𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 || 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐳 ||

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑

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"Alright, let's take about 10 minutes then we'll dive into Act 2," Nick announced to the group. Everyone nodded in agreement and began to rise from their seats. Milo stood up and made her way over to where Dylan was.

Lauren remained seated, observing as Milo walked off to join Dylan. She quickly averted her gaze, focusing instead on her script. Meanwhile, Harper glanced at Lauren before rising from her seat. 

She then made her way over to Joey, who was engaged in conversation with Darren. Harper approached them and patiently waited for their discussion to conclude. Once Darren bid Joey farewell and departed, he headed over to join Joe and Brian.

"Hey," Joey greeted his younger sister before turning his attention to Harper. "Hey," Harper responded to Joey, her gaze shifting briefly to Lauren, who seemed preoccupied with glancing between Milo and Dylan.

 Joey noticed Lauren's behavior and then glanced back at Harper. "Do you think Lauren is jealous of Dylan?" he inquired, to which Harper shrugged. "No clue," she replied to Joey before redirecting her attention to Lauren.

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Ten minutes later, Nick called everyone back. "Let's read act 2, then Matt and I will answer any questions you might have," Nick announced to the group, who nodded in agreement. Milo returned to her seat next to Lauren, who smiled at her before turning her attention to the act 2 page in her script. 

Nick then looked over at Darren, who was opening his script again. "You start us off," Nick instructed Darren, who nodded and began reading from the script. "Ron, this totally sucks, man. This—" Darren read aloud, initiating the second act.

As the group read through act 2, they reached the near end. "So let's go! Oh, wait a second, wait a second. Hold the phone. How'd you get here? The Death Eaters are all over Hogwarts," Darren read from the script. Milo followed along in her script and then read her line aloud, "Oh, I had help."

"For From who?" Darren read his line aloud then Joey also read his line out loud "Oh, he's over here." he read then listen to Nick read the stage directions "MALFOY!" Joey finished his line witch followed Darren to say his line "Malfoy!" he read his line.

Milo waited for Darren to finish his line "Oh, no, no, no, he's really nice now!" Milo read her line then touched Lauren's shoulder, which made Lauren blush a little bit. 

Then Lauren then read her line "Um, I-I just wanted to say that that song you guys sang was really beautiful. And, um, while-while I was backstage I was, um, working out my falsetto, and I thought, um, maybe I could-maybe I could join you but you- you wrapped it up before I could chime in there so.... Maybe if you, uh, if you do a little reprise I could have a little go at it, um, but as-as Ginny said, I'm REALLY nice now and I just feel awful about what happened but, I mean, could you argue that this was MY fault?"

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Lauren said goodbye to everyone after the read-through and then headed off to find Asher, Dylan's younger brother. She knocked on his dorm room door, calling out his name. When Asher answered, Lauren quickly relayed the news. 

"Okay! So, we had our first read-through of A Very Potter Musical," she began. "And Milo sat next to me." Lauren took a breath and glanced around the empty hall before continuing, "Milotouchedmyshoulderduringthereadthrough!" Asher stared at her for a moment, processing the information. 

"Say that again but slower," he requested. Lauren nodded and took a deep breath. "Milo touched my shoulder during the read-through," she repeated slowly.

Asher nodded thoughtfully, then motioned for Lauren to come in. "Alright, do you think she likes you?" he asked once they were inside. 

Lauren hesitated for a moment before responding, "Uh, to be honest, without. I think she only likes me as a friend, like she likes someone else." Asher raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Who?" he inquired. Lauren took a deep breath. "Your brother," she admitted.

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Milo picked up her script and began to walk over to Dylan when Mak called out to her. "Milo! Are you coming?" they shouted. Milo turned around and replied, "I'm gonna hang out with Dylan for a little bit." Mak grinned and teased, "Okay, have fun with Dylan." Milo glanced back at Mak and rolled her eyes in response.

Dylan also grabbed his script and walked over to Milo when Joey called out to him. "Dyl! Are you coming?" Joey shouted. Dylan glanced over at Joey and replied, "I'm gonna hang out with Milo for a little." 

Joey grinned and teased him about his crush on Milo, "Alright! Have fun with Milo." Dylan chuckled and shook his head before turning back to Milo.

Milo watched Dylan approach her with a smile. "Hey," she greeted him warmly. Dylan returned the smile. "Hey, where do you wanna hang out?" he asked. 

Milo pondered for a moment. "Uh, we can hang out outside. It's really nice out," she suggested. Dylan agreed with a smile. "Yeah, sure," he said. They walked outside together, chatting about the show and their classes along the way.

The two walked outside and found a bench to sit on. Milo placed their scripts beside her and watched as Dylan did the same. 

They talked for what seemed like hours until Milo checked her phone to see the time. She then looked back at Dylan. "It's getting late. I should head to my dorm," she said. 

Dylan nodded. "Yeah, I should get back to my dorm too. It was nice hanging out with you," he replied. Milo smiled. "Yeah, it was," she said. With that, she stood up and grabbed her script. 

"See ya, Dylan!" she said with a smile. "See ya!" Dylan responded, watching her walk away before picking up his script and heading off to his dorm.

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