I was nervous, wiping my shaking hands on my skirt knowing full well they'd be soaked with sweat just a second later.

Today was the auditons for the talent show. I was doing a solo to "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked. It felt pretty ironic to me at the moment, since I was seriously lacking Elphaba's confidence.

Even though it was a solo, Jack was waiting with me. He'd been the one to encourage me to try out, and he was gonna see this through.

"You'll be awesome!" He assured me with that adorable toothy grin of his.

I smiled back. "I know I will, I just don't know if they'll know." I jerked my head towards the trio of school staff acting as judges for auditions to the talent show.

"Next up, Rachel Logan."

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. "Wish me luck!" I walked up the stairs and into the center of the stage.

I grabbed the mic and signalled to Jack to start the karaoke version of the song.

"Something has changed within me, something is not the same. I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game. Too late for second-guessing! Too late to go back to sleep! It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap!"

I closed my eyes, focusing on the music instead of the judges and all the other auditioners who were staring at me.

"It's time to try defying gravity! I think I'll try defying gravity! Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity! And you won't bring me down!"

Some people applauded, and I smiled, gaining a bit more confidence. I opened my eyes to see who was applauding, and nearly forgot the next line.

It was Rose. What was she doing here? And why was she applauding for me?

I pushed thoughts of Rose out of my mind as the last line of the instrumental finished. I came in a little late, but I hoped the judges wouldn't notice.

"-Through accepting limits, 'cause someone says they're so. Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know! Too long I've been afraid of losing love I guess I've lost! Well, if that's love, It comes at much too high a cost!

"I'd sooner buy defying gravity! Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity! I think I'll try defying gravity, and you won't bring me down! Bring me down! Oh oooooh!"

I finished the song without further incident, and rushed off the stage to find Jack.

"That was great!" He assured me with a smile.

Andre raced over, pushing in front of Jack. To both my surprise and his own, Andre hugged me. "Rachel, that was amazing!"

Jack regarded Andre with nothing short of disgust as he backed up from me, his pale skin turning pink.

"Um, who are you?" Jack crossed his arms over his chest.

Andre gave Jack his best dark glare, which was pretty scary, seeing as his powers are dark magic and all.

"I'm her friend, I've known her since we were little." He told Jack, who seem unperturbed by his seething look.

"I think the question is, who are you?"

I stepped between the two boys before Andre could loose control of his emotions. "Andre, this is my friend, Jack. Jack, well, you already know Andre."

A gentle hand tapped Andre's shoulder. "Hey, I think it's our turn."

Andre turned and smiled at Rose.

What!? I stopped myself before I could think it. Andre couldn't like someone as clumsy and stupid as me, could he? No, of course he'd prefer my perfect, older twin sister.

Andre headed up onstage, but Rose stayed behind a moment.

"Great job, Rachel," she tucked a strand of stray white hair behind her ear, "I know you'll make it to the talent show."

Oh now she was just taunting me.

"Lets go." I said to Jack.

"Sure you don't wanna check out the competition?" He asked.

"Trust me, I've dealt with all the competition I can for today." I muttered. I grabbed my iPod from him and marched for the doors, a day of satisfaction ruined.

-------

Rose woke up the next day, calm and refreshed. It felt so assuring to wake up in the Logan's cozy home instead of her big, cold bedroom back in Slade's mansion. She hugged her knees to her chest for a moment of self pity, and hurried to get ready for school.

She made tofu pancakes, to Michael and Leo's delight. Dad kissed her good morning, and even though mom was tired, she made sure to say good morning and have a nice day to each of her children.

Rachel grumbled as she did each morning after a long night of watching anime. She had her cup of tea and left before saying hi to mom.

"We did good yesterday, don't you think?" Andre asked her as he and Arella caught up with Rose and her siblings.

"Of course!" Rose assured him. "Thank you for doing it with me, I don't think I would have been able to do it on my own, one of the things Rachel and I don't have in common."

"No problem." Andre was talking to Rachel, but his eyes were trained far ahead to where Rachel stormed past Mar'i and her brother.

"You like her, don't you?" Rachel said as they sat in the courtyard with Katie and her friends.

"She'd never feel the same way about me." Andre lamented.

Katie shook her head as she sketched, "Oh she totally does."

Rose giggled as Ryan ran towards them with a yellow and purple piece of paper streaming out behind them.

"Guys! Guys! They posted the Talent show list!" Ryan yelled, skidding to a stop as Jai zoomed over in a burst of pink static electricity.

Rose blushed as Jai slung his arm around her shoulder. "Heard you did pretty good yesterday." He grinned.

Before Rose could answer, Michael interrupted.

"Yo! Jai, no flirting with my sister!" He tugged the older boy away from Rose, nearly looking his holo ring and secret identity in the process.

"Are we on there?" Rose asked Andre, ignoring the fight between His and Michael that Mar'i was attempting to stop.

"Yup!" Andre high-five her, but then his face darkened as he read the rest of his list.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked him.

Katie's friends' band was on there, but one name was missing.

Andre cleared his voice and spoke up at last. "Rachel's not on there."