When the Cat Met the Wolf

37. Of Competitions & Invisibility

Arianne stood backstage, watching one of her competitors playing his song. She observed every move, every note, every emotion he felt.

It was a good song, Arianne had to admit that, and it was also quite long; it lasted five minutes, while hers only lasted three or a bit more, but she tried not to think about that. She tried not to compare herself to anyone.

As he kept playing, she approached the mirror and checked her appearance  just in case.

"Ugh, where did you get that dress?" asked a girl besides her. She cocked her head to the side, to find Eloise Allard looking at her with narrowed eyes. She was another one of the competitors, and she could easily pass as Chloe's lost sister. They had the same evil and mean attitude "On a second-hand store?"

"Where did you get that face?" questioned Arianne, folding her arms "Did they have to make you a new one because your old one was so ugly? I really don't see the difference" Eloise chuckled dryly.

"I don't care what you say to me" 

"The feeling is mutual" 

"Arianne Mercier, you're up!" announced the assistant, as the guy who had been playing until then got in. Arianne smirked at Eloise.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have more important things to do than argue with you" she grabbed her violin, which had been resting in one corner 'till then, and walked towards the stage.

She scanned the crowd in search for her friends and found them, in one of the rows at the back. Alya, Marinette, Nino, Adrien and Thiago were smiling at her, and Arianne managed to smile back before taking her position.

Taking a deep breath, she started to play.

Once she was done, the room erupted in applause. Her friends were the first ones to stand up.

Arianne smiled with some sweat on her forehead, and bowed, before standing in one corner of the stage to await the judges' score that would be shown in screen. There were five judges in total.

Her score was 9-8-7-10-9, one of the highest scores so far. The room erupted in applause once more at the talent of the young violinist.

The next day, it was 7:45 and Thiago was sitting on the kitchen table, having a bowl of cereals for breakfast before going to school.

"Hey, where's Aria?" questioned Jazmin as she ate some cookies.

"Still asleep" replied Thiago. 

"Don't you think maybe you should wake her up?" asked the tiger once more.

"We still have one hour left" 

"Still. Just in case" 

"Maybe you're right" Thiago nodded, and started to walk towards Arianne's room in the hallway "Aria?" he knocked on the door, before opening it softly. In there, the girl was sleeping peacefully, while Ayu looked at her with a smile.

"The competition exhausted her" explained the kwami softly, so Arianne wouldn't wake up.

"She looks at ease" added Jazmin, staring at the sleeping girl "Maybe she should skip school for the day. She deserves some rest"

"I agree with you there" replied Thiago, before looking at Ayu "If anything comes up, let us know" the kwami nodded.

"I'll take care of her. You guys go to school"

One hour later, Thiago was walking towards school with Jazmin inside his jacket pocket. It was very weird to be without Arianne, but he agreed with the idea that she deserved to rest. She had a lot of things with her mind, with the competition and the whole Adrien thing.