A Different Way

chapter 12

"Gather around, people!" The teacher said while clapping her hands. When the students gathered around the area while the mic stands were, she motioned everyone to stop talking.

"Okay, so, song rehearsal will be on chronological order so it won't be confusing. I want everyone to pay attention on what name I will call because I don't know everybody's names yet and just, pay attention. Anybody has a question?"

Everybody remained silent not until one of the kids raised their hands and it was none other than Maria, of course.

This kid's gonna be a real pain. Jesy thought.

"Hmm?"

"I'm still not over the fact that she got the role over me," She said. "I'm, like, always the lead female since middle school. I'm sure I can do so much better than her."

This girl has the guts. Oh gosh. Xailendra nervously thought. I swear to god, if she doesn't stop nagging about the roles, I'm gonna slap her with my words.

"You're really... brave to make such a statement," Jesy said slowly. She paced back and forth, and she was obviously annoyed but tried not to show it. She stopped pacing and looked at Maria. "How can you be so sure that you can be so much better than her?"

"I just know."

"Well how can you prove it?"

"How about you prove it?" She said sassily. Damn, this girl's disrespectful. "You have all footages of the audition, right? Give a chance to this girl over here to prove herself."

And, Xailendra finally cracks.

"I don't need to prove anything to you," She said calmly but there are some traces of anger in her tone. "Simply because I was chosen in the first place. Why so bitter over the fact that I won the female lead, huh? Is it because of the screen time?" She laughed, sounding psychotic due to the ridiculousness of the situation.

Right now, she sounds so different from her usual self. Her way with words sounds arrogant and mad and it's so not her but it feels so good to call out this girl over something so petty.

"If you want the attention that much, how about just prance around and do a little dance, huh? You know, even if you don't get the main lead, you still get the same grade if you do good in your role. Why, just why do you have to be the Eliza Schuyler?"

"How about you answer my question first?" Maria rolls her eyes out of annoyance. "If we get the same grade, why don't you portray Maria instead?"

Xailendra walks up to the girl until there's only a few centimeters of space between their faces. "Because I deserve that role," She made eye contact with her and absolutely anyone would tremble if they saw the girl's green eyes. "More than you ever will."

Everyone was speechless; even Maria. Even Miss Nelson was shocked by the girl's sudden attitude (but still, she thinks that Maria deserved it. Totally deserved it.). The teacher clears her throat and that was the first thing to break the tension between the two. "Girls." She said in a warning tone.

Xailendra walks to her old spot again, beside Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. "Feisty." One of them murmured. "Shut up." The green-eyed girl replies. "Proves my point."

"Alrighty. Let's continue with our rehearsals." Jesy said in her British accent. Her eyes almost popped out of her skull because of her little slip up, but pretends it was nothing when she saw that no one really cares about it. Well, except for the green-eyed girl.

Jesy gave the kids the lyrics for all the songs, printed in paper and in a folder. Once she's done that, she sits down in her chair and grabs a copy of the lyrics for herself. "The first song will be Alexander Hamilton, sung by Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and... Xailendra. Please grab a mic stand please, so my attention will be mostly focused on you guys," Jesy said and the kids did what she said.

Even thought what happened earlier happened, Xailendra was still the same old Xailendra. Of course she would tremble and shake just to reach for the mic. Damn my anxiety.

For the rest of the rehearsal, everything went fine. But because she doesn't have that much of a part on the first song, she didn't get the chance to prove that girl that she is a better Eliza.

Maybe tomorrow, she thought.

Since they needed to work on the harmonies and vocal arrangements, it took them a whole day to rehearse just one song. Dear god, imagine what tomorrow may bring.

But with all those things that happened that day, Xailendra went home with a tiny smile on her face, her mind busy thinking about the things that tomorrow might bring.

☆。*。☆