In The Spotlight

Firey- Advancing

I've begun dreaming about the show. Not in a 'what could happen if I win' way, more of a 'dear god, my actual life is my nightmare' way.

I'm so afraid of losing, and now when go to bed each night that's all I see.

Failure after failure.

I've been told I'm a failure.

My family used to be really close and then I made the decision to be a teacher. We fell apart. I was broke and didn't have anyone to ask for money.

On Tuesday night, I didn't sleep.

Wednesday morning, I made a mistake on the show.

Wednesday morning, I got my own roommate kicked off.

That night I bought some over the counter melatonin pills. I need sleep.

"Morning sunshine!"

"Agh!" I awoke suddenly, jumping into a sitting position.

Coiny was in my room. How was Coiny in my room? He didn't have a key, and there was no one to let him in.

"Time to get a move on!" Coiny said it with a slight rural twinge in his voice that reminded me too much of my father. "You're going to be late."

I rubbed my forehead. "How'd you get here?"

He acted confused. "Leafy let me in... are you okay?"

I turned to look at the other bed in the room. Sure enough, sitting there was Leafy, smudged day old makeup and all. "Agh! When did you get here?" Another, worse thought came to me. "Did we-"

"No! God, no! We- we did not."

Coiny interjected- thank the lord. "She told me last night you called her up after accidentally taking like 4 of those sleep pills and you were acting all weird."

"It's true," said Leafy. "You nearly vomited and said that you might die, so I stayed here to watch you."

"Damn. I don't remember any of that." I rubbed my forehead in the midst of my confusion.

"Okay!" Coiny clapped three times. "Let's get going! We can talk about all the silly things you did when you were high as a kite on the way."

While I got dressed, Leafy went away to get ready and Coiny explained we were going to something the show wanted to film for Monday.

Filming on a Saturday.

Good lord.

So, back in the studio we went. The crowd of contestants was only half of what it used to be.

Ten people left.

We stood opposite 4 and X, who said nothing. "We're rolling in 4, 3, 2, 1," counted out a production assistant. The red light beeped on and I shut my eyes for a moment, knowing what words would come next.

"Welcome to QNA!" And there it was. "You may have noticed we're halfway through our contestants. Well, that means there's going to be a change in the game," announced 4.

That would have been nice to have known before.

X continued 4's speech for them. "Players, your teams have dissolved." A gasp came from the contestants, myself included. "We're playing in pairs from now on. Choose someone to team up with by high-fiving."

Leafy walked toward me and held up a hand. I slapped it. "Okay, Firey and Leafy," said X.

Pen and Eraser slapped hands, surprising no one, considering they've been buddy-buddy since we got here.

Cake approached Puffball. "I like your style," he said. She reciprocated. They high fived.

That left Coiny, Flower, Gelatin, and TB.

Flower went to Coiny. "You were cool at the bar. Let's do this thing."

Following suit, TB and Gelatin joined together. "Win it for your fiancée. I only want to do this to rub it in Donut's face."

"Congrats," said 4 in their usual shrill voice. "Of course, you also get a prize. Individual hotel rooms, with a treat delivered to your door this evening! And flash cards. I trust you'll study these." Leafy rolled her eyes. Our gift was work.

X handed her a stack of cards. "This'll be fun." She whispered, showing me the one on top. 'What is A's favorite color?' How stupid. Obviously green.

"Okay, okay. I know this one, I'm sure of it!" Leafy shouted from the chair across from me, in my new, single bed room. "You have... 2 siblings!"

"Beep! Nope. I have one little brother." I wrote down the answer on the back of the card and showed it to her.

"Why's your handwriting so good?"

I shrugged. "Teacher magic?"

"Abracadabra, huh?" She pulled the tie from her ponytail, and flipped to a new question. The light above her reflected in a ring around her newly freed hair that looked a lot like a halo. "What's my biggest regret? Damn, that's personal. Huh."

I hadn't the foggiest idea what it could be, but I felt like flirting. I got closer. "Hm. Not kissing me sooner, for sure." I closed my eyes, leaned in, and she...

Put her finger to my lip. "Focus!" She laughed. "And don't flatter yourself."

"But it's fun!"

"Ugh. It's too bad you're so cute." She gave me a peck on the cheek like a 5 year old in a kindergarten wedding.

"Why, thank you."

"Anyway, my biggest regret is not applying to the Ivies. Like, Stanford is great, but I was so scared that Harvard wouldn't want me that I didn't even try." She glared at the ceiling. "Plus, my mom was pressuring me to stay in state. That was about the time she got her first boyfriend after my dad. She has a habit of stealing their personalities. He was a cheapskate, so my mom didn't want me to 'waste my money' on out-of-state tuition." She removed her glasses and rubbed at her temples.

I stared at her for a few seconds. This incredible, persuasive, smart, woman having self esteem issues was so painful to see. It hurt my heart. "You would have been accepted." She nodded slowly. "And that sucks about your mom."

She shrugged. "It's okay." She opened her mouth then bit her lip again.

"What?"

She put her glasses back on. "It's nothing. I just kind of miss when my mom was her own person. The reason Grassy got dumped on me last weekend was because her current man hates kids and wanted to get away from him."

I squeezed her hand. "It must really hurt to see someone change like that." I offered her a sympathetic smile.

"It did. It really did." And I watched a single tear fall down her face.

And then another. And another.

And suddenly I was holding her as she weeped softly. "Sometimes you need to get it all out."

"I know. I know," Leafy whispered.

"We're going to be a really good team."

(A/N: Kinda short, especially compared to last chapter, yikes. Sorry. Hopefully it's cute enough to make up for it! The Christmas chapter I promised is coming NYE instead, I'll bore you with the details of why there. 1117 words. Song for the day: Um, It's Kind of a Lot- Will Wood)