Quarter High Chronicles: Fight for the Spotlight

Show Time featuring my not boyfriend

Fifth Day of Winter Break and Christmas Eve

Annabelle POV
Where am I? I am in a car with my not boyfriend driving in the opposite direction of my house. What day is it? Christmas Eve. Who am I? A selfish human being who has no control over her actions because she is blinded by something that loosely resembles love. Why am I doing this? I have absolutely no idea. I am skipping out on Christmas presents and my loving family for the not love of my not boyfriend.
"I need to pee." I hear my voice say.
"Haha okay." Dylan chuckles while he pulls into a conveniently placed connivence store. I go into the bathroom, which is discussing and I do not plan on using it. I prefer to not contract a disease today. I look at myself in the gross mirror that is grime and rust covered. Okay, Annabelle. This is the deal. Your mom was so excited to have everyone together for Christmas and you are about to ruin the woman who gave you life and happiness for a boy you met literally five weeks ago. That's fine the people who have known you for your entire life will just disown you. No big deal. It is just Christmas. Annabelle stop it! You obviously feel guilty and you left secretly which means you should not be doing this so just tell Dumbo that this was a stupid idea and you need to be home for Christmas. Wait. That's basically telling him that I'm a loser who misses my mommy. Wow, what a way to impress the guy you like. It's just Christmas. I can miss one year right? I mean I already missed Emily's and Carter's big performance. The play has always been our towns Christmas tradition and missing it wasn't the end of the world, so missing a few more traditions wouldn't be so bad, right? OMG! Did Emily even get to perform tonight? Emily so deserves to perform rather than that  terrible human being that goes by the name of Nancy Breeland. When Nancy was under my sister's wing she was never that terrible. Maybe the power of being cheer captain and dating Carter just went to her head and made her a monster. Even though Carter and Nancy's relationship was short lived, it did make her more popular. In fact I dont think Carter has been in a relationship longer than three weeks, well except for Brenda. Crap! Carter and Bren broke up! I still can't believe it. I have not been there for Brenda. I bet she is still struggling. Brenda and Carter were perfect together. They were together for so long they weren't just Brenda or just Carter but Brenda AND Carter. Actually the only way me and Emily could just get Brenda time is to call for our sacred sleep overs which prohibits any boys. Man I have really dropped the ball on my best friend duties. Junior year is really stressful and the SAT is coming up which I am not prepared for. I haven't had time to breath, let alone study. I really need to make Brenda a priority. I should probably go check on Brenda. I should go buy Emily a chocolate cake to congratulate her on her performance. Even if she didn't get her time to shine we could eat it together and curse Nancy for stealing her spot light.
By priorities are all over the place. I have been so focused on Dylan that I've neglected my two best friends. Look at where you are now! My grey eyes find themselves in the mirror. You are about to jeopardize your relationship with my family. You should be in your nice warm bed gossiping with Paige until you fall asleep, not debating in a disgusting bathroom. You should wake up at five in the morning and wake the whole house so you can to start opening presents, not leave the people who actually love you for a boy who is not your boyfriend.
I should be home not California. I think as I step out of the convenience store a rush of a freezing breeze stops me cold in my tracks . You would think that since we are in the south we get warm winters, well we don't. The California sun would be perfect right now. Those warm rayes, cool water and Dylan. If I meet his family and wow them with my sparkling personality then Dylan will ask me to be his girlfriend. I think I would say yes. I would say yes. I'm afraid that if I let him go with out me then he won't come back. Okay, this is what I have to do. I will get back into that beautiful car that is going to be driven by that beautiful boy and we will drive until we arrive, in less there is a sign. A sign of any kind and I will tell Dylan to turn around.
Within the five minutes that I was in the bathroom, outside had turned into a winter wonderland. Okay it looks nothing like a winter wonderland but there is a thin layer of snow on the ground and there is undoubtedly ice hidden everywhere. Our snow rarely stays and is sparse but our ice seems to reach everywhere and stay forever.
Becoming cold I quickly make my way to the car. We drive and we hardly make it three miles before there is a truck that is blocking the whole road. Thankfully there isn't an accident. The truck is fine but is just stuck and I think that it can't gain any traction on the ice.  Is this a sign? Am I looking too far into this? Dylan puts the car in park and unbuckles his seat belt. I look at him questioningly but he is already standing out of the car. He gets the guy's attention and shouts, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm good. The tow truck is on its way." The guy replies. With that, Dylan gets back into the car. If the tow truck is coming then it shouldn't be too long until the road is clear. That could be a sign that we should keep going. Good try Annabelle. What kind of sign would that be? Would destiny be like, let me put his truck in the middle of the road to tell these stupid teenagers to keep going? Haha yeah right. This is a sign that I need to go home.
