Running always seemed to get me places. It got me out of the house and away from my parents when I was a kid. I never seemed to stop. It was just a way to escape.

Then running got me into college. The scholarship was my saving grace, and when I got injured, I was lucky that I was able to keep my scholarship.

Now, after months of physical therapy, I was running normally again. The freedom of my tennis shoes hitting the track or the sidewalk without pain was glorious.

A race was similar to being on stage. There was a sense of pace and letting all my troubles melt away. Then, when it was over, all of your friends were there to congratulate you on a job well done.

I knew it would be a good day the moment I managed a mile around the track in under nine minutes. My strength was nearly back, and my foot was practically normal.

The gym shower offered sweet relief after my run. It was so quiet in the athletic locker rooms in the summer. Usually, there was always someone doing something back here, but today it was just me and my lucky sneakers.

They had thick green rubbery soles and neon pink laces. Emma Kate had saved up to get these kicks for me in high school as a gift my junior year when I made varsity. She'd drawn little stars and a rocket on the side with a permanent marker. It was the best gift I'd ever gotten.

My coach at the university said they were tacky and had gotten me a different pair to wear at meets, but I always did well when I wore them. I'd put them away during my recovery so I could have something to look forward to when I could run again.

I returned the shoes to my feet after I dressed for rehearsal. I knew if I attempted to blow dry my hair, my curls would frizz in protest, so I tied my damp hair back in a bun. I'd never be a beauty queen like Kayleigh or obsessed with makeup like Riley, but I knew how to handle my own bright curly hair.

My mom had never been around to do my hair when I was a kid. I had three brothers, so my older brother Cory had learned how to put my hair in pigtails, but when I was old enough, I watched a ton of YouTube videos to get the hang of things.

When my mother was around, she wanted me to change my hair. I was the spitting image of my dad's mother, and my mother and grandmother hated each other. My mother always begged me to straighten it, or sometimes she'd say we could go to a salon with money we didn't have to get it colored.

I didn't want that. I loved having such unique hair. Cory always said it was easy to spot me in a crowd. I always joked in that case, I'd never get lost.

The sun was beaming down in full force by the time I exited the athletic building. It would take less than ten minutes to get to the music building. Everything on campus was close together, which was definitely a perk since I didn't have a car.

I found Parker in the lobby outside of the theater. He was kicked back on the couch with headphones in his ears, and he appeared to be going over his lines. That made my heart twinge with pride that he was studying so intently.

The theater was quieter today. When I stepped onstage, I spotted Lucas in the front row, curled up with a copy of  War and Peace. He waved vaguely. 

I looked around, and I didn't see Maddox. Or hear his peppy pop music coming from anywhere. He was supposed to meet me today so that we could make alterations to my Prospero costume. I turned to Lucas for answers.

"Is Maddox here?" I asked him.

Lucas set his book down. "His dad was on his case again, so I wouldn't expect much from him today."

I sucked in my cheeks. Maddox was always upbeat and cheerful almost always. Emphasis on almost. He tended to get moody when his parents tried to interfere with his life beyond paying his credit card bill.

His mother wanted him to go to school, but his father was convinced that the only experience Maddox needed was in the real world. Every once in a while, Mr. Maddox would call and pester his son about coming down to Hollywood and working with him. It always seemed to suck the life out of Maddox, but he held firm against his father and always gave him a firm no.

"Will he be here?" I asked.

Lucas reopened his book. "Don't know."

"You know where he is?" I sighed.

"Maddox is..." Lucas frowned. "I can't always read his mind, Lexi. He's an actor just like the rest of you."

I stiffened. It was annoying when people assumed actors weren't real like we'd just keep acting on and off stage, never showing our genuine selves.

"Maddox doesn't act constantly," I said. "None of us do."

"Theater majors are so touchy," Lucas rolled his eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there are twenty minutes until your rehearsal starts. I need to get my reading in."

I left him alone after that and headed into the green room. Raisa was stitching up something by hand while Emma Kate and Bradley were at the back of the room having an intense conversation I didn't want to eavesdrop on.

Maddox wasn't in sight. His sewing machine was abandoned, and his workstation was covered in a dozen bolts of high-end fabric.

"Raisa, have you seen Maddox?" I asked.

"Not today," she said. "Your costume is in the back, but I don't want to alter it without consulting Maddox. He's kind of touchy about people messing with his stuff."

She wasn't wrong. Maddox might not have enjoyed always being singled out as the costume guy, but when he was in his element, he was so at ease and unstoppable. Give the guy creative freedom, and you'd have the best costumes in the state.

"Let me know if you see him," I said, pushing into the back makeup room, hoping beyond hope that maybe Maddox was consulting with Riley about their SFX sea monster costume for Caliban.

The little room was the least used by most of the students. It usually fit about two people, the artist, and the person in the chair. There were a thousand cubbies full of makeup that was who knew how old stacked around a mirror.

Our school wasn't particularly known for makeup. The school only offered one class, and it was mostly about shading and learning how to use basic latex to apply wounds. I'd once had to rush to a chemistry class after that class last semester with my Halloween exam makeup all over my face since there wasn't enough time to remove it.

Riley sat in front of a small row of Styrofoam heads wearing wigs. She was doodling a butterfly on the edge of her eyelid with an eyeliner pen. A dye bucket sat next to her where she was soaking a pixie cut wig to dye it pink for one of the goddesses blessing Miranda's wedding.

"Hey, Lex," she set the pen down. "What brings you to my crib?"

"Have you seen Maddox?" I asked.

"No, come to think of it," she spun in her chair. "Haven't even heard his K-pop today blaring from the green room either. That is odd."

"Lucas said he talked to his dad, so I was kinda hoping he was just hiding," I said.

Riley sighed. "So it's a dark day then. He's not hiding in the makeup closet. Hope he shows. Now meeting parental expectations is a pain."

Riley's parents were big-shot executives at a pharmaceutical company. They didn't love that their daughter's passion was makeup, but her mom had claimed that they'd support Riley in her dream if she could get into one of the biggest SFX schools in the country. Riley had been waiting for over three months for her acceptance letter, which the school said could come as early as May.

"I certainly hope this isn't a dark day for Maddox," I said.

Those usually included Maddox barely speaking, laughing, or any sign of his jovial self. He could r be cheered, and not even his friends could help. His longest dark day period was last September when his father encouraged him to drop out of the fall show so he could replace a costume director on one of his TV shows. Somehow turning down something he loved, like costumes, made rejecting skipping college even worse.

"Me too," Riley said. "I heard some of the kids who applied to the SFX program at my school got their letters yesterday. When I checked the house this morning, there wasn't one."

"You'll get in," I said. "Then go out to Hollywood for a year and learn everything you can. Then it'll be you designing for every show imaginable."

"I hope so," Riley said. "And it's just another year here if they reject me, and I'll apply again. I've only got two semesters until graduation."

"Lucky," I said.

There were four semesters still ahead of me. Then came student loans and job searching. I'd always be working to pay bills, but that was adulting. I wasn't sure acting would pay the bills, but it was something I loved.

"You'll make it out, too," Riley said. "Keep doing what you love, Lexi."

That made me smile. "That's what we do. We're starting in seven minutes. If you see Maddox text me."

This is what we loved. I never wanted to lose this theater, and I couldn't let my cast fall apart. It was my job as co-director to find Maddox and sort this out.

Hey everyone!!! Happy new year! I ended up splitting this chapter into two because of the length. Hope you enjoyed it. I'm enjoying flushing out Lexi's character so read on for more.

--- Eliana