Trixie was glaring at Violet now as she stepped up onto the ledge of the fire place and took the mic from her. It was an awful good thing she'd taken a few shots just to take the edge off the fact she was surrounded by so many people but now she was being thrusted in front of them to sing?
She sighed and gave an awkward laugh, glancing around at the crowd that had formed in front of them. She knew Violet had always loved her singing and pushed her to pursue it more but Trixie did not have any where near the same amount of confidence Vi had, Vi had more enthusiasm and talent in her pinky finger than Trixie had in her whole body for christ's sake.
Suddenly, to the left of Trixie, Danny yelled out;
"Nine to Five! You can do it, Trix!"
Trixie glanced in their general direction and saw their grin, she returned a heartfelt smile as Violet pressed a couple buttons and the instrumental began to play.
Everyone started to sway along and cheer Trixie on louder until she gave in and began to sing along while tapping her foot and patting her thigh.
"Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life!"
She laughed a bit in between verses as everyone started to clap along with the music. She didn't tell many people that'd she'd been raised in the country but it was in her roots and she couldn't help it, most people hated country music but she adored it, it reminded her of her mom.
"-Jump in the shower
And the blood starts pumpin'
out on the streets, the traffic starts jumpin' for folks like me on the job from 9 to 5-!"
She began to shimmy her feet across the low platform and dance along while wielding the microphone cord around her, whatever was in the alcohol was sure boosting her confidence.
Trixie tried to focus again and made eye contact with her friend group; Danny, Pearl, Bianca, and Violet were all grinning at her and clapping along but her attention was quickly grabbed by that bleach blonde hair of Katya who was only a couple feet away standing next to some kid Trixie had seen in their biology class before.
She felt her smile falter for a moment but fixed it by focusing on the song;
"Workin' 9 to 5 what a way to make a livin' barley gettin' by it's all takin' and no givin'-"
Once she'd finished the song she stepped on the stage and looked for Katya again. She noticed the pink binding of her own journal peaking out the corner of Katya's purse and felt panic over take her.
Danny went to approach her but she put her finger up and wandered towards the other blonde to confront her.
"what the hell - is that my journal?"
She spoke through gritted teeth.
Katya looked at Trixie, baffled.
"oh - shit, right -"
she pulled the notebook out and held it out to Trixie.
"- I didn't want to misplace it so I was just keeping it in my bag to return it to you on Monday."
Trixie practically ripped it from Katya's hands.
"Did you read it?"
Katya stuttered
"N-no, course not."
Trixie stood up straighter
"You did! what the hell?" She sighed and pivoted away from Katya trying to get through the crowd, shoving past Pearl and Danny who both looked concerned now.
"Violet where's the bathroom?"
Trixie asked with tears beginning to burn behind her eyes.
Violet pointed down the hall;
"to the right, are you -"
But Trixie didn't have time, she just ran for it and slammed the door behind her. She kneeled down in front of the toilet and could feel herself preparing to heave. Her biggest, deepest darkest secret. Of course it wouldn't be so bad if maybe Danny knew, they were like her in a way, but Katya?
What if Katya used it against her?
What if Katya thought she was disgusting?
Or stupid?
Or Horrible?
What if Katya knew some place in Russia that could "Fix" her -
She paused.
Maybe she could ask, maybe they could fix her, then maybe she'd never have to tell her dad and she'd be normal and lovable and an A+ student with good friends and not an embarrassment to her family.
A sob she didn't even know was inside of her came out and she realized how loudly she was crying now, how awful she sounded - but she just couldn't bring herself to stop. She'd never felt like this before.
Because no one knew, no one knew that Tracy Martel was not in fact... perfect...
except now Katya, of course.
She sighed deeply at the sound of a knock at the door. She assumed it to be Danny.
"Go Away, Danny."
Danny did not step through the door,
neither did Violet,
nor Bianca or even Pearl - but instead;
Katya.
Katya stayed silent and sat down on the side of the bathtub and looked at Trixie for a moment.
"I'm sorry, it was an invasion of privacy and I shouldn't have done that - I don't even know anything about you, and I wouldn't want you going through my personal things."
Katya explained.
"I didn't go through your book, I don't even know what's written in it - but you see, you do know me - you know too much about me already."
"There's nothing written. Only drawn. Thank you for respecting my privacy... I only read the front page and last entry and then I closed it - and I'm honestly not quite sure I understood it, so you don't have to worry. All I know about you, Tracy - er, trixie ... mattel? Is that you have an amazing voice and you're way too hard on yourself."
Trixie laughed a bit.
"I like to believe I'm the human embodiment of barbie sometimes -" she explained
Katya grinned.
"Honestly i'm pretty sure you are, I mean top of your class, basically the principals assistant and you can sing and dance - what can't you do?"
Trixie's smile faded
"Be normal..." she whispered
Katya scrunched up her face and moved to sit down beside Trixie on the tile floor.
"Well neither can I."
Trixie raised an eyebrow.
"I know you overheard principal Richards when he talked about the school for chance, and I know you were watching me be a crazy lady mumbling Russian to myself when I was at my locker - plus I haven't gotten a grade above a C plus since last year and we're on second semester. I have anger management problems and I'm pretty sure my own mom might be afraid of me because of it -"
Katya stopped, only just realizing how much just came pouring out of her mouth. In way she guess she owed Trixie some secrets, since she dug into Trixie's secrets unknowingly and without her consent.
Trixie smiled faintly again and picked up her journal as she stood up, she reached her hand out for Katya's.
Katya looked up and took her hand.
"Not to brag, but if you ever need help with homework I can tutor you." Trixie offered.
"How about Sunday? Since exams are starting I could use all the help I can get, and then I can retrieve my sketch book back from you."
Trixie nodded.
{ A/N: I wrote this the same time as the last chapter but I'm just trying to pace my posts and updates. Feedback is appreciated, as always. }
