show— ”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, blinking. “But Gabe, listen—”
“It was good catching up with you, Mandy. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with for the program.”
Chapter Nine
The drive back to Sugar Creek was a long one, and not because of the traffic. In only a matter of minutes, something changed for me. Something snapped. Not only had Carla kept my original dance plans to deliberately stand in my way of succeeding in the competition, but she’d gone into my book bag, stolen my personal property, and used it against me to further herself in the competition. What kind of malicious monster does something like that?
“One student, please,” I said, sliding money across the table. I collected my change and ticket for the show and met up with a familiar face. Mary Chris, another one of Georgia’s friends and a writer for the school paper, was covering tonight’s performance for review in the Sugar Creek High Herald .
“This place is packed tonight.” She scanned the crowd. The seating was first come first serve, so Mary Chris and I snagged a couple of empty seats a few rows from the back. “Do you see the rest of your RI group?” she asked, looking over the buzzing crowd. “I saw a few of the juniors on the way in.”
“Yeah, me too.”
With Fletcher being backstage and ready to tackle his lead role in Little Shop , I knew I wouldn’t see his face anywhere in the crowd. He’d be backstage getting into costume and make-up, or whatever it was that stage actors did in the ten minutes leading up to the opening number.
As I, like Mary Chris, looked around the growing crowd of people scattering to find seats, I eventually spotted each and every other member of our district’s RI team. Gabe came in shortly after us and sat near the front. He draped a jacket over the chair next to his as if to save the spot for someone—Lashell, I assumed, since he’d told his mother that she’d be here.
Mary Chris opened the program and read over the actor bios before she got down to business and jotted some pre-performance notes. As she did that, I looked back to the crowd and watched as Carla and her friends took the empty row directly behind Gabe’s. She leaned up, placed her hand on his shoulder, and he turned fully in his chair to meet her gaze. They sat talking for a few minutes, and she flipped her hair, smiled, and laughed . . . you know, all the flirtatious moves she’d perfected in his presence.
When he turned back in his chair to face the stage again, Carla got up and left her friends alone in the row. She was headed for the auditorium doors that connected to the high school’s main hallway—most likely headed in the direction of the bathroom.
I excused myself from my seat to follow her. I didn’t know what I was going to say or do. All I knew was that Carla had betrayed me once, and that might’ve been my own fault. But what she did last night was beyond forgivable. She couldn’t think that I would just walk away and not say anything. She had to have known that I would eventually find out what she’d done. And while I was fully aware of the fact that this probably wasn’t the time or place to confront her, I kept powering down the hallway, stomping louder with each fast step I took. I couldn’t talk myself into turning around.
“Hey,” I said, catching up with Carla in the empty bathroom down the hall. She stood in front of the mirror applying her lip gloss, but the wand stopped on her lips when she caught my reflection behind her.
“What do you want, Mandy?” she asked, dipping the wand back into the tube and twisting it shut. There it was, the familiar, nasty tone she’d given me back at the diner. I should’ve known she reserved it for the times when we were alone.
“You and I need to have a talk.”
“So you cornered me in the bathroom?”
“I’m not cornering you,” I said.
“What do you want?” she asked, turning to face me.
“If you would’ve
“Yeah, I know,” I said, blinking. “But Gabe, listen—”
“It was good catching up with you, Mandy. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with for the program.”
Chapter Nine
The drive back to Sugar Creek was a long one, and not because of the traffic. In only a matter of minutes, something changed for me. Something snapped. Not only had Carla kept my original dance plans to deliberately stand in my way of succeeding in the competition, but she’d gone into my book bag, stolen my personal property, and used it against me to further herself in the competition. What kind of malicious monster does something like that?
“One student, please,” I said, sliding money across the table. I collected my change and ticket for the show and met up with a familiar face. Mary Chris, another one of Georgia’s friends and a writer for the school paper, was covering tonight’s performance for review in the Sugar Creek High Herald .
“This place is packed tonight.” She scanned the crowd. The seating was first come first serve, so Mary Chris and I snagged a couple of empty seats a few rows from the back. “Do you see the rest of your RI group?” she asked, looking over the buzzing crowd. “I saw a few of the juniors on the way in.”
“Yeah, me too.”
With Fletcher being backstage and ready to tackle his lead role in Little Shop , I knew I wouldn’t see his face anywhere in the crowd. He’d be backstage getting into costume and make-up, or whatever it was that stage actors did in the ten minutes leading up to the opening number.
As I, like Mary Chris, looked around the growing crowd of people scattering to find seats, I eventually spotted each and every other member of our district’s RI team. Gabe came in shortly after us and sat near the front. He draped a jacket over the chair next to his as if to save the spot for someone—Lashell, I assumed, since he’d told his mother that she’d be here.
Mary Chris opened the program and read over the actor bios before she got down to business and jotted some pre-performance notes. As she did that, I looked back to the crowd and watched as Carla and her friends took the empty row directly behind Gabe’s. She leaned up, placed her hand on his shoulder, and he turned fully in his chair to meet her gaze. They sat talking for a few minutes, and she flipped her hair, smiled, and laughed . . . you know, all the flirtatious moves she’d perfected in his presence.
When he turned back in his chair to face the stage again, Carla got up and left her friends alone in the row. She was headed for the auditorium doors that connected to the high school’s main hallway—most likely headed in the direction of the bathroom.
I excused myself from my seat to follow her. I didn’t know what I was going to say or do. All I knew was that Carla had betrayed me once, and that might’ve been my own fault. But what she did last night was beyond forgivable. She couldn’t think that I would just walk away and not say anything. She had to have known that I would eventually find out what she’d done. And while I was fully aware of the fact that this probably wasn’t the time or place to confront her, I kept powering down the hallway, stomping louder with each fast step I took. I couldn’t talk myself into turning around.
“Hey,” I said, catching up with Carla in the empty bathroom down the hall. She stood in front of the mirror applying her lip gloss, but the wand stopped on her lips when she caught my reflection behind her.
“What do you want, Mandy?” she asked, dipping the wand back into the tube and twisting it shut. There it was, the familiar, nasty tone she’d given me back at the diner. I should’ve known she reserved it for the times when we were alone.
“You and I need to have a talk.”
“So you cornered me in the bathroom?”
“I’m not cornering you,” I said.
“What do you want?” she asked, turning to face me.
“If you would’ve
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