Sweat pours down my face as I try to run in my enormous ball gown. My shoeless feet ache with each step. Blood roars in my ears and tears flood my vision.

I'm not going to make it a second time.

My hearts pounds. My lungs burn. I continue to run.

I can still hear their screams from behind me. The gunshots have stopped, but they have other weapons, and when they catch me that's it.

No more do overs.

No more second chances.

I crash through the trees, sticks and thorns pricking my body and ripping my dress. But I can't stop, not even when I reach the end of the woods and the highway lays out in front of me.

Not again.

Deja vu overwhelms me and for a moment I am unable to move. But then I hear the victorious shouts behind me as they see that I am frozen with fear.

I will not give them that satisfaction.

I sprint out into the road without hesitating.

***

3 hours earlier

As soon as I walk to the main stage in the school cafeteria I'm bustled to my dressing room to work on my hair and makeup for the first act of the show.

This is it, opening night.

I bite my lip anxiously as Natalia, my hair stylist, combs through my hair. She twists and pulls chunks every which way, the result being nothing but a complicated ponytail.

She must see my confusion because she says, "We'll do the actual hairstyle after you get your costume on. Wouldn't want your dress to mess up all my good work!"

I laugh a little. "Of course not."

I guess I must look nervous or something because she furrows her brow. "You all right sweetheart?"

I give a hesitant shrug. "Just a little nervous about opening night I guess."

Though while that's true, it's actually more than that. It's been four days since I've told Kevin everything, and nearly two weeks since X threatened to tell everyone about Olivia Wright if I didn't cut connections with Kevin. Two weeks since I told Steve that I didn't care anymore about my secret and devoted my attention to making sure that X didn't even dare come close to hurting Kevin.

But so far nothing has happened.

We've been left unharmed.

No notes, no strange figures, no new threats, no word from Steve other than his lines.

Have they forgotten? Not likely.

So what exactly are they waiting for?

"Peyton, honey, are you okay?" Natalia asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I nod my head quickly. "Yeah yeah of course! I'm fine! But, um, if you see Jacklyn can you send her to me please?"

She smiles. "Of course!" And with that she leaves.

But Jacklyn doesn't show up. Not after my makeup's done, not after I'm in my opening blue dress, and not even after my hair is officially done. When I ask Natalia she just tells me that she couldn't find her, not even in her dressing room where she's supposed to be.

"Is there a phone I can use to call her?" I ask, a bit worried by now.

"Sure hon, Ms Drew has one in her office. When you reach her tell her to hurry down here, she needs to get her makeup and hair done soon, show starts in a little more than hour." Natalia tells me.

Nodding, I rush out of the room. Where could she be? Jacklyn's not one to be late...could something have possibly happened?

Oh god what if it's them

It can't be...can it?

Time to find out

I dial Jacklyn's number anxiously, she has to be okay. She has to be. But when the phone rings and rings with no end, I slam down the phone and nearly run out into the hallways.

"Peyton where are you going?" Ms Drew calls after me, looking frazzled.

I look over my shoulder as I run. "I have to find Jacklyn! I think she's-"

I run smack into someone. Falling back, I see the sparkling eyes of the person I run into.

Jacklyn looks at me quizzically. "Girl what do you mean you have to find me? I'm right here!"

Relief floods my body. "Y-You're late, they need you in your dressing room. Like now."

She looks confused, but she still laughs. "Okay okay! No need to be that panicked over it, I just had to show this lady where to park so she could come watch our play."

"Who?"

Jacklyn waves her hand. "I don't know probably somebody's sister or something. But whatever, let's go back to getting ready. Which, girl, you look absolutely stunning in that blue dress!" She exclaims.

I smile. "Thanks! Now come on, you need to get ready so you can look even more stunning!"

"I'm not sure that's possible."

She's dragged to her dressing room as soon as we enter back into the cafeteria. Since I'm already ready, I ask Ms Drew what I should do.

