After choir, I was in a weird state of mind as I searched for drama, which was apparently an invisible room somewhere. Between the side effects of my pill and the constant looks from Justin, you could say I was floating on a strange cloud of 'what the fuck?'

When I finally found drama next to the auditorium, I wanted to smack myself. Sometimes, I was just a dumbass.

Luckily, I was still a minute or two early as a young man with glasses and shoulder-length brown hair stood behind a cluttered desk searching frantically for something. I could only assume this was Mr. Tanner.

"Hi, I'm Ember Pearl," I said in a soft voice, not wanting to disrupt whatever he was doing.

"Yes, yes. Have a seat anywhere." He greeted me with barely a nod as he continued to shuffle through the papers on his desk. How was his desk such a colossal mess? Most teachers had switched over to computers or tablets by now.

"I can't believe Ms. Shammel gave her the part. I mean, she was pretty good, but I did so much better." Jessica yelled before she walked in with Jenny, Missy, and two other girls. When the group saw me, every one of them glared.

Well, hello to you too, Cuz. I didn't glare back even though I wanted to. It was only a matter of time until I lost my cool. Missy was pissing me off, and if she wasn't careful, I would make her life a living hell too.

Yeah, so, it was official. Drama was going to suck ass.

The room slowly filled with miscellaneous students. I noticed some familiar faces from choir as Curly gave me a tentative wave before sitting as far from me as possible. Why was he sitting all way over there?

My question was soon answered when Justin swaggered in just after the tardy bell. He sat right next to me, causing every part of my body to tense. What the hell? He was in this class too?

Why was he sitting next to me? He should've sat next to his girlfriend because every person in her group were shooting fireballs out of their eyes directly at me. I'm sure they were all wishing I would burst into flames. It was uncomfortable as fuck.

Sneaking a glance in Justin's direction, I studied his exquisite profile. How was Justin so good looking? It was as if God had come down from heaven and sculpted Justin himself. Damn. I needed to stop because the lustful thoughts running through my mind were just... so wrong.

"Hey." The corner of Justin's lips lifted as he turned to face me.

I looked away. "Hey."

"Alright if I sit here?" Justin's low voice seemed to vibrate around me as he tapped a pencil on the table, grabbing my attention.

"It's a free country, but you should know I have a boyfriend so..." It was all I could think to say as I took out my notebook, hoping he would stop talking to me. The last thing I needed was to get in a fight with Jessica today.

Justin chuckled quietly. "I've been told, but I'm not surprised. You could have any guy you want. Your boyfriend's a lucky dude."

Chills ran down my spine when he winked at me. Damn it! Why did he have to do that? Instead of thanking him for the compliment, I sighed loudly.

Justin chuckled again. He knew what he was doing to me. Asshole. Why was he messing with me like this?

Maybe there really was some type of bet going on, but the thought of Lucas having something to do with a shitty bet made me feel uneasy. I just couldn't imagine Lucas agreeing to hurt me like that.

But seriously, why were they all so interested in me? No one had ever given me this much attention. Not even Josh. These guys definitely weren't normal, and I wasn't stupid, I knew they were hiding something.

"We were never properly introduced," Justin sat forward, propping his elbows on the table.

Narrowing my brow, I squinted. "We met yesterday."

"No, we didn't. I'm Justin." He stuck out his hand, and I stiffened.

I didn't know if I wanted to touch him again, but was it wrong that I wanted see what would happen? Something more than Justin's good looks drew me to him, and those damn dimples were impossible to deny. I held out my hand. "Ember."

A sexy grin crossed his face as he took my hand. When our hands connected, hot tingles rushed through me as he sucked in a breath. His eyes seductively flared with golden light as his hand tightened around mine.

Okay... I hadn't felt much of a reaction this time, but I couldn't say the same thing about him. I didn't know how to respond as I tried to wiggle my hand free with a tight grin. "Could I... uh... have my hand back?"

"Yeah, sorry." He released my hand as he threw a quick glance at my hate club. "When you didn't show yesterday, I texted to see if you were okay."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know, but no offense, I don't know you. So, there was no way I was going to text back."

"I figured." Justin said, speaking just above a whisper. "I didn't have a chance to tell you earlier, but you sing like an angel. I bet your acting skills are badass."

I grinned, trying to calm my racing heart. "To tell you the truth, this morning I tried to drop drama and choir, but my mom put a stop to that. She says performing arts are imperative to my future."

Justin's eyes lit up in amusement as he released a low laugh. "So, you don't even want to be in here?"

"I mean... no, not really. I used to love the stage, but things happened, and I changed. I guess you could say I lost my passion." And why did I just say all that? I didn't even know this guy. I mean, yeah, he was fine as hell, but he didn't need to know my personal baggage.

Justin's golden gaze danced over my lips as he sent me a half-grin. "Maybe I can help."

"Help?" My eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Yeah." He elbowed me softly. "You know, help you get your passion back."

Instantly repulsed, my lip curled. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I told you I have a boyfriend. God! You know what? You and your friends are really starting to piss me off."

Justin's eyes widened in shock as he shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I was offering to run lines with you."

"Yeah, right. I know exactly what you meant, asshole." Sick and tired of their bullshit, I refused to look at him as I scooted my chair a couple of inches away and began doodling in my notebook.

With their flawless good looks, I could only assume that these guys did this shit to all the girls. Drawing rather large horns on my artistic masterpiece, I came to the conclusion that this was all a game to them, and I wasn't a fucking pawn. It didn't matter how hot they were, I wasn't going to fall for their shit.

