Chapter 19 Secrets Linger in the Arts Building

“Lacey. I’m free btoday/b, so I can join rehearsal.”

+B Pearls

Jean suddenly stepped into the group, backpack in bhand/b, smiling with easy confidence. Her eyes drifted from one face to the next beforending on Lacey.

Then she added, just a little louder. Let’s meet at the arts building, alright? Don’t kill the vibe.”

Lacey blinked, caught off guard, then her eyes darkened with irritation.

Jean, you might want to watch your tone.

Everyone around them stared, confused-

What happened to Jean?

She used to be harmless. Now she wasing off bold–almost cocky.

“Watch my tone! Alright then. I’ll leave.” Jean arched a brow

bNot /blike I’m dying to be in this shit anyway.

She turned and made her way toward the back doorb. /b

Lacey bit her lip, then quickly called after her.

“You stay. We’ll rehearse in the arts building.”

Jean got exactly what she wanted–she was on her way to the arts building

Sure, part of her just wanted to watch Lacey squirm. But more than that-

Something about that ce felt tied to the strange metal shard I’d found bEven /bif iI /icouldn’t exin it, the feeling wouldn’t leave me alone.

Jean had always believed that when bweird /bthings kept happening in the same ce, they were bprobably /bconnected.

Of course, Jean wasn’t blind to the possibility that the building might be dangerous,

But there were a bunch of students rehearsing today. If something did happen, Lacey’s group would be the ones in the line of fire–not her

Plusb, /baside bfrom /bLacey’s incident, there hadn’t been any major rumorsb. /bThe arts building bwas /bstill open like nothing had ever happened

Jean wanted to stay out of it all. She’d much rather chill, mind her own business, and ignore the bchaos/b.

But now, it felt like I was already neck–deep in it.

And if bthat /bwas the case, she might bas /bwell figure out what she bwas /bdealing with.

The arts building at Sterford Academy had a charming, artsy vibe to it–elegant, a little old, and full of character.

Jean walked in behind Lacey’s group as they swept into the big ssroom on the first floor.

“Ms Hannals, we brought our tree, Lacey called out as soon as they entered, heading straight for the teacher who was sorting through a pale of props. She jerked her thumb toward Jean without hesitation.

7:41 bPM /b

Chapter 19 Secrets Linger in the Arts Building

Hannah strolled over with a bright smile and gave Jean a friendly pat on the shoulder.

+8 Pearls

“I’m Ms. Hannah, your supervising teacher for the Glory of Hope Cup Finals areing up fast, so let’s get you up to speed, alright?”

Jean noddedzily, just enough to not be rude.

The lead teacher gave Jean a quick overview of their project for the Glory of Hope Cup finals–the stage y they’d been working on.

Long story short, it was an environmental piece.

Lacey was ying the female lead. obviously. The plot kicked off when a tree outside her character’s house mysteriously died due to worsening environmental conditions. Devastated, the heroineunched a whole feel–good.–saving mission filled with one motivational act after another

And by the end? The tree magically came back to life.

Yep. Big finale. Happy ending. Everyone cheered. Nature healed.

And Jean!

She had to by /bas the tree.

The one that died, revived, died again, band /brevived again.

The literal bliving /bmetaphor.

Originally, they had nned to use a tree prop. But it looked too stiff and lifeless on stage.

Hannah thought it just didn’t have the emotional weight. A human, she said, could better embody the spirit of a tree bthat’s /bbeen through so much and still found its way back to life.

So they switched to using a person.

But no one wanted to do it. Not even after asking around in the school’s drama clubs,

In the end, Lacey bwas /bforced to return to their bss /band find someone to fill the role.

“When you’re bactually /bon stage, all you have to bdo /bis put on the costume and move around a bit. bSuper /bsimple. Hardly any acting at all, bHannah /bbsaid /bwith ba /bgentle tone, bpointing /bbtoward /bthe pile of costumes in the corner.

She looked way too relieved, like a weight had been lifted. After stressing over not bfinding /ba tree actor, she’d finallynded one -and now she was clearly worried Jean might bback /bbout/b.

Jean nced over at the costume pile.

There it was, a chubby little tree trunk bwith /bboversized /bplush leaves, and a cutout in the middle for the actor’s face to peck through.

It looked kind of ridiculous bat /bfirst. But after ba /bsecond look, it was weirdly cute.

Way better than she’d expected.

full, she got bwhy /bno one wanted the part.

You finally get a chance to stand on a real bstage/b, and they stick you in a leafy onesie with no lines and zero bglory/b. What’s the point?

All that effort, and no reward. No wonder everyone bsaid /bno

“Jean you are that costume, right? Want to try it on now, bmake /bsure it doesn’t bthrow /byou offter?”

Lacey appeared at her side like she hadn’t been scared at all five minutes ago. Her nerves were gone, now she was here purely

7:41 PM c

Chapter 19 Secrets

the Arts Building

waining to see her make a joke of herself

Jean just fucked her eyes toward Lacey and stayed quiet.

but with a est

“Nope. I just chill and wanth you guys rehearse I’ve got like two seconds of age time. I could deep through the and mil

She yawned for good measure

the work

Then she leaned back with a sided sigh looking like a boss on break, not a student in rehearsal

Sica

Lacey’s me cracked. Her great her sides

She couldn’t blow

watching so she held it in motioned for the others to follow her to the center of te

er ber shoulder

Yeah. Makes sense. Being a tree don’t take much bilent. You just stand there and y dead.”

Rehearsal had odically started.

Jean sar o to

painfully dull

de yawning every few

nching on snacks to stay a

ake. Honestly, the whole thing

And things weren’t going great onstage

Zare sous haven’t learned the song?” Hannah looked at her with a frown that was clearly trying to stay polite and failing

The script called for Lacey to sing an original number live, and despite days of practice, she still wasn’t hitting it. The high notes especially came out shaky or an

f

This isn’t gonna cut it. And we don’t have time to rewrite anything. That whole part is too central–changing it would throw

rything else. We’re out of time” Hannah said, sounding a lot more serious now.

I’ll give it another shot Lacey munered. She looked miserable, locked on the crumpled lyric sheet in her hands. She took a breath and tried again barely getting the first line out.

Jean cracked up from the couch.

It was a full–onugh Loud, unfered, and absolutely intentional–like the wanted to make sure Lacey heard every second

of it.

Lacey stopped in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed as she shot a re at Jean. The rest of the group looked just as stunned–then thear faces twisted into matching frowns

To them. Jean’sugh was wildly out of line. It came off rude disrespectful to Lacey, and totally killed the flow of rehearsal

Tran, ahora so funny?”

ocheard so soften their tone. Their

Their wares starked on top of each other–sharp and biting.

loud an

Tha il really that funny? Or do you just have some windugh reflex you can’t control!”

7:41 PM bch /b