Born to Perform

Chapter 17

After I come off stage from ‘Tonight’, I stand in the wings to watch Sienna dance the lead to ‘America’ before I change for the second act. Luckily, we cut the play short by skipping ‘Cool’ and the reprise of ‘Tonight’ and moved ‘One Hand, One Heart’ and ‘The Rumble’ to Act 2 so I’m not needed until after the interval. I applaud as loud as I can at the end of the song and Sienna beams at the audience. I feel so proud of her. I am about to go and find her when someone tugs on my arm and pulls me backwards. I let out a little cry in shock as I am dragged out of the wings and towards the dressing rooms. I spin around to see whose grasp it is and my mouth goes dry. I try to wriggle away from Elisha but she marches on past the group dressing rooms. 

“What are you doing? Let go of me!” I shriek as soon as we are far away from the stage. She doesn’t answer but throws open the door to my dressing room and flings me inside. I stumble into the chair in the corner as she locks the door behind her. I am fearing for my life now. 

“What the hell were you doing out there?” she demands. “You completely changed the movements to make me look stupid!” 

“You were coming at me with a pin so I improvised,” I explain as calmly as I can but I am really freaking out. 

“Oh, you improvised? Oh, well that’s just great!” she says sarcastically. “Maybe I’ll improvise a little out there and see how you like it?” 

“I was just trying to protect myself!” I protest. “It’s your fault for attacking me in that rehearsal! You brought this on yourself!” Bad move. She turns bright red with fury and walks towards me menacingly. 

“What did you say?” she asks through gritted teeth. 

“N-nothing. I didn’t mean it-” I try to backtrack but she definitely heard me. 

“This is my fault?” she repeats. I try to back away from her but I’m in a corner. There’s no escape. “You think this is my fault?!” she screams. I stay silent. She walks up to and slaps me across the face as hard as she can. I recoil with the force and cradle my cheek. 

“Was it my fault that you stole my part, too?” she says maliciously, pushing me on the ground. I try to get up but she kicks me with her stiletto heel, causing me to wince in pain. “And was it my fault that you stole my boyfriend?” She walks over to my dressing table and starts throwing hairbrushes and bottles at me, before sweeping everything onto the floor. I curl up in a ball and just pray that she will leave soon. “Stupid little Melody Pointer thinks she can get away with anything, doesn’t she?” she shouts. Tears are welling up in my eyes now. What had been a perfect evening has turned into a nightmare. 

“Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” I cry. She turns and fixes her cold eyes on me. 

“I will never leave you alone and I will never let you be happy, Pointer,” she hisses with spite. My head is pounding from all the pain and misery she has brought and I feel so relieved when she walks towards the door. Before she exits, though, her eyes fall on the beautiful floaty pink dress I wear in the second act. My stomach lurches as she picks it up gently. 

“No, please don’t!” I scream at her, leaping up and trying to pull it out of her grasp. She pushes me back down again and I watch as she dangles it in front of me. 

“Remember, Pointer,” she warns in a sing-song voice, “I will never let you be happy!” And then she rips the dress to pieces, tearing every seam until all that is left is a pile of sorry-looking rags. I sit in the corner sobbing, mascara streaming down my cheeks, as she leaves the room. I can barely see anything through the thick blurry tears but I suddenly feel someone touch my arm. I pull away, thinking that Elisha has come back to taunt me more but I look up when I hear Sam’s comforting voice.