"I'm gonna kill myself," Ricky groaned. "This is so fucking stupid." He sat at the dinner table, looking despondent.

"You're not going to kill yourself," Kimama replied. She was sitting across from him. "You're going to get an A on your test."

Mark nodded in agreement. "Yeah man, you can do this."

Ricky shook his head. "No, I can't. My grade's going down."

"It'll be fine," Mark said. "We'll all help you study, right?"

Ricky glanced at his roommate, who was staring at him expectantly. "Sure, why not? If there's anyone I can rely on it's you guys," he said.

They went back and forth for the next hour or so before they decided to go to bed. Mark and Kimama shared their room while Ricky slept on the couch. When Ricky woke up the following morning, he felt terrible about the way he had left the day before. The three of them spent the rest of the weekend studying, even going as far as to work out together. When Friday afternoon finally came around, Ricky went into school, nervous and excited.

When he walked inside the auditorium that night, he saw his friends seated in the front row. They were all laughing and talking amongst themselves, seemingly oblivious to Ricky's entrance. Ricky sat beside Mark at the table.

"How did it go?" Mark asked.

Ricky shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

Mark smiled. "Good!"

As the lights dimmed, the principal stepped onto the stage. He began speaking into the microphone, announcing Ricky's name. Ricky rose from the table and walked toward the front of the theater. His hands shook, but he didn't let anyone see.

The principal handed the mic off to another student, and then called for everyone to sit back down. Once he had gathered everyone's attention, he continued speaking. "Welcome, students! For your final exam, we would like you to choose between two options: a play by a leading playwright, or one by an actor. Which will it be?"

There was some murmuring throughout the crowd, which quickly turned hushed when the principal silenced the audience once more with a raised hand. Then he said, "The play by the lead author of the play, please."

A girl stood from her seat and climbed the stairs. She wore a short purple dress and black leggings underneath. Her hair was long, almost reaching her waist, and was colored a shade similar to dark brown.

She placed the script she carried in her hands on the podium. "The play by my lead author, Oscar Wilde, please."

Everyone gasped quietly. The teacher smiled slightly and then gave the script to one of the student assistants who walked up to the stage. "Thank you, Miss Mills," he said. He looked up to the audience. "Please welcome Oscar Wilde, also known as Jack London, to the stage."

With a nod from Mr. Mills, the students applauded politely, and the sound echoed through the theatre. After a brief bow from the actress, she returned to her seat.

"Well done, Oscar," said Mr. Mills. He turned back to the teacher. "Thank you very much, I believe we are ready to begin. Please turn to page four-point-three, and proceed."

The class read the lines aloud, and when they got to the last line, the class exploded into applause once more. This time, Oscar laughed along with the students, smiling happily at them. As soon as the applause died down, Mr. Mills cleared his throat and spoke again. "And now, I think it's time for some auditions, hm?" He clapped his hands lightly, and the lights dimmed again.

"Come on, Ricky!" Mark said excitedly. "We're gonna be in charge of the auditions!"

"I don't know..." Ricky sighed. "I've never done anything like this before."

"Nonsense," said Mr. Mills. "You've already memorized the lines, right? And you're a senior, so you'll have plenty of practice before the semester is over."

Ricky nodded slowly. "Yeah, probably," he agreed.

"Now come on! We're doing this together!" Mark exclaimed. The other boys all nodded eagerly. Ricky couldn't say no to them; he knew that if he tried, they'd just make him do something else. So he sighed again and pushed himself up from the table.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go."

The group followed their new director outside to the stage where the cast was lined up.

"Right," the director said. "This will be your audition number. You each have one chance to speak your parts in front of the class, so take your spots and try to keep this from getting too complicated." With those words, the director walked away.

The boys took a deep breath and walked up to their places.

One boy was tall, with long brown curly hair. Another boy was short and skinny, with glasses. There was also a tall Asian girl with long black hair and a short guy with glasses.

"Hey," said the first boy. He pointed at the Asian boy and started speaking in a voice.

"Hey!" he said.

"Oh!" Ricky jumped, startled. The boy looked at him.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," the boy apologized.

"That's okay," Ricky assured him. "My friend is a little intense sometimes."

The boy nodded.

Then the third boy spoke up. "Hi everyone!" he greeted. "Um, hi. I'm Jason." He gestured towards the second boy. "He's Chris." The second boy nodded.

