It was about six o'clock in the afternoon, and I was pretty sure I gonna throw up.

"There's a lot of people out there." Alex noted, peeking through the curtain.

"Oh God." I wheezed. "I'm gonna die."

It was taking way too long for my medications to kick in.

"Alex!" Arthur whispered very loudly from the darkness of the backstage.

Alex turned. "What you're doing? You're supposed to be on the other side of the stage you dork."

Arthur grinned. "I just wanna see you, just once, before it starts."

Alex glanced at me before walking over to see him. Arthur grabbed his hand gently and illuminated part of the backstage gently. Alex said something I didn't hear before he made Arthur laughed and the taller finally went back to stage left.

"Is Greg out there?" Alex asked.

"I assume so. He's picking up some stuff from his sister so he said he might miss the beginning, which I'm not in so that works. My parents are out there though."

"Mine too. It makes you wonder how much of high school play audience is family and how many people are genuinely interested." Alex laughed.

Maria came up to us, and peeked out the curtain that Alex used to be looking out. She was all dressed up to and looked all nice in her stage make up.

"Did you say Greg was coming?" She straightened and asked me.

"Yes...? Why do you want to-"

She held up her finger to silence me. "Just looking for someone."

She walked away, without explanation. I frowned and just gestured in her direction. Alex nodded.

"Yeah I don't get her either." He shrugged. "We should probably get off the stage now lest we be screamed at by someone backstage."

"Yeah!" Abby agreed as she and some other kids dragged along a big fake tree. "Get off the stage boys."

We obeyed. The time eventually kept passing then all of a sudden it was time to start. The first half went by smoothly. A few scenes before my part I got a text from Greg. It made me smile even though technically I shouldn't have been looking at my phone.

I took a deep breath, looked for Julia and Abe's cue, then stepped out onto the stage.

It went by in a blur. I didn't really remember half of what happened, but I do remember the rush I got from being up there. You know what? I had a lot of fun. I remembered why I loved theatre so much.

The all of a sudden, it was over.

We went back on stage for our bows, and I felt really sad. I wasn't ready for it to be over. I wish I could go back in time and relive that last hours or so. The curtains closed, and all of a sudden Maria started shrieking. It seems drama wasn't exactly over yet.

"You guys! Congratulations!" She gasped, Turing toward Julia and Abe.

"Yeah you guys were great!" Alex congratulated.

"No! I mean that!" Maria pointed to their hands, which were holding each other.

They were holding hands. What.

The two of them blushed and looked away. My eyes went back up and despite the stage light I noticed the faint glow from their hearts.

"You've got to be kidding me." Arthur said, dumbstruck. "Well, I sure am glad we broke up before you found out."

"Yeah." Julia laughed awkwardly.

Alex clapped Abe on the back. "Dude!"

"Thanks." Abe smiled sheepishly. "Gosh, what a night."

Alex ripped off his jacket, (gently because it was a costume that didn't belong to us) threw it aside and jumped up onto one of the giant boxes and struck a pose.

"We have to celebrate!" He demanded, pumping his fists in the air.

"I have somewhere to go, but you guys go ahead." Maria brushed it off.

Alex jumped off the block and went down on one knee in front of her. "Are you sure m'lady? Our chariot awaits."

"Your boyfriend awaits." Arthur raised an eyebrow, pulling out his phone.

"Right, same difference!" Alex popped up again and suddenly jumped at Arthur. "Catch me!"

"No I-" Arthur's phone fell the to floor as Alex promptly flung his whole body at him.

Arthur caught him of course. He scowling, Alex was grinning, he wrapped his arms around Arthur's neck and promptly laughed. The rest of us rolled our eyes and I handed Alex the dropped phone, seeing as he had his hands free.

"I should drop you."

"You won't."

"Seriously though, my parents are waiting for me outside, I hear there's ice cream." I pointed out.

"Sick!" Alex exclaimed, leaping from Arthur's arms to runoff the stage, right through the curtains, with no chill whatsoever.

