The Beauty Queen

The Beauty Queen - Chapter 7

I went to change the status of All the Way to Hollywood from "Ongoing Series" to "Complete", and then I saw that the prologue wasn't there. >.< I'm so mad right now, I could just... Ahh, whatever. I'll upload it later. But I'll have to make it all up again, since I never really plan my chapters.

But anyways... Enjoy!

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Chapter 7

"Straighten your back," Penelope snapped. I immediately pushed my shoulders back and tried standing up straighter. I bet my attempt made me look like a mental penguin. I mentally groaned. I heard a few giggles from the other contestants.

Penelope sighed, shaking her head. "She'll never win," she muttered to herself, rubbing her forehead. I narrowed my eyes, but I kept walking. It's really hard to keep five textbooks on your head, if you've never tried it. That's why I dropped three on the stage already. They all landed with an extremely loud bang.

To make it even more difficult, I had to wear the atrocious high heels each contestant had to wear. The skinny, tall heels made my feet hurt, and I felt like I could fall over at any second.

And to make all of this even more embarassing, Nate was watching from the audience chairs. Not that I really care about what he thinks, but it's just... what's the word? Oh, right. Embarassing.

"Stop waddling. You look like a duck," Penelope snarled. I groaned loudly and tried to stop "waddling" and being so duck-like. It was a little hard, since I had two giant textbooks on my head and six or seven-inch heels on my feet. I heard Nate snort loudly.

Wow, that's nice. A while ago he was defending me, and now he's just amused by my awkwardness in heels.

Okay, just a few more steps. I glared at the end of the duct tape line on the ground in front of me. Just a little further...

The textbooks came tumbling down, landing on the floor around me. I jumped, and because of my extremely insensible shoes, I fell on my butt. My face flushed.

The entire auditorium erupted with laughter.

I looked around helplessly, staring at all the other girls that were laughing and pointing at me. It felt like I was in the middle of a bad dream, even though my nightmares usually dealt with zombies or natural disasters. But for some reason, this felt worse than the others. And it's real.

I didn't even wanna look at Nate, so my gaze flickered over to Penelope. To my surprise, she wasn't laughing. She was watching me sternly, and she planted her hands on her hips. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked; I don't think the devil ever laughs. Then she started mouthing something to me.

"Dignity."

Usually, I would just storm out, feeling completely and utterly embarassed. I would have to be dragged back inside by someone as strong as a pro wrestler, or someone with words as uplifting as Oprah's. But for some reason, that one word that Penelope had mouthed to me made a difference.

I got to my feet and slowly picked up the textbooks. Everyone was still laughing, and I was well aware of that. I glanced at Penelope, and she actually looked somewhat... pleased. But when she caught me watching her, her eyes hardened, and she nodded at me to keep going. I held one textbook in my arm and picked the other one up with my free hand. Once I was sure I had both of them secure, I went to pick up the other ones.

The laughing was already getting on my nerves when I picked up the last textbook. I mean, it wasn't that funny, people. Haven't you ever seen a girl fall on her butt? I mean, Miss America must've done it at least once.

When I had all five textbooks in my arms, I stood up straight, daring another glance at Penelope. She had her eyebrows raised and her chin tilted upwards. I didn't know what to do next, so I turned to the other contestants and bowed deeply. Then I put the textbooks on the floor and turned to the audience. Well, it was just Nate, so I don't know if that was considered an audience.

Nate was smirking, and I could tell he had been laughing. Then I executed another bow, complete with a twirl of my hand. When I looked at him again, he was clapping, still smiling smugly. It seemed a little sarcastic, but I couldn't care less.

Before I walked off stage, me being ever-so-mature and all, I stuck my tongue out at him.

So I was able to walk out of the auditorium with dignity.

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A little short, but oh well. I'll probably upload tomorrow. :)