The fourth boy was short and chubby. "H guys." He waved.

The fifth boy was tall with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. "I'm Danny. Nice meeting you!" He stuck out his hand. Ricky smiled and shook it gently.

Next, it was the sixth boy's turn. He had messy blue curls and a friendly smile. "Hello everyone," he greeted. "I'm Sam. It's nice to meet you!"

"You're really pretty," the blond boy with the glasses told Sam.

Sam blushed. "Thanks."

The sixth boy finished introducing himself and moved aside so Sam could step forward.

"I am... Eric," the boy said nervously. "I'm the lead actor."

"Nice to meet you," the girl with short, straight, brown hair said. She looked at him curiously. "Are you sure that's your name?"

Eric grinned nervously. "Yup. That's my name."

"Well, I like your face," she said. Eric smiled, and Ricky noticed that Eric blushed a little bit.

The sixth boy spoke up again, addressing the whole group. "Alright, um, now that you've seen the actors, let's do our audition thing." He paused. "Which means, I'm going first."

"Wait, wait, you're going first?!" the blond boy cried.

"Yes," said the sixth boy, looking a little annoyed. "I thought that was obvious?"

"But... you don't have a character yet!" the blond boy exclaimed. He grabbed a book, opened it to a random page, and held it up. "Look. There's nothing written here, and I don't have a character either."

"I have an idea for a character," said the girl. She leaned over the blonde's shoulder.

"Uh oh," Ricky muttered quietly, but loudly enough for the others to hear.

After a moment of silence, the blonde boy lowered the book. "Whoops. Okay, uh, I'm gonna go ahead now and take my place on the stage," he said.

"Me too!" shouted one of the boys.

"I'm not doing anything!" said another.

The first boy sighed, and rolled his eyes, walking to the back of the stage where the other actors were sitting. Ricky watched as the other actors followed him back there.

"What's going on?" Ricky asked softly.

Mark frowned. "I don't know," he whispered back. "I thought they were having fun before."

Suddenly, Ricky caught sight of someone standing by the door of the classroom. He was wearing a gray shirt and a pair of pants and had a black mask covering the lower half of his face. He stared at Ricky intently, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

Ricky shivered, feeling uneasy, and quickly averted his gaze. But that was all he could manage without drawing attention to himself because the man seemed to move closer to the door. Then he turned and walked away.

"Do you recognize the person?" Mark asked Ricky.

He shook his head silently, afraid of making a noise. "No," he said. "Should I? Who is it?"

Mark shrugged. "Maybe someone from school?"

Ricky frowned. "Doesn't look like it." Then he shook his head, and changed the subject, trying to get his mind off of what he saw. "Anyway," he said. "Let's just watch the audition."

As the audition progressed, Ricky kept glancing back over his shoulder every few moments until finally, the director stopped it.

"Alright," the director said. "It looks like we have some actors left, including Sam." He paused for a moment before turning toward Sam. "And Sam, how do you feel about being the lead actor?"

Sam smiled brightly. "I love it!"

"Great, well, since that has been settled, it's time to pick your characters," said the director. Then he clapped his hands and added, "Please bring your scripts to stage right and stand in line behind Sam, Ricky, and Mark, while waiting your turn."

As the students did as instructed, the boys took their scripts out of their bags and handed them to the director. They were all smiling, happy at the opportunity that they all received.

Once they reached Sam, Ricky glanced around the room. When he caught sight of the man who was standing in the hallway, staring at him, he gulped nervously and looked away quickly.

As the actors and actresses waited patiently for their turn, Ricky felt nervous. What was wrong with him? He wasn't used to performing. He never even wanted to perform, so why was he so nervous now? He glanced back at the strange man. What was he doing here in the classroom? He looked familiar somehow, but Ricky couldn't quite put his finger on it. Maybe he recognized him from somewhere, he thought.

When it was finally Ricky's turn, he stepped up onto the small stage and stood next to the other actors. They were all watching him expectantly. He swallowed heavily.

"Okay," he breathed, taking a deep breath. "I'm Ricky. I'm the lead." His voice sounded odd to his ears, but he didn't stop there. He continued to recite the script word for word, though his nerves grew as he went further. He was glad when he finished, but the room remained silent. He looked down at his script to see if there was any mistake, and then looked up.

