

"Please tell me Ethan dumped her."

"Nope. He did 'talk to her, though,'" I say, using my fingers to make air quotes.

She rolls her eyes. "And now you're stuck living with him."

"Yeah, and I've already had to have a talk with him about boundaries."

Her eyebrows hit her chestnut bangs. "Seriously?" She shakes her head. "Damn, that boy is clueless."

"He's been better since the talk, but even this morning, he tried to convince me I should ride to school with him and Ainsley."

"Ugh."

Ethan promised he wouldn't try to spend time with me while Ainsley is by his side, and he has been better, but he forgot again this morning. It was Asher who reminded him of our deal, prompting Ethan to offer me a sheepish apology.

"Fortunately, Mum took pity on me and offered to drop me at school so that I didn't have to go with them. But not before Ethan bailed me up in my room, informing me he planned to hang out with me at school today because, and I quote, Ainsley won't stop him from being friends with me. Apparently, he's more than capable of standing up to her."

"It's Asher he can't stand up to," Briony says. "Speak of the devil."

I look ahead and see my stepbrothers standing with some of their friends, other guitarists, base players and drummers. The group are crowded around Ainsley and Davina's lockers the same way they used to crowd around mine and Kennedy's. Then Ethan broke up with me and started dating Ainsley, and the group of rockers stopped talking to me.

Since Ethan and I are still close, none of them give me shit, but if Ethan felt the same way Asher did, I don't doubt I'd be the target of some less than kind shenanigans.

Ainsley spots me, and the look she shoots me is enough to remind me she's still at the top of my shit-list. I glare back at her and then my gaze flicks to Ethan.

He smiles at me, and I nod in return. Everyone else ignores me, including Asher, who, thankfully, is too busy scrolling through his phone to notice me.

Nope, I spoke too soon. Asher looks up, his gaze colliding with mine, and I inhale roughly as he scowls at me as if I've just ruined his day.

Even if he hasn't been quite so menacing since the festival, he still wears his hatred for me on his sleeve. He's never made any attempt to hide his opinion of me from anyone while Ethan and I dated. I can't imagine it will be any different this year. If anything, it will probably be worse.

Never mind, I have important things to focus on this year, and high school drama isn't one of them.

Ignoring him, Briony and I continue to the music room, where I put my guitar down, then we walk out to our favourite outdoor location – the Quad.

The Quad is a rectangular area filled with enormous trees that appear to touch the sky. And after the cold chill of the air conditioning inside the halls of Rockstar Bay Academy, the hot sun is a relief. At least for the first second.

I'm just taking my blazer off when I spot our friends. "Lana and Dawson are already here," I say to Briony.

Dawson grins when he sees us, waving us over.

I hug Dawson then look him over. Same black hair spiked up on one side, same clear blue eyes, but his skin is less pale than usual.

"You got some sun this summer," I say.

"I got burnt." He nods at Lana. "She dragged me to the beach every day."

I hug Lana, the Academy's best celloist.

"Had to make the most of relaxation time before the most stressful year of our lives."

"This is it," Dawson says. "Senior year."

I nod. "It's finally here."

"I read about the wedding," Lana says as I sit down opposite her.

"Did you read the comments Ainsley made?" Briony asks.

"Yup."

Likely, everyone has read Ainsley's annoying comments.

"And oh look, here they all come now."

Sure enough, the group we spotted by the lockers are on their way to the auditorium, which is where all of us need to be at 8:30 to go over the syllabus for the year.

"I guess Davina didn't switch schools over the summer," Briony murmurs.

Davina Bishop is Ainsley's best friend, and she's made it obvious to everyone that she wants to date Mason.

"Like she'd go anywhere else when Mason is here," Lana says.

Briony doesn't respond, just glares because Mason is walking with the group, chatting to Ethan while trying to fend off Davina's advances. As soon as Mason sees us, he quickly changes track and heads in our direction. Like a scheming villain out of a high school movie, Davina narrows her eyes at Briony.

I'm not the only one who notices the exchange. Ethan sees us sitting at our table in the Quad and turns towards us instead of the auditorium. I quickly shake my head and point at Ainsley. No way am I walking into the auditorium with him, Ainsley and Davina.

Ethan's shoulders slump and his smile drops, but he keeps walking towards the auditorium. I look at my small crew with relief.

Putting his arm around Briony, Mason asks, "Are you guys ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I say.

