Page 7

There were so many people in the gym, and I didn’t have my entourage of bodyguards with me like I usually would for such a public appearance. A part of me had hoped this whole experience would be relatively normal. Sure, kids would get excited to see me at first, but maybe, they’d get over it quickly. Seeing such a big crowd of students gave me flashbacks of every mob of fans who had ever surrounded me though. Nothing about this experience was going to be normal, and I’d been stupid to think otherwise.

Angus stepped into the doorway and waited there like he was expecting some kind of signal. I could hear a woman speaking into a microphone from within the gym, but I was so distracted by my increasing anxiety that I didn’t hear a word she said.

“Liam, there you are.” I turned to find Gabby, one of the studio’s PR girls, walking toward me. Her white-blonde hair was slicked back, and she looked a little like business Barbie in the suit she was wearing. I’d only met her a handful of times, as Mom usually dealt with this kind of stuff. “I’ve been calling you all morning,” she said, as she stopped at my side.

“Oh, sorry about that, I left my work phone at the house.” I figured it wouldn’t be needed at school, but it seemed I was wrong. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

She lifted a slim eyebrow at me. “Of course, I’m here. I’ve got to make sure the announcement goes to plan. Did you read the script I sent through to you yesterday?”

“Script?”

Her blue eyes narrowed with concern. “What you’re expected to say when you’re announced to the school…”

“I never received it.” This day was turning from bad to worse. She must have sent it through to my mother, who was apparently too busy to tell me about it.

Gabby sighed and thrust a piece of paper toward me. “You have about two minutes until you’re announced,” she said before she went to stand in the doorway next to Angus.

My gaze immediately dipped to the page. Memorizing lines was my biggest weakness when it came to acting, and two minutes was barely enough time to read the paragraph let alone commit it to memory. I skimmed the words to get the general gist of what she wanted, so hopefully, that would be enough.

“Okay, they’re going to make the announcement now,” Gabby said, glancing over her shoulder at me. “You ready for this?”

“Sure, wish me luck.” In truth, I was far from ready, but I didn’t really have a choice. I tucked the piece of paper into the pocket of my pants and started toward the gym.

3

Teagan

Today’s school assembly had to be one of the most boring I’d ever attended. The principal had spent the last five minutes talking about the poor performance on our latest fire drill, and she had such a monotonous voice that I was pretty certain she had put half the students to sleep. All the kids surrounding me had a glazed look in their eyes and there was no way any of them was listening to a word of what Principal Green was saying.

I was too busy searching the crowd for our new student to care though. Ever since I’d seen the cast list yesterday, I’d been asking around to see if anyone had met the mysterious new kid, Liam. No one knew who I was talking about though. I’d even tried to find Miss Appleby before school this morning, but she wasn’t in her office. I was desperate to grill her about who Liam Black was and why she’d cast him as Beast. It seemed I’d have to wait until drama later today though.

I stifled a yawn as I tried to focus on Principal Green again. I hadn’t slept well last night. I’d been too distracted worrying about whether the new addition to our drama class could handle the part of Beast. The principal’s droning tone really wasn’t helping me stay awake though. Was she really still talking about fire drills? Evan elbowed me in the side as my head started to droop. My eyes snapped open, and he laughed quietly under his breath as I looked up.

“It’s not nap time, Teags,” he whispered to me.

“Pretty sure it is,” I replied, nodding at the other students. Some of them were legitimately dozing off now, and I didn’t blame them. “I could have had three coffees this morning, and I’d still be falling asleep. This is so boring.”

“It’s assembly. It’s not meant to be exciting,” Evan replied.

“I know, but can you really say it would be this boring if you were up there giving the same talk?”

“No, you’re right. I’d be way more interesting,” Evan agreed. “But mostly because I’d use visual aids to emphasize my points.”

“What, like live flames?”

“I was thinking more like hot firefighters,” he replied.

I snorted out a laugh that was far too loud and attempted to cover it with a cough as several kids looked in my direction. As soon as they looked away, I shot Evan a scowl. “You’re not supposed to make me laugh,” I hissed.

He gave me an innocent look and shrugged. “I can’t help that I’m hilarious.”

“Sure, you can.”

Hayley nudged me from my other side. “Why is Evan talking about hot firefighters?” she whispered.

“He thinks they’d make this fire drill speech more impactful.”

She nodded appreciatively in response. “He has a point. Remind the students that you’re not just running from something buttosomething when there’s a fire.”