*Gemma POV*
It's the day of the Solo Fest.
I grip the neck of my guitar, my hands sweating nervously. Fear swells inside of me. I haven't performed in front of a crowd in years. Not since Jade died.
"Hi Gem," Daniel runs to me and gathers me in his arms. "Are you ready?"
I take a deep breath. "I think so."
He smiles. "I hope you are." He squeezes my shoulders. "I love you."
"I love you too," I call as Daniel walks off. A sinking feeling in my stomach sets in when Joanna walks in.
She stands in front of me with a sickly sweet smile. "Hi Gemma."
"Hi," I say quietly. I reach down, feeling Bella's soft fur.
"Are you nervous?" Joanna asks.
I shrug. "Are you?"
"Oh, I think I'll do fine," Joanna says. She gives me a glinting smile and walks off in the direction Daniel went.
"Hi there," Joanna's best friend Lizzy says, stopping in front of me.
"Hi," I mutter quietly.
"Can I talk to you?" Lizzy asks.
"I need to stay here," I say.
"Please?" Lizzy asks. "I need to talk to you." She glances behind her as a woman passes by. Lizzy leans forward and hugs me. I go stiff as a board. "You don't have a choice," she whispers in my ear.
When Lizzy releases me she takes my hand. She smiles patronizingly. "Come on!"
I glance around. "Um, I need to drop my guitar off with someone."
"It'll be fine," Lizzy insists. "You can leave it here."
"I really don't think that's a good idea," I say. I pick up my guitar. "It'll only take a second."
I twist my arm out of her iron grip and walk to my guitar. I throw a glance over my shoulder and her teeth are gritted as she waits. What was she planning on doing?
I pick up my guitar gently, hand it to Crystal, then walk off with Lizzy.
Lizzy takes me into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her. She whirls around. "Alright."
I suck in a breath. Fear collects in my stomach. What's going on?
"Look, you already took Joanna's boyfriend," Lizzy says.
"Daniel was never Joanna's boyfriend," I say.
Lizzy's eyes are wild. "Yes he was. And you know he was."
"No he wasn't," I say.
"Yes," Lizzy says. "He was. Anyway, that's not the point. You already took her boyfriend from her, and now you're taking her music too?"
"What?" I ask. "I'm not taking her music."
"Her guitar," Lizzy says. "That blue one. It's hers and you know it."
"No," I say. "It's not."
Lizzy lets out a fake sob. "Yes it was. It was her sister's. Her sister died when she was young. It was hers. You know this and you still stole the guitar."
"I didn't steal a guitar," I insist. "The guitar is mine."
"No," Lizzy says. "I'm just trying to help my friend. Why are you being so stubborn? Just give back the guitar."
"No. I'm not giving you the guitar," I say. "That guitar is mine. Not Joanna's. And I don't care if I 'stole her boyfriend'." I say, throwing up air quotes. "You can't prove anything."
I start to walk out, but when I reach for the door handle Lizzy speaks.
"Actually, I can prove it," Lizzy says.
I turn around. "How? None of it's true."
Lizzy smirks at me and plays back a recording.
"Why are you being so stubborn?" Lizzy's voice came through the phone. "Just give me back the guitar."
"No," My voice now. "I'm not giving you the guitar. That guitar is mine. Not Joanna's. And I don't care if I stole her boyfriend. You can't prove anything."
"See?" Lizzy asks. "It sounds just like you're the one who stole a guitar." She smiles wickedly. "You have until the end of Solo Fest today to give Joanna the guitar. Or I show the judges this and have them disqualify you."
"No!" I say. "That's not what happened! Give me that phone!" I jump up and attempt to grab it and Lizzy screams.
"Give it to me!" I yell.
"Ahh!" Lizzy yells. "I'm being assaulted! Help!" She smiles at me and lowers her volume. "One more grab and I'll tell them I'll show them the recording and tell them you were trying to hurt me to stay quiet."
I stop.
Lizzy smiles. "Good choice."
A lady comes running in, probably Lizzy or Joanna's mother. "Lizzy!" she says, running to the girl. "What's wrong baby? Are you okay?"
She turns on me. "Did you do something?"
"No Mama," Lizzy says sweetly. "Gemma didn't do anything. It was all just a misunderstanding. She came out of the stall and frightened me. That's all." She smiles. "I'm sorry for startling you."
The lady nods and kisses Lizzy's forehead. "Alright baby girl. As long as you're okay."
When she can no longer hear the clicks of the woman's heels hitting the tile Lizzy turns to me. "See what I can do if I want to? See what I can say? People believe me Gemma. They won't believe you." She smiles. "Good chat." She pats my shoulder and walks out.
And I sink down in a stall and start crying. There's this empty feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I double over in pain. Gasping, I lean over the toilet and then it starts coming.
After about twenty minutes the bathroom door opened again, this time gently, with a creeeaaaak.
"Gemma?" Rina's voice.
I couldn't stop long enough to speak.
"Gemma, are you puking?" Rina asks. Her voice is gentle. She's Daniel's sister. Maybe I can trust her.
"Yeah," I said weakly.
"You need some help?" Rina asks. "With anything?"
