Living Like Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Forty One - An Old Friend

I raised myself up from the bed and turned to her, feeling my face begin to burn red with embarrassment and uncertainty of what was about to occur.

"What are you doing Chloe?" I hissed, hoping to salvage this disastrous situation. If it was possible, her grin grew even wider as she turned to the audience again. I saw Mikey stare between us, his mouth open with hesitation as if he was wondering if he should just drag her off stage himself since no one in the wings seemed to be doing anything.

"I'm letting everyone know what a fake you are!" The venom in her words felt as poisonous as it sounded. This wasn't the Chloe I knew when I first came to California. This one was quite simply deranged. 

"Morgan Peters likes to think she is just so perfect! Well I'd like to let everyone know that she isn't. She's nothing but a freak!" Her shouting began to verge onto hysterical and thankfully that was the moment someone decided to take action. Suddenly Ryan was there on the stage with his mouth tightened into a grim line, wrapping his arms around Chloe's torso and trying to drag her away. As she fought his strength, which looked quite exhausting with the injury to her leg, her eyes locked with mine. I suddenly knew what she was going to say. Chloe was going to tell them about my condition. Not just everyone on stage, but the entire audience. An act of humiliation this huge once and for all clarified how much this girl detested me. 

Ryan and another stage hand began pulling her towards the stage exit while the audience began to titter and an undercurrent of whispers played alongside the drama. I left the bed and began to walk towards them, hoping to help in some way when Chloe suddenly began screaming.

"She has narcolepsy! That freak has narcolepsy! She can't control when she sleeps and she's been lying to us all this time. Don't trust her! I did and she took everything from me! Everything!" 

There was a gasp from the crowd as people began to focus their attention on me. Time slowed as I looked out into their faces, my heart making slow thumps to remind me that I was alive and this really was happening to me. None of them looked as if they wanted to ridicule me as I once thought they would. Most of them looked confused, probably never hearing about narcolepsy before and the few who did know what it was looked sympathetic. Others showed sympathy for Chloe, a girl who had clearly lost her mind. Then there were those who were watching me as if I was suffering from a life threatening disease and was about to drop dead any second. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat and rushed into the opposite direction of where Chloe was being dragged. But I was too upset to notice the thick black wire that hadn't been carefully stuck to the floor with tape earlier and lay dangerously across my path. My foot hooked under it and my body surged forwards. I landed on my stomach, my hands the only think stopping me from falling flat on my face. A burst of laughter came from Chloe.

"Look! She fell asleep! Can't you see that's she doesn't belong here? She belongs in a padded room!" Her voice trailed off as she was carried away.

I pushed myself up to my feet, feeling my eyes sting with the bitter feeling of humiliation. The crowd was thankfully silent, some concerned parents were even leaving their seats to make their backstage to investigate the commotion. I couldn't stop the tears from trailing their way down my cheeks as I left the stage and passed through the onlookers who were watching the entire scene unfold from side stage. They're shocked faces blurred into an image of confusion. They didn't know what to say to me and I couldn't blame them. Some were brave enough to ask me if I was okay, my only reply was a nod of my head while my smile trembled. Finally I saw a familiar face. 

Piper looked thunderous. Her red hair blew behind her like a crowd of fire. She locked eyes on me and for a moment I thought she was angry that I had ruined her show. I opened my mouth to tell her how sorry I was when she reached her hands around my neck and pulled me down in her tight hug. Her height meant I had to bend down a little to meet her. Suddenly she pulled away and talked so fast I was afraid she was going to lose her breath and faint.