"Great job, Mina." my chorus teacher said with a grin on his face. "Are you excited for the concert?"

"I mean, of course!" I said, laughing. "First concert since...y'know, things all went down."

My chorus teacher sighed, looking down at his feet. What happened a year and a half ago was difficult for anyone close to me to process, it's something I don't even want to think about, much less talk about. But it's always fun to cope with humor once in a while.

"I gotta go meet Rose." I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "She's probably waiting for me."

Rose is my best friend. I moved in with her when everything went down, we met online a couple of years ago, right when I turned thirteen. We're fifteen now, and I love her to death.

"Speak of the devil." my chorus teacher said, grinning as Rose walked in.

"Hey, Mina." Rose said. "My mom's waiting for us."

I shrugged, wanting to stay at school just a little bit longer. "Okay."

Rose, noticing my discomfort, took my arm and dragged me down to the end of the hallway. "Ximena, I know we're in a weird situation. I know you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, but I promise, I'll get us out of here."

"Okay." I said quietly. "I trust you."

________

It was the day of the concert. Choir concerts were always weird at St. Cassian's, given what happened with the choir ten years ago. They don't take us to the fall fair anymore. No one wants to take any chances.

The choir was small this year. Just me and a couple of other kids I didn't think to talk to. Ever since I was forced to move to Uranium City, no one's really wanted to talk to me. Sure, the choir kids say hi to me every so often and try to make small talk- but I was never good with small talk.

"Hey." Rose said, giving me a gentle hug. "I know I can't come, but I'll have someone record it. I promise, I wouldn't miss your singing for the world."

I sighed, feeling selfish for wanting Rose to stay. Because if Rose didn't come watch me, then I'd have no one.

"I'm so proud of you." Rose said, putting her head on top of mine. "I'm so proud of you, azizam."

"Thank you, mi amor." I said, sighing as Rose got up and left.

_______

The St. Cassian's Chamber Choir were about to get up on stage for our annual concert. We've been practicing this piece all year, and as the new leader of the choir, I had a little solo in it. It was a tricky piece, but I was so excited.

For my entire life, performance has always been my escape. I've been dancing since I was three, ballet; contemporary; hip hop; and tap. I joined my old school's theatre company when I was eleven, and when "the incident" happened, I started singing and writing songs, choreographing solos to relieve the pain. I honestly don't know where I would be now if I hadn't performed for so long.

"Break a leg, Ximena." this choir kid who I'd never talked to in my life said, smiling.

"Thanks." I said softly. "You too, uh-"

"Reef. Thank you."

"Oh, uh- you're welcome."

I was tapping my foot backstage, waiting for the headmaster to announce our arrival.

And then I heard a scream.

_________
Noel's POV

My husband, Mischa, had surprised me for my birthday. We were going to go to St. Cassian's choir concert, ten years after the disaster.

I had tried to distance myself from St. Cassian's. There were too many bad memories attached to the school, to the choir, to Uranium as a whole. But I still kept in touch with the rest of the choir kids, and Mischa and I had been talking about going to one of the concerts for a good while now.

We were sitting in the uncomfortable auditorium seats, waiting for the concert to begin. The stage was bare, except for a few microphones- obviously the A/V department had gotten an upgrade since I went to the school.

I was looking through the program, trying to see if I could spot the relatives or children of anyone I went to school with. I couldn't place any familiar names, but I did stumble upon the new leader of the choir.

Ximena Churchill was their name.

I shrugged, putting the program down as the lights faded to black, getting ready to see the choir perform yet again.

Until the door burst open, causing Mischa to jump slightly from next to me. A woman ran in, storming up to the stage.

"XIMENA CHURCHILL!" she yelled, jumping onto the stage and running back. "You stupid fucking child, what did I tell you and Rosalind about this singing thing?"

I heard a small yelp from backstage and another door opening and shutting. And from my knowledge of the school, I knew where that door led. To the chorus room.

"I'm gonna go check on that kid." I said.

___________

I slowly opened the door to the chorus room, and I was met with the most devastating sight.

