For story’s sake, I veer away from autobiography from here on.

5:30 PM

Even Isadora knew that the view from the floor was anything but impressive, but it would just have to do for now. After all, when one’s back ached from lugging up props to a practice room, there was no other place in sight to lie down.

“You know, when this mess is over, we ought to take the entire prod team out to dinner at that café Min dragged us to today,” she said to Sabine as she tilted her half-full glass of milk tea. The rather exhausted production team had crawled off to one particular dark corner to watch the usual chaos that ensued during rehearsal. Right now, Jan and Ethan were in the middle of a knot of rather unruly classmates who seemed hell-bent to unlearn every dance move taught to them.

Sabine shrugged. “When you mean the prod team, you mean the two of us, Jan, Min, Anna, and Manny?”

“Yes, and Celine and Ethan.”

“I see where this is getting at.”

“Shut up, Sabine,” Isadora scowled. “We’ve all been in hell ever since the day Miss Ruiz told us we had to stage this whole dance thing for our final exam.”

Celine looked up from the laptop she had borrowed from Jan. “We could go out the night after the final presentation,” she said.

“Wouldn’t your parents want you home soon after?” Sabine asked concernedly.

Celine shrugged as she combed back her long black hair. “I hope not on that evening.”

Isadora winced as another exasperated yell came from the middle of the room. “I hope it will be a celebratory dinner and not a consolation dinner,” Anna chimed in.

The girls burst out laughing. “True,” Sabine murmured as she glanced at her watch. “Where the heck is that idiot Manny? I still have his gym bag.”

“Gross,” Min grimaced.

Just then, Isadora became aware of a rather masculine voice cursing softly nearby. “Ethan? Since when did you learn to use the f-word?” she called in a sugary voice as she stepped out of the corner towards an alcove where a solitary figure stood.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed at her. “Could you do something, Isadora?” he asked in an irritated tone.

“Anything within reason,” Isadora replied more mildly.

Ethan sighed as he rubbed his temples. “Finish making a list of the things we need for this dance.”

“I already did,” Isadora replied, concealing her exasperation. “I was doing that even before you asked!”

The young man looked up with an expression of surprise. “Really now?”

“Mmhm,” Isadora grinned. “This guy doesn’t know just what I do to make things easier on him nowadays.”

A wan smile spread on Ethan’s face. “Can I have a copy later?”

“I’ll get it down to you in a bit,” Isadora nodded. She put a hand on his arm and much to her surprise, he did not flinch. “Say, when this is done, like say after the last staging, want to join the rest of the production team for dinner?”

Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “Where?”

“Nomimono, this place not far from here.”

“Never heard of it.”

“About time you did.”

Ethan cracked a smile just before Jan came running up. “Come on, we need a lot of help here,” Jan said hurriedly.

“I’ll tell you later,” Ethan said before he followed Jan back to the rehearsal proper. Isadora skipped back to where her friends were seated around Celine and the laptop.

“What did Ethan want?” Celine asked.

Isadora shrugged. “Air, I suppose.”

Min leaned in. “So is he coming with us?”

Isadora did not bother to hide her smile. “I’d like to think so.”