Veronica was in the auditorium with Anusha and Lewis, waiting for the rest of the SideThots to arrive for rehearsal. It was the first rehearsal for the musical and it already wasn't going smoothly. Because of Senior League, Dylan, Simon, and Tobi were late to rehearsal. The others, the three weren't too sure. Even Swanson was late, and he was the director. Veronica had tried to be nice, buying drinks from DutchBros for all the friends and they were currently melting in the drink carriers on top of the grand piano that had been rolled onto the stage.
Lewis stroked the black piano, not too sure where it had come from. "So, does Swanson even teach music or is it going to sound really bad?"
Veronica sighed very deeply, like this had opened a wound and put her hands in her head. "No, he wants me to teach you guys the music."
"Really?" Anusha asked, sipping her drink. "Not to insult your musical ability or anything, but does he seriously think that's a good idea?"
"I don't know what Swanson thinks," Veronica responded and shook her head again, finally the auditorium doors opened, but it was just Finn, Deji, and Quadeca showing up for practice. Veronica groaned at their arrival, all three of them looking offended. She checked her wrist for a watch that wasn't even there and groaned again. "Finn! We don't even need you today! You're only in one scene."
Finn fixed his shirt prestigiously. "I like being punctual."
"Oh, shut up," Veronica said and slammed her face into the piano, but before her head could make contact with it Anusha caught it and threw it back up.
She pointed at Veronica. "Stop that."
Deji slid up onto the stage, already being so loud that it was annoying. "So we're doing group numbers today, yeah? What have ya got in store?"
Veronica glared at him. "Get away from me."
"We can put the disstracks behind us, I swear." Deji put his hands up as if he was harmless, but he noticed Veronica was still glaring at him. "And the whole 'my brother relentlessly bullies you' thing. We can forget about that too."
"I had a black eye for three weeks, Deji!"
"Three weeks, two days, four hours, actually." Liz came in from the side and slid onto the piano bench with Harry and Ethan behind her. Somehow she was already holding her drink in her hand and it was nearly halfway gone. Harry sat down on the bench and started slamming the highest keys while Ethan pretended to slam the piano cover onto his fingers.
"How do you have it down to the hour?" Anusha asked Liz, waiting patiently for when Ethan would actually drop the cover accidentally.
"I'm very punctual," Liz said, and Finn's face lit up.
"Punctual, my ass," Veronica muttered, grabbing Harry's and Ethan's drinks and handing them over. She grabbed the cover and gave Ethan a pointed glare, he did not dare play with the cover again. Harry happily took the drink and started sipping. "At least you're here now. We just have to wait for the soccer players."
"And Vik," Ethan added like he was being helpful.
Veronica scowled. "And Vik."
Finally, Senior League practice finally ended and the players shuffled in. Dylan stormed in first, throwing the auditorium doors wide open and stomping up to the stage already looking angry. Tobi was carrying his own bag and Dylan's bag. Simon followed a little bit after, helping Vik up the stairs of the auditorium and onto stage. The group was already glaring at them as they came in. Because of the whole thing, Simon had kind of been designated to take care of Vik, but then the group kind of still got mad at the two of them for spending so much time together. It was a double-edged sword.