"Uh, thanks guys," he stammered. "I guess I'll just leave..."

"Good job Ricky," called the director.

"Yeah," yelled the boy with glasses. "We were worried for nothing."

Ricky chuckled weakly. Then he took one last glance at the hallway where the strange man was still standing. Then he quickly made his way off of the stage and ran out of the classroom.

"What was that all about?" the boy asked, turning to the others, who all shrugged.

Ricky walked down the hall a little more slowly, his shoulders slumped.

So much for acting normally, he thought. He sighed. Now what?

After the auditions wrap up, Ricky slumps in his bed with Mark and Kimama behind him.

"Well, that's that," says Mark.

"Yeah," agreed Kimama. "I mean, it can't have been that bad, right? I mean, it wasn't awful."

"Yeah, except that I had to be the lead," Ricky mumbled.

"Well, it isn't that big of a deal," Kimama assured him.

Ricky sighed again. "Yeah, I suppose," he mumbled.

There was a brief pause, and then Mark broke the silence.

"Is something wrong?" Mark asked.

"Bailey and I broke up," Ricky admitted.

Ricky heard Kimama gasp, and Mark and Kimama exchange glances.

"...Oh," Mark said, quietly. Ricky heard both of them shuffle. He knew they were getting uncomfortable because of his behavior.

Then they fell quiet again. Ricky fidgeted uncomfortably, and the air grew thick with tension. He hated this.

"Why'd you break up?" asked Kimama.

"I... uh," Ricky hesitated. "I dunno. We weren't dating anymore." He tried to shrug, but he winced and pulled his shoulders back. "I think we just started arguing."

Silence again, but Ricky swore he could feel their discomfort growing. He shifted in his seat. After a long moment of tense silence, Mark cleared his throat, breaking the awkwardness.

"What do you want to do today?" he asked, sounding far calmer than Ricky felt. He looked over at Ricky.

Ricky blinked and glanced at Mark. "Huh?"

Mark nodded encouragingly at Ricky. He was trying to encourage Ricky to talk more about himself.

"Nothing. Nothing much," Ricky said. He was relieved that the question seemed to distract Mark, but now he realized he didn't have a good answer to that question. He shrugged awkwardly. "We don't have anything planned or anything, so there isn't anything to do."

"Um," Mark murmured. The three of them fell silent again. "That... doesn't sound so bad."

Kimama snorted a laugh, startling Ricky. "You can say that again," she giggled.

"So how are you two doing?" asked Ricky curiously, leaning forward. The girls giggled again.

"Pretty okay," Kimama answered. "We got our leads today, which makes us pretty excited, and we've had no problems finding roles in our play, which makes us pretty proud." She smiled.

Ricky smiled lightly. He was happy for her. And he was happy to hear the two of them were working things out. It reminded him of when his sister would visit home.

After a while, they fell silent once more. Ricky shifted in his seat.

"Hey, uh... can I ask you guys a personal question?" he asked quietly. They all nodded. "How come you don't get to have friends?" he continued, frowning slightly. "It seems unfair that you guys get to hang out with each other while the rest of us don't even get to know one another."

Mark blinked a little.

"Well, I... I've always just had friends," he explained. "It's not fair. I get to hang out with my best friends, but no one else gets that privilege."

Kimama laughed softly. "Yeah. You're such an idiot sometimes Mark," she remarked with a smile. Then she noticed Ricky was looking confused. "What's wrong?"

"But... why can't you just spend time with me?" Ricky asked suddenly, surprising Mark and Kimama, who looked surprised. He looked embarrassed at asking such an awkward thing in front of two teenage girls, but he continued. "Don't you miss hanging out with me?"

"Well... yeah," Mark answered. "I do," he added after a short pause. "Not just hanging out with you," he clarified. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one that feels this way. That I'm not alone," he finished.

"Yeah," Kimama nodded. She smiled gently at Ricky. "I do too."

Ricky grinned, looking pleased to hear that. He sat up in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.

Mark smiled slightly. "I'm not saying I'm lonely or anything." He added. "I've got plenty of people to hang out with too. Like... well... like you, Ricky. And the other two actors here. And everyone else. Just, you know, normal human beings."

"Right," chimed Kimama in.

