The Beauty Queen

The Beauty Queen - Chapter 18

EDIT: I dedicate this chappie to my bestfrann, because of the comment she left. Down there. ^.^

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Chapter 18

Everyone just stared at me. But it wasn't in that same kind of way Nate had stared at me, it was in a I-wanna-break-your-leg kind of way. How refreshing. Not.

Penelope's glare was the hardest, though. Of course, Krista and the other contestants were shooting me menacing looks. But if looks could kill, Penelope's would make me spontaneously combust.

"What?!" I sputtered, forcing a laugh. I waved my hand. "Of course I wasn't with Nate!"

Wow, you are so smooth, Danielle. Really. I mentally slapped my forehead.

Penelope's lip curled, and she looked kind of like an angry dog. "Don't lie to me, Rivers," she snarled. I swallowed anxiously. "I'm not," I choked out.

"Liars go to hell!" someone yelled from behind me.

"Nate should be mine!"

"Ohhhh no, Nate is mine!"

"You have a boyfriend, you--"

"I'll break up with him!"

And before I knew it, a whole fight broke out, literally behind my back. I whipped around to stare at the other contestants. They all had on expressions that said, "Screw arguing, violence is the answer." That was definitely what they were thinking, because next thing I know, Krista's ripping some other girl's hair out.

I watched them in horror, my mouth dropping open as everything fell into chaos. These girls are vicious, but I never knew they were this vicious.

They were screaming and clawing at each other, and I immediately thought of Katy. I had no idea if she had been thrown into all of this.

I walked towards the horde of demon girls. I scanned the crowd--well, the riot--of contestants, who were pulling at each other's hair, dresses, and shoulder bags. It looked like a bunch of alley cats had gotten into a nasty fight. I couldn't help but worry even more about Katy.

But the thing that disturbed me more was that this was all over Nate.

"Get off me! Nate is mine!" a girl shrieked.

"Screw you! Nate is mine!" another girl yelled back.

Krista spotted me in the riot, and she immediately pushed me to the ground. I skidded a few feet until I was clear of the fighting. I stood up and brushed myself off.

My eyes went wide, and I immediately felt guilty that Nate had kissed me. It wasn't really my fault, no, because he kissed me. But I don't feel guilty about that. I just feel guilty for having liked it.

Which got me thinking... Out of all these pretty, skinny, fashionable girls, why did Nate pick me? I'm nothing special at all.

Out of nowhere, Katy came stumbling into the auditorium. I sighed in relief, mostly because she wasn't part of the fight, and partly that she won't get in trouble for being so late. She ran to my side, speechless. She was about to ask me what was going on, but I shook my head.

"Stop!" Penelope screamed, rushing onstage. The first thing she did was pull Krista off another girl's back, and held her by the back of her shirt. Penelope did the same to another girl, holding her back by her ponytail. Gradually, the fighting came to a stop, realization dawning on the girls' faces. It looked like they had just snapped out of some trance. But even though the fighting was done and over with, Penelope released the two girls she was holding and turned on me. Her face was filled with rage. I would've ran if I wasn't frozen in fear. Penelope might have a stupid name, but there was nothing silly about her when she got pissed.

"You," she spat, taking steps towards me. I felt myself start to shake.

"You're the reason for all this. You're the reason Nate wanted to stay here," Penelope snarled. If I hadn't almost been peeing my pants, it would've been the best thing I've ever heard in my life.

"And you're the reason he's never coming back."

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So, I'm back to square one. The respect that I've started earning for and from Penelope... has vanished.

Not only that, but I'm also back to running away from my problems. I was sprinting down the hallway, forgetting everything that had yesterday between me and Nate. I desperately searched everywhere for him.

Penelope's words echoed in my head like a bad song. "And you're the reason he's never coming back."

Thinking about that just made me run faster and harder. The only sound in the halls were my now bare feet slapping the tiles, and the clicking of my heels in my hand.

Finding Nate and jeapordizing my chances of winning the pageant makes me a stupid girl. On top of that, it makes me selfish, considering I have no idea of my family's financial situation at home.

I felt a pang of guilt hit me like a slap in the face.

But I'm such a freakin' lovestruck idiot to change my mind.

I skidded around a corner and headed for one of the dorms. I poked my head in to check if Nate was there. Nope.

I went to the next dorm. Nada.

I jogged over to my dorm. I was hoping he would be there, but no, he wasn't.

Where the heck could he be?

Finally, I checked the last place I would expect Nate to be alone. The dressing rooms. More specifically, the make-up room.

Sure enough, he was there, sitting with his jacket hood over his head. "Nate?"

He didn't move. I stepped closer. I repeated his name.

No answer.

Okay, does he really want to ignore me that badly? Getting impatient, I snatched the hood off his head, revealing his face. His sleeping face.

Oh.

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Where is this even going? Who knows. :P But I feel like uploading another chapter.