"Nora, are you even listening to me?"

Nora leaned further into her palm and picked at what was supposed to be mac-n-cheese in front of her. Calling it mac-n-cheese would be giving it more credit than it deserved. It was more like a glob of noodles with some cheese on top.

Bleh.

"I'm listening," Nora mumbled down at her food.

Across the table, Tessa pushed her tray forward. "Somehow, I don't believe you."

Get it together, No-rah. "Sorry," she sat up straight. "I'm super tired today."

Tessa's eyebrows came together, "what were you up to last night?"

Writing a song. "Finishing an essay for Abilities."

Tessa shook her head, "on the weekend? Only you."

She'd gotten an hour of sleep last night if even that. After looking over Mallory's songs and editing the lyrics into the early morning, she'd spent the rest of the day trying to get ahead on a few artists' songs and tweaking her Daxton Cavenaugh entry. She'd agonized over it way too long, and ended up finally submitting it this morning. And only at that point had she realized she had a test in Abilities later. She'd finished her essay the day before, but today they were supposed to turn in their essays and then immediately begin their test. So, at 4 am she began studying and at 5 am she fell asleep. Her alarm woke her back up at 6 am.

"How was your gallery showing this weekend?" Nora distantly remembered Tessa mentioning she had a gallery showing for the art club this weekend. She would've stopped by, but she had to make up an excuse instead. With Grumpy's session this weekend, and everything going on, there was no way she'd have been able to go even if she wanted to.

Tessa shrugged. "It was good. I had a few people interested in my pieces. I'm saving them for the Showcase, though."

The Winter Showcase, in addition to being a music concert event, also had multiple other events happening within it. The art department often had student pieces displayed in the atrium for purchase, as well as fundraiser raffle tickets for visitors. The school reached out to their network to get pieces from student alumni or purchased their own raffle prizes. A lot of the students ended up getting tickets for the raffle because some of the pieces were amazing—everything from flat-screen TV's to signed albums. Last year, Eli had donated a signed Anonymous t-shirt. The money went back into the school for programs and studio equipment.

"That's great," Nora said. "Do you think it'll sell?"

Tessa took a bite of the sandwich in front of her. "I think so. I guess we'll see." Then Tessa perked up, "But guess what else I finished."

Nora poked again at her glob of noodles. "What?"

"My contest entry!" Tessa said, "will you take a look at it?"

Nora tried to work up a smile, but the exhaustion was pulling at every part of her body. She wasn't sure she could look at another song for a few days. The idea of doing anything else with lyrics or songs made her cringe internally. She needed a break. Bad. Though she would never get it. She hadn't had a break in two years.

She was tired. So tired. But this was Tessa – so she would find the time to look at it for Tessa. "I'd love to. You want to email it to me?"

Tessa pulled out her phone, tapped a few times. "Done. Let me know what you think – if anything needs to be changed."

"Of course."

Her friend set her phone down on the table beside her. "You need to get a Musetunes account. It's much easier to send song files directly."

"Maybe someday," Nora said quietly.

The end period bells chimed. Tessa and Nora grabbed their trays and dumped what was left. "You okay?" Tessa asked as they stopped by Tessa's locker. "You're very...distant today."

Nora's hands curled tight around the straps of her backpack. "Just tired." Which was true, but another part of her was anxious. She'd avoided Eli in Chemistry today and wouldn't look at him, though she felt his gaze on her throughout the class.

She couldn't hang out with him anymore and needed to break whatever connection they had. Did they even have a connection, or was it all in her head? A part of her hoped she could continue to disappear, to not talk to him, and that like other relationships she'd had, that would slowly end whatever this was. However, as she'd found in Chemistry, she kept waiting for Eli to approach her, to talk to her. And she didn't need to add the worry of Eli to her long list of things.

No, she needed to get it together and find a way to tell Eli they couldn't be friends; she needed to do it sooner rather than later. Today.

