Detention With Elgort (Ansel Elgort)

Chapter Ten

The week after prom, the second thing that I'd been dreading for weeks suddenly befell upon me: the musical. The posters for prom came down and the advertisements for the musical went up. Everywhere you went, there was something related to Singin' In The Rain staring you right in the face. I wasn't going to go, but every student got a free ticket for one of the two performances and Stella forced me to go with her, Rosemarie, and Neil.

I arrived at the auditorium in a pair of old jeans and one of my usual fandom t-shirts. Most of the girls were mildly dressed up, but I didn't really think it was necessary.

"Hey Neil, are you enjoying hanging out with the girls tonight?" I joked.

"Most definitely," he replied with a smile.

The four of us chatted quietly among ourselves until the house lights went down and we saw the principal standing on the side of the stage, holding a microphone. I glanced at the time on my phone. It was 7:00 sharp, time for the show to start.

The principal thanked everyone for coming, introduced the senior actors (Ansel, Hadley, and Bree were included in that group), and she headed off the stage and down into the audience before the curtains opened and the show began.

I'd seen Singin' In The Rain tons of times, unlike Neil, Stella, and Rosemarie, so I already knew everything about the plot. Ansel starred as Don Lockwood, a singer, dancer, and silent film actor. Bree was also in the first scene as Lina Lamont, a shallow actress who is convinced that she is in love with Don. I thought the part suited her very well. Bree is an awful singer no matter what, and Lina's character can't sing either. No wonder she got that part. Other than that, Hadley played Kathy Selden, the girl that Don ended up falling in love with at the end of the musical (cue my gagging). Dash played Cosmo Brown, Don's best friend.

Despite Bree's abhorrent singing and Ansel and Hadley's romance, the musical actually wasn't a total flop. Ansel's singing blew me away, and Hadley wasn't as bad as I thought she would be. After it was over, the cast members lined up in the lobby of the auditorium so that you could talk to them as you left. Neil, Stella, and Rosemarie all got in line in front of me. They all hugged their friends and told everyone how good they did. All I did was awkwardly smile at everyone as I went by, trying to avoid everyone's harsh glares. I'm pretty sure everyone was still angry at me for what happened with the chocolate fountain at prom.

Bree and Hadley both shot me dirty looks as I walked by. "Hi guys," I said, trying to be cheerful.

"Hi, Mallory," the two girls chimed in the most fraudulent voices ever. Ansel stared blankly at the beige tile floor and wouldn't meet my gaze.

"You guys did well," I said before I was swept away by the rest of the people in line behind me.

The next two weeks were an absolute blur. Finals, studying, graduation, my last day of high school ever! It all went by so fast, I can barely remember any of it. The one significant thing happened on Tuesday, during the second to last week of school. I passed by Hadley in the hallway that morning, and I noticed something odd. She was walking alone. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I mentioned it at lunch that day when Rosemarie brought up the subject of Hadley and Ansel's relationship.

"Haven't you heard? She and Ansel broke up," Stella said.

"No, I haven't heard..." I stuttered. Was this really true?

"Yeah, it's the latest hearsay around school. Everyone knows about this tragic ending of their epic love story," Rosemarie said.

"Who broke up with who?" I asked.

"From what I hear, he broke up with her. I'm not sure why though. There's been a number of assumptions, but no one really knows," Stella replied.

Graduation was pretty sweet too. I just felt so official, all dressed up in my cap and gown and accepting my diploma. Turns out, I won valedictorian! Out of almost 350 other kids, I topped all of them. I guess all my studying and hard work paid off. I cried. Stella and Rosemarie cried. My parents almost cried (that was a first for them). Actually, I'm pretty sure everyone cried.