For today—for my sister—I had poured my whole soul into Catherine.

  The person I had always wanted to hear praise from was her.

  And yet—

  A sharp pain rose in my chest.

  —it hurts.

  “If it hurts this much,” I murmured, “I just want to disappear.”

  It wasn’t a line from the py. The words slipped out before I could stop them. Cire looked at me, concern softening her expression, then sat beside me and pced a gentle hand on my back.

  “I don’t know what happened,” she said quietly, “but you’ve been hurt.”

  Her kindness only made it harder to keep myself together. Tears spilled over, and a sob escaped my throat.

  “I’m so tired of this… it’s always the same. I love my sister. But she always chooses someone else. I pyed Catherine because I wanted her to be happy. And it was all for nothing.”

  “It wasn’t for nothing,” Cire said firmly. “What you did reached her. She was watching—at least for a while. I’m sure she’s proud of you.”

  I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t.

  If my sister were truly proud, I wanted her to stay until the very end—to watch until the curtain fell. Even if someone had asked her to leave, I wished that today, just this once, she had chosen my performance over everything else.

  To be hurt by the person you loved most felt like having your heart torn open by anger and grief.

  “I don’t care anymore… I want to throw it all away—these feelings, everything!”

  My voice drowned out the sound of the film pying in the room. At that moment, the cssroom door opened.

  “Avery—so this is where you were!”

  I looked up.

  Short bck hair dyed just for today. A white cotton shirt and bck trousers. At first gnce, she looked more like a boy than a girl.

  It was Océan.

  Her trousers were slightly too rge, the hems brushing her shoes. Two buttons of her shirt were undone, and in the afterglow of the performance she carried a rough, almost masculine air.

  “Cire, when did you get here?” Océan said. Then she shot Cire a sharp look. “And hey—why are you making her cry?!”

  She strode over.

  “It’s not like that,” I said quickly. “Cire was comforting me.”

  Cire, clearly flustered, smiled gently.

  “I didn’t do anything special. I was just listening.”

  “Oh, and Océan,” she added, “your Heathcliff was wonderful. Chic, and dirty—in the best way.”

  At praise from an actress like Cire, Océan’s face brightened at once. She scratched beneath her nose, embarrassed but clearly pleased.

  “Yeah, well… halfway through, I couldn’t even tell where Heathcliff ended and I began. Heathcliff and Océan—Hea-cean. Get it?”

  After the painfully bad joke, she pced her hand lightly on my head.

  “Tell me who made you cry. Just say the name—I’ll deal with them.”

  “My, you’re fired up today,” Cire said with a teasing smile. “And how exactly do you pn to ‘deal with them’?”

  “Well, depends on what they did. What year are they? First-years?”

  I shook my head.

  “Third-years.”

  “…Seriously?”

  All her confidence vanished. As Océan scratched her head in defeat, Cire struggled to hold back her ughter.

  “Fine! I’ll put dog poop in their locker.”

  Cire giggled.

  “Your socks might be worse.”

  “Hey! My feet do not smell that bad!”

  Listening to them, I couldn’t help but ugh.

  “Sorry… it’s just—this is kind of funny.”

  When I ughed, both of them looked relieved.

  And for some reason, in that moment, I felt like telling them everything—

  about my sister, and the path we had walked together until now.