Lana looks around. "Where's Ken?"

"Rehearsing, she'll meet us in assembly."

"Okay," Dawson says, standing up and pulling Lana up with him. "Let's go start our senior year."

Lana and Dawson are the best of friends, and at one point I believed that they, like Briony and Mason, would find love and happiness together. But there really is only friendship between them. Dawson is dating a guy from the private school a couple towns over, and Lana is dating Dawson's boyfriend's best friend.

The smell of the floor polish tickles my nose as we enter the auditorium. And the sweat that gathered on my skin while sitting in the Quad chills beneath the frigid air conditioning.

"Over there." Briony points towards a group of empty seats towards the left side of the auditorium.

There are two hundred and fifty seniors at Rockstar Bay Academy this year, which is a record number. It's always a rush to find seats so that we can all sit together. We're competing with every other crew.

I hurry in the direction of the empty row but am jostled out of the way at the last minute. It's Ethan who has pipped me at the post.

"Ethan!" I glare at him.

He makes his way down the row, takes the seat on the end and motions for me to join him.

"What are you doing?" I hiss as I sit down next to him. "Why aren't you sitting with Ainsley?"

Ainsley is going to have a giant hissy fit if she sees Ethan sitting with me in this assembly.

Sure enough, when I look in her direction, I see her sitting with Davina and the rest of her usual crowd. Davina looks at me and sneers. Great. Davina has always been more Briony's enemy than mine, but she does consider herself Queen, and if Ainsley is upset because of me, she might try to make my year hell.

I don't need that. I don't need any distractions or potential speedbumps or potholes beyond the ones I already have.

Ethan frowns. "We talked about this earlier today. I am not giving up my friendship with you because Ainsley doesn't like it."

"I know, but we did have breakfast together," I shoot back, keeping my gaze locked on the stage at the front.

"Yeah, but Asher was there, and he's always looking over my shoulder when the two of us are together," he grumbles.

He sounds so annoyed that I don't tell him he invited Asher's constant commentary on our relationship the moment he listened to Asher and dumped me.

Besides, I don't mind Asher providing a constant buffer between us. It's easier not to get sucked back into old feelings for Ethan that way.

The one upside of living with Asher, I guess.

Speaking of, Asher is looking over at us, staring daggers at Ethan because he's sitting beside me. His expression is so dark, I imagine him conjuring thunderclouds overhead. He's sitting a couple of rows back from Ainsley, but her constant glaring over here probably caught his attention.

"The dark lord disapproves," Briony says gravely.

I giggle. "When doesn't he?"

Briony nudges me. "Hey, Ken's here."

Everyone on my right side moves down one seat as Kennedy squeezes into the aisle, plopping down in the seat Briony just vacated.

"Hey," she whispers, darting a puzzled look in Ethan's direction.

Ethan takes no notice of her expression and simply grins back.

"I thought you weren't going to get here on time," I say.

"Made it by the skin of my teeth. Did Luke call last night?"

Immediately, Ethan tenses beside me, crossing his arms and letting out a soft huff I doubt anyone else hears.

Kennedy looks back and forth between Ethan and myself, and I'm certain she's asking just to annoy Ethan. After all, I messaged Kennedy last night, telling her Luke called me. Australia Day was only a few days ago, but Luke and I have been messaging and chatting since then.

We're sort of a thing now. I think. What we are exactly, I'm not sure. But he's been texting me a lot and he asked me to go out with him on the weekend, so I assume we are something.

Ethan hasn't tried to warn me against dating Luke again, but he hates the idea of Luke and me. Every time his name comes up in conversation, Ethan either stays silent or frowns.

"You know he did," I mutter.

Our eyes are drawn back to the front of the auditorium as the music faculty take their place on stage. Boasting a whopping twenty-one teachers, it's the biggest music faculty in any high school in the country. Mr Bradley, the head of the faculty walks up to the microphone, which is set up at the front of the stage.

"Welcome to your final year at Rockstar Bay Academy, Year Twelve."

There are some shouts and some hollers, and a lot of clapping. At any other high school, it would be the principal and other teachers making the first day of school speeches. But Rockstar Bay Academy is not your typical high school. Every music teacher at the Academy is a celebrated success in their field, and they pass their knowledge on to us. We all strive hard to build good relationships with our teachers because in this industry, good contacts are always useful. And less than ten percent of the senior class isn't taking a music class. The principal will speak at the assembly later, but right now the floor belongs to the music teachers.

