I carefully drag the eyeliner across the little girl's cheek. "Stay still," I remind her, finishing off the last of her whiskers. "There. Who's next?"

"Thank you!" Eliana says, getting up off the chair and going to sit with the other girls. I look around, seeing fifteen little mice all with perfectly-drawn whiskers and cute little buns. I just spent the last hour making sure they look cute as can be for their dance, I think I'm finally done.

"You all look adorable," I gush, clapping my hands together and looking at them all. We're waiting in a dressing room for our call backstage. "You guys are gonna do great."

I feel a tug on the leg of my full body suit. I'm the cat to their mice, and my costume consists of a black and brown full-body leotard, a black tutu, and black cat ears. I look down to see Nina with her lower lip popping out, looking up at me with sad eyes.

"Ms. Scarlett?"

I kneel down so I'm eye-level with her. "Are you okay, Nina?"

She looks around. "I'm nervous," she whispers. "I'm afraid of forgetting my moves. I don't want everyone to see me."

Her bottom lip starts to wobble, and I pull her into a hug. "You're going to dance perfectly today," I assure her, placing my hands comfortingly on her shoulders. "And if you forget your moves, I'll be right there beside you, and you can just watch me."

She doesn't look convinced. I move a stray hair back into her tiny bun. "You know, when I was six, just like you, I would get nervous too," I admit.

Her eyes widen. "You did?"

I nod. "I did." And honestly, it only made me more nervous to see Dani, who was so much younger than me, not feeling a single ounce of nervousness. "I was scared of forgetting my moves too."

"So what did you do?"

"Don't tell your mom I told you this, but I would imagine everyone in their underwear. That would make me less nervous." She giggles. "Also, when you're on stage, the lights are so bright that you can't even see the audience. So you can just pretend that you're dancing alone. Or in our dance studio."

She smiles. "Really?"

I hug her again, glad that I could make her feel better. "Really." She doesn't want to seem to let go of me, so I eventually have to pry myself out of her tiny arms. "Alright, I'll see you backstage. Kristen's mom will stay here with you all while I go set up the stage for you, okay?"

Nina nods reluctantly then goes to sit back down with the other girls. I give Kristen's mom a rundown of when to bring the girls to the stage wings and how to organize them before I get there. Then I leave the room with my bag to set up the music for their dance.

I walk down the empty backstage hallways of the performing. All the other dancers are tucked inside their own dressing rooms, getting ready, and the teachers don't want any dancers running around when it's not their time, so it's eerily quiet as I make my way to the right wing.

It's chaos back there, with three different dance classes lining up in order. I have to weave my way toward an empty corner to drop my bag. I start searching through it for the CD with the dance music burned onto it, but in the midst of my search, I curse myself when I realize that I left my phone back in the dressing room.

I leave my bag there, hurrying back to the room to get my phone.

On the way there and back, the hallway is just as quiet. On the way back, I make a stop at the bathroom for a nervous pee. When I step back out, a hear a noise around the corner. It sounds like someone walking. I peek around the corner to see who it is, ready to guide a younger girl back to her dressing room if needed.

But there's no one there.

I could've sworn I heard someone, but I chalk it up to my nerves. I shake it off and head back to the stage wing.

I find my bag where I propped it up. I kneel down and start to dig through it.

My blood freezes when my hand grazes against leather. I immediately grab onto whatever I'm feeling, hoping I'm wrong, and pull it out. I almost let out a cry when I find myself holding up Levi's leather jacket.

He was here. He was here digging through my stuff.

I clasp my hand over my mouth, looking around the crowded stage wing. I don't see anyone with his stature, but it's too crowded to know for sure. For all I know, Levi could still be here, watching me.

With shaky hands, I throw the jacket into the nearest trash can and head back to my bag, determined to not let my personal problems get in the way of me organizing this dance. I pull out the CD with the dance music burned it.

No, no, no no. This is all wrong.

The plastic cover is wrong. The writing on the CD is all wrong. Everything is wrong.

This isn't the dance CD. This is the CD Levi gave me. The stupid songs he said reminded him of me. I only listened to it once and never looked at it again.

Until now.

I crack the CD in half, throwing it away on top of the jacket angrily. How dare he? How dare he mess with something like this?

My entire body is shaking now, and I taste blood in my mouth. Slowly, I release my cheek from where I had subconsciously clamped it between my teeth. I dig through my bag again, hoping he left the dance CD in there, kicking my bag across the floor when I find that it's not there.

I feel a tap on my shoulder. I startle, relaxing when I realize it's just Ms. Samantha. "Scarlett? Are you alright?" She eyes my bag that I just kicked ten feet away. "Is something wrong?"

