They changed the timing of the stoplights at 12th and Preston.

I tapped my hand against the wheel and waited at least an extra twenty seconds for the light to turn green. The smooth jazz from the radio mixed with the road noise as I sped up through the intersection.

I had to wait at two more lights than usual after my delay at twelfth, so by the time I pushed open the front door of the school that Monday morning, it was several minutes after my usual 7:35 arrival.

"How am I here before you?" Evelyn pushed a travel mug into my hand.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, putting the cup to my lips. "Ew, this is coffee."

"Oops, that's mine." She slid the cup from my hand and took a big gulp before handing me the tea she had held hostage.

"So, why are you here so early in the morning? Are you actually going to Mr. Gagnon for help with your college application?"

She groaned. "Yes. My dad agreed to get off my case if I just filled out an application, so here I am. Plus, I didn't want to babysit Peter this morning."

Our shoes slapped against the linoleum and echoed through the hallway of our nearly empty school as I dragged Evelyn along behind me so we wouldn't be too late to our meeting. I looked down to double-check my watch just as we approached the last corner.

7:43 AM.

"Hurry up, I cannot be late! It'll start my whole day off on the wrong foot."

Evelyn resisted when I pulled on her arm, so I turned around to glare at her while she rolled her eyes and tipped her head back like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Before I had time to turn back around, my left shoulder crashed right into something distinctly person shaped. The lukewarm tea sloshed over the top of my cup and down my hand, dripping onto the floor beside me.

"Watch where you are going!" I said, turning to face the young man who'd crashed into me and shaking the excess liquid off my hand. "Someone could have been seriously hurt."

And then my brain made sense of what I was seeing. He was a little taller than me, and looked about the same age, but I'd never seen him before. The distinct red and white of the cane and the faraway look in his eyes were more than enough. Heat rose into my face and my throat closed.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal." He smiled and turned in my direction. "I'm Daniel. Could you point me toward the main office?"

Did he just ask me to point? I thought he couldn't see?

"You can just point my cane in that direction, if that helps," he said, holding out his left hand.

I just stared at his hand until finally Evelyn reached out and pulled the cane to point down the hallway. "If you follow it on the left side, just take the second hallway and you can't miss it."

"Thanks." Daniel smiled.

"Any time," I said before pulling on Evelyn's hand and taking off down the hallway.

"Ms. Richelieu!" Mr. Gagnon greeted us when we finally reached his classroom. "Late this morning."

"Good morning," I said, trying to get my emotions in check. "Thanks for waiting."

I paid little attention to the ten-minute speech Mr. Gagnon gave about writing an essay, my mind still focused on the morning's misfortunes. Evie poked me and jerked her eyes to the front of the room. Which is the only reason I heard Mr. Gagnon say, "And you really need to make sure you diversify your extracurriculars. You don't want to be all about one thing. You want to have a focus, but make sure you are well rounded."

What on earth is that supposed to mean? Do everything but do one thing more?

* * *

Even after an entire day of classes, I still couldn't get the morning's events out of my head. So I was sitting on the floor near the theater when Evelyn finally found me.

"Can you believe I got here at 7:30 am and I'm still here at 4 pm? I mean, the things I do for you, Amelie. Really."

"Speaking of that..." I pulled my dresses out of my bag and draped them over my arm. "Which dress looks best? I wanna really look the part, you know?"

The fabric slid across my skin as Evelyn pulled them up beside my face, one at a time. "This one," she finally declared, holding up a bright teal dress with a white lace overlay. "I know yellows look super good against your skin tone, and you know I'm jealous of that, but I think the blue is more you."

"I don't want to be more me," I pointed out. "I wanna be more her."

"Last year you looked nothing like the blonde, blue-eyed character you were playing, so I don't see why you think a dress will matter."

"Well, last year we did Phantom of the Opera. Meg is French and the whole thing is set in Paris, so I had a leg up on everyone else. But this year we're doing Anastasia! I'm not Russian and none of the characters are African, so I want to at least get the outfit right."

"Still the blue." She shrugs. "Who are you going out for this year?"

She speaks at the same time I do. "Anastasia, of course."

"Yeah, her part's really ballet heavy and I feel like I could..." I trailed off when Evelyn's eyes glazed over. "Earth to Evelyn! I have problems here!" I waved my hand in front of her face and snapped my fingers.

"Oh, yeah." She pushed the blue dress into my arms and pointed to the dressing room. "Go get ready."

I looked at my watch. The audition was in twenty-six minutes. "I'm a minute early. I prepare twenty-five minutes before."

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you'll manage. Now go."

I pushed into the change room and took a deep breath, waiting until the minute ticked past to enter a stall and put on my tights, shorts, shoes, and the blue dress Evelyn had selected. The low pill of the carpet scratched my hands as I dropped down to stretch and I forced all thoughts of the day out of my head, determined to become Anastasia.

It's my twelfth grade year. This is the last musical I'll ever do here. I will be Anastasia. I repeated the mantra in my head as I finished my stretching routine and began marching in place while I pinned a few pieces of my tight black curls off my face.

With exactly five minutes to go, I slid the sparkly tiara headband into my hair and used a couple pins to keep it in place.

"You're not going anywhere," I said aloud, pushing the door open and ignoring the world around me as I made my way down the theater steps to the stage.

"Our next audition is Amelie Richelieu." Mrs. Rodriguez called just as I bounced up the steps to the stage. My timing is finally back!

"As you know, we cast our male lead in last week's auditions, so for this callback we will have all of our hopeful Anastasias work with him. We would like to start with the duet 'Crowd of Thousands' today. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

I smiled Anastasia's brightest smile and shook my head. "No, Mrs. Rodriguez. I'm ready."

The notes flowed out of the piano, and I closed my eyes. I shook my hands, willing all parts of myself to drop out of my fingertips as the most melodious voice I'd ever heard rang out from behind me. His tone was pure and his voice sure. He was Dmitri and I, Anastasia, was captivated.

I leaned all my—her—emotions into the piece. His voice grew louder and closer as the song progressed until we both trailed off with the last notes. "I'd find you again."

"Your Highness," he said, and I turned towards him as he bowed. When he stood, I was met with the face of the boy I'd crashed into this morning. The boy I'd convinced myself I'd probably never have to speak to again. My heart pounded in my throat and my entire head warmed. Sweat licked my palms and the only thing saving me from complete embarrassment was that I knew he couldn't see me.

The applause from the audience snapped me out of the moment.

"Thank you Amelie." Mrs. Rodriguez stood to clap. That was a good sign. "Mr. Chen, we'll have you wait off stage while we prepare the next candidate."

"Of course." He nodded and dropped his cane to the floor, leaving the stage the way he must have entered it.

Well, that's going to be interesting.