"I know you don't care much about popularity," Ricky stated honestly. He frowned a little, thinking. "...You could have anyone you want." He shook his head. "Even me."

The words slipped from his mouth before he could realize what he said, but he supposed that it wouldn't hurt to let that particular truth sink in for a minute.

Kimama raised an eyebrow at him, seeming almost shocked.

Mark stared at him.

And Ricky looked down at his script, not meeting either of their eyes.

Mark and Kimama exchanged looks, but neither of them knew exactly what Ricky meant by those words. There was no reason for Ricky to feel jealous, they both believed. Ricky had said it all without even realizing how close they were.

Mark glanced down and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um... I, uh, don't care about that stuff." He looked back at Ricky. "I'm sure whoever you want will be fine with that," he told him. "If you're into guys."

Ricky blushed a little. Was that what was going through Mark's mind? Well, if anyone else knew him well enough to figure it out, they probably weren't very close, considering how he treated most people.

Still, he hoped they hadn't noticed.

"Spring break is around the corner, what are your plans, Ricky?" Kimama asked. "Going anywhere special for Spring Break?"

"I dunno," replied Ricky. "Not anything special. Not like... anything special enough to go away for Spring Break, anyway. Maybe just stay home and hang out, ya know? But it's not like I have a lot to celebrate anyways."

He shrugged helplessly.

"Ah, come on," Kimama laughed a little. "This isn't exactly a depressing situation," she joked.

"Yeah, but..." Ricky trailed off, glancing towards Mark. He frowned. Why am I feeling so insecure today? he wondered.

"Well," Mark began slowly. "Maybe you could take some time off from school to come to the beach with us next weekend! That would make a grand vacation! Come, let's plan for spring break! That'll be fun!"

"You guys are having a holiday together?" asked Ricky, sitting up a little straighter in his seat.

"Yes, of course," assured Mark.

"Oh, I forgot we were going to Hawaii," Kimama exclaimed, clapping a hand to her face. "Oops."

"Yeah." Ricky nodded, chuckling slightly.

"It's better than going to my annual family Elvis vacation," Mark said.

"Yeah," Ricky chuckled. "Better than that."

After thinking hard about his decision, he concludes.

"I'm going to Australia," Ricky announced.

"Australia? Haven't you been there multiple times?" Mark ferried his eyebrows.

Ricky thought, but his face remained blank. His face stayed expressionless for several seconds, then realization dawned upon him.

"What?" Ricky questioned dumbly.

"Your parents aren't going, right?" asked Mark, tilting his head. "No offense, but, well..." he paused.

Ricky swallowed nervously as he nodded. "Yeah. Um... No," he answered. "My parents are staying in town, though," he added hastily. He shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"Hmm." Mark hummed in agreement.

"Anyway..." Ricky trailed off, shaking his head slightly as he stood up abruptly to grab his laptop.

"What part of Australia are you traveling to?" Kimama asked.

"Broome, " Ricky replied.

"Broome?" Mark echoed. "Are you sure you're going to Broome? You don't seem like a brooding type of guy. Or like a tourist."

"Oh, I'm definitely a tourist," Ricky scoffed.

"A tourist with expensive taste."

"Hey, I'm not cheap!" Ricky defended indignantly.

Mark rolled his eyes and smirked.

Kimama and Mark chuckled.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Mark teased. "Broome it is, then."

"Thank you, I will accept it gratefully," Ricky joked sarcastically.

"Let's work on our itineraries first and then continue our homework before spring break starts. I'm not going to fail this class." Mark said.

"You won't fail your class," Ricky reassured him.

"Okay. Good. Now let's start working on the details, shall we?" he said seriously, getting out his own computer and gesturing for Ricky to do the same.

Kimama nodded. She leaned forwards in her seat. "Alright. So... We're going to fly on Saturday morning."

Mark sighed. "Saturday morning," he echoed, sounding exhausted as he closed the laptop and put it on the desk. "I'm not sure I wanna go to Hawaii."

"Yeah? Me neither," Kimama agreed, grinning widely as she settled back against her pillow again.

Ricky nodded as he opened his laptop once more, opening a new browser tab and entering his home email program. "It's gonna be boring," Mark said.

"Don't say that. You have to keep an open mind." Ricky said.

Mark sighed. "Can't argue with that logic."

"Good, now let's begin working on our travel plans," suggested Kimama.