Finally leaving his messy desktop, Mr. Tanner walked in my direction as he scrolled through a tablet. "Ember Pearl?"

So, Mr. Tanner did have a tablet. That must've been what he was looking for.

Outlining the huge horns on my doodle, I grinned at him. "Yes, Mr. Tanner?"

"Mrs. Shammel highly recommended that I consider you for the female lead in our play. I'll need you to audition today after school." Mr. Tanner examined my face as he set a script in front of me. "I thought I'd give you time to go over the script. Everyone else will be auditioning in class today."

"I can't. I have dance after school." I glanced down at the script and flipped through it. "But I can audition in class today with everyone else if that's okay?"

Mr. Tanner's forehead wrinkled. "Will you have enough time to perform the lead in our play in addition to your after school obligations? It'll be quite a lot of work on your part."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I jutted my thumb toward my hate club. "I know I'm new, but from what I know, Jenny has dance, and Missy has cheerleading. We all have other obligations, Mr. Tanner."

Mr. Tanner nodded as he looked over something on his tablet. "Very well. You'll audition at the end of class."

"Thank you," I said.

Unable to resist the impulse, I glanced at Justin, and he sent me a tiny grin, but I couldn't understand why. His girlfriend was literally sitting in the room. He really needed to go sit with her.

Knowing I needed to put more space between us, I moved my chair to the end of the table. Missy and Jenny already wanted to kill me, but it was fair to assume Jessica felt the same way, and I didn't want Jessica to murder me before class ended.

Refusing to look at Justin, I watched as everyone in my class auditioned for various parts.

Every girl in my hate club bombed their audition, and it was just pathetic. Before each girl tried out, they would talk big game about how great they were going to perform, but when they auditioned, it was evident they hadn't studied the scene at all.

One of Missy's friends, I think her name was Stacy, made herself cry on demand. It was impressive until her entire face turned purple as she forced out tears. It took all my self-control to hold back my laughter.

Justin auditioned for the male lead, and there were no words for what he could do. His skills were off the fucking chain. Justin's delivery and timing were spot on, and he knew when to emphasize the emotions and when to tone it down. His facial expressions and body language were perfect.

Along with everyone else, I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was astonishing. Justin's audition was better than any real performance I'd seen from well-trained actors back home.

Jessica waved Justin over when he was done, but he didn't even look her way before he returned to my table. When the next audition began, Jessica moved to our table, sitting right next to him.

Justin's reaction to her was weird. Clearly uncomfortable, he became overly tense as he pointedly kept his eyes forward except when he would throw a glance in my direction.

Desperately trying to get his attention, Jessica started tracing the wolf yin yang emblem on his hoodie and he flinched away before he abruptly stood to throw something in the trash. When Justin returned, he pulled his chair to my other side, leaving me between them. Okay... this was awkward as hell.

Jessica huffed and sat back in her chair, folding her arms.

"Ember, your turn." Mr. Tanner gestured to the front.

Getting to my feet, a tiny piece of anticipation wiggled its way into my belly. I was a little excited to do this, which was nice. I'd thought I'd lost the ability to be excited about performing on stage, but I hadn't, and positive emotions were a good thing.

The scene was short and straightforward, and I barely had to look at the script as I raised my voice to speak to my imaginary co-star. I was able to quickly shed tears at the end when I spoke about my character's dead mother.

Mr. Tanner and my classmates were oddly silent after my audition. It threw me for a loop, making me question if I'd forgotten to do something important.

"Did I do something wrong?" My voice trembled slightly as I fought the need to look at Justin. I didn't want to see his disappointment.

"No, no, no. You were... perfect." Mr. Tanner shook his head fervently. "That was quite an impressive performance, young lady. You were made for the stage."

Shocked at Mr. Tanner's kindness, I grinned and chuckled quietly. "Oh... well... I've been in drama for years."

"Well, it certainly shows." When Mr. Tanner laughed, most of the class turned to look at him with curious expressions. I guess Mr. Tanner didn't laugh often. "Justin, would you mind reading with Ember? I'd like to get a feel for the chemistry between you two."

My gaze shot to Justin, and he was grinning. Calm swept through me when I realized that he was proud of me.

"Of course." Justin's eyes began to glow brighter as he joined me. The corner of his lips tugged up into a crooked smile. "Ready for this?"

I nodded with a little too much eagerness as I glanced at Mr. Tanner. "What are we reading?"

"Let's see." Mr. Tanner flipped through the screenplay. "How about the breakup scene on page... eighty-seven."

The scene was easy enough. I raised my voice with the right amount of anger as I combined the correct body language while Justin begged me not to leave. Once we finished, the class broke into applause.

Justin gave me a huge smile, sending waves of happiness through me. I loved that he was proud of me.

"Well done, you two. I can't wait to bring Principal Jenkins in on Monday. After she sees this, she'll definitely approve of additional funding for stage props, and she'll want to advertise in the community. We'll probably get a story in the newspaper and get some ads on the radio. Principal Jenkins will definitely want to sell tickets to this one. We're gonna make a killing." Mr. Tanner was smiling like a lunatic.

Students began whispering excitedly.

"Excuse me, Mr. Tanner? I wasn't feeling well during my audition. Can I try out for the lead again after school?" A girl named Tiffany asked. Aside from Stacy, Tiffany was the final girl in my hate club.

Mr. Tanner shook his head before he began to shuffle through his mess of papers. "I'm afraid not. I've already decided that Ember and Justin will play the leads. After I speak with Ms. Shammel, I'll post the remaining cast members on the bulletin board by the end of the day."

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