Only Fools...

'Are you nervous?' - Chapter Thirty Five

'You bitch. You knew that I didn't like him. You convinced him to kiss me just so that I could get into trouble with Danny. Your plan to get Danny to break up with me isn't going to work. Danny loves me, he doesn't even like you.'

'You sure about that?' She pushed her lips together and raised her eyebrows.

'Of course. You're completely deluded. When has he ever shown any interest in you?'

'Did he not tell you?' She cooed.

'Tell me what?' What the hell.

'Oh bless your little heart Jessie. I want to tell you, I really do, but I'm afraid that you have to go on stage now. I guess you're going to have to ask your boyfriend later. Good luck.' And with that she gave me a push onto a now empty stage.

I looked out into the crowd. Most of the people were paying no attention to me, perusing their nearest stall. But there were faces I could pick out in the crowd that were looking right at me. Rachel, Jack and Danny were all staring at me, their faces beaming. Amy and Zac were looking too, Amy's face filled with the broadest smile. I looked at Danny. He wouldn't hurt me would he? He loved me. Didn't he?

Suddenly the hall filled up with Danny's loud voice. 'C'mon Jessie.' He shouted as he began to clap

With that people began to turn around, staring at me, waiting for me to start. The clapping gained momentum, with more people joining in. I heard claps from my right. I looked over and Felicity was standing there, staring at me, clapping to her heart's content. Her condescending smile mocking me as I stood there on the centre of the stage, helpless.

Slowly I wondered over to my guitar at the back of the stage, picked it up, and plugged it into the aux cord. I wondered over to the microphone. 'Hi, I'm Jessica Fletcher. And this is Makes Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless.' And I began to sing.

Take me I'm alive
Never was a girl with a wicked mind
But everything looks better when the sun goes down

I had everything
Opportunities for eternity
And I could belong to the night
Your eyes, your eyes
I can see in your eyes
Your eyes

As I sang I stared at Danny. I looked into his gorgeous, smiling face. That face would never hurt me. I suddenly remembered what Amy had said to me the night before. Her constant stress on me being careful. I had pushed it to the back of my mind. She was only saying that because he slept with me. He didn't cheat on her with just anyone, it was with me. And we love each other, right? Wrong. We didn't love each other then, we were just both going through bad situations. And we still managed to cheat. What if before, it wasn't just that it was me and Danny? What if Danny really was a bad guy, a cheater? It didn't make the least amount of sense in the world. I kept thinking that he wouldn't do that to me, he couldn't. But I'm sure that's what Amy thought. I'm sure she thought that he could never hurt her in a million years.

I began singing the chorus of the song. But when my mouth opened to sing, no noise came out. My hands stopped playing the guitar. I froze.

I looked out into the audience and there were just faces staring back at me. Slowly, tears started to form in my eyes. I looked over to Felicity. She smiled.

I lifted my guitar over my head, removing the strap from my body and unplugging the cord. My tears flowed faster. I looked out into the crowd again. The smiles of my friends had gone. They looked concerned. Danny wasn't there. He had gone.

I run off the stage, I could see Matthew run up after me. Apologising that I was 'under the weather' or some crap like that.

My ears rang. All I could hear was a high-pitched whine, and my own heart beat – running three times fast than normal. My vision was blurry, my abundance of tears glazing over my eyes. As I stood motionless backstage I saw him. Danny stood there, right in front of me.