𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐈𝐒𝐇// 𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐗𝐎𝐂

𝐱𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐢. ✭ 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔

OCTOBER, 1975; EDDIE

"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream!" Chance sang from my tattered couch, her eyes shining at the Disney movie in front of us. My television was so shitty that it pixelated the animation on the screen. Princess Aurora danced around on screen and Chance looked like she just about adored her. This had to be our fifth time watching the movie. "I know you, the gleam in your eye is so familiar a gleam!"

I waited for her gasp to sound, just how it did every time the prince came onto the screen. Chance liked the gushy romance parts. I was more partial to the big old dragon. Nevertheless, I tolerated her swooning and heart-shaped eyes when the prince snuck up on Aurora and twirled her into a dance. She couldn't be more charmed.

This time, however, Chance decided she wanted to join in on the dancing. She got to her feet, pulling me up with her, and threw us into a wobbly waltz that only little children could manage. The kind that ended up with us in giggles as we fell to the floor.

Aurora took the prince's hand, leading him through the jewel-toned forest. They were a pair. Two good pals. Just like us.

FEBRUARY, 1986; EDDIE

"Come audition for Phantom!" Tibby smiled at every person who was leaving the school through the main exit, holding out a clipboard that had the audition slip stuck to it. "Come audition for Phantom!" I bustled through the crowd with my interest peaked.
"Come audition for-" She clutched the clipboard away from me, a scowl pressed into her face. Not caring to move, I stood in front of her and held my hand out for her to pass me the pen. Tibby laughed in my face, her brows sharpening. "Ha! No. No way, Munson. No fucking way. Keep walking."

"Come on, Bao." My palm remained open, patiently waiting for the pen she gripped tightly in her fist. "I'm just trying to become an esteemed member of my community. Why not start with the theater?"

"You just wanna join because Chance signed up." Scoffing, she narrowed her eyes. "You can't even act."

"I can learn."

"No way." Her response remained set in stone, cold, and serious. "Not after that bullshit, you pulled at Grease. Ms. O'Donnell even said that as long as she was alive she would never let you step on that stage. Never."

"Gimme the pen, Bao," I demanded, not in any way ready to back down. This was one battle that I was going to fight or die trying. "I'm serious as shit. Let me audition, come on."

"What seems to be going on here, Tabitha?" Ms. O'Donnell's prim voice lilted. She appeared beside Tibby, practically floating across the linoleum in her swishy dress. "Is Edward inquiring about the musical?" Her words rolled off of her tongue in a song-like way, peaking up and down as she spoke. "Which part are you interested in, Edward? The phantom perhaps?" She dusted off my shoulder, inspecting me. "You do have a natural dark aura to you, very brooding. That's not something you can teach."

"Thank you, Ms. O'Donnell." I nodded in agreement, not below brown nosing. "That is exactly what I was telling Tabitha." Using Tibby's full name made her cringe and leer up at me. "But she said that I wasn't allowed to audition after the incident at Grease, which I am endlessly sorry about. Believe me, I've spent many nights thinking about my horrible, horrible actions and I honestly think I've turned over a new leaf."