Borrowed Time

Chapter 162

Nothing was less enjoyable than the feeling of bile that was rising in Juliette's throat at the thought of looking at the cast list the second that it was posted... She'd overheard Iris talking about it very loudly during passing time, how she was going to be there the second it was up and how she was going to lose her shit if she didn't get casted as Sandy, or at least as Frenchie or Rizzo or something. It wasn't really something that made seeing the cast list into something that Juliette was excited for, instead it was turning into something she dreaded. Becky seemed to be on her same wavelength, even if it wasn't communicated... Were they also supposed to be at cheerleading practice because it wasn't over for another two weeks?

Of course - but their coach wouldn't miss them for one day... And the day of the first read through, which was still during the season, but rehearsals didn't start until after, so they were in the clear after that if they got in.

Plus, why would Juliette want to go check the cast list when she could continue sitting with her back against Esme's chest in a quiet corner of an empty hallway with Shelby, Micheal and Becky? It was a very comforting thing to be doing especially in comparison, and the feeling of Esme's arms around her waist were probably the only thing stopping the bile from leaving her throat and ending up on the floor, it was a good call overall. She was being responsible.

"Hey." She looked up to where Shelby was looking at her and Becky in confusion as Micheal rested next to her on the ground, his head in her lap as she played with his hair absentmindedly. Juliette straightened up a bit, hearing Esme grunt behind her as they adjusted too so that she could stay comfortable.

What could you possibly need while I'm being avoidant? I'm doing something I'm good at, you should be very proud of me... Using my skills to my advantage - that's something that you've mentioned that I should do. I'm doing my best to start listening to you... The only really solid part of that was her being avoidant... But it was a good speech to possibly jump into if needed, right?

"Hm?" She asked, and Shelby gave each of them a knowing look, one that made Juliette shift around to try to get out from under her probing gaze... She didn't like that Shelby could practically see right through her skin when she wanted to, it made her feel very vulnerable, and while she trusted being vulnerable around this group, she still didn't enjoy the feeling of being vulnerable.

Being vulnerable meant getting hurt, and she was trying to do that a lot less.

"Don't you two have to go check if the cast list is up yet?" Shelby's question made Juliette grimace as she glanced over at Becky, who was shaking her head before she could even get any words out.

Good job, Aladori. Glad we're a united front on this, that means that we outnumber her... Do we win? Still no, but it means that our argument means more. Shelby will still always win.

"Nope." Exactly. She wanted to make sure that Shelby knew that she completely agreed with what Becky had said - there was no reason for either of them to go now.

"Why would we do that?" Juliette asked, and Shelby gave them both confused looks, which Juliette could understand. Shelby was competitive in a different way than her, she was competitive with the knowledge that she could win things, that she could get the things that she wanted if she worked hard for them. Juliette was competitive when she saw that others had accomplished so much more in the same amount of time.

This kind of thing wasn't something that made her competitive nature thrive, it actually killed it... She got scared off instead of getting excited about it.

"Because... You auditioned... Don't you want to know what role you got?" She asked, sounding bewildered, and Juliette grimaced... Partially? Yes. But mostly she was worried about how it would go if she did get Sandy, because she was pretty sure that she would be literally hunted for sport by the kids who'd been doing this for a while, and she would hardly even blame them - she'd homed in on their territory, not the other way around.