#SamGabeHSAU - there is no Sam in this chapter! -

Gabriel thinks about it. A lot. Auditions? Auditions mean possible rejection. And then rehearsal, and a lot of work, and maybe sucking, and then a performance, and then maybe sucking at that, and then feeling like shit. He runs through that litany about seven hundred times, and it is still not enough to break the hold that the concept has on him. Damn Sam for even bringing it up, because now Gabriel's sold. He's gonna have to put himself out there. It's going to happen.

He sneaks into the drama teacher's room after class. Ms. Moseley is big, black, and dangerous, and she never fails to look like a walking, talking vat of chocolate. Gabriel likes her, despite never having taken one of her classes. And inexplicably, she knows his name.

"Mister Archer. Gabriel, isn't it?" she says without turning around. "Well, I've been wondering if Lucy's little brother was ever going to follow in his footsteps."

"Lucy?" Gabriel's older brother's name is Luke.

"Oh, that was just a bit of good-natured teasing," Ms. Moseley says. "He was such a bleeding heart, your brother was. Didn't want to hurt a fly." She turns and faces him, and Gabriel immediately feels as though he's in the kitchen of someone's grandmother about to get fed a stack of pancakes. Is that racist? he wonders vaguely.

"Oh, I'm a lot more than Aunt Jemima," she declares, and Gabriel is now officially unsettled. He squirms in his shoes. "So have you come to ask about the auditions, then? If you're anything like Lucy was, I think you'll do just fine."

"Luke was in plays?" Gabriel never knew this. He wasn't even sure he was going to survive this experience if he dared tell his dad about it. He'd seen Dead Poets Society, he knew what happened to actors with parochial, super-religious parents. But Luke is 6 years his senior and Gabriel was still in fourth grade when Luke dropped out, so his memory's a bit foggy on the details.

"He was a born actor. As I'm sure you are, too. I can tell by the way you carry yourself. I'll give you a little leg up on the auditions if you like. Want a hint?"

Gabriel nods.

"You're supposed to bring a song to sing." Ms. Moseley waddles over and leans down. "Think Elvis," she stage-whispers in his ear.

A grin spreads over Gabriel's face. "I can do that," he says. "Thanks!" Stupidly energetic all of a sudden, he jogs all the way home after school just so he can open the front door and declare, "Lucy! I'm home!"

The pounding he gets is totally worth it.

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