The Takeover by Mandy Gonzalez

Author:Mandy Gonzalez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Days later, April boarded the train and slumped down in a seat. She grabbed her headphones and tapped the music icon, allowing the gentle classical piano tunes to ease through her ears. It calmed her as the train took off.

April relaxed, grateful this Saturday would be spent away from home. The weekend meant a matinee and evening performance, plus plenty of time to get her mind miles away from Auggie.

Off the train, she made her way up the subway steps and inhaled the thick, slightly musty New York City air.

Even this smells better than Auggie’s room.

It wasn’t until she reached the street that held the Ethel Merman Theater that April realized something was off. She paused at the end of the street as she watched Claudia frantically exit the stage door, followed by Artie, who furiously stomped down the stairs. Imogene came next, leading Relly, Monica, and Hudson outside, as Jimmy Onions held the door open.

“They just need some air,” said Imogene calmly as April approached.

“Unbelievable! Speak to her, Claudia. I’ve had enough!” said Artie, barely bringing his eyes to meet April’s. Relly, Monica, and Hudson glanced at her sympathetically.

“What’s going on?” April asked.

“You know very well what’s happening,” Artie said.

“What? I don’t… I just got here.”

Relly held out his phone, and April stared at an Instagram post. It already had two thousand likes and counting. The post was an image of an Our Time ticket with the Ethel Merman Theater juxtaposed in the background. Above the image, in thick bold letters, was the word FREE!!!

“April, are you positive you didn’t create this?” Imogene asked reluctantly.

“That’s not even my account. It’s the show’s,” said April. The words “Our Time on Broadway!” stood gracefully above the top of the post.

From Claudia’s phone, she began to read the post’s caption. “ ‘Free ticket giveaway to the first three hundred fans of OT! Today only! At noon!’ Is this some sort of scheme to get back at Artie and me? I am aware I can come across as brash, and that is a trait I am working on. But this”—Claudia pointed and tapped the screen, accidentally adding another like—“has gone too far.”

A post claiming that hundreds of people could receive a free ticket to a Broadway show did seem to be a bit much. But April shook her head. Since Smacker the Hacker had taken over her account, April found herself grabbing for her phone less each day. No way she would tamper with the show’s Insta.

“I don’t understand what this has to do with me.”

“April DaSilva, it came from your account,” said Artie as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

“No. It came from the show’s,” said April.

“Yet marketing and cybersecurity traced it back to a device outside the Ethel Merman Theater. The Squad denies it’s them, understudies and stagehands do, too. That leaves you, April,” said Claudia. Silence came over them as April took in Claudia’s words.

“I didn’t do that!” April said. While she knew Relly, Hudson, Monica, and Imogene believed her, April needed Claudia and Artie to trust her words too.

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