Stronger than the Rest

Chapter 06 | Auditions

"Never thought it could be you, I never wanted it to. My other half of me just disappeared." - Tabitha Scott

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To say the last twenty-four hours has been awful is a complete understatement. I'm blinking back tears as I press on the accelerator in my car, I glance at my phone to see it lighting up for the millionth time. The whole screen is full of text messages, calls and voicemails: some are from Gabby, Mom and Dad, Megan and a few unknown numbers. None of them are from the person I want the most, Leo. I pick up the phone and throw it in my backseat. I turn up the music to drown out the inevitable thoughts swarming in my brain.

An hour later I breathe out a shaky breath as a cross over into Georgia.

I'm home.

I'm coming to see Megan.

To see Leo.

"Hey Jack, we're here!" Jack grunts in approval from the back and comes to lick the side of my face.

Confused?  Let's go back, shall we?

About eight hours earlier

Even though the start of the day was a complete train wreck, I feel like I can actually pull off this audition. I smile brightly to myself as I walk to my locker thinking about who I would want to be casted as. It's not a really hard decision because I've idolized the green witch forever, but I would be fine with any casting because I love everything about Wicked. I quietly sing to myself just to run through my song. I'm putting all my books into my locker when all of a sudden someone speaks from behind me.

"You have a really pretty voice," someone says and a let out a yelp of surprise. I turn around to see Joseph laughing lightly as he scratches the back of his neck, "Sorry about that, I didn't realize you scare easily."

I narrow my eyes at him in a playful way and put my hand on my hip, "Maybe it's just your face that's scary."

Joseph smirks at me and shakes his head a little. I gotta admit, he's really attractive, but his smirk is no where on the same level on Landon's.

Stupid Landon.

Joseph takes a step forward and I take a step back which puts me against the lockers. I look up at him from under my eyelashes as my heart starts beating a little faster. Is he going to kiss me? Or is he trying to be scary? Do I want to kiss him? My eyes flicker to his lips on instinct and my face blushes as his lips pull into a smirk as he realizes what I'm staring at. 

He's still smirking when he puts his hand on the side of my head, "Scared of the big, bad panther?" He minty breath light fans my face.

I snort a little to break the tension and laugh, "You aren't the scary type Joseph, you're so sweet and maybe a little innocent." Why am I challenging him? 

His whole face lights up in amusement as he leans his head down to look into my eyes: brown to grey. "I'm not as innocent as I seem, darling." He glances down to my lips and then smirks one last time before he kisses me on the cheek. He pushes away and walks down the hallway, "Catch ya later, Rosie."

Ugh. He did not just call me Rosie.

Barf.

"Already got yourself a boyfriend, eh Petals?"

I jump up with a scream as Landon speaks from behind me. I turn around on instinct and slap him in the arm. "Jeez, you scared the shit out of me." I take a big breath to clear my head. I look up at Landon who is smirking down at me, but his eyes seem cold and hard unlike how they were this morning. "Are you okay, Landon?" I cock my head at him, trying to understand the sudden hardness in his eyes.