Melody's Muse ✓

24. Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake Op. 20

Melody

"Hey, I'm going to use the washroom." They all nod as I stand up. I must've drank too much water earlier before dinner. I get fidgety when I'm nervous and I needed something to keep my hands occupied. Unfortunately, the only thing available was the glass of water sitting in front of me.

I make it halfway across the room before I hear someone calling my name, it's just barely audible over the music. I turn, it's a familiar looking redhead, though I can't remember why she looks familiar. Was she at the party?

Whoever she is, she looks angry.

"This is all your fault!" she shouts when she comes up to me. She gives me a hard shove. Luckily, she's barely taller than me and I only stumble back a little.

I stare at her blankly. "I...don't know who you are. Please leave me alone." I try walking around her but she blocks my path. It's times like these where I wish mom had put me in some sort of martial arts class like I wanted, instead of ballet.

She takes a step closer to me, and I instinctively take a quick step back. I can almost feel the torrid, angry heat coming off of her. "Oh don't give me that crap. You can pretend to be this innocent airhead all you want, but you know what my problem is," she sneers. "It's because of you that Cole and I can't be together." 

I begin to connect the dots. Redhead? Cole? Slightly insane? "You're Laura," I murmur, suddenly remembering the scene at the restaurant. She thinks Cole doesn't want to date her because of me?

"Well no shit! You're going to pay for this," she growls, shooting daggers at me with her piercing eyes.

Before I can even react, she splashes the wine from her glass towards me. I hop back, but it still splatters the bottom half of my dress. My jaw drops and my safety deposit flashes before my eyes. She takes a step closer and lunges at me with her terrifyingly sharp nails.

My brain barely has time to comprehend what in the world is happening before she freezes in place and shrieks. The front of her dress suddenly resembles one of someone with a stab wound to the chest. She watches in horror as the red splotch begins to slowly spread. I turn around. Based on her empty glass, it looks like Ophelia splashed her wine onto Laura.

"What the hell is your problem?" Ophelia snaps. Two of the girls from the table, Susanna and Mei, quickly rush over and pull Laura away from me.

"Cole is mine! You stole him," she hisses, furiously trying to claw and kick her way out of the grip of the girls holding her back. "He stopped calling and texting me." She scrunches up her face, using a high pitched mocking tone, "he was always so busy with you."

"It...it's not like that," I stammer. This can't have anything to do with me, Cole's love life is none of my business. I glance around, everyone is still happily partying. Somehow, no one has noticed this mess.

"Liar!" As a last feeble attempt, she throws her now empty wine glass at me. With her arms constricted, it doesn't even get close to me. It shatters on the ground between us instead. That seems to catch the party's attention though, as I notice people beginning to stare.

"Leave Melody alone you psycho!" One of the other girls, Ayumi, dumps her drink on top of Laura's head. Her makeup drips down her face, leaving her looking like a wet raccoon. I watch slack jawed as Mei and Susanna drag and literally kick Laura out of the ballroom. She lands flat on her face in the hall outside.

As the adrenaline fades, I notice a stinging feeling coming from my arm. I glance down at it, there are a couple scratches from Laura's nails that are slowly leaking blood.