Lie Until You Laugh

8- Bonfires

They all nod again.

“Then do you mind explaining to me why the fuck you decided to attack somebody because you were afraid of her? If you’re good dancers, why are you afraid of a tiny redneck new girl?”

“What are you talking about?” Ada asks, batting her eyelids as if she’s completely clueless.

“Okay,” Penn laughs. “You can play that card. This is the card that I’m playing then- each of you have a solo on Tuesday with a song that I choose and if I say that it isn’t good enough, you’re out.”

“Out of what?” Anthony wonders stupidly.

“What do you think?” Penn the Petrifying demands, showing his true petrifying colors. I’ve never seen him look so mad. He was scary even when he wasn’t mad and now, I was shaking in my bones and I’m not even the one he’s mad at. “I’ll give you your individual songs at the end of practice on Monday. You better impress me or you’re going home early. Get out of my face.”

All three of them disperse back into the crowd of shocked students and then we start stretching as if nothing even just happened. I don’t miss the glares that Anthony repeatedly send in my direction throughout practice just like I don’t miss the throbbing in my bruised side that reminds me not to feel sympathy for any of them.

I’m wearing a pink tank top and gym shorts so that the bruises aren’t visible, but they still hurt every time I bend. On the bright side, my shoulder feels better now, so at least I’m not a complete mess.

“I can’t believe he stood up for you like that,” Stella grins at our lunch table. “That was so… unexpected.”

“You’re telling me,” I mumble. “What do you think will happen?”

“Darren is done for,” Brian decides. “He’s never been the greatest dancer and if he is being judged on a solo that he has to choreograph literally overnight, he is out.”

“Ada might or might not stay, I can’t decide,” Stella continues. “But Anthony’s really good at choreography, so there’s not a fat chance that he’s going to let this get him kicked out.”

“That’s not so bad,” Mason pipes optimistically.

I can’t tell if I’m happy about what Penn did or not, but no matter how I feel about it, I can’t really understand why he did it at all. I almost feel bad about wanting them all to fail so that they get kicked out, but I don’t. I really do want them out and as mean as it makes me sound, I don’t feel bad about it.

“Maybe now that they have Penn breathing down their necks, they’ll lay off,” Brian pipes optimistically as he takes a bite out of his cheeseburger.

“Doubt it,” Stella sighs. “But we can dream, right?”

“Exactly,” Mason chirps. “The bonfire tonight will get our minds off of all of this dark stuff though. You’re coming, Sienna, right?”

“To the bonfire?” I clarify. “Yeah, I guess I can go.”

“Good,” Stella chirps. “Because the bonfires are the best.”

Lunch goes by kind of quickly and we all walk back to the E Building for our afternoon practice even though my body cries out against it. Afternoon practices are always the hardest because my body is already sore from the morning practice. Before the morning practice, I stopped by the nurse’s office and Lacy gave me a new ice pack because the one from last night was all melted. I have the new ice pack pressed to my side because it numbs the soreness of the bruises which is nice. I have it tucked under my tank top though, so it’s not noticeable unless somebody really pays attention to me.