I shake my head, trying to control my frantic breathing. "No, no, everything's fine. Um—the CD I burned. It's scratched in a few places, so I was wondering if I could just play the music from my phone. I have a playlist on there."

Ms. Samantha stares at me for a few seconds, evaluating my shaky appearance, before slowly nodding her head. "Of course. And you're sure it'll go down without a hitch?"

"Definitely."

"Great." She flashes a kind smile. "Remember to space their leaps out. The girls tend to get tired when you do them too fast. Maybe only like four across the stage. "

"Got it."

She nods once then disappears among the dozens of other people back here. As much as I would like to just curl up and hyperventilate, the girls are counting on me. So I push through my confusion—my paralyzing fear—to get the music ready.

Fortunately, the dance goes down without a hitch. I manage to suppress my fear for long enough to power through the dance with a dazzling smile on my face. None of the girls freeze up or cry or throw up on stage, so I count that as a win.

After making sure all the girls find their parents after the recital, I find my own family, trying to keep my calm composure for as long as possible. They all sat through a two-hour recital to watch me dance on stage in a cat costume for less than four minutes, so I don't want to be a downer.

Jack spots me first, walking up to greet me with a bouquet of light pink peonies. He looks me up and down, raising his eyebrows. "That's . . . quite the costume," he says, his eyes sparkling.

I laugh, hugging him as he kisses my forehead. "I think you're supposed to say something along the lines of 'You look beautiful' or 'Wow, you look amazing.'"

Jack kisses me. "You look beautiful. Wow, you look amazing."

I smack his arm but rest my head on his shoulder anyway. I bring the flowers up to my nose. "Thank you for the flowers." I run my fingertips over the soft petals. "Peonies are my favorite."

"I know," Jack says as we join my family, making this gift that much more special.

Archer looks at the flowers in my arms, rolling his eyes. "You got her flowers? Really?" he says. "Cliche much?"

"You could learn a few things from him," Mya says next to him.

"Ahh, there's our star," my mom exclaims as soon as she sees me, practically jumping up and down in her high heels. She kisses my cheek and hugs me tightly. "You did great."

"I was dancing at a kindergarten level."

"Doesn't matter. You killed it," my dad says, giving me a hug. I relax into his arms, amazed by how he still manages to make me feel safe and protected with a simple hug.

"Definitely not Mya's level," I say, smiling at my friend who's standing with Archer's arm wrapped around her shoulders. "But it was fun. A lot of fun, actually."

"That's great," Dani says. "I can't remember the last time you had fun dancing."

I pull her in for a tight hug, feeling a swell of emotion toward my baby sister. I know how much she loved being on stage and how much it stung to no longer have that part of her life to look forward to. But the look in her eyes as she said that betrayed none of her own sadness.

Dani just looks happy for me. And I finally let myself feel happy for myself.

"I love you," I say into her hair.

"I know," she says, and she might as well have said 'I love you' back.

We pull away when we hear Mom sniffle. "You two are gonna make me cry," she says, leaning into my dad's side and dabbing her eyes.

"Well, it doesn't take much," Archer points out but goes to hug his mom anyway. "You cried when I passed my driver's test."

"She was crying for everyone else on the road," Dani jabs. "You and Dad shouldn't have licenses. For the good of society."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Dad says, sharing a look with Archer.

"You drifted in the parking lot after my middle school graduation ceremony!" Dani exclaims.

"It was a time for celebration," Dad says defensively.

"I'm with Dad on this one," Archer chimes in.

Dani groans, resting her forehead on Mom's shoulder in defeat. Mom strokes her hair comfortingly. We all know how it feels to argue against the Dad-and-Archer dynamic duo. It's a losing fight every time.

Mom gets out her phone. "Alright, let me get a picture before I get too emotional."

Dani, Archer, Jack, and I huddle together with our arms around each other, just like we've done for pictures a thousand times before. Mya blushes when Mom urges her to get into the picture as well, but obliges and tucks herself next to Archer. Mom snaps a few pictures before asking Dani to take a few of her and Dad together. Dad pulls Mom to his side and kisses her cheek for the picture.

While that happens, Jack notices the cracks in my expression as I dwell on what happened backstage. "Hey," he says quietly, tilting my chin up to him. "Everything alright?"

I'm about to nod, to lie and say that today went down without a hitch. But then I remember the promise I made to him at the hotel, to tell him about anything that Levi does. Plus, if there's anyone I want to tell, it's Jack. I shake my head slightly, already feeling my hands begin to shake again.

Jack opens his mouth to say something, but Archer beats him to it. "Alright, lovebirds. Our reservations at the steakhouse are in half an hour. We gotta get going."

