"Greetings Actors and Actresses, I am Drama Queen!"
My hands shot up to feel around me, in the chaos of colors. If a tornado blew through a Crayola factory I would probably still have more visibility than my current situation. The smoke hadn't even fully dissipated yet when I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and start to pull me in a random direction. All I could do was duck my head down and hope that the mystery person was leading me somewhere safe.
Screams were starting to erupt behind us, and evil laughter could be faintly heard over it. I could finally make out the dark pigtails in front of me and realized Marinette was my savior, just as we turned the corner around one of the large velvety red curtains. I took one last glance back at the pandemonium behind me. There was a man in an old-fashioned dark blue notch lapel suit, he had silvery hair and a sparkly crown. In his hand was a purple handkerchief that he waved with every declaration.
It took me a solid second to connect the dots that the villain was Mr. Laurent. I locked back into my current predicament when Marinette shoved me into the prop closet.
"I've gotta find Alya, I'll come back when I find her!"
There was no room for debate as she slammed the door on my shocked face. In her defense I shouldn't be super surprised, Marinette has a habit of running away when things go wrong.
'Twice I've been shut in the prop closet today. Twice.'
I took a deep breath and sank to the floor, scooting back so I could rest against a random wooden box facing the door. It was eerily quiet, compared to the havoc that the stage area was. I dug my phone out of my jeans pocket to text the group chat I had with my friends from class. It was just to declare I was safe and it's a habit that I've grown into since moving to Paris.
I was about to hit the send button when a call popped up on my screen. My phone vibrating on its own was able to startle me, but the picture I was met with made me double-take. It was a picture of Trevor and I sitting on a bean bag in Caleb's room. The photo was taken right after Jake had done our stick-and-poke tattoos when we stayed up late celebrating the release of our first album. Trevor had his arm around me with a cheeky grin on his tan face, I was curled into his side. Both of us held out our palms where the fresh marks sat over irritated skin, we both looked so proud of ourselves.
He was calling me. And I was extremely unprepared to have this conversation. But without an excuse to not answer I watched my finger punch the answer call button.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"Hi."
"You're not gonna make this easy are you?"
My nose curled a bit at his statement.
"Wouldn't have to worry about me making it easier if you didn't mess up in the first place."
"God I missed your voice."
There was something so raw about the way he said it, like someone who had been starved for the last few months. I tuck my knees to my chest, leaving the ball in his court to continue.
"I don't even know where to start- well I do. I'm sorry. For everything."
He sucked in a breath and I could faintly hear footsteps through the line, he was pacing.
"When I told you- well actually when I showed- you know what when I kissed you after the Halloween Bash. I had been thinking about doing it for the last year and a half, I couldn't hold myself back anymore. I needed you to know."
"When you ghosted me after, I figured that it meant you were rejecting me. I didn't know how to cope with it. I thought that throwing myself into flirting with other people would take my mind away from it. From you."
His words were jumping as he tried in vain to speak everything in his swirling brain.
"And then I met Talia, and that wasn't anything serious but we made that stupid video and I can't imagine what you thought after watching it."
"I didn't deserve that but you already know that."
I spoke blankly, giving him little to work with. I craved to hear his voice, it was a hunger that had grown since our fight over the phone. Rooting out a place in my heart and carving out a pit in my stomach. Distractions had held me together until now.
"No, you didn't. I'm so sorry, I know things won't be the same and I don't expect you to reciprocate my feelings now but..."
His voice petered off into a vulnerable whisper.
"Know that I do have feelings for you, deeper than I let on. Through all the teasing and the play fighting. I'd rather live with being just friends than not have you by my side at all."
My eyes felt heavy, I could feel the tears brim over my lashes and find a path down my cheek. When my lips parted to speak they were slightly chapped, I ran my tongue over them.
"You want to know what the worst part of us fighting was. For the first time since we've met, your name didn't make me smile."
"I know you'll never be able to trust me like you did, but I want to make you smile again. If you'll have me, please."
To a fault I could never stay mad at him, it was infuriating at points but right now I just wanted to curl into his voice through the receiver of my phone. I forced a watery chuckle, sucking it up and whipping my tears.
"Who said I won't be able to trust you the same as I did?"
"Sparky- you shouldn't."
"Trusting you is my own choice. Whether you prove me wrong comes down to you."
He took a deep breath and let it out, coming across as a scratchy sound through the receiver.
"Then I promise to never break your trust like that again, purposely at the very least."
"Can we please go back to how we were before now?"
"Yes thank god I've hated every minute of you being angry at me- for the right reason."
I let a giggle slip through.
"Good because the aim was for you to feel like a douchebag."
"Well, you did a great job."
He trailed off, still chuckling softly.
"So what are you up to?"
"I'm hiding in a prop closet because my drama teacher turned into a supervillain and is wreaking havoc in the theater. No, I'm not being sarcastic."
"Are you safe?!"
"Ya, I'm chilling. It's actually really quiet where I am. But I have a feeling this is going to put us behind for the dress rehearsal."
He broke out into a laugh, a real deep one. One of the ones that sounded like a kettle of boiling water. One of my favorites.
"I wish you were here."
The words were out before I could hold them back, but I didn't feel like I wanted to either.
"I wish I was too, we have so much to talk about."
Footsteps rang out, trailing past the door and being followed by some muffled yelling. I flinched and lowered my voice.
"I have to go. Someone is coming."
"Text me when you're safe."
