Heartbroken

Chapter 7:

The next day was a Friday, and I was late to Drama. Of course, Clarissa was there to gloat about it.

"Looks like someone's late," she said, looking at me sternly. "You know that's a detention, right?"

I didn't care. I hardly had sleep last night just thinking about Prom.

"Give her a break," Carmen said. "She's never gotten detention, can't you excuse her,"

"That depends," she said. "Why, exactly, were you late Miranda? Family problems?"

"I don't have family problems," I said angrily. "I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"You and your excuses," she said as she let out a disappointed sigh. "Let's just keep rehearsing scene 1, okay? We already had to wait for you." She turned around, then turned back to look at me. "Just don't mess it up again, okay?"

We got in our positions to rehearse. We went through it all perfectly until it came to the new part.

" 'Hey America,' " Carmen said. " 'I see you've got a friend.' " She raised her eyebrows at me and I blushed. I looked down at my script. COLLECT YOURSELF MIRANDA, I thought to myself.

" 'Well,' " I said. " 'I wouldn't say a friend, more like...an acquaintance.' " I looked at Luke.

" 'And he helped you pick up your books?' " Carmen said.

" 'Yeah, he's really nice,' " I looked at Luke longingly, hoping he wouldn't notice.

" 'What's his name?' "

"' He's a new kid,' " I explained to 'Loraine'. " 'I think his name's Michael.' "

" 'Michael...' " Carmen said. She smiled, then frowned. " 'I don't like him.' "

" 'Why don't you like him Loraine? You saw how he acted,' " I said, looking at my script again. Lucky Carmen, she has better memory than me. She didn't even have to glance at the script once! "I mean, if he was so bad he wouldn't have helped me to pick up my books!"

" 'I don't know,' " Carmen said. " 'I just have a bad feeling about him...' " And that was the end of scene 1. We looked around. Why hadn't Clarissa criticized me? That was her usual cycle!

"And...cut!" Clarissa said. We weren't in a damn movie were we? "That was wonderful! Luke you were amazing. Carmen...you were okay. But Miranda, I think you need to practice a bit more. And by a bit, I mean a LOT."

I hate Clarissa. And when I say I hate her, I mean SCREW her, A LOT.

"I think that was good enough." Clarissa said. "Let's continue to scene 2, okay?"

"Actually before we start," Luke said to her. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh really?" She said. "And what was your question?"

"I was wondering if... maybe you wanted to..." He was taking a long time to get it over with.

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING, I thought to myself. THIS isn't HAPPENING!

Carmen walked over to me and gave me a hug. "You might not want to hear this," she said and covered my ears. At least she was making it a bit more bearable.

The next thing I knew I heard Luke ask Clarissa, "Clarissa, will you go to Prom with me?"

Of course Clarissa said 'yes' and my heart sank as a small tear rolled down my cheek. MY LIFE IS RUINED. I harshly rubbed the tear away and loosened myself from Carmen's grip.

"Miranda, are you okay?" She asked after me. Clarissa and Luke were too busy with their plans for Prom.

I made my way to the door. I went into the hallway and my body sank as if the weight if my heart was taking me down with it. I ended up sitting hopelessly with my knees up to my chin as I closed my eyes and drowned in my sorrow.

STUPID PROM, I thought. CLARISSA HAD TO COME INTO MY LIFE AND RUIN IT! SHE THINKS SHE'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE REST OF US! I WISH I NEVER MET HER, I WISH I NEVER MET Luke...

I raised my head as Carmen came out the door with a worried expression on her face. My lips quivered as I continued to cry.

"Miranda," she said. "Don't make this get the best of you. You don't need boys to save you or to survive. I mean, you watched Frozen didn't you...?"

"Life isn't fair," I said miserably, ignoring what she had said. "It gets you to do dumb stuff and to feel dumb feelings until you ruin yourself."

"Your life isn't over," Carmen said at my overreaction.

I looked up at her. "I feel like crap," I said seriously.

"You are OVER reacting!" Carmen said to me. "You're making this a big deal. So Luke asked Clarissa to Prom instead of you! The cure to your broken heart is hidden in three words; GET OVER IT!"

"But I can't," I said sadly. "What if I never like anyone again? What if I live alone and grow old with a million cats and they're all I've got?"

"You will not live all your life single," Carmen said. "Besides, maybe Luke isn't THE one. You never know and you need to focus on school and friends not GUYS!"

"Maybe you're right," I said clearly defeated.

"Come on," Carmen said giving me her hand and helping me up. "Let's get back to class, okay?"

I nodded and accepted her hand.

We entered back inside and Clarissa gave me an evil smile. I rolled my eyes to show I didn't care, but deep inside I was dying.

'Don't make this get the best of you. You don't need boys to save you or to survive.' That's what Carmen had said to me.

SHE JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND... I thought, shaking my head.

After that we rehearsed the second scene of the play, but I didn't care anymore. I hardly paid attention and focused all my attention on my lines. I had to erase the fact that I was going to kiss. Luke in front of the rest of the class out of my head. That miss would mean nothing to him, so why should it mean anything to ME?