"Dylan." I hear myself say and his brown eyes meet my gray ones as I continue, "I am sorry. I can't come with you to California.  I just can't leave my family on Christmas and this is a sign if I've ever seen one.".
"I completely understand." Dylan replies with a little smile. What was I thinking? He is a logical guy that is caring and will most definitely come back. He throws the gear to drive and turns back in the direction of my home. Suddenly we are surrounded by falling pellets of ice. Hail is just frozen rain but it is scary. It falls so quickly and lands so hard that it breaks apart on impact. The way it dents metal and has the ability to shader windshields only leaves the horror of what it could do to a simple human to the imagination. Thankfully that convince store is once again conveniently placed. We pull in and Dylan parks is car under the awning above the gas pumps.
"Looks like I'm not going to California for a while." Dylan says peering out of the window.
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Emily POV
Okay. Today is the day. I will not freak out. I may not even get to perform. If I am so lucky, I will be prepared. I will go on that stage and impress everyone! I know this show inside and out. I know the scripts word for word and I know the music chord by chord. I have worked insistently and tirelessly. I will be amazing. I won't let anyone tell me differently, not even myself. "Are you ready?" I hear a knock on my door and my mom's voice.
"Yep!" I say as I finish tying my lucky pink snickers. I jump up and run to the car. My parents are going to drop me off and come back at six, when the performance starts. I need to be there an hour early to set up and everything. I am not in costume because our budget only allowed us to have one Wendy costume. I'm in jeans, a long sleeved shirt and I'm bringing my heavy coat because it is colder than me and Nancy's relationship. The weather channel said that we should be expecting a storm but they say that every year but it almost never actually happens. We have insane weather, one day it will be below zero and the next day it will be eighty degrees with no clouds in the sky. The weather channel does the same with tornadoes. Most of the time people panic and cancel things when the weathermen suggest it but not this year, and I'm happy about it too because this is important. This performance has to be done tonight. I don't think I could handle another night with this stress. I think it is even more nerve racking that I don't even know if I am going to perform. I don't how to prepare myself. I don't want to prepare myself for going on stage because I will get excited and will be crushed if Nancy goes on and I don't want to be needed up there and not be prepared because that would be horrifically embarrassing. This is one of the biggest events of the year. I know it sounds crazy but Ms.D is amazing at what she does. She makes the budgeted high school musical with limited actors, good. The performance always makes the news paper, most times the front page. The cast gets a special recognition at school and gets a shout out on our schools social media. This is actually a huge deal.
"Are you ready?" My mom says looking back at me from the passengers seat as my dad pulls up to the curb in front of my school where Quarter High is above us in big blue letters.
"Not at all." I say opening up the door. I say good bye and leave the nice warm car. As soon as I step through the auditorium doors I am swept into the excitement and busyness of the theater.
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"Emily! You're up!"
"Wait what?!" I say sure I heard her wrong.
"Go get on the costume! Nancy missed her chance!" She shouts at me as she is helping Carter with his microphone which seems to be having technical difficulties.
"Five minutes until curtain call, people! Five minutes!" Ms.D announces as I run into the make shift girls dressing room. I slip into the blue and white dress and pull my hair up into a ponytail with the blue ribbon. I put the lace socks and the white dress shoes on. Ha! Nancy called me out on being fat and I am the exact size that she is, if not smaller. I'm also getting her role! Look who is winning now! I hurriedly make my way through all the other girls doing touch ups and nervously talking to each other and get back to backstage.
"Woah!! Sparks look at you!" Carter says. I turn toward him and smile. I do a quick spin causing my dress to flare.
"Wendy looks good on me. Huh?" I say with a big smile.
"Sure does." He says with a smirk.
"Peter doesn't look to bad on you either." I say noticing his outfit. He is wearing a green shirt, green tights and a little green hat with an orange feather. Somehow he is able to pull it off and actually makes it look okay. Honestly no one else could have been Peter Pan.
Carter looks like he is about to say something but Ms.D shouts, "Places!"
"Break a leg!" Carter shouts as I run behind the big red curtain and sit on the single bed that is mine while two guys climb into the bunk bed. Deep breath. I tell my self as I close my eyes to center myself. Okay, Denise is going to come in from right stage and deliver her line then you reply, "Good night mother.". You got this Emily. You got this. I open my eyes as the red curtain raises. Show time!