Chapter 55

Dean’s POV

2012

Mrs. Halloran cast me as a tree because I couldn't act and everyone knew it, and a tree doesn't have to act. I had one line — the forest grows quiet — and I had to say it standing very still in a costume made of felt leaves that itched the entire time I had it on.

I didn't even want to be in the play. Dad signed the permission slip without asking me, said it'd be good for me, something about getting comfortable in front of people. I argued about it for a week and lost, same as I lost most arguments with him back then.

Backstage, twenty minutes before curtain, a kid named Tyler Voss started doing an impression of me — flat, wooden, arms straight at my sides. Everyone around him was laughing. I laughed too, even though it actually bothered me. You just do that at that age. Pretend it's funny so nobody sees it worked.

By the time the stage manager called five minutes, my chest had gone tight. I