"How about you go to Kevin's dressing room and practice you two's scenes together one last time before the show? I think he's getting his beast makeup on right now." She tells me.

I nod and go back to my dressing room to fetch my script. When I walk in I jump at the sight of the large clock staring back at me. Though when my shock fades, I quickly realize that it's just Allie in her Cogsworth costume.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She apologizes, looking around nervously.

I blink in surprise. Since when does Allie apologize to me? "Oh, no, you're fine. Do you, um, need anything?"

"No!" She quickly says. But then her cheeks go pink and she sighs. "I mean...yes, yes I do. Peyton I just wanted to...I just wanted to..."

I wait for her to finish the sentence.

She throws her hands up. "I just wanted to apologize, okay? I'm—I'm sorry Peyton. For so many things. For blaming you for...for the incident, and for telling you so many things about yourself when I first saw you after the coma, you must've been so confused."

I give a shocked nod. "Yeah, I was."

"Well...I'm sorry for that, I really am. I was just so angry at everything. My whole family was gone! And I didn't know what to do, or why it had happened. The only thing that kept me from losing it was holding on to my hatred for you, even though it wasn't your fault in the first place." She admits, tears pricking her eyes.

I step closer to her. "Hey, it's okay. I-I don't blame you for being angry, you've lost a lot Allie and that's definitely not easy."

Her eyes still shine with tears. "But Peyton you lost your dad too, and we could've gotten through our pain together, but I just...I don't know. And see that's the thing, I just don't even know why I was so horrible to begin with. You tried to be kind even though you were grieving too and I just...would shout such awful things at you. Peyton I'm so sorry for blaming you and your dad for it all, I'm so sorry for everything."

I squeeze my eyes shut as raw, painful memories of my father flood my brain. They all hurt, even the happy ones, though I do find myself smiling at some despite the ache. When I resurface I find Allie staring at me with a mix of concern and sadness.

"Are—Are you okay?" She asks delicately.

I massage my temples. "Yeah, I'm fine, I promise. How are you?" I softly ask, examining her pain riddled face.

Her lip trembles and she forms a shaky smile. "I'm still getting there, but I will be."

"Well," I move to put an arm around her, "you can always talk to me Allie, and Kevin too, I hope you know that. No matter what we've said to each other in the past, we can always make up for it now."

She gives me a grateful look. "Thank you...I-I would love to start over."

"Me too, and we definitely will after we get done with this performance, but if we cry anymore Ms Drew is going to kill us for ruining our makeup thirty minutes till curtain. Hey, do you want to come with me to rehearse lines with Kevin?" I ask.

"Sure," She answers, "couldn't hurt to hear you two being all lovey dovey one last time before the show. Though I'm sure I'll be hearing it afterwards too."

"Huh?"

Her eyes sparkle with amusement. "Oh you know exactly what I mean."

***

"I'll see you in a minute!"

A minute, just a minute.

All it took was a minute,

nothing more.

Now how long will it be?

An hour? A day? A month? A year? A lifetime?

Never?

It can't be never, it can't.

It can't!

***

2 hours earlier: Showtime -Kevin's POV:

I rush to take my spot in the wings. The show just started, and I can't ruin it already by missing my cue.

"Excuse me!" I whisper loudly as I push my way to the front of the other cast members. One of them grabs my wrist as I pass.

A pair of bright blue eyes pop out amidst the darkness. "See you in a minute!"

I grin at Peyton. "See you in a minute, you'll do great."

She squeezes my arm. "You will too! Now go before you miss your entrance!"

Yep, probably shouldn't do that. I give her one more smile before I rush to the front and onto the stage just as my cue is given. Butterflies dance in my stomach as I deliver my first lines. I'm all too aware of the audience watching me, the disapproving stares of some of the parents, the intrigued younger kids sitting up front, and most importantly, my mother's beaming face staring right at me the entire time.

Do it for her Kev, she deserves it.

