Juliette:
The echo of my own heartbeat thudded in my ears as I slipped back into the auditorium. Cole was already onstage, glaring at his script like it had personally offended him. When he saw me enter, he tensed, flipping a page with unnecessary force. He wouldn’t look in my direction, and honestly, I didn’t know if I could look at him either without remembering how close we’d been.
Professor Langley seemed to pick up on the strain. He scanned our faces, his usual enthusiasm dimming. “Alright, that’s enough for today,” he said, snapping his own script shut. “We’ve made good progress, but we could all use a break.”
I didn’t know if “progress” was the right word—maybe we’d moved forward in the script, but emotionally, it felt like we were stuck in a giant tangle of nerves and unspoken t
