“Your leaves are all the same shape,” Sophie told him.

“Is that bad?”

“Real trees don’t work that way.”

He studied the uneven leaves Hannah had cut and nodded.

“You’re right.”

On performance night Nathaniel sat beside Hannah and Ruth in the school auditorium.

Sophie searched the crowd until she spotted them.

She raised one hand in a tiny wave, then remembered she was supposed to be a tree and stood very still.