Beck leaned against the stage wing, sipping water. "She’s been in mourning for twenty minutes. She already gave the nail a name. Rest in peace, Brenda."
"I have a nail file in my bag!" Tori offered, reaching into her purse.
"It’s a millimeter of keratin, Jade. It'll grow back," André said, tuning his guitar with a nervous eye on her.
Jade hissed like a cat. "Keep your amateur grit away from me. If I’m going down, I’m going down with dignity."
Suddenly, Sikowitz burst through the back doors, carrying a tray of coconuts and wearing a Viking helmet. "Why is there no drama?! I can smell the lack of conflict from the teachers' lounge! It smells like... beige!" "Jade broke a nail," Robbie mumbled, wandering in with Rex.
"It looks like a jagged mountain range of despair," Jade whispered.
"Oh, it's worse than that," Rex chimed in. "She's one hangnail away from a total psychological collapse. Not that she wasn't already halfway there."
"It’s a fracture ," Jade corrected. "I was trying to open a prop locker that some idiot—probably Robbie—glued shut for his 'performance art.' It caught the edge. I felt the snap in my soul."