Just for This Year

Chapter Four

September 3rd
Wednesday

58 Days Before

While Lila was getting recruited to play on the football team, Sam was preparing to audition for the school's play. Well, at this moment during their day, they were both in their free periods. Neither of them knew that the next thirty minutes would change the entire trajectory of their year to come. And how could they? Both ideas seemed like the best options at the moment.

"Oh, Dean, how could you do that to her?" Sam rehearsed in a dramatic voice. He held the script in front of his face, squinting at the words. "God, this script sucks."

His french teacher didn't even look up from his desk as he interrupted Sam's rehearsing. "Sam, other students are trying to do work."

He huffed out, letting the script fall to his desk. Staring at it, he tried to make sense of the play. It was a pretty simple plot, but the characters were more complex than he expected. He found himself kind of liking it, to his surprise. The songs actually propelled the plot forward, they weren't just awkwardly thrown in to make the duration of the play longer. The songs were part of the plot, you couldn't have the play without the songs. He liked that.

Sam looked at the clock, and he instantly shouted, "Oh shit!"

Sam was very, very late.

"Language, Mr. Alvarez!" his French teacher scolded as he watched his student sprint from the classroom halfway through the free period.

As Sam ran through the door, he made sure to exclaim, "Sorry, don't know the French translation!"

Sam sprinted through the hallway, not holding back at all with his speed. He was so sure he was gonna get there on time today— early, even. He had it all planned out. But he got too caught up in trying to memorize his lines. Now that he thought about it, Sam didn't know what part he was actually supposed to memorize for the audition. He just really vaguely memorized every part of the play. He liked to be prepared... even if he might not have any line truly memorized.

"Shit, shit, shit," Sam whispered as he ran, trying to simultaneously read the script while not running into any students lingering in the hallway.

Suddenly, he heard his twin exclaim, "Watch it, Sam!"

He looked up momentarily just in time to not barrel into his sister. He noticed Lila was clutching her nose, but he didn't stop to ask why, he just kept running. He would find out later, she'd probably be fine. "Sorry, Li!"

Sam kept running, dropping various pages of the script as he went. He continued to curse as he ran. He was so freaking late.

Inside the auditorium, the auditions were well underway. Several people had already performed and wowed the director, but there was still one more name on the list. The play director, Mrs. Hastings, narrowed her eyes in confusion as she read the next name off the list. "Samuel Alvarez."

Charlie sat up in his seat. "That can't be right—"

But before he could finish his thought, Sam had ran into the stage. He threw his backpack on the ground, fumbling to get his pages in order. The crowd stared at him as he talked to himself for a few moments. He finally seemed to get his bearings. Sam sucked in a quick breath of air, and in that moment, he decided to get this all out in one breath.

"Okay, here we go. Dean, I know you don't love her. You belong with Evelyn. You've been in love with her since the third grade," Sam rushed out, eyes wide as he paced across the stage. "You've been in love with her since... uh... uh..."