So I do. I make sure I do the best I can possibly do for my mom, who has worked so hard my entire life to keep me alive and smiling. And later on when I sing my first note, she smiles the biggest smile I've seen on her in a while. Why haven't I sang for her more often? She loves it when I do.

Standing back in the wings of the stage again, I watch Peyton sing her opening song. The notes just soar right out of her mouth. The audience is loving her, I can tell, and it makes me so happy. Because, come on, she more than deserves it.

Except for...except for one woman sitting in the middle of the crowd. She wears an expression of deep loathing, though I'm not sure if it's at Peyton or just the show itself. Hey maybe she's just not fan of musicals, but I don't know, she just seems sorta out of place in the audience. And-

Smack!

The audience laughs as Peyton slaps Steve, or Gaston, hard on the head...Which was definitely not in the script. I try to choke back a laugh, I know she enjoyed improving that. I catch her eye as she listens to the guy who plays Maurice speak and she tries her best to keep herself from grinning.

Gosh she's amazing, anyone looking can see that. She's truly stunning.

Now Kevin-

Oh shut up, you know she is.

"Kevin! Pay attention! You're supposed to be on stage!" Jacklyn whispers, suddenly appearing and pushing me forward.

"Right right sorry!" I whisper back, fumbling to turn my mic on and running onstage.

The rest of act one goes by pretty fast. Peyton and I do amazing, at least that's what Ms Drew's huge smile suggests. We don't get much time to talk before we're both rushed to our dressing rooms to get ready for the next act, which starts off with the famous waltzing scene.

But as I'm buttoning up my blue jacket, I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I call without looking up. Why are these buttons so difficult?

Footsteps shuffle in and the door closes, followed by the click of a lock.

"You don't have to-" I stop my sentence when I finally look up and see the person who knocked.

Steve

I remember when he came to my house that day, asking me to protect Peyton. But I know now that it wasn't out of pure concern, no, it was out of guilt. Because he knew that what he was doing worked against her, that he couldn't do a good job of protecting her if he tried, not when he was the one she needed to be protected from.

And yet he still hugged me when he left...

Why?

But I don't have time to ponder upon that, not when I have much bigger questions to face. Like why exactly Steve is wearing the exact same costume and makeup as me when he is definitely not the Beast.

"What are you doing?" Is all I can ask in my shock.

He shakes his head. "I'm not sure."

My confusion doubles. "Uh that's not an answer. Why are you here in my dressing room dressed as my part?"

"Because I'm going on as Beast next act." He states simply in a monotone voice.

My eyes narrow. "Um I haven't heard anything about that, why would you-"

"Because you're sick," He interrupts, "you're sick and you can't go on as Beast."

I start to get irritated. "What? I'm not sick! Literally everyone just saw me on stage!"

His expression doesn't change and he continues to speak monotonously. "I told Ms Drew that you just got sick moments ago and that I, as your understudy, had to go on as Beast."

Anger rushes through me. "Why would you do that?! Is this—oh this better not be about Peyton! Because I think she made it pretty clear onstage tonight that she wants nothing to do with you!"

His straight face changes in a flash, and it's then when I start to notice a few things about him. Like the huge, dark circles underneath his eyes that the makeup has failed to conceal, and the sheen of sweat beading his face. His tightly clenched fists and heavy breathing.

But the most disturbing thing is the pure, utter terror in his eyes.

All of a sudden I know what this is. I know what is about to happen.

This isn't a warning, it's an attack.

One that came so easily, so unexpectedly.

So fast that we didn't have time for a second glance.

And so quick that all I see is a blur as Steve's fist smashes into my head and everything goes black.

A minute, just a minute.

All it took was a minute.

Can I have just one more minute?

Sorry for the shortish chapter, but I hope the ending of it was at least somewhat worth it. Sooo schools finally out, yay, so these last few chapters should be coming out more frequent instead of like month long waits. Anyways hope you enjoyed! -Vanna