"After class I will be posting the parts for the Much Ado about Nothing, all casting is final. No 'ifs' or 'buts' will be reaching my ears or I will fail you." Mr. Jet held the paper that held all of our names and parts in his hand. With it he walked out of the classroom and posted it on the door. The young freshman bolted to see if they got casted as the part they wanted.
"Oh I can't look! I'm too nervous!" Charly cried. I couldn't blame her, it wasn't something that I wanted to do.
"I know! It's like all of my nerves are hitting me at once!" Emma joined.
"I could look for you guys, I know I didn't get casted so I'm not really all that worried about it," I suggested.
"Oh you definitely got casted, your monologue was so good!" Emma encouraged. I stood up to go over but Emma and Charly were quickly behind me.
"I have to see for myself!" Emma blurted, Charly nodded earnestly behind her. I continued walking to the sheet of paper. Finally we were in view of the casting list. Emma let out a squeal and Charly's own squeal followed shortly after.
"I'm Beatrice!" Emma squealed again.
"I've got Hero!" Charly shrieked. Though her voice sounded excited, you could definitely hear a twinge of fear in her voice. I moved my finger down the list and saw my name next to Charly's.
"I'm your understudy?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah, looks like it." she beamed.
"But I don't want to be in the cast, I - I just signed up for stage hands," I stuttered.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to miss this!" Charly reassured me. I continued looking down the list and saw that Darik got the part as Claudio, Hero's love interest. It seemed fitting for him.
After we all saw our parts Mr. Jet passed out scripts to all the characters, I was confused when one entered my hands.
"Mr. Jet, I'm only an understudy, why do I need one?" I asked.
"You are an understudy and while Charly doesn't plan on dying or getting deathly ill or breaking any bones, you still need to learn her lines and be prepared, should anything out of the ordinary happen to her. Understand?" he clarified.
"Yeah," I sighed. Opening the play I gazed at it with horror then prayed that nothing happened to Charly.
*****
"Class, I've got some bad news," Mr. Jet started class and immediately everyone was silent, anxious to know the news.
"Charly has shattered her leg bone and has to go through Physical Therapy and can't continue on with the play. She is very upset about it. That being said, Mariah, you are now our Hero and I mean both the character and the title." At that moment I never hated another person more than I hated Charly. I raised my hand and asked to be excused. I ran to the bathroom and hung my head over the toilet bowl. All the horrors of performing on stage mixed with being with Darik, getting caught and ridiculed swam around in my head as my breakfast and anything else I had in my stomach now lived in the toilet.
"Mariah? Are you alright?" It was Darik. I froze in my position, unable and unwilling to move but it didn't matter because I had been detected. Darik opened the bathroom stall that I had been vomiting in. Flushing the toilet I remained where I was.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, his voice soft.
"Go away," I muttered. Without speaking he started to leave but his footsteps came back.
"No, Mariah, you have to listen to me. Whatever they're saying about my family isn't true. I wish I could make you see that. You can still hate me but you and I have to work together for a grade. Do you think you can put aside your loathing for a few months?" he asked.
"No one has told me anything about your family. That isn't why I'm avoiding you," I answered, feeling truthful. Turning to face him, he looked relieved but still troubled.
"Then why are you?" he asked. Anxiously I looked around, Charlotte said she had eyes everywhere. Possibly in this very bathroom.
"I can't tell you. Believe me, I want to but I just can't. I have to take care of myself first," I rambled.
"What are you talking about?" he asked again. I shook my head, I had already said too much.
"Nothing, nevermind. I'm alright. Let's get back to class," I mumbled. Darik seemed taken aback by my switch of attitude but didn't do anything about it.
The rest of class was scary but I was able to get through it. I hadn't really looked at Hero's lines outside of class but I knew that it was something that was going to have to happen. After class, Darik rushed out and I assumed he was still angry with me, and I couldn't blame him for it. I walked to my locker to get my book for English when a note fell into my hand.
Pick up Pride and Prejudice in the library. ~ D
Swiftly I stuffed the note in my pocket and slammed my locker then sat in my English class. I had an idea of what would be inside of the book, another note, but I also had a suspicion of why he would write that note.
After class Charlotte stopped in front of my desk, probably heard what I said in the bathroom, but I showed no sign of guilt. Why should I feel that way anyway?
"Heard you got a part in the play, which means you'll be spending time with Darik. I don't like that Mariah."
"Well what do you want me to do about it, I've already tried getting out of it, it isn't my fault Charly shattered her leg," I retorted quietly. Getting up from my desk I went to walk to the library but Charlotte persisted to follow me.
"I know, I just want you to watch it, I now have eyes in the theater room as well. So unless it's for Hemingway, I want you to keep your distance," she threatened. My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
"Hemingway?" I asked, looking for some kind of clarification.
"Yes, Hemingway, the author of your play," she spoke to me in a condescending tone.
"Oh, uh Shakespeare wrote the play," I corrected.
"I don't care, the same thing applies," she sneered, then she shoved off the desk and walked out into the hallway and headed towards the library.
Casually I walked in, smiled at Emmaline, who returned the smile. I found a table, set my stuff then perused through the aisles until I found the book. Without seeming too excited, I slipped the book off of the shelf and began flipping its pages until it stopped and another note was revealed.