"First things first, I know what you want to hear about, so let's talk about the end of year showcase."

There's some more hollering and shouting.

"I'm sure you know that your year is the biggest senior year we've had. With more than two hundred and fifty students, not all of you will make it into the showcase."

Now instead of clapping and applause, there is some loud booing.

"That's enough," Mr Bradley says, waiting for people to quieten. "Last year we had one-hundred students less, and the showcase went for nearly five hours. Now, the feedback has been that this is just far too long. Subsequently, we've made the decision to spread the showcase out over two nights. Both nights will go for three and a half hours. Still, not all of you will make it."

Some hands shoot up close to the stage and Mr Bradley points to one.

"Will the showcase still count as extra points towards our overall grade?"

"It will," Mr Bradley acknowledges. "As you know, it's the only way to get a perfect score in Musical Performance. While that means most of you are desperate to be part of the showcase, some of you may want to opt out. You are still required to complete the mandatory performance markers, but some of you will have the option to perform for the year level instead of the showcase audience. While this may seem like a disadvantage, it will be less pressure for those of you who have other areas of the curriculum where you'd prefer to focus your efforts."

More hands shoot up, but Mr Bradley ignores them.

"I'm about to give you your first music assignment and explain how things will work, so listen carefully."

Like magic, everyone shuts up.

"Next week, we will hold tryouts and you will all be auditioning. Your assignment is simple, compose a piece of music that makes us teachers feel something. It could be anything: sadness, anger, disgust, joy. The point is that it should focus on a powerful emotion that moves us."

"Once we've heard all of you, we will pair you with someone – someone we feel will complement your sound and add to it – and you will work towards a duet for your first assessment. The top ten duets will go onto be accepted in the showcase."

Immediately, there's an uproar and people calling out, hands shooting up, questions that need to be answered. I look between Kennedy and Ethan, Kennedy looking worried and Ethan looking furious.

"Let me finish!" Mr Bradley shouts over the noise. "I know some of you want to solo, and some of you want to audition as groups. We will still hold auditions for those spots, but not until later in the year. For now, we want to see you perform individually and then with a partner to fulfil the duet requirement this year."

Both Kennedy and Ethan relax ever so slightly beside me. Kennedy wants to perform a solo in the showcase, and Ethan wants to perform with M.O.D. There's a good chance both will succeed because they're standouts in their genres. But me? I'm not top of the list of singer-songwriters at this school. So, a duet with a strong partner could really boost my chances of headlining.

Of course, I can audition later in the year and hope I succeed, but if I'm paired with someone of talent for the duet, and our song is good, I increase my chances of getting in. I may have more of a chance than as a solo artist.

And if I want to get into Australian University of Music, well, they've never turned down a perfect music score before. It's my only guarantee I'll get in. And getting in will make every sacrifice Mum has made to get me here worth it.

Ethan puts his hand on my arm and squeezes.

"You've got this," he says. "You're going to be fine."

"Thanks," I whisper.

It would mean more had I not heard the doubt in his voice when we'd spoken at the dinner table about me getting into the showcase.

Mr Bradley goes through the rest of the syllabus with us, most of which we already know because they went through it with us last year and there haven't been many changes.

Once the assembly finished and we're let out, I walk out of the auditorium, already mentally trying to compose what I will write about and what I will perform next week.

As we walk along the path that takes us to our lockers, Ainsley swoops upon us, working her arm through Ethan's.

"Duets are in, just like we thought they would be. We're going to be partners, right?"

Ethan glances at me, and hesitancy is written all over his face. "We can't choose our partners."

"You can help me though, and maybe we'll end up partnered together. Wouldn't that be the best?" she asks.

"So great," I mutter before I can stop myself.

Ethan shoots me an apologetic look, and I roll my eyes before saying, "I'm going to catch up with Bri and Ken."

If we were still together, I would ask Ethan to help me by listening to my songs and giving me pointers, just like Ainsley is now. I guess, I still could, but I don't want him helping me if he's helping her. Sort of a conflict of interest. Besides, all my songs so far revolve around getting over him. 

Will they be enough to pair me with an awesome partner?

Will they make my teachers feel something?

With everything riding on this, I need to knock this out of the park then pray I'm paired with someone amazing.