There's an emptiness in my stomach now. But my stomach still has an achy feeling.
Rina bent down and slid her head under the stall. "Gemma, can you unlock it?"
I take a deep breath and unlatch it for her.
"Hey," Rina says gently, sitting down in the stall next to me. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her head on her knees. "Are you okay?"
I reached up and flushed the toilet. "I'm done now."
"You didn't answer me," Rina says. "Are you okay?"
I look away.
"Gemma, honest answer," Rina says. "Are you okay?"
I shrug. "I don't know." I slide my head between my knees.
"Are you sick?" Rina asks. She gently lifts my head. Her eyes widen when she sees the tear streaks. "Gemma, what happened?"
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"You've been crying," Rina says. "What happened?"
"I..." I sigh. "I don't know."
"Gemma, what's going on?" Rina's brow furrows in concern. "Come on. Please tell me."
I can't keep it in any more. I blurt everything Lizzy did and said.
When I finish Rina looks furious. "That's so horrible!" She takes my hand. It's sweaty, I know, but she doesn't let go. "Can I please tell someone?"
"No," I say. "She'll just tell what she threatened to, and I'll be the one who has to pay. It's just easier if I-" My voice breaks. "If I give her the guitar."
"That guitar means something to you," Rina says. "Doesn't it?" She says it more like it's a statement than a question.
I nod. "It was my sister's. She died a couple years ago."
Rina sighs. "Look, Gemma," she says. "I'll find a way out of this, okay? I promise. Let me worry about this. You've made yourself sick.. Let me handle this, okay?"
Slowly, I nod. "Thanks."
Rina smiles. "Of course." She stands up and holds out a hand for me. "You ready?"
I sigh and stand up. I wobble a little, but regain my footing and nod. "Ready as I'll ever be.
*Rina POV*
I walked Gemma back to the auditorium, my hand grasped in hers.
"It'll be fine," I whisper in her ear. "I'll find a way to fix this. I promise."
The look she gave me in return was trusting. Trusting me to help her. If only I could figure out how.
I give her hand one more squeeze for good luck and go sit by Daniel.
"Hey, what happened?" Daniel asks, his brow furrowed in concern. "Was she okay?"
"I can't tell you that," I say. "If she wants to tell you that's her thing. But I can't."
Daniel looks frustrated but he sighs and nods. "Fine."
Now if I could just figure out how to help her. My mind whirls with possibilities. If I can convince someone... no one's going to believe me over hard evidence. But if I can... I can try. I promised Gemma I would.
After Gemma's finished, the dimmed lights turn bright again.
"Rina?" Gemma runs over, Bella at her side. "Did you come up with something?"
I purse my lips. "Maybe."
"So what do I do?" Gemma asks. "Lizzy told me I had to give her the guitar before the end."
I put my hands on her shoulders. "Stay with Danny." I glance behind at my brother. "Gemma, he loves you," I say when she looks at me skeptically. "Trust me on that."
I give her one last smile before going to find Lizzy and Joanna. I've planned out what I'm going to say. I have to be careful in case they're recording me.
"Hey, Lizzy?" I ask. "Joanna? Can I talk to you guys real quick?"
Lizzy and Joanna exchange a look. "Sure."
My phone, in my back pocket, is audio recording.
I pull them aside. "Listen, you know what that guitar means to Gemma," I say.
"She told you?" Lizzy asks. For a split second, both of them look scared. Juniors have power at Britain High School.
"Look," Joanna says, her tone dripping with innocence. I don't buy it. "Gemma, she has my guitar. It's not hers. And-" Joanna wipes a fake tear off her cheek. "It was my sister's. But she died a couple years ago."
I raise an eyebrow. "Gemma's had that guitar for a while."
"She stole it from me sometime back," Joanna says.
"Hmm," My brow furrows in mock concern. I pull out my phone. "Let me spread the word that Gemma stole your guitar. I have some pretty good connections, you know." I look at her out of the corner of my eye as I text.
"No, wait," Joanna says. "It's not that big a deal."
"Well, if you've been waiting years to get the guitar back, we should spread the word," I say. My finger hovers over the send button. "Right? If you're willing to go to the length of blackmailing her to get the guitar back-"
"Wait, don't send it," Joanna says.
I knew that was coming. People knew Jade. A lot of my friends knew Jade, and a lot of my friends knew that guitar was hers.
Joanna sighs. "I really don't think it's necessary. I think this will work. I just want the guitar back. I don't want the world to know. I don't want them to worry."
I'm a junior and I'd like to think I'm fairly popular. I grin, almost maniacally at Joanna and Lizzy. I can cause a lot of problems for them with one group text.
"Oh, I think this is cause for worry though," my voice displays so much mock concern as I speak. If they can act, so can I. I smirk at them as I hit the send button. Then I smile. "There! Now everyone will know about your... debacle."
THe looks they have me as I walked off were worth all the thought I put into this. ANd the look on Gemma's face made it worth it.
"Did you do it?" Gemma asks hopefully.
I nod. "I think I did it."
Gemma's face lights up. "Thank you Rina!" She throws her arms around me. "Thank you so much."
And that moment made everything worth it.