"I'll meet you guys there," I say. "I just need to talk to Ms. Samantha real quick."

"I'll stay back with her," Jack says, sensing my cover-up story and going along with it. "We won't be long."

After getting the address of the restaurant, my family and Mya head out to claim our reservation, leaving me and Jack alone in the increasingly empty lobby. "Ready to tell me what's wrong?" Jack says once they're out of earshot. But I'm sensing that he already knows this has something to do with Levi.

I step closer to him, taking one of his hands between mine as a way to calm myself down. "It's stupid," I say, wanting to forget the whole thing.

"Well, if it's upsetting you, it's not stupid to me," he says quietly, pulling me closer. "Tell me."

Jack strokes his thumb across my palm as I tell him everything that happened backstage. I feel Jack's grip get tenser as I continue talking, but he masks his anger well while he concentrates his gaze on me. He makes sure to listen and make me feel as sane as possible, trying his best to calm me down even as my breath quickens.

I'm almost done with my recount when a little girl from my class runs up to me with her mother, tugging on my tutu. "Ms. Scarlett!"

I quickly let go of Jack, composing myself before I answer. "Hi, Willow! You danced great today," I say cheerily. Then I gesture toward Jack. "This is my friend, Jack. He thinks you did really well too."

I'm about to introduce myself to Willow's mom when Willow says, "You have a lot of friends, Ms. Scarlett." That's when I notice the single red rose in her hand that she's holding up to me. "Another one of your friends told me to give this to you."

Jack and I share a quick look, but I waste no time taking the rose from her. I see Jack looking around the courtyard, no doubt searching for Levi. He couldn't have gotten far after giving this to Willow.

Willow's mom gives me a kind look. "He was tall. Dark hair. Handsome guy. Said he had to leave and couldn't find you. He said to give this to you if we saw you," she says, taking Willow's hand in hers. It terrifies me how casual Willow's mom sounds. Because that means that she didn't feel at all threatened by Levi's presence.

He could be anywhere, and no one would ever be suspicious of him. Hell, I wasn't even suspicious of him until he started showing his true colors.

I thank Willow and her mother, pretending to be elated by the gift from Levi. Jack plucks the flower from my grip and takes my hand again as I watch them walk off to their car. I'm not even shaking anymore. Now I just want to cry. Jack senses I'm only more upset, wrapping his arm around me. I bury my face into his shoulder and clutch Jack's bouquet against my chest, trying to contain my emotions.

"You'd think he'd at least know that you don't like roses," Jack says. I know he's trying to make me laugh, to make me feel better, but I don't think there's much that could put a smile on my face right now.

I don't know what the hell to do.

"There's a note," Jack says. I lift my head and, sure enough, there's a small note wrapped around the stem. I yank it off and open it between me and Jack.

North entrance of main library
Midnight
Come alone

"I have to go," I say, crumpling the note in my hand.

"No, you're not going anywhere with that freak."

"That's the only way he'll stop. He wants something from me, and he won't stop until he gets it."

"Of course he wants something," Jack says, taking the note from my hand. "You. Control over your life. Every second of your attention. The guy is a lunatic, and whatever he wants isn't going to be a reasonable request."

"What else am I supposed to do?" I ask, feeling hopeless. I wipe a tear from my face, and my hand comes away covered in black eyeliner from my whiskers. "He's not going to stop."

"And you think he'll stop if you meet him? If anything, it'll make him keep hounding you because he knows he's affecting you." Jack uses his thumb to wipe my cheek. "There's no point in putting yourself in danger like that."

But I know how Levi is. "He'll get mad if I don't go."

"Let him get mad. I can handle a little mad."

"Jack, your future—"

"Fuck my future, Scar. You really think I'm willing to put your life on the line for basketball? Who knows what he'll do with you if you give him the chance" Jack exclaims, taking my face between his hands tenderly. "Let him do whatever he's threatening to do. Let him throw away his leverage, then we'll report him for harassment. Get a restraining order."

He knows I don't like the idea of him putting his spot on the team on the line for me. But besides confronting Levi head-on, it seems like the only option.

So I put my trust in Jack, nodding my head and watching his face flood with relief. "Okay," I agree.

"Okay?"

"I won't go."

Jack smiles, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead, smoothing over the stress lines that have formed there. "We'll figure this out. Together. It'll all work out, I promise," he says, crumpling the rose in his palm, thorns and all. "Do you trust me?"

"I do," I say without missing a beat. "It'll all work out."

Jack wraps his around around my shoulders, kissing the side of my head. "That's my girl," he says, reminding me how much I love when he calls me that. It's been so long that it feels all the more special, especially tucked into the side of his tall body like this. "Now let's get out of here."

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