I met up with my parents outside.

"I'm going to be honest, you really blew me away." My dad admitted.

"That's one thing we agree on." My mom rolled her eyes. "You don't have to stay here, you can go hang out with your friends."

I gave them a thumbs up. Then all of a sudden I tackled from behind.

"Micah!" Greg said happily, from on top of me. "You were amazing!"

I nearly fell over but managed to keep my balance. That's when I noticed the gray sleeves.

"Hey you got your hoodie back!"

"I did! It was a little awkward, but I did!" He grinned, slipping off of me.

"Look who it is!" Alex called out, joining us and promptly dragging everyone with him.

"Greg!" Julia said happily.

"You all did so well!" Greg complimented again.

"Thanks." Arthur shrugged.

"Don't forget me!" Abby appeared between Greg and I, hugging us tightly.

"Yeah we can't forget the backbone of the operation!" Alex agreed, ruffling her hair.

"Everyone was perfect, we couldn't have hoped for a smoother performance." Abe added.

"Thank goodness." I laughed. "I can't believe it's over."

Abby punched my arm. "Next stop, broadway."

Alex gasped, "take me with you."

We all laughed. We chatted a little longer until eventually I went to go find some of that ice cream for Greg and I.

"So they only have vanilla." Greg shook his head in mock disappointment.

"We'll take it." I grinned as I payed for it.

"My sister was actually acting a bit weird. I don't know if she was trying super hard not offend me or I was right and she was actually trying to-" Greg cut himself off as he stared through the crowd at two people walking towards up.

It didn't take me that long to recognize his dad and what I assumed what his mom.

Greg immediately frowned and grabbed my hand as he started walking away.

"Wait!" His mom called out.

Greg stopped, stiffening. "If you've just come to invalidate me I don't want to hear it."

"Yeah no offense but if you talk to my boyfriend like that again I won't stand for it." I blurted out.

"Micah." Greg said smoothly, it wasn't menacing.

"We just want to talk, isn't that right honey." She tugged sharply on her husbands arm.

"Yes." He seemed uncomfortable.

Greg turned around slowly, still holding my hand. I squeezed it gently in support.

"Did Lucy tell you I would be here?" He asked in monotone.

They shared a glance. "That's not what matters." His mom started. "We just wanted to tell you, that we're trying."

Greg stared at them coldly. "Trying to what?"

"We're trying to get used too...you know." She gestured at Greg.

"Is my dad trying? Because he looks like he doesn't want to be here." He replied coldly.

His mother's face strained, and his dad's eyebrows furrowed. "That's very ungrateful of you, we're actually making an effort to...to understand all of this."

Greg's jaw twitched. "You're trying huh?"

His mother nodded eagerly. His dad still had a stern, cold expression.

"What's my name then?" Gregory demanded.

"Georgia- er. Sorry." His Mom looked away sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I don't exactly remember what you want to call yourself."

Greg face said it all, he was still very pissed. "Is it really that hard? If I tell you than I'm your son, then I'm your son."

"It's not that simple." His dad said through clenched teeth.

Greg out his hands up in exasperation. "Yes is it. Stop trying to turn this on you, it's not hard for you. It's hard for me. You're the reason I hate my body."

The looked taken aback, but Greg wasn't done.

"You're the kind of person that would rather put guns into the hands of young boys then catch them with lipstick on. What's more difficult for you to do, accept me for who I am, or bury me? Because news flash, that was almost your reality."

He was breathing hard. I imagine he had been waiting to say that for a long time.

"You can't just-" His dad stammered. "We're your parents, you can't cut us out of your life."

Greg laughed. "Oh yes I can. I'm doing what's best for my mental health, not your societal image."

Without warning, he wrapped an arm around my neck and kissed me hard, flipping them off with the other hand. They gasped of course. I was impressed and mildly amused, and blown away by the sudden kiss as he twisted his face into mine.

"Come on Micah, let's get out of here." Greg breathed, taking my hand again.

We walked away, and that was that.