As usual, the guitars were lined up, ready and waiting, but I looked past them to the cases of other instruments that seemed to be stored in this backstage area. Obviously I couldn’t take a whole piano, but surely I could filch a keyboard. I was just starting to examine them when the door behind me banged open, and I jumped.
Niall was standing there, looking as surprised to see me as I was to see him.
I paused for just a second, trying to recalibrate. Normally, by this time, Niall was already back in the dressing room with the other members of Eton Mess, telling me to get lost. But a second later, I realized that since I hadn’t intercepted Freddie, he’d gone ahead on the path he went down when he didn’t meet me. He’d told Niall about the manager, got him Irn-Bru to soften the blow, and ?spilled it on my dress. I was realizing a beat too late that I hadn’t factored in where Niall was in this scenario. And the answer, apparently, was right front of me, messing up my plans.
“Can I help you?” he asked with a wide, empty smile, his voice going back to lazy posh.
“I was just leaving.” I gave him a nod and turned for the door, ready to duck out and hustle back to the entrance, start this whole thing over again. But a second later, it occurred to me he might actually be able to point me in the right direction. “Have you seen a keyboard around here?”
“Uh,” he said, looking disconcerted. “There’s a spare one in that case, I think.” He pointed to one of the instrument cases. “Are you with management?”
I could practically see him weighing me up, like he was trying to figure out if I was someone he needed to impress or not. He was clearly annoyed that I was there, but wasn’t sure if he could safely express that annoyance. I saw his gaze travel down to my hand, and his eyes narrowed as he clocked the wristband that confirmed I was just a regular teenager here for Grad Nite, and not someone he had to impress.
“Cool, thanks,” I said, reaching for the door just as Niall took a step in front of it, blocking my path.
“You’re really not supposed to be back here.” His smile, the one that had never met his eyes, was fading by degrees, like someone was hitting a dimmer switch.
“Yeah,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I wasn’t smiling at all now. I was just looking at him, assessing him. He should have counted himselfluckyto have been Freddie’s friend all these years. And then to turn around and try and wreck his chances—and succeed, most of the time—was beyond galling. It wasenraging. “And you’re not really supposed to be giving people allergic reactions, are you?”
His smile dropped immediately, and I thought I saw a flicker of panic in his eyes before it was immediately smoothed out. “I don’t—What do you mean?”
“I mean how you’re going to mess with Freddie’s water. Because you’re jealous and small and petty.”
He barked out a laugh, like this was just so absurd, but I could see his eyes darting back and forth—could practically hear his brain whirring as he tried to figure out what was happening. “What are you on about?” he drawled, but I couldn’t help but notice that his accent had started to slip. “I haven’t done anything. And that’s—What a thing to say, honestly.”
“You’re going to,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “You know you’ve already thought about it. Maybe even started to plan?”
“Okay, I don’t have to stay here and hear this,” he said with a forced laugh. “I don’t have to listen to you accusing me of something I haven’t done. Who are you, Tom Cruise?”
“I…” I started, then frowned. “What?”
“You know.Minority Report?”
I shook my head. “Never seen it.”
“Oh it’s really good,” he enthused. “It’s—” A second later, he caught himself. “Why are we talking about this? I don’t even know who you are. You shouldn’t be here. I’m going to call security—”
“No need,” I said, maneuvering past him toward the door. “I’m leaving.” For just a second, I tried to think of some snappy closing line, but nothing came, so I just settled for giving him the I’m-watching-you finger point before stepping outside and walking away quickly. And in case Niall actuallywascalling security, I pushed out fast through the main door and then hustled away, ready to give this another shot.
Iknew I had to get in and get out in about three minutes if I wanted to make this work. I checked the time—10:19 p.m. Hopefully I had found the sweet spot between not being seen by Violet and the other stagehands, and being able to miss Niall entirely. Though in all honesty, I really hadn’t minded being able to give him a piece of my mind. Even though I knew he wouldn’t remember any of it, it had made me feel better just to tell him how awful he was.
I waited one moment more, then took a breath and pulled the door open. As I’d hoped, the hallway was empty. I walked straight up to the case Niall had pointed to, unlocked it, and spotted a keyboard. I grabbed it, closed up the case, and pushed it back to where it belonged. I figured ?nobody would notice. Since there were no keys in the band, it wasn’t like a missing keyboard was going to turn into a huge emergency. I had just started for the door,? when I heard Freddie laugh.
I froze and turned around, but the hallway was still empty. Then a moment later, I heard it again—a sound, I now realized, that was so familiar to me I could have picked it out anywhere. It was coming from the greenroom, through the door that was pushed open just slightly. Even without being able to see him, I could picture it. Freddie wandering around, chatting to his bandmates, Alfie happily eating the prawns that would betray him, none of them realizing what was coming. I knew that Freddie was nervous about the manager, but he hadn’t been able to share this with anyone—because in this version of tonight, we’d never met. Which seemed impossible—but was somehow the truth.
“Hey!” I jumped and turned around to see Niall standing just inside the door, staring at me.
I looked down at the keyboard in my hand, then shook my head and handed it back to him. “Sorry,” I said, moving past him toward the door. “Let’s try this again.”
At 10:18 p.m., I pulled open the door, walked directly over to the case, took out the keyboard, closed it up, and left as quickly as I’d come in.
Outside the door, I blinked at the keyboard in my ?hands, a little amazed that I’d done it. I’d finally pulled off my first heist. But I didn’t have time to bask in my victory—I knew Niall was coming along at any moment. I started walking fast, pushing out through the wooden door and stepping into the flow of the crowd again. But I could sense that I wasn’t exactly blending in. I was getting some stares, which was frankly understandable—I was walking around Grad Nite with a keyboard. I needed to find somewhere that I wouldn’t be in the mix of everyone—and I wouldn’t encounter Bryony or anyone I knew. I was supposed to be in the infirmary recovering after all, not wandering around with a Yamaha. I stepped out of the flow of people and shifted the keyboard to my other hand, thinking.
Then I changed direction and walked the other way.
Over my nights here, I’d observed that the quietest part of the park was Grizzly Peak. There weren’t as many rides that were open—the Grizzly River Run, the water ride, was closed, which only left Soarin’. There weren’t as many people here—no costumed characters or photo opportunities, just the occasional person sitting on a bench, or passing through, using it as a shortcut to the Avengers Campus. But for right now, I didn’t mind that things were quiet and it was a little off the beaten path. Especially since I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be great at this for a while.
I sat down on a tucked-away bench and turned the keyboard on. I stared down at the keys, then tentatively pressed down on what I remembered from my long-ago lessons was middle C.
