Sarina and Myron get out of the car, carrying boxes of food and drinks. I try not to glare at Myron as Briar and I help them carry everything inside the theater. Sarina leads the way, pushing the doors open for us. Briar pauses right at the threshold. Her shoulders rise and fall a couple of times before she steps into the building.

"You okay?" I whisper.

Briar nods, keeping her eyes on the back of Myron's head. "I'm okay."

I gently bump her with my shoulder. "We can drive back to Boucreek anytime you want to."

She nods again, but she doesn't look at me. I'm sure she's considering leaving right now, but I know she won't. As anxious as she must be about acting—with Myron around no less—she'll still do it because she wants to help. Hopefully, a part of her wants to act, too, and she's looking forward to it a little bit.

Sarina pushes one last set of doors open to an auditorium. People are scattered throughout the room. Some are painting backdrops on stage. Others are sitting in the red seats going over lines together. When the doors shut behind us, they all look up at the prospect of food. And they all do a double-take when they see Briar.

Sarina smiles as she leads the way down the aisles to a man in his early thirties. "We ran into Briar, and she said she's willing to fill in some of the roles today."

He doesn't miss a beat and smiles. "Getting back into acting?"

Briar shrugs, setting the box of food next to the stage. "Maybe just for today if that's okay with you, Wright."

He hands her a script. "No problem at all." He turns his green-gold eyes on me. "And this is...?"

Briar places her hand on my arm. "This is my boyfriend, Idris." Now that I'm not as pissed off anymore, hearing her say that makes the heat claw its way up my neck. Of course, she notices and smirks. "He's shy." I roll my eyes, making her smile widen. She turns back to Wright. "Is it okay if he sits in? We're leaving town by the end of the day, so it's not like he can tell anyone spoilers."

Wright nods. "Yeah. No problem. You can have a seat anywhere you'd like."

Briar kisses me on the cheek and hands me her bag before she follows Wright and Sarina on stage. Everyone else takes a break to grab food and watch, scattering throughout the auditorium. I settle for a seat on the edge of the third row, focusing on Briar.

Wright's voice drifts around the room. He goes over blocking and what he wants the tone of the scene to be. Briar nods, scanning the script. When Briar and Sarina are ready to go, Wright hops off the stage and nods at them to start the scene.

The moment they do, the entire room goes quiet. People even stop eating just to watch, and I can't blame them. I find myself leaning forward, completely in awe at how Briar and Sarina become completely different people. More angry. Like they hate each other. It's like watching Briar act as the fairy queen but ten times more intense. I almost want to go back to Poems and Tales to tell Clara that I get what she means now about craving to see Briar act on stage. It's different from seeing her sing live. It's not like being addicted to honey. It's like being addicted to the high of adrenaline, and I don't think I've ever wanted to chase an adrenaline rush as much as I do right now.

When the scene ends, Briar turns to Wright, a nervous smile on her face. "Was that okay?"

Wright lets out an incredulous laugh. "Briar, that was amazing."

Sarina smiles and throws an arm around Briar's shoulder. "Yeah! You have to help with the other scenes!"

The others in the audience cheer their agreement. Briar blushes, but she nods and flips through the script. "What else did you need to go over?"

For the next few hours, I sit and watch Briar go through different scenes as different characters. It's mesmerizing. She's mesmerizing. The moment the scene ends and she becomes Briar again, I have to blink a few times to come back into reality.

The only time she falters is when she has to do a scene with Myron. But even then, she's doing a great job. It's pretty obvious she's enjoying herself, too. Like she was made for performing.

"What do you think?" Sarina asks, sitting next to me.

I don't take my eyes off of Briar. "I love seeing her on stage."

Sarina laughs softly. "Me too." Her voice comes out a little sad when she adds, "I wish she still acted full-time."

I glance at Sarina. She looks and sounds genuine, but she still hangs out with Myron... "I'm sure Briar wants to. She's just insecure about it."

Sarina goes quiet, her eyes on Myron. I follow her gaze. Briar and Myron are still going through their scene, and I'm transported to a different reality. One where they're getting along as they laugh and joke with each other on stage. I hate to admit it, but Myron's a good actor, too. Just as good as Briar and maybe even a little better. But just barely. So I don't understand why he gives her and only her such a hard time.

When the scene ends, Wright tells Briar she did a good job before he turns to Myron to give him a few notes. For a split second, Myron's expression darkens, but the moment I blink, he looks almost bored. It puts me on edge knowing he can flip a switch like that. It's impressive but also... familiar...