If her phone worked, she'd text him and tell him to meet her somewhere after school. But she would instead have to find him later. She'd look at the studio check-out list – maybe he'd be in the school studios after school with Ian again. She could talk to him then.

Mallory doesn't have to know, a small voice whispered in her mind. What's she going to do? Was she going to let her stepmother pick who she could and couldn't hang out with?

Yes. Yes, she was. Because Mallory was responsible for the other half of her school tuition, the half that wasn't covered by the scholarship. And Nora had two more years at Jostlin. Two years to learn as much as she could before she went out into the kingdom to figure out how to make music.

Because it wasn't definite that Mallory, or rather, Dreame Entertainment, would hire her as a song producer, especially without any kind of schooling past high school. This schooling right now would be the only schooling she'd have. She would have to use it to kick start her career. Her career depended on this education. As much as she liked Eli, enjoyed hanging out with him, admired his caring personality, and appreciated the way his hair curled when he took off his hat—

Professor Hamilton was right. She couldn't give up Jostlin for him. Because Eli Leonger would no doubt be only a small scene in the movie of her life. If even that.

The rest of her classes passed in a blur. Nora bit at her thumb throughout her last period, trying to come up with lyrics while she waited for the lecture to be over. Acid churned in her gut. She couldn't stop thinking about Eli Leonger and the conversation she would have to have with him. Instead of writing songs, she imagined all the different ways the conversation could go and tried to plan it out.

Cut it out, Nora, she told herself. You're worrying over nothing. Eli Leonger won't even know why you're having this conversation.

Right. That was right. Nora took a deep breath. It would be nothing. Why was she even taking the time to worry about it?

The final bells chimed. The rest of the students in her class packed up their stuff and practically ran out of the classroom, off to freedom. Nora took her time packing everything back into her broken backpack.

The Jostlin Academy studios were near the auditorium, in the music wing. Nora could get there blindfolded if she had to. The music wing welcomed its students and guests with a large archway that read, "Each Soul Contains A Great Song," in giant, curved script. Just past the arch were glass cases displaying a variety of the history of Jostlin and the albums and awards of past and present students. Halfway down, the hallway split – the left side leading to the ten or so classrooms, and the right side leading to the studios on campus.

Each studio was outfitted to help students record and tinker with music and their craft. Outside each studio was an electronic display board that listed the appointments for each room. Nora searched the boards, her feet freezing at the very end of the hall. Eli Leonger's name was on the board, and the red recording light above the door on.

A small group of three girls sat on the other side of the hallway, their books and backpacks spread out around them. Some of them had removed their uniform vests and sat in their white pressed collared shirts and ties. They gathered around one of the girls' phones and giggled at something on the screen.

Nora bit her lip. Then asked, "Is Eli in there?"

One of the girls raised her brow, "of course he is. But you better not go in. He's recording."

Nora didn't want to wait – the studio had two rooms, one with the recording booth and another with the control board. She could hang in the entry room until he was done. "He's expecting me," she lied. Before the girl could sputter an answer or stop her, Nora walked in.

Eli was the only one in the studio. The entry room was quiet. A sense of peace washed over her at the familiar setting. She put her bag down on the small couch against the far wall and frowned.

Eli's song was quiet – nothing more than him and a guitar. Through the window in the control room, she watched him strum the guitar in front of him and sing into the microphone. She shouldn't be able to hear him in the control room without headphones.

The guitar picked up, Eli's voice a deep, smooth set of vocals.

Her back near her hip burned, and she frowned, putting a hand at her side. The door to the booth was left open a crack. Enough that Eli's song drifted into the control room.

Nora approached the door, intent on closing it and returning his privacy to him. But when she got closer, her hand on the knob, her skin flared again.

She put a hand over where her Acemark was. Then it clicked.

Her entire body came to life. Some deep part of her, her soul maybe, recognized that voice. Ached for that voice. She dropped the door handle as if it were on fire and shot backward. Her hip hit the control board. She stumbled and, legs unsteady, sank into the couch next to her backpack and put her head in her hands.

Eli Leonger was her mate.