If You're Hurt They Bleed

Stop.

"So don't be a sexist pig..." I laughed, tilting my head back. 

"What are you doing?" Grayson asked.

"I'm gonna get you boys some meat!' I exclaimed, struggling to remember the order of the last phrase.

"Baby, I'm your right

don't put up a fight

I could be your right

starting here tonight

let me be your right

hand man!

let me be your right-hand man!" I flashed a smile, putting my hands on my hips. 

"Great job, guys! Are you ready for Only Us?" Mr. Robinski asked. 

No. 

"Sure." I sighed. 

Robinski went back to the piano, and I started singing. 

This is going to be painful.

"I don't need you to sell me on reasons to want you..."

Grayson's face almost made me stop singing. He had hope in his eyes, shining like a star. It's like he thought that this song, the words I was singing because I didn't want to fail Choir, were what I believed. As the lyrics switched to his, I saw his facial expression shift to an even more dazzling bright-eyed expression. I took a deep breath and started in with the harmony, thinking back to when my childhood crush and I sang this on an empty stage, right before his forehead started bleeding because his soulmate, another member of the cast, fell off a ladder backstage. 

We finished the song, and Grayson turned to me, awestruck. 

"You can't tell me you didn't feel anything after that..."

"Hmmm. Watch me." I grinned and flipped my hair, walking back to my seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grayson slink back to his seat, slouching down so low I almost couldn't see him. 

"Paige and Katelyn, you're up!" I looked over at Molly, who was frowning. 

"What?" I gave her a look. 

"He's your soulmate. What are you doing?" She hissed. 

"I don't even know if he's actually my soulmate. Robinski could have just been trying to make it less awkward all around." I pointed out. 

"You know he's your soulmate. You're just scared to-"

"I'm not scared!" I muttered. "I just don't want to deal with this right now." I shrank down into my seat, focusing on the Galinda and Elphaba in front of me. "And I don't know anything for sure." 

Molly huffed, frustrated, but said nothing more. 

"Molly and Maya, Take Me Or Leave Me!" Robinski announced. 

We both got up, laughing quietly at his choice of music for us. 

I mean, the songs about two women who are engaged but get really mad at their engagement party. It's a little strange for two best friends to sing. 

Molly immediately got into character, pulling out the sass I remembered well from when she played Tinkerbell and Sally Bowles in Cabaret Jr. (We were in 7th grade, and this was before the real performance of it, don't judge us. I was Fraulein Schneider) 

"Every single day..." Molly cocked out her hip. I bit back a laugh and put an annoyed expression on my face, making a couple of our classmates giggle. 

The song was turned over to me, and I raised an eyebrow at Molly. 

"I look before I leap..." I sang, sticking my nose up in the air and turning away. She grabbed my shoulder and started trying to spin me back. We finished the song barely holding back our laughter, which exploded as soon as the piano faded away. 

"Alright, girls. That was very... energetic." Mr. Robinski looked slightly afraid. 

"I mean, you picked the song." I shrugged and Moll and I bounced back to our seats. 

We had just barely finished running all the songs when the bell rang. Grayson ran up to me. 

"Why are you so mad?" He asked. I stopped walking and turned to face him. 

"I'm not mad. I just don't want to have to worry about everything that seems to come with talking to you right now. Maybe you should focus on the show. You know, strengthen your relationship with Moll. If I'd gotten Jenna, maybe things would be different. But they would definitely be different if..." I trailed off. 

"If what?" He begged. 

If Olive never came. 

I just walked away. Grayson didn't try to follow me. He'd finally given up. If only I'd known just how bad that timing was...