Willow Weep For Me (temporary title)

Chapter 5- Highschool "Sweethearts"

The Campbell family had quite the history in show business. Louis Campbell being a known filmmaker and meeting his wife Helen during a film she stars in. The couple were blessed with a beautiful daughter who they named Sussie. Surely, she was born to be on stage! She was the embodiment of the theatre kid when she started highschool and a quite popular one at that. And lucky for her, her school had a drama club. That's where she met the current head composer of Joey Drew Studios. Sammy was a senior, his involvement with the drama club started when he made the mistake of notifying the art teacher about his one week absence because he will be abroad for a performance. So the teacher decided Sammy will arrange and compose the music played in plays for the drama club.
Sussie was quick to become popular amongst the freshmans, quickly gaining a large group of friends. It was a must for her. Being alone wasn't a choice. The spotlight always had to shine on her. She often ran late for practices but put on a good show to make the impression that she's talented even without practice and hard work. And it was one of those days where she decided to show up late to an important practice. Once she made it backstage she met with a tall man, one arm leaning against the table with electronics on (to arrange the lighting, sound effects and such) talking with a club member. Sussie’s co-lead to be exact. The senior has blonde hair, neatly combed and long enough to fall onto his shoulders. His tired eyes are greyish blue, adding more into his already pretty face. And his voice- ah his voice, purely made to sing an angelic serenade… She doesn't even understand what he's talking about, something about him needing to hear everyone's singing beforehand  the Sussie was pulled away from her thoughts as the angelic man called out for her.
“Ah there you are. Finally decided to show up. Seriously, I was calling the whole cast for a voice check and YOU were absent in each one despite having the lead role.”
The man scolded, and he was right. Only if she knew this gorgeous senior was the one calling she would attend every single one. She had to think of a way to calm him. Immediately. So she came up with a lie on the spot.
“Oh… the others haven't told you? I uh… i usually have to leave early because my grandpa is at the hospital and I have to visit him”
Her co-lead glared at her as the senior rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, sure. So you're saying last week you didn't ditch it to hang out in Starbucks? Because my sister says otherwise.”
Come to think of it she remembers Sarah, her classmate, mentioning she has a brother who is a senior. Sammy, as she remembers. Her face went red as she lowered her head in embarrassment. Sammy left as he muttered something under his breath. Clearly he couldn't care less about an explanation. The moment he left Sussie questioned her co-lead. Apparently, Sammy was the one directing the school choir as well as having his own band. Not to mention, he was more into classical music and won awards for his performances that's why he had limited time monitoring the drama club’s music arrangements. And he's been doing this since he was a freshman. Why wouldn't Sarah tell her that her brother was this hot?? This guy was literally the boyfriend of her dreams! But also the only person who does not praise her. After their first meeting she literally followed Sammy like a puppy, got closer with Sarah in hopes of interacting with him more but Sammy mostly did not even acknowledge her presence despite her efforts. And as someone who grew up with endless validation and pampering like Sussie, the need to get the attention of the only person who ignores her grew each day. That mixed with the beauty standards coming from the acting industry only made her more and more obsessed with beauty and perfection. Over the course of her highschool years she learned that you can only be the centre of attention if you fit their standards. So why was Sammy not getting interested? Why wasn't he head over heels in love like many guys around her do? Sarah is certain that he doesn't have a partner either. Sussie however spent her highschool years dating a very attractive guy she finds to at least make Sammy jealous. Nothing worked and on her graduation day she made everything worse.
She wasn't the nerdy one clearly. Barely being able to graduate. Not that it matters, her career was already planned beforehand. She was going straight to acting. Still, graduation was important. She had to be the best, even though she thought Sammy is not coming because Sarah said him and their mother weren't on good terms lately. Well not that Sussie paid any attention to what Sarah told her. She didn't even notice the girl tearing up as she talked. She wouldn't try to comfort Sarah even if she did. Sure, Sarah was nice and all but Sussie only showed interest in her because of her brother.

In the graduation ceremony, she and her mother located Sarah in the crowd and approached her because Sussie's mother insisted that she wants to meet Sarah's parents. But there was only Ruby and , shockingly, Sammy with her. Sussie's mother, Helen shook hands with Sammy.
“Ah so you're Sarah's big brother? It's nice to meet you, Sussie has told me a lot. And where's your mother? I wanted to meet her too-”
The Lawrence siblings fell into an awkward silence and glanced at each other before Sammy cleared his throat
“Well uh… she wanted to, but couldn't make it because of health concerns.”
Ruby and Sarah nodded in agreement but still, there was tension in the air. So, Helen decided to change the topic.
“Such a shame… I heard that you're fancying my gorgeous girl though. With all those love filled texts and-”
“Excuse me ma'am, what?”
Sussie's face went as red as the cherry coloured dress she wore. Because unbeknownst to everybody she felt the need to lie about such a thing. And now that she's caught, she left and dragged her mother with her, hoping that it's the last time she's going to see them…