Limitless: The Second Edition

Oliver

That Thursday, we are working on a full run-through of Act 1. People are still losing their minds over Derek. One girl keeps going out of her way to get his attention, and he graciously acknowledges her every time. I can tell he's too polite to tell her that she's just embarrassing herself and that he's not interested in her. Sadie and Hannah are now the only two girls not flirting with Derek. And speaking of Hannah, something is seriously up with her today.

She keeps zoning out. She looks over at me every chance she gets, even though she is looking at me ninety percent of the time anyway. Now that Derek mentioned it, I now notice the fact that she hardcore blushes every time I touch her or get anywhere near her. I want so badly to believe him. I really do. I want her to like me. But I said it before, and I'll say it again. I want her to have the freedom to choose without me influencing her one way or the other. Me hyping her up with Derek is just me trying to give her the best chance if she does go to him. I know he thinks we're going to get together, but if he'd seen the look on her face the first time she brought him up to me, he might change his mind.

Meanwhile, I am trying hard to focus. Today is David's first time singing "Greater than Me" in front of me. He's pretty good. My role requires me to not make eye contact with him while he's singing. I have to try to ignore him. And surprisingly, this song's lyrics aren't affecting me this time like they normally do. That's probably because they're coming from a classmate who, in my time of knowing him, is a complete angel and would never intentionally hurt me or anyone else.

Every other time I've heard David try to sing this song, his voice has been hesitant and broken. Now, for the first time, it's strong and confident. It's incredible to watch this change. I'm beyond proud of him. He's come so far. He's going to be a wonderful Anjan.

The first act is probably harder than the first act. That's because most of it is buildup to "I'm Not Broken, which happens right before intermission. It's kind of like when you're looking forward to a really exciting evening but you have to get through a whole day of school or work first. That song is the first true moment of hope in the musical. It's where Enso begins to see his own self-worth for the first time. It's such a beautiful moment. And as I keep performing, and Anjan bombards me with insults, I can't help but realize something.

I'm not scared of being beat up anymore. Those big football dudes, they don't scare me now. I've been ignoring them when they even try to get my attention. I don't even give them the time of day. If they call my name, I simply pretend I didn't notice. They're starting to realize that their taunts aren't getting under my skin anymore. I haven't had anyone even try to steal my crutches in two weeks. And I'm feeling confident. Because if they try to mess with me again, they have a whole lot of people to answer to, including the most popular young actor on Broadway.

When we finish the first act, Ms. Dawson calls for a fifteen minute break. Everyone disperses to get water, except for Hannah. She runs right up to me.

I pat her on the back. "Good job," I tell her. "You were amazing."

"So were you," she replies. Her face goes redder than I've ever seen it, and she excuses herself. She runs off in the direction of the nearest water fountain.

I expect her to come back in a few minutes, but when she doesn't return, I start to get worried. I hope she's alright. The last thing I want is for her to be sick or something. I try to convince myself that she'll come back any second. But the seconds turn into minutes, and before I know it, we only have five minutes left. Derek is standing nearby, so I decide to go talk to him.

"Hey, do you know where Hannah went?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "No, sorry. You want me to go look for her?"

I hesitate, then nod. "I want to make sure she's okay. Just don't tell her I sent you."

Derek salutes me. "On it, brother. I will not let you down." With that, he heads off in the direction Hannah left.

After about ten minutes, he comes back with both her and Courtney. Hannah's eyes are red like she'd been crying. Now I'm genuinely worried. I hope I didn't upset her in any way. I hope Derek didn't hurt her feelings. Really, there's no way Derek would ever do anything to hurt her. He did say he wanted to be her friend, too. So I immediately cross that off the list of possibilities.

I decide to not say anything to Hannah right now. I don't get a chance to, anyway, because Ms. Dawson announces that we are going to stumble through the second act.

I can't help but be excited about this. It means that we are going to run through the best songs in the musical, including "Battle Cry" and "Winner". I'm so excited. We probably aren't going to do much work on "Winner" today, which is fine. I can do it at home. I'm ready to dance and sing my heart out.

As we stumble blindly through the second act, Hannah still seems distracted. And by distracted, she's distracted by me. She keeps looking at me. I wish I could read her mind. I wish she would just tell me. I want to help her. I want to be there for her. But seeing as I can't even walk on my own, I don't know how much help I'd be. I wish I could be the big strong guy who protects the girl.

After rehearsal ends, Derek, Courtney, and Hannah all keep looking in my direction. Clearly the three of them had some sort of meeting when they disappeared in the middle of rehearsal, and it definitely involved me. I don't know what, and I'm not sure I want to know. I don't want to invade anyone's privacy.

I stand off to the side, leaning on the wall and looking through my phone. Meanwhile, Hannah is going around talking to Sadie and David. That's odd. They don't talk much. However, they definitely talk to her more than they do to me. That's most likely because Hannah is a social butterfly who isn't afraid to engage others in conversation. I am, too, but I don't like to put myself in a position to potentially get bullied. It's not that I don't want to talk to people, I just don't want to be picked on.

After what seems like forever, Hannah glances over to Derek, who gives her a thumbs-up. Then he turns to me, and winks at me.

My curiosity gets the better of me, and I decide to approach her. "You okay?" I ask, coming up behind her. "You seemed so off today."

Hannah sighs heavily and gazes off into the distance behind me. "I'm okay, Oliver. I'm just in love."

Here comes the moment of truth. "With Derek?"

And my heart catches in my throat when she shakes her head and responds with, "No, Oliver. With you."