Born to Perform

Chapter 30

The next few days pass painfully slowly. I’m back to being the outcast of the school with no friends, no boyfriend and a shattered reputation. I sit alone in class, eat alone at lunch and the only social interaction I get is when someone decides to make a fool out of the girl who got dropped from a Hollywood film. At first I used to run away from them and cry to myself in the bathroom but now I just ignore them. Things can’t get much worse than they are already so why give them the reaction they want? 

I can take the rumours and the laughing behind my back but the thing that really gets to me is seeing my friends so mad at me. I’ve tried to talk to them since our confrontation on my first day back but they just avoid me and walk away if I try to apologise again. I know that what happened was my fault but can’t they see that I’m trying to make things better and I really am sorry for what I did? 

And on top of all that, I have to suffer through watching Ariel fawning over Sam and parading their ‘love’ right in front of me. I mean, having to watch any public display of affection is pretty awkward but it’s almost unbearable when it’s the only guy you’ve ever had feelings for and one of your worst enemies. It’s just Elisha all over again, I think bitterly. And just like with Elisha, I can tell that Sam doesn’t love Ariel and I’m not sure that he even likes her at all. Yes, he holds hands with her, sits next to her and even kisses her sometimes, but it’s always Ariel who initiates it. If it were up to him, I don’t think he’d even be within a metre of her. 

There’s something really weird about the way Ariel behaves, too. She says that she disapproved of Elisha’s scheming and ‘just wanted to be a better person’ so she quit the cheerleading squad, stopped being friends with Lyla and Elisha and started acting like a saint. But I don’t buy it, not one bit. I mean, Lyla always seemed too confused to even know what she was doing but Ariel knew full well when she was part of some evil plot. I think sometimes the evil plots were her idea, actually. So this whole ‘angelic makeover’ has to be some kind of trick she’s playing on everyone to manipulate them…but why? To gain popularity? She was already pretty popular before. And why isn’t Elisha trying to stop her? No one crosses her without paying the price, I should know. So that would mean that Elisha planned this whole thing. But why would she want Ariel to publicly announce how evil she is, date her ex-boyfriend and get more popular than her? Nothing about it makes sense… 

I come home from school feeling emotionally exhausted and march straight up to my room as soon as I get in the house. I don’t really feel like talking to anyone at the moment so I dump my bag and collapse on my bed, snuggling in the soft sheets. I put in my iPod headphones and start playing the ‘Wicked’ soundtrack, mouthing along to all of Elphaba’s songs. The music helps me to calm down and think more clearly about the whole situation. 

I know I need to fix things with my friends because I can’t stand them avoiding me and having to sit by myself all day. They didn’t do anything wrong so it’s up to me to make things right. But how can I prove that I’m sorry? I spend the next few minutes staring up at the ceiling, hoping that an answer might appear to me but I get nothing. Then I remember what I had thought to myself on my first day back at school: Jenna would know what to do. I grab my phone out of my bag and call her, pulling the earphones out of my ears just as ‘Defying Gravity’ finishes. She picks up after a couple of rings. 

“Hey, what’s up girl?” she greets me and I instantly smile when I hear her voice. 

“Hey, Jenna,” I reply, my voice sounding a little weaker than hers. She notices immediately and her tone changes from happy to concerned. 

“Is everything okay? How did your big entrance go?” she asks. I hesitate a little, embarrassed to have to admit how badly it all went but I can’t keep secrets from Jenna.