Ashley's Choice: Companion Novel to The Essences Saga (On Hold)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Hey, Ashley," Josh said as I entered the auditorium for play practice. We had two more weeks before our opening night. The stage crews scurried around stage, trying to finish parts of the scenes and backdrops. Josh startled me, and I misstepped...right into a pan of blue paint.

"Ugh!"

"Hey!" Jonathan shouted at me. "Watch it!"

"Then don't leave your paint laying around for people to step in," I shouted right back. Emma and Olivia snickered on the other side of the stage. Mr. Mills approached from below.

"Ashley," he sighed. "Go get that cleaned up." He turned back to the others. "Alright, I guess we'll start with the genie monologue on page ten. Burton, you're up!"

I waddled off the stage, angry, frustrated, and embarrassed. "Hey, you alright?" Josh asked behind me. I stumbled against the wall, and took off my shoe. And these were my favorite!

"Just peachy," I retorted. He steadied me with a hand on my elbow.

"You need some help?"

"No!" I took a deep breath and leveled my voice. "No, Josh, I'm fine. Thank you, though."

I don't know why I was apologizing to him. I still wasn't over the whole kissing-lie thing yet, but I just wasn't in the mood to continue being mad about it. I had a stressful day, and nothing seemed to be going right.

First of all, Adam had annoyed me all day with his persistent brushes against my mind. Holly was not herself...brooding over something that she just wouldn't share with me. Amber nearly bit my head off this morning when she discovered that Adam was in every single one of my classes. There was gum in my chair at lunch. Someone knocked my backpack out of my hands in the hallway, and papers went flying. I flunked my Spanish quiz this morning. I had another one of those headaches all day. I was run ragged by the principal during my office period. And now this!

I really did feel like crawling up into a ball and crying. But I couldn't do that. Not here. Not at school, where no one left you alone, and everybody saw everything, ready to laugh at you.

Adam's presence brushed against the barriers of my mind again...and waited. At least he was being polite about it this time. How he managed to get into my already-full drama class...I'll never know. Somehow, he sweet-talked Mr. Mills into letting him be the pianist for our practices. I didn't know he could play the piano. Tia would love him.

I was too tired, too upset, and really just wanting a little comfort to keep up the walls any longer. I sighed and let him in.

*Hey.* It was a soft whisper, and I closed my eyes.

Hey, I thought.

*How are you?*

I laughed mentally. I've been better, I told him.

*You want to talk about it?*

What's there to talk about? Besides, you're just here to babysit me.

Adam was silent for a moment. But I could hear the piano start up as Burton went into his musical routine with Emma and Olivia, the harem girls. Perfect casting, if you ask me.

*I couldn't agree more,* he smirked in my mind. I laughed, and entered the bathroom to wash off my shoe.

The blue paint didn't completely come off, but at least I didn't have to go home in my socks. By the time I returned to stage, my scene with Aladdin was beginning. Janie, my understudy, was reading my lines, which I didn't really mind. She was nice. A little shy. Her mother was pushing her into drama to break her out of her shell. Janie finished the scene with Joel, skipping the kissing part. Mr. Mills was adamant that we not practice that part until final rehearsals. I couldn't wholly agree with his decision.