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“Let’s try to be a little more supportive, all right?” Rebecca says. “Skye might become famous one day. This is only just the beginning.”

“Right,” Clarissa says, rubbing the place where Rebecca elbowed her. “But can you get me Henry’s autograph, on the off chance that you see him?”

I sigh, taking in the bright, hopeful look in her eyes.

“Fine,” I reply. “No promises, though. I don’t even know what he auditioned for.”

I don’t mention that it doesn’t really matter, since I got in for both. I’m salty about the fact that Clarissa seems to care more about Henry than she does about me.

“Dance!” Clarissa chirps. “Official footage hasn’t come out yet, of course, but I saw people’s Instagram stories. He wasamazing.”

She sighs dreamily, and I can tell from the definitely-more-restrained-but-still-admiring look on Rebecca’s face that Clarissa isn’t the only one who has a crush on Henry. She’s just more transparent.

“Fine,” I say again. “I’ll get Henry’s autograph.IfI happen to bump into him or something. But I won’t go out of my way to look for him. I have better things to do.”

“Of course,” Rebecca says with a sharp nod. “You prioritize you first, okay? This is just if you have time during your breaks or something.”

Clarissa squeals. “You’re the best! Thanks, Skye!”

At that moment, the bell rings. Everyone gets up from their seats. Both Rebecca and I have AP Psych for first period. The room is pretty close to the cafeteria, so we’re in no rush to get to class. Instead, we just stay near our table and watch as Clarissa fights her way through the crowd leading out into the hall.

“I always tell her she should leave before the five-minute bell, since her first class is on the opposite side of school,” says Rebecca. “But she always forgets.”

“Yeah...”

“For the record, I don’t carethatmuch about Henry. He’s... okay, fine, he’s hot. But you’re my number one, okay?”

“Thanks, Rebecca.”

I give her arm a light squeeze.

But even after we’re settled into our seats in psychology class, and even after Mr. Peterson starts his lecture on operant conditioning, I still can’t forget how Clarissa cared a lot more about seeing Henry Cho than she cared about my audition.

I’ll just have to show her I’m better, I think. I have no idea how good Henry is, but he probably only auditioned to gain more social media followers. No matter how good he really is, he’s my competition, and I’ve worked way too hard and too long to lose to someone like him.

We might have both gotten in, but in the end, everyone will be talking about me.

About halfway into fifth period, I get an email containing detailed instructions on the next steps forYou’re My Shining Star, along with our rehearsal schedule and elimination-round dates. Since we’re allowed to have our laptops out during history, I sneak a quick look at it while pretending to take notes.

It’s a long email, but it’s pretty straightforward and summarizes our schedule at the very end. There are “boot camp” rehearsals every Saturday, alternating between vocal and dance each week—which means rehearsals every weekend for me. Three Saturdays are devoted to elimination rounds, leading up to the live final elimination. The competition schedule itself looks like this:

8/29

First vocal boot camp session

9/5

First dance boot camp session