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have been kissing.”
    Bella lets out a whoop. “I knew you had your eye on him! Did you give him your number?”
    “He asked me out for Thursday. Well, sort of. It’s just pizza.”
    But Bella’s face is lit with victory. “This is so exciting. Something to look forward to. Now call that manager you’re always yelling at and tell him where he can shove his heaving bosoms.”
    It’s only six a.m. in L.A., so it will have to wait a few hours. “I’ll do it,” I vow.

    I catch my arrogant manager after my first class of the day, and the call goes about as well as could be expected.
    “Bob, I’m not doing that scene as written.”
    He sighs. “I know that, babe. But you know this script will be rewritten by fifty different people before it makes it onto the set. So it’s a waste of time objecting to this or that word. Instead, we’ll just lay out what they’re allowed to do. Maybe we’ll say that side boob is okay, but no nips. Or yes to ass cheek and no to full frontal.”
    I experience a shudder from my “nips” to my ass cheeks. “How about no scene at all. A kiss and fade to black.” I could survive a kiss with Kevin.
    Again with the sigh. “I can’t sell that.”
    You mean you don’t want to . “How about this—you get me some progress on the Scottish play, and I’ll give you side boob.” I can’t believe I just formed that sentence. It sounds as if we’re describing a cut of meat at a butcher shop.
    He’s as noncommittal as always. “I’ll see what I can do.”
    Unsatisfied, I shove my phone in a pocket. Now there’s nothing left to do but survive a few more days of classes before I can go on a date with DJ. At least I have that to look forward to.

4
    The Day the Music Died
    DJ
    I do as I’m asked. Finally. When everyone is out of the house except me.
    The whole debacle is deeply embarrassing. And even though I’ll bet everyone who lives in Orsen’s house has heard about the accusation against me, I never talk about the case. Never.
    Part of me is hoping that the lawyer can’t take my call. He must be a busy guy, right?
    No such luck.
    “Daniel,” he says, his voice booming and confident. “It’s a pleasure to get you on the phone. I’ve read your file, and I think I can help.”
    “Um, thank you, sir.” But I feel no relief, because I just don’t trust him. “I, um, know you don’t know me. But before we begin, I just need to tell you that I did not…do what they’re accusing me of.” I can’t even bring myself to say the word, because I don’t want it on my tongue. “So there’s no compromise I’m willing to make.”
    “Whoa there, son. Let’s slow down just a little bit. I’m not going to ask you to compromise yourself in any way. What’s interesting to me about your case is how ridiculously the college has handled it. They haven’t given you a chance to say, ‘I didn’t do this.’ And that’s not right.”
    Even though that’s all true, my heart is already pounding against my ribcage. I have never known real stress until this year.
    “My first job will be to get the college to give us a private hearing.”
    “They, um, haven’t been willing to do that, sir. The first lawyer my father spoke to couldn’t get anywhere with them.”
    “I know. But you can’t defend yourself if they won’t hear you out. So my first job is to demonstrate all the ways that they’ve mishandled you. To defend you, I first have to go on the attack. We have to accuse the college of violating your rights.”
    Now I’m starting to sweat, because attacking is the last thing I want to do. I just want the whole issue to fade away. “But if they drop their, um, claim, I’m hoping to stay here.”
    “Of course you are. But unless we can make them own up to their failures, they’re going to just decide this thing behind closed doors and send you a letter with their decision. We have to make it clear that you didn’t get to tell your side of the story, and that you’re being