He hung up with no debate, and I pocketed my phone. Sliding to my feet, I tiptoed silently to press my ear to the door.
"If anyone is hiding you can come out Chat Noir and Ladybug fixed everything!"
That's all I needed to hear to pull the door wide open, accidentally blinding myself with the lighting contrast. The backstage area was once again hustling and bustling with cast and crew checking on one another. When someone caught my arm I was convinced it was probably Marinette, but the taller person pulled me into a hug before I could say a word.
"Kid, where the hell have you been?"
The hug was fleeting and he pulled away quickly. But Louis made his concern clear.
"Sorry, I was hiding in the prop closet till everything blew over. Where's Mr. Laurent?"
"Front of the stage, we're gathering the cast and crew for a meeting. Go sit down."
I nodded, holding his gaze a bit longer. His eyes were sunken, stress written into every line on his face. His headset sat disheveled on his shoulders. I took a chance and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Everything is going to work out. I know it."
I took off before he could debate how I knew that for sure.
When I rounded the corner around the velvety curtain I wasn't expected to be met with a fidgety-looking drama teacher standing just out of view from the center of the stage. The blonde stared longingly out, hands drawn close to his chest.
"I'm glad you're okay."
I stood next to him, offering a reassuring smile. He flinched out of his trance to look at me, his eyes were red from crying.
"This production is a disaster. I need to step back from this. I almost ruined it by getting upset over the weather."
He was serious. Too serious for the teacher I knew, the one who insisted on driving me home and buying me dinner. The one who had brought me into the fold of his little family and wedged a spot in my heart.
"You could, but we still have tonight's show."
His brows furrowed questioningly. I bumped his shoulder with mine and walked forward out onto the stage, turning to face him.
"We could've had no show at all. But we get a chance to showcase all of our hard work tonight. And you get a chance to prove to yourself what all of us already know. That you're a great director."
I shot him one last smile before walking out to the stairs on the side of the stage and searching the rows of seats for my friends. Eventually, I caught sight of Rose waving at me and I sat down between her and an empty seat. Marinette waved at me down the row.
"Sorry, I left you there I was just trying to make sure Alya was alright too."
"You're good. It wasn't the first time I was shut in the prop closet today."
She gave me a weird look, just as Adrien and Nino slid into the two seats behind us.
"Hey, glad you dudes are safe."
I dabbed him up and agreed.
"That was so scary I didn't know where to go, or what to do."
The grating voice that activated my fight-or-flight response could only be from one brunette. Who plopped down beside me crossing her legs to lean back closer to Adrien for no particular reason. Marinette swooped in thankfully.
"It's just another Akuma attack, Lila, they happen all the time."
"There still scary and Mr. Laurent shouldn't even be directing anymore if he can't stay professional."
The air grew much colder suddenly, the mood stifled by her venomous words, I turned to face her. Casting my gaze up and down her, that's when I locked onto the boots. Brown heeled boots. I shot Adrien a look and he had already caught on to my observation.
"Lila Mr. Laurent is more than professional; you should watch what you say. And what you do for that matter."
The combination of knowing what Lila did to me and Adrien growing close to Mr. Laurent the last month and a half had turned his tone to steel. Lila was taken aback, and at least had the common sense to look sheepish.
"Adrien you know I would never do anything to hurt someone's feelings purposely. I'm just stating facts, this is show business. I know my Aunt is a famous actor in America."
"Really? What's her name, Lila?"
Lila shot me a discreetly dirty look.
"You wouldn't know her, she became famous recently."
"You said your Aunt was a famous actress before y/n even moved here though."
Alya chimed in behind me. She was getting flustered now, and people were starting to notice in the seats around us. Turning to watch.
"We're getting really off track here, Mr. Laurent has been too much of a lax teacher, to begin with. It doesn't surprise me he was unprofessional."
"Hey, Lila. Shut up."
She looked at me with wide eyes, not many people liked to call her out without facts to back them up. Even Marinette knew that sometimes it was just easier to bite your tongue.
"That's so rude, I was just-"
"Doing what? Talking bad about others for validation?"
A flush was coming to her face now, and the people around us were quieting to listen in.
"I always knew you didn't like me deep down y/n, but I thought if I was nice to you then we could at least be friends."
"Friends don't lock each other in prop closets Lila."
Adrien chimed in from behind her, I shot him a grateful look.
"I would never do that! Is that what she told you? I told you Adrien she's jealous of me!"
"Lila let me make something clear to you."
I sat up straight in my seat so I could face her head-on, she matched me as though to come off as confident. I would fix that.
"There is not a single thing I would be jealous of that you possess. Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie, the only thing honest about you is the pimples on your forehead. I know you locked me in that closet because the only person that would ever wear those tacky-ass heeled boots is someone who stomps around manipulating others to like them."
There was a chorus of 'ohs' from the cast and crew around as my words settled into the tense atmosphere.
"Also if it wasn't clear to everyone. No, I don't like you, Lila. I'm not a huge fan of people who lie to get what they want, sadly you fall under that category."
"I won't be mistreated like this. Adrien, I'll talk to you later."
She threw in a fake sniffle and stood from her seat. Moved down the row to sit away from our group. I took a deep breath at the situation being defused, looking at the blonde behind me.
"Thanks for sticking up for me. I appreciate it a lot."
His face was reassuring.
"Of course."
"We got your back girl!"
Alya chimed from down the row of seats. A genuine grin spread across my face at the subtle sincerity in her words. I was once again reminded of how I lucked out in the friends department.