A kid, I assume it was Ximena, in the corner, shaking and crying. Their short, choppy reddish-brown hair framed their tan face, their cheeks tinted pink from the tears. They had a long black dress on, it reminded me of Monique's dress in a way.

Ximena jumped a little at the sound of the door opening, and I felt so bad.

"Hey, I promise I'm not here to hurt you." I said softly. "I just wanted to check on you."

"Who are you?" Ximena said in some sort of accent. "Someone from the choir?"

"No, wait- technically, yes." I said, internally cursing myself. "Can I come talk to you?"

Ximena got up and sat on the risers, smoothing out their dress and allowing me to get a good look at their face. They had sparkling brown eyes and thick, clear glasses, sporadic freckles on their face and neck.

"My name is Noel." I said, sitting next to Ximena. "I graduated from this school a while back and used to sing in the choir, my.. my husband gave me tickets to this concert just to relive the old times. But enough about me, are you okay?"

Ximena shrugged, and to my utter surprise, leaned their head on my shoulder.

"My name is Ximena." they said, shaking and stuttering. "I- uh, I'm sorry. You didn't have to check on me."

"You don't need to apologize, amour." I said, smiling softly.

"You know French?" Ximena said, giggling a little.

"Yeah, I got taught when I was a little kid by my mother." I said. "Do you speak any other languages?"

"I'm a polyglot." Ximena said. "I speak English, Spanish, French, Japanese, and German fluently, I know Latin, and I'm learning Persian and Russian."

"Wow, that's impressive. I'm really proud of you."

There was a comfortable silence for a while before Ximena shifted a little.

"Can we stay in this room for a bit? I- I don't want to go out." Ximena said.

"Oh, of course. You don't want to sing tonight?" I asked.

Ximena shook their head.

"I hope that's okay."

"Oh, it's more than okay, Ximena. Tell you what, if it's okay with you, after the concert I can have my husband come in and you can meet him, and we can figure out what to do." I said.

Ximena smiled and then cleared their throat. "Can I- can I give you a hug?" they asked.

"Of course, Ximena." I said, opening my arms. Ximena scrambled into them and started crying a little, and I rubbed slow circles into their back.

"Thank you." Ximena said in between their tears.

"Anytime, Ximena."

___________

Ximena's POV

Honestly, that was the most love I've felt in so long. I didn't expect anyone to come check on me- I've been in such hot water with performances lately and no one came to see if I was okay or anything.

Noel's nice. I like Noel. Better than Rose's mom, as much as I love Rose.

The door opened again and another man walked in. I assume it was the husband Noel kept mentioning.

"Where were you?" the husband said in an accent I couldn't quite place. "You texted me and told me to come here immediately, what's going on?"

Noel smiled and pointed towards me. "Mischa, this is Ximena. Ximena, this is my husband, Mischa."

"It's nice to meet you." I said softly.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ximena." Mischa said.

I sighed, getting an idea. It might not work, it sounded stupid when I thought about it, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"Would it be okay if I stayed with you guys tonight? I- I don't feel safe where I currently am..." I said, being careful not to reveal anything more.

The truth was, Rose and I didn't meet online. We met in person during the incident, we got thrown in the same foster home- with the most insane family I've ever met. Rose was there first, she'd been trying to get out of there ever since she came in. She was lucky- she had biological family and family friends she could go to, and she stayed with them from time to time. But I didn't have anyone, at least not in Canada. I didn't have a chance.

Until now, that is.

"Oh, Ximena, that's more than okay." Noel said, looking to Mischa for confirmation. Mischa nodded and said, "You can stay with us as long as you need, do you need to grab anything?"

"I just have my backpack..." I said. "All my stuff is at- uh, is at-"

We don't need to go if you don't want to." Noel said softly, seemingly understanding what I was trying to say. "I can send Mischa later tonight to grab whatever you want from there if you're okay with him doing that."

I nodded, grabbing my backpack and heading out of St. Cassian's the back way.

Hopefully this would be my escape, more that the choir ever would.