king and queen

six

Alexa's POV

I took a small breath before responding to Dallas' comment. I gave a small chuckle. "I guess you've got good hearing then."

"No way! He really is back!" Melanie said in shock.

I shot her a look. "Yup. Got a call from Tony. I didn't believe it either."

Hmm. I guess someone had been in communication with him for all these years.

"That's cool." I said plainly. "I'm gonna start brainstorming ideas for tomorrow. We'll be practicing in that room from 3-3:30. Sound good?"

"Perfect." He responded.

"Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good rest of your night."

I sighed. Melanie spoke up once we were out of hearing distance. "Wow. You were very respectful towards him."

"I'm screaming on the inside."

Dallas' POV

"She seemed pretty nice." Johnny said.

"Just wait. She's probably gonna turn the corner and crack. You'll see. Just trust me on this. She put on a pretty good fake face, but you can only hide for so long before breaking."

Alexa's POV

I tried to continue on my night as normal. Cheer practice was able to distract me for a little bit; however, I needed to start figuring something out.

My dad is coming to one of my performances for the first time in my life.

I cannot let Dallas Winston ruin this for me.

So I stayed after in the gym to practice a bit.

The school was empty and I didn't have any form of music, but I practiced some old dance moves.

From what I know, and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I'm correct with this, Dallas is not a dancer.

So I took an old dance from when I was in sixth grade and changed it up a bit to get an idea of what we could possibly do.

Obviously, it was heavily modified. I have a hard time I'll be able to convince him to dance, let alone a girly dance.

So, I added a bit of edge and at a tiny bit of the dramatics to the performance, shortened it a tiny bit, and I think it was good.

And it can always be changed. We've got time.

I started my walk home from school after I closed everything up. The days were getting shorter, so by the time I left it was already dark.

I got home and dad was asleep on the couch. He'e probably leaving for work soon. I tried my best to make minimal noise and sneak to my room. It's been a long day as it is. I don't need him ruining it at any moment with his nasty attitude.

I flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.

How much worse could today have turned out?

All I want is to prove myself to dad.

Show him I have talent. That I am going somewhere in life. This wasn't a big deal until he said he was coming.

This might be the one and only time I get to see him proud of me. I want to see the look on his face that I can read and know that it means he's proud.

But it just so happens that the odds are not in my favor.

And of course, I decide to speak up one time and it all turns back on me?

Maybe this is just the world showing me that when you really are rude to others, it's gonna be rude right back at ya.

It's times like this where I wish mom was still here.

She would have helped me.

Walk me through my own, small, high school drama. Things that she would know how to handle.

Although, maybe if she were here it wouldn't be as important. She already was proud of me and that's all that mattered.

But with her gone, I have no one.

Dallas' POV

"Dallas, can I ask ya something?" Johnny asked as I dug into my hamburger.

We decided to make a stop downtown at the dairy bar to get some victory food before we head to my old man's house. If things go my way, which they have been, he'll be out tonight and never know we were there. "What?"

"Do ya think that maybe you're looking into this whole situation with Alexa DeVos too much? I mean, she didn't seem too phased that you were here. She actually seemed kinda nice."

"She's not nice!" I yelled slamming my burger down. "You don't understand, Johnny. She's been an asshole to me for years. She's always there to make everyone else's life miserable, so she stays on top. Well this is my revenge. She's an entitled prick. Someone has to show her how the real world works and if nobody else is gonna do it, it's gonna be me!"

He kept his mouth shut after that.

He doesn't understand how awful she is to everyone else. Like when I got arrested. Or even that time in kindergarten she had something to say about my drawing.

Anything to make herself better than me. She's got it all. And I've got nothing.

Before today, she would take any chance to rub that in my face.

Well, not anymore!

Tomorrow when we have to practice that dance, it's gonna be a living hell for her. Whatever it takes to make her upset. To make her feel like a failure.

Yeah. That's it.

I want her to feel like a failure. For every single one of those times that she made me feel like one.

"Y'know Johnny, you inspired me."

"I did? How so? Oh! You're gonna go home and drop out and not try to ruin some teenage girls life?" He asked with a grin.

I just stared at him for a moment. "No." I said dumbly. "I'm gonna make her feel like a failure. So she can know how she made me feel." I put three dollars on the table and stood up.

"Wait what? How did I inspire that?" I walked out and he trailed behind me. "Dallas! That was certainly not what I was going for!"