Behind The Glass Door

Chapter 8

Riley:

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Sirens blared outside, I had no idea why but they pulled someone onto a stretcher from outside. All the cars and trucks were parked in front of Val's dorm so I walked down the hall to go ask her what had happened.

"And then a cop asked us some questions, me and my roommate some questions," I heard a crying voice say when I turned around the corner.

It was Lacy, her face was red and wet with tears, and her chest was heaving up and down. She looked ten times worse than the night I walked in on her changing.

It was too obvious that she had anxiety, even though she tried to cover it. She always looked anxious, and worried, like she was waiting for the next bad thing to happen.

I turned back around the corner, staying behind the wall out of sight, engrossed in what was happening.

"But she was the cop who asked me questions on the case last winter and she almost blew what happened at the studio. It was like she was trying to ruin my life," Lacy cried out, unable to breathe steadily.

My eyes widened at her words. It took a lot to surprise me but when the words 'case' and 'cop' involved with Lacy, I was surprised. I let my imagination go to all the possibilities, too many of them but not enough since she stated that it was at Boston Ballet.

What the hell could happen at a ballet school that required a police case?

I felt a twinge of sadness for whatever happened to her though, she was noticeably upset by it. But I was determined to be enemies with her.

Before she came along, I was the one dancer everyone talked about, the best at the studio. But now that she's here it's always about her. How gorgeous her leg extensions are, and how she puts all her emotions into dancing.

It was annoying, she's not even that good, Elliot's way better than she is.

"Okay, bye I love you," she sniffled, her thumb pressing on the screen and shutting it off before looking up and catching my gaze, her eyes wide and refilling with tears once she realized my presence.

I tried to pretend I was looking for something else like I didn't hear anything before I turned around and quickly ran away back to my dorm, but then found myself turning back around to ask Val what happened.

I went back previously to where I was, knocking on Val's door. Lacy answered, her face flushed when she saw me, keeping her head down like she was scared I'd kill her if I looked at her.

She walked back inside and I walked in, closing the door behind me as Lacy lays in her bed, facing the wall and scrolling on her phone.

"What the hell happened out there?" I asked Val, sitting on the end of her bed.

Val went silent, staring up at me with dead eyes.

"Ruby died," she muttered.

I felt like someone ran through my body with a tractor. The air in my lungs stopped circulating for a moment as I tried to recollect myself.

"What," I spoke in barely even a whisper.

"She fell off the roof, Lacy saw her first and went out to see what it was but then right when she looked out, Ruby hit the ground, broke her neck, and had a severe head injury," Valentina spoke, staring at her hands.

I glanced over at Lacy, she was still, not moving a bit. Val seemed to catch on.

"She fell?" I asked.

"We don't know if she fell by accident, on purpose, or someone pushed her," Val said, "I'm tired though, it's been a long night," Val said, glancing over at Lacy.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes, "You're gonna kick me out because of her?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Valentina gave me a serious glare, "Did you watch a girl smash her head on a sidewalk from a seventy-five-foot building? Did you hear her bones break? No, I don't think you did, so get out," Valentina said, nearing a yell.

I glanced at Lacy before I left, she was shaking, shivering, and biting her lip as she tried not to cry.

I stood outside their dorm door, trying to shake off my anger.

Now she's stealing my friends too.

I stormed off to the only other person I could vent to, Elliot and Garret. They room together so it was easy to vent.

I knocked on their door and Elliot answered, hair messy and round blue-light reading glasses on, the circle frame ones that he wears at night.

"What's up?" he asked, letting me come in.

"Lacy," I rolled my eyes, Garrett sitting in the wicker egg chair that sat in the corner of their room.

"What's your problem with her?" Garrett asked as I sat on his bed.

"Everything, She's such an attention whore," I groaned.

Elliot and Garrett's eyes widened at my choice of words.

"What? You guys say it all the time," I rolled my eyes.

"Lacy?" Garrett asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes Lacy," I said.

"She's the least attention-grabbing person I know, every time she walks around crowds she has her head down," Elliot said, laughing at me.

"Yeah, and she always looks scared too," Garrette chuckled, on his phone.

"Did you see her at breakfast the first day of classes? She acting like she owned me or something," I scoffed.

"First of all, she was standing up for herself and even then she looked terrified, and second of all, you were picking a fight with her," Garrett said, laughing at me for some reason.

"I can't believe you guys right now," I rolled my eyes.

"You're being rude, have you seen her reaction when anyone touches her? She goes into fight or flight mode, and it's always flight," Elliot said, raising an eyebrow as she held his pencil over his drawing notebook.

"Whatever," I sighed.

"What caused this little temper tantrum of yours?" Garrett asked.

"I went into Val's room to see what the sirens were about and she told me Ruby died," I said, lowering my tone.

The room was silent. No action, no sound, you couldn't hear breathing.

Elliot's eyes were welled with tears that fell onto his sketchbook and Garrett looked lost like he had nothing behind his eyes.

"How?" Garrett spoke lowly.

"Fell off the top of the building, Lacy watched her hit the ground 'cause she saw her falling and Lacy didn't know what it was so she looked out, right as she did Ruby hit the ground," I said grimly.

"Mon Dieu," Elliot whispered under his breath.

"So you're mad because she saw it happen?" Garrett spoke up.

"No, Val told me to leave because she was tired but it was just because Lacy was silently crying in her bed," I rolled my eyes.

"You're being a real bitch, you know?" Elliot cursed, turning in his chair and standing up.

"That girl tries her hardest every day, and she looks exhausted from living but she pushes through, she's strong, and brave, something you could never be. She dances strong and she's done nothing but be pleasant and kind to you, and if your gonna hate her because your ex-girlfriend is paying more attention to her than she is to you, then you have a big issue and you need to fix it," Elliot said, his voice was low but it was angry like he was gonna hit me.

"I'm not mad she's paying attention-" I started but was cut off.

"Get the hell out of my dorm room and don't talk to me again until you can learn to use your heart," he said. His face was scrunched, shaking angrily as he opened the door and escorted me out.

And for the second time that night, I got kicked out of someone's dorm.