Myron steps off stage so other people can practice their scenes with Briar. He takes his phone out of his pocket as he does. He freezes when he looks at the screen. Sarina sees it, too, and sits forward. She starts to stand, but she sits back down when he walks right past us to answer his phone.

"Hi, Dad," I hear him say.

His voice is more respectful than I've heard it all day. But I guess that makes sense. Not everyone talks to their family the way they talk to other people. I know I don't. That's probably why I glance at him every few seconds. He stares at the stage with the phone pressed to his ear. For the most part, his expression is blank like he might not be listening to his dad at all. But the longer he's on the phone and the longer Briar's on stage, the more he starts to react. Some furrowed eyebrows. Mostly frowns. Occasionally, they come together into a scowl. When Briar starts a duet with someone, Myron walks out of the auditorium altogether.

I don't want to say I care about why he's acting this way, but I can't ignore the uneasy feeling cascading over me. I don't want to think too hard about why I feel this way, so I try to focus on Briar instead and her honey-filled voice as it floats throughout the room. The anxiety fades almost instantly. I'm sure it would've faded away completely any other time, but something about Mryon's reaction to his dad calling sticks with me. It doesn't help that it seems like Sarina is put off by it, too. She bounces her leg, her head turning to look at the door every few seconds.

The song ends sooner than I'd like, the uneasy feeling resurfacing. But it helps to see the way Briar freezes when Wright tells her to take a break, ending with, "You were great. Consider auditioning for the next musical when you come back in the fall."

She blinks. When the words register, her face darkens with color. Somehow, she manages to offer him a shy but appreciative smile. She nods and turns away to grab one of the plastic water bottles off to the side of the stage.

Sarina and I exchange smiles as Wright calls her up to the stage. She springs to her feet, a bounce in her step like hearing Briar get complimented makes her as happy as it makes me. So when she turns her head towards Briar again and her smile falters, I feel my stomach sink. I follow Sarina's gaze, and the moment I see who's with Briar, I freeze.

Myron's back is to me, so I can't see his expression. But Briar is standing ramrod straight, her knuckles turning white as she grips the water bottle. And her eyes... they're usually so full of color and light, but they almost seem black as she stares at Myron. Not only that, they're misty like she's about to cry.

The uneasy feeling from hearing Myron talk to his dad intensifies, but no matter how eerily familiar Myron is acting right now, the way he's treating Briar overrides the discomfort with something a lot more aggressive: anger.

Before I can even get to my feet, Briar walks past Myron, keeping her eyes on the ground. She walks straight to me. I stand, putting my hands on her arms.

"What happened?" I ask.

Instead of answering, Briar says, "I want to go back to Boucreek."

I frown, glaring at Myron over her head. He doesn't look at me. He focuses on Briar, his eyes blazing. I look back at Briar. "What'd he say to you?"

Briar shakes her head. "Idris. Please. Let's just go, okay?"

I grit my teeth but nod. "Okay. Let's go."

She grabs her bag and heads towards Wright. Sarina tries to stop her, but Briar evades her with a half-mumbled excuse about needing to go. Sarina turns to me, her eyes wide. I shrug, nodding my head towards Myron. She looks past me, and if I didn't know any better, I would say she's acting the part of a really pissed-off person right now. But this isn't Sarina acting. She would probably kick Myron through a wall right now if she could get away with it.

She starts to stalk forward, stopping next to me long enough to say, "Take Briar to her house. I'll try to meet you there as soon as I can."

I nod, but she's already stalking the rest of the way to Myron. I glance back long enough to see Myron roll his eyes at Sarina. It almost makes me want to walk over there myself to berate him. But right now, I need to get Briar out of here.

"... hope to see you on stage again," Wright is saying with a smile.

Briar manages to return it. "Let me know how the musical goes."

She doesn't wait for Wright to respond. She's already rushing down the aisle towards the auditorium doors. I say a quick goodbye to Wright before catching up with Briar. By the time I reach her, she's already standing by the car, digging through her bag for her keys. When she sees me coming, she unlocks the doors and holds the keys out to me.

"You're driving," she says. She puts her other hand on the passenger side door handle, but I lean against the door, stopping her from getting in the car. She doesn't let go of the door handle, and she doesn't look at me. She shuts her eyes as the tears finally streak down her face. "Let's just go, Idris."

"You don't want to talk about it?" I ask.

She lets out a breath as more tears spill from the corners of her eyes. "Can't we do that on the drive back?"

I take the keys from her. "I want to give you all my attention."

"Then later. I don't want to talk about it right now."

I nod, pushing myself off the car. "Okay."

She gives me a grateful look before getting in the car. I get in the driver's seat and drive Briar home.