Authors Note: I usually get ideas while walking uphill but the 8 mile hike my mom dragged me on was a bit extreme. Thankfully I managed to think of something before summer vacation ended. Even so I have Play and One Voice auditions coming up so wish me luck!

-Piper
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Alaina had always been teased for her shyness. Even she had to admit her singing was... exceptional in front of a crowd, but no one in her school (except maybe the choir teacher) could measure up to her voice when she was alone. Rehearsal had ended half an hour early so the students whose phones hadn't died called their parents and were long gone. This is ridiculous! she thought to herself. I should just go to the office and ask to use their phone! But as she walked through the overflow hall she knew that she needed time to herself. Alaina let her mind wander. Was it just her imagination or did red lockers on one side and the white lockers on the other seem to make a red and white striped pattern in her mind? She shook it off. There's homework to be done and another rehearsal to go to. No time to be lost in your mind! The track for Oh The Thinks You Can Think had been blaring in her ears for the past minute. Her eyes lit up. Pausing her music she looked around. The overflow hall was empty. The library deserted. The track kids were still outside and the choir/stage wall was closed. She looked up at the bridge. Not a single footstep to be heard from upstairs. Smiling she pulled the earbud plug out and pressed play. "Oh the thinks you can think, Oh the thinks you can think! If you're willing to try!" Alaina sang to her heart's content "Think invisible ink! Or a Gink with a stink! Or a stair to the sky!" Alaina began to imagine what the Gink and the Ga-zat looked like. And many other Seussian creatures mentioned in the song. "If you open your mind, oh the thinks you will find, lining up to get loose! Oh the thinks you can think! When you think about-" Alaina froze. A hand rested on her shoulder. Another voice, with a smug hint said calmly, "Seuss?"

Slowly, she turned around. A man stood behind her. He wore coattails and red converse shoes. The oddest thing about him was the red and white striped hat he wore that mimicked the image in her head from the lockers. When Alaina looked closer she noticed some cat-esque qualities about him.

"I can see you've got quite a mind- and quite the voice for your age."