I was going over my lines for the school play, but my mind kept wandering back to the conversation I’d had with Kaz earlier. He wasn’t exactly thrilled when he found out we were both cast in the same show. Of course, he didn’t say it outright—Kaz rarely says what he’s actually thinking. But I could tell.

“You’re not actually serious about this, right?” he had asked, raising an eyebrow as we walked to class. "A play? Us? That's not exactly our thing."

I gave him a playful nudge. “Come on, it’ll be fun. You can’t always just sit behind a screen and solve problems. This time, you get to be the problem.”

He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he wasn’t totally opposed.

Now, here we were—standing side by side in the auditorium, the stage lights casting odd shadows on his face as he skimmed through his script. "I swear, if you make me sing, I'm out."

I chuckled. "You’ll be fine. Just do what you always do—look cool while everyone else makes fools of themselves."

Kaz shot me a look, but there was a flicker of a smile there. "Don’t get used to it, Rayne. I’m only here because you need me."

I crossed my arms, pretending to be annoyed, but his comment made me laugh. "Yeah, right. You’re here because you're secretly dying to see me make a fool of myself."

He didn’t respond immediately, instead just giving me that knowing smirk of his. "I’d never do that. But hey, if you need someone to carry the show, I'm your guy."