A week into my trip to California, I'm already dreading returning to Florida. One of the crew members sent me to grab everyone's Starbucks orders one morning. When I get back to the theater, I see Indiana smiling at me.

"What?" I ask, handing her a drink.

"That used to be my job," she answers with a soft laugh. "It's not super exciting, I know."

I shrug. "I don't mind it. I'm happy to help out while I'm here." She gives me a surprised look as I continue to pass out drinks. Once I finish, I find Ben and Josh approaching me, both of them grinning widely.

"Hey, Jack, wanna see something cool?" Josh asks excitedly.

"Shouldn't you two be resting or something?" I question. "You have rehearsal later." I stick my hands in the pocket of my sweatshirt.

"Yeah, but we just figured something out." Ben smiles proudly. "We can do a really realistic fake slap."

"That's it?" I speak up after a pause, waiting to see if there's more.

"That's it." Josh nods. "Wanna see?" In response, I shrug, which they take as a yes. Without another word, they take their positions, Josh delivering a somewhat-realistic slap to Ben's face.

"That was the worst fake-slap I've ever seen," Nick pipes up as he's walking by with Chaz. "I bet I could do better."

"I bet you couldn't," Ben challenges.

"Watch me." Nick turns to Chaz. "Ready?"

After he prepares himself to pretend to be slapped, Chaz nods. "Ready." Their slap is slightly more realistic than Ben and Josh's. A friendly argument breaks out between the four boys, each of them claiming that their slap was more realistic. Within a few minutes, more cast members join, trying to one-up the last pair.

Sky ends up next to me, lightly putting an arm around my shoulders. He does this a lot. "You should try, Jack Kelly," he urges.

I shake my head. "I'm not exactly confident in my ability to pretend to hit someone. I'm sure I'll actually end up hitting them."

"Oh, come on. It's not that hard. Look." He takes my hand, rubbing it between both of his for some reason. "Loosen your wrist," Sky instructs. He lifts my hand to his face. "Move your hand like this." He demonstrates slowly, then lets go of my hand. "Now try on your own."

I do as he showed me, still slowly. "Like that?"

He nods, smiling. "Just like that. You just have to go faster. Try it." I attempt going faster, and to my surprise, it works. "Hey, guys!" Sky calls to the rest of the group, causing them to quiet down. "I think Jack's got a pretty convincing one."

"Go ahead," Indiana prods, standing next to Josh. Sky gives me an encouraging nod, taking his position. With a deep breath, I raise my hand and do exactly as Sky taught me. One thing is different, however. My hand comes in contact with Sky's cheek, making a loud noise and causing Sky to reel backward a few steps.

My eyes widen the instant I realize what happened. "Sky, I'm so sorry!" I apologize quickly as Sky lifts his hand to his cheek, where a red mark is appearing. I step over to him, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I think I'm okay," he says slowly. "Does it look bad?"

I glance at his cheek, inwardly cursing myself for even attempting that. "No," I answer after a moment.

"You hesitated."

Shaking my head, I change the subject. "Let's get you some ice." I take his hand and pull him with me. "Sit," I instruct him when we arrive back at the thankfully-empty dressing room. "I'll be right back." I leave in search of some ice. I find an ice pack and take it back to Sky, who's still where I left him.

"You're pretty strong," he notes with an amused smile, taking the ice from me and holding it to his cheek.

I wince at his comment. "I'm really sorry. But I did tell you that I would probably hit someone."

"You warned me," he agrees.

"Let's just hope that the mark goes away before rehearsal," I mumble, leaning on the counter next to his chair.

"Jack." Indiana sticks her head in the door. "Your sister is asking for you." She smiles slightly. "Nice slap, by the way. Very convincing."

"Shut up," I mumble, leaving the room as Sky laughs at her comment.

~~~~~
double update day!
I wrote a chapter today and I'm satisfied. I'm really happy about where this book is going :)
thanks for reading!!