Mariah, I know something is wrong and I want you to tell me about it. Head down to the town library right now and I'll be there. No one will follow you. ~ D
I now had a choice. I could ignore the note and continue being safe or I could put myself out there and trust Darik then hopefully have a way out of this and continue being his friend and have a huge burden lifted. Closing the book and putting it back on the shelf, I walked over to my things, packed up and walked out like nothing had happened. I made my way down the library by the school, on the way I tried to think of all the things I could say, how many times I would have to apologize.
Before I knew it, I stood in front of the doors. Taking a deep breath, I walked in and before I could get fully into the library, my arm was grabbed and pulled into a darkened room. A shriek escaped my mouth then I was met with kryptonite green eyes. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Good, you got my note," he whispered.
"Yeah and I just want to say that I am so sorry for everything that's happened," I whispered loudly. He waved it off.
"Save that for later, tell me what this is all about," he demanded.
"It's Charlotte," I muttered. Darik scoffed.
"I should've guessed. She's seemed quite smug - more so than usual. How?" he asked. I took a deep breath. There was no way I could talk about everything in detail.
"She found my file about my... situation. I don't know how much she's seen but apparently it's enough to ruin me. She threatened to tell everyone what I did unless I agreed to stop talking to you and Ava," I explained hastily. Darik's angered expression softened into concern. "I'm sorry Darik," I mumbled.
"No, don't be sorry," his voice was short.
"How can I not be sorry? You and Avanna are my only friends and I let Charlotte bully me into being rude to you both. I can completely understand if either of you don't want anything to do with me," I rambled.
"I shouldn't want to speak to you again, not after the way you handled this. You could've told me about Charlotte earlier and then - "
"No I couldn't have! The things in my file... they have some pretty heavy stuff in there. Remember what I told you - about Kevin? It's a big bag of bricks that I have to carry around. You know it's like a shadow that just looms over me, always teasing and Charlotte has the power to show people what I did and take away my only chance at starting over," I whispered fiercely.
"Starting over? You think ruining potential relationships is a good way of starting over?" he demanded, his voice getting angry again. I shook my head.
"You don't get it, if Charlotte tells anyone about what's on that file then I won't have a chance at any kind of relationship! I told you what happened when Kevin found out, what do you think will happen when something like that happens again! I'm trying to protect myself the only way I've ever known how to! I'm scared Darik! Everyday I'm looking over my shoulder, waiting for Charlotte to go back on her deal and tell the whole school what I did and - and I just can't handle it!" I didn't realize it during my rant but tears were sliding down my face. Darik's hard face morphed back into compassion as he pulled me closer to him until his arms were wrapped around my body. Yup he had muscles.
"I'm sorry. I just wish you trusted me enough to tell me. None of that matters anymore. How about you and I have a complete do over, and in our do over I'll get Charlotte off your back without her knowing that you told me."
"A do over sounds good," I sighed. He pulled me away from him and put his hand out.
"Hi, I'm Darik," he reintroduced. Smiling a little bit, I took his hand.
"Hello Darik, my name is Mariah," I greeted.
"Mariah, it is so nice to meet you." He shook my hand and then pulled me into another hug.
Kevin had been the last guy I hugged and hugging Darik felt different than hugging Kevin. With Kevin, our bodies were awkward because he was so much taller than me, so he had to shrink down to my level and it felt temporary. It's like those hugs were telling me that it wouldn't last long, in some weird way. Hugging Darik felt different, our bodies were closer in height so it didn't feel awkward, and it felt safe. Flashes of Kevin and my family painted itself across the windows of my mind. Flinching with guilt I separated myself from him.
"I better get back up there, or Charlotte's going to know that something is up." Darik nodded.
"Yeah, you go ahead and I'll wait here for a few minutes. I promise you by tomorrow things will go back the way they were." Something about the way Darik had said that, made me feel uneasy but not worried. I saw Charlotte as this unstoppable force, so how could Darik stop her? I suppose that's why it made me uneasy, that the solution the whole time hadn't been a difficult one.
Once I was back at school I couldn't concentrate on anything that the teachers said, I suppose it was a good thing that all day had been lecture after lecture. When I got home, I forced myself to start memorizing my lines for Hero and I surprisingly had more memorized than I thought. After working on the play for an hour I looked at my cell phone and figured I should call Ava.
"Hello?" her light voice answered.
"Hey Ava, it's Mariah. Listen I'm not sure if Darik told to you about what happened but I just wanted - "
"Mariah I'm so sorry!" her shrill voice echoed from the other line. I sighed a breath of relief.
"No, no Ava I should be the one who's sorry. You don't deserve to be treated the way that I treated you. Can you ever forgive me?" I asked.
"Of course! I should've guessed Charlotte would do something like this. I'm sorry you had to go through that!"
"I've been through worse, believe it or not but let's just promise to tell each other everything from now on." I regretted those words and Ava even seemed hesitant but she responded in agreement.
"Don't you worry about anything. As we speak Darik is taking care of everything right now," she assured me. The uneasy feeling came back and I had to ask.
"Did he tell you what his plans were?" I asked.
"No but he told me that it was the only way. Trust him Mariah, he knows what he's doing," she promised. The vagueness of the plan still made me nervous and uneasy but if it meant that tomorrow everything would go back to the way things were then I trusted him.
"Ok, I'm just glad we're friends again."
"Yeah me too. Hey I've got to go, Darik just walked in. I'll see you tomorrow." Her voice changed to being uneasy and it worried me but I told her goodbye. Then went about the rest of my evening, trying to think of other things than what Darik could have possibly done to Charlotte.