Iris was dramatically ag out her temporary skateboard theft adventure in the garden while Maia and I watched, having our own dinner party of sorts in the cafeteria, mercifully not at a sought-after table.

  “So I climb up a tree, right? Thehinks I’m gonna do a trick off a tree and climbs up a tree herself. And then she gets caught by one of the teachers in the garden, but the teacher doesn’t see me and they don’t believe when Ema says I’m up in a tree! So, long story shreen hair has advantages.”

  “Did you give Ema her skateboard back?” I asked.

  “Oh yeah, I gave it to Snake,” Iris said. “I don’t know if she realized it was Ema’s board.”

  “For all the hype about those two, they weren’t that scary.” Maia said.

  “Weren’t that scary?” I said. “They chased us like all around the garden and Sepped on my tail really hard. My tail still really freaking hurts.”

  I had a bandage ed around the spot on my tail Sepped on, I don’t think it really helped at all other than to remind me how much it hurt.

  “We’ve all had our tails stepped on,” Maia said.

  “I haven’t,” Iris said. “Well, I don’t have a tail, so. Lesson learned, I guess."

  "What lesson?" I asked. "I don't feel like I learned anything."

  "Yeah, that's true," Iris said. "Huh. I dunno."

  "Freaking Rain," I said, looking at my poor, hurt tail. "I 't believe she suggested the tail stomping..."

  "I did warn you about the love trio." Maia said. "That could t as a lesson."

  "That could, yeah," Iris said. "But I say their uability is an asset."

  "I dunno..." I said.

  "No, trust me," Iris said. "I go way ih about this. Right, Maia? Let me expin!"

  "I mean, if you really want to—" I said.

  "I totally ," Iris said. She blinked, seemingly distracted by her own voice. "I . . Caaaaan. That's kind of a funny word, isn't it? . It's a letter away from i! That's what we are."

  "Uh huh..." I said.

  "Yeah, i do anything. . i. Caaaaaaan."

  "R-right." I said.

  "You better just stop here or she'll keep going about nothing for hours," Maia said. "And you seem too o tell her to stop."

  Oka passed by, so I left Iris and Maia to che her. She didn’t look too shaken, but I couldn’t gauge how her py tryout went. She hadn’t spotted me, so I decided to try and surprise her.

  “Oka!” I said from behind her. Luckily, Oka wasn’t a me level jolter.

  “Zeta!” She said as she turned around. “You won’t believe it!”

  “How did it go?” I asked.

  Oka blinked in disbelief.

  “I…got a part!” She said. “A real part in a real py!”

  “That’s awesome, gratutions!” I said. "They gave you a character already?"

  “Yeah, the theater department works fast!" Oka said. "I don’t think it’s a like main main role but that’s good in its own way, so I don’t have to stress as much about lines. And it gets eveer! Reit wasn’t even doing the auditions so I don’t feel like I got in just because of Kiuff! I feel like I really earhis!”

  “I ’t wait to see you on stage then!” I said.

  “Yes, I want you front aer in the audience when the py happens! Although I will have to make sure I don’t wave to you, that would probably break immersiht? Ah, who cares, I worry about that ter, I’m gonna be in a real py!”

  Oka surprised me with another snap hug.

  “I’m so gd we practiced beforehand,” Oka said. “I really would have been a mess up there if we hadn’t.”

  “I’m gd I could help,” I said.

  “Oh, and tell Stel thanks, too! Her tips were really good!”

  Selfishly, I was gd Oka gave credit to my help before Stel, even if Stel’s experieh legitimate theater probably helped more.

  "Hey, I'm kind of pumped up now," Oka said, shifting on her feet. "Would you mind watg me do another se? I promise it won't be the air balloon guy one."

  "Sure!" I said. "Want to go back to that one spot?"

  Oka and I went back to the spot where we'd practiced earlier. With the anxious pressure of the tryout released, Oka was now filled with excited, hyper energy, which was always fantastic to be around. Whe so excited she could barely sit still, it was adorable on a scale I'm not sure is measurable. I sat down in front of Oka and she swung her binder with her script around like it was a on, making ser sword noises for some reason.

  "So what se do you want to start with?" I asked.

  "Alright, so here's one I kinda wanna try," Oka said. "So teically I'm actually pying two characters."

  "Oh, wow!" I said. "Double grats then!"

  "Aw, thanks!" Oka said. "They're kind of also teically one character too, though."

  "Huh?"

  "Right, that's what I was saying!" Oka said. "I'm pying like my past self, where I get like reinated a thousand years ter into my future self."

  "And this is a high school py?" I asked again.

  "Uh huh," Oka said.

  I supposed it wasn't that much more plicated than Tower of Hate and Love, but I could at least figure out what geower was.

  "So I want to do a se from the old me, because it's like really iing the era they did, and it's so old it weirdly kind of reminds me of Tesata." Oka said. "Am I asking too much? I feel like I might be." Oka said.

  "You're fine, don't worry!" I said. My tail throbbed in pain, not liking how I was sitting kind of on it, reminding me of that stupid table and stupid Ema Kari and Snake Riley's stupid stomping. "You'd have to ask a lot to be asking too mue today."

  "OK, cool!" Oka said. She kind of froze then with a big smile. She put up the binder halfway over her face, giggling as she looked my way. A pretty loud voi my head told me to ask her to marry me immediately, but I didn't. Ever sihe realization of how I felt about her, my internal debates dealing with this crush were escated. I daydreamed about just straight up asking her out, but there was also a side of me that was still so afraid. It didn't just bring up all the potential ways just asking her could g, it brought back memories of Jeans. So I kept ending up just pying it safe and keeping it internalized. When I decided that, the loud voi my head usually yelled at me about it, but this time my internal strife luckily went unnoticed.

  "Sorry," Oka said. "I'm just so excited."

  "It's fine," I said. "I really like seeing you so happy."

  Oka didn't react as much as I hoped she would to that, but it was fine.

  "Alright, here's the se!" Oka said. "And be ho, remember? If I suck, tell me. Remember?"

  "I remember," I said.

  Oka began her se, her excited happy energy turning bato nervous as soon as she started reading her lines. Even nervous se reading Oka was adorable.

  "I...uhh...am the discoverer...of. Uh. Huh?" Oka squi the script, then held a fist up. "Of. Fire."

  Oka read her lines very stiffly. It was a lot worse thahe really quie. Oka read my face before I could evee lying about if I should say if she sucked or not.

  "Yeah, I know I suck," Oka said.

  "Well you don't suck," I said. "That se just needs...some work."

  "A lot of work." Oka said.

  "A lot of work..." I said, nodding.

  "A lot of work." Oka said.

  "But that's ractice is for!" I said, giving Oka a thumbs up. "I'm sure you'll get it."

  "Right!" Oka said.

  After another quick se, we were pretty beat and headed back for our room.

  "Thanks again," Oka said. "How about I help you with that tail paper to make it even?"

  "That would be amazing," I said, shocked she even noticed my paper with all the py worries she had going on. I didn't even remember that assig.

  Oka suddenly had a quizzical look on her face.

  "Something up?" I was worried I was maybe too harsh with my critiques.

  “Yeah," Oka said, leaning back as she looked at me. "What happeo your tail?”