Twice The Trouble

Chapter 12: Orion's Goddess

Stacy

The Annual Miss Orion Beauty Pageant.

Every year, every female student in Orion University held the right to participate in the prestigious contest, provided that their GPA was between 2.0 and 2.25.

Luckily for me, I maintained a flat grade average of 2, thanks to my studious sister nagging and badgering me about my academics all the time. She was annoying sometimes, but I love her.

After all, we were both attending Orion under scholarships, which meant that we were required to preserve marks no lower than 2.25 in all our subjects, otherwise, we had to pay the full, expensive tuition. I shuddered at the thought of our adoptive parents, Mama May and Papa Ben, having to work harder so they could fulfill the payments. God forbid either of us loses our scholarships.

I must be on lucky streak because this year's contest was held on a late Friday afternoon. I had plenty of time to prepare for the event, and I didn't even need to enlist the aid of my friends.

The day before, when I signed up for the pageant, they had been with me and volunteered to cheer me on, make banners,tarpaulins, and to spread the word for their classmates to support me, should they not be part of the student population who hated me for the common reasons.

Why did I join the contest?

The prize money for 1st place was 15k pesos, and it would be a waste to pass that up.

I had a lot of uses for extra money like that. If I win, and I had high hopes to, then I would set aside a large portion of the cash prize into my bank account. The rest, I would use to treat my friends and my family, and most of all, Sophia, the one person I could count on the most for moral support, among every other forms of support I wanted or needed to survive life.

She was my anchor, and I was hers, too. We were inseparable.

The Beauty Pageant is currently being held in the school auditorium, where I met with my fellow members of the Dramatic Guild yesterday. Most of the boys tried to hit on me, but I rebuffed their advances and Thanked God that I was in the same club as Miles and Selena.

Now,if only a certain pest could get kicked out of the very same club,my stress would reduce.

"Oi. Why are you scowling?" Sophia asked me while she held my left hand in a gentle manner.

I averted my eyes from the vanity mirror and frowned up at her. "Nothing. I was just remembering something unpleasant."

We were backstage, hidden from the audience, a heavy red waterfall of curtains dividing the contestants from the panel of judges and the massive number of people who came to watch.

Another splash of good fortune has sprayed over me because the dressing room resembled a fitting room in a department store: Two rows of white cubicles opposite each other lined up against the royal blue walls. Each row consisted of fifteen tall,medium stalls, and it was enough for two people to fit inside without much hassle. It was very convenient, providing me with the privacy I wanted, especially from the twenty-nine girls I was competing against today.

"Something unpleasant," my brown-haired sister echoed, a cheeky smile on her face.

"Don't start," I warned while applying the last touches of makeup on my skin.

"What?" she asked innocently. "Chin up. Erect back. Smile, Ace."

I obeyed her instructions, sitting up rim-rod straight,lifting my chin,and plastering a bright smile on my face. I leaned closer to the big round mirror to inspect my lipstick and eye-shadow.