Chapter 22: Lia Performs Sober and Seen

The program for the annual Bae Academy student showcase had been printed on cream cardstock, eighty-three copies, by their father on the hallway printer that jammed if you asked it for anything larger than A5. It always jammed. He always fixed it. The stack sat on the welcome table by the door in a neat rectangle, and on the front was a slightly crooked ink impression of the academy's logo—the two eighth notes their mother had designed in 1997 and refused to modernize—and on the inside was a running order of seventeen acts, in the order they had drawn lots on Wednesday morning, and the second-to-last slot read: Bae Yuna. Original composition. Untitled.

Ellie had read that twice standing over the welcome table. She had not asked Lia about it. Lia had not offered.

That was the arrangement.