Just Revenge

Chapter Twenty-Two: Noticed?

"NOTES!" I heard Miranda scream from the hill in front of the stage.

I rolled my eyes, already standing up, "Really? Is that what we do once the show ends? I never would've guessed."

Izzy shook her head at me, "Not everyone's in the last scene. Some of us zone out and forget the show's over."

I ignored her as I walked around to the front of the amphitheater.

"You think we're blocking out the curtain call today?"

"Definitely not."

"Ror, we don't do that until, like, show week."

"Right. I never remember that."

"Guys! Could we sit down and shut up for a second?" Miranda's voice projected above the chatter. "The sooner we get these out, the sooner you guys can go home!"

Marie stood next to her holding her notebook and waiting for us.

I felt Cort lean closer to me, "She is aware that she's only the assistant director, right?"

"No, I think that might require her to realize that she wasn't in charge of something." I whispered back.

Cort stifled his laugh and from the look on Ror's face next to me, she'd found it funny as well – even if she was trying not to.

"Cortland and Carmen!" Miranda snapped. "Seriously? After what I just said?!"

I dug my nails into my palm to stop myself from laughing, looking distinctly away from Cort. Unfortunately, directly away from him meant locking eyes with Abbi and when she raised her eyebrows at me, I lost it.

"CARMEN!"

"Sorry." I directed my gaze at the ground and bit my bottom lip to hold in my laugh. When I looked up from the concrete, I found Cort watching me with a smug smirk on his face.

"Shut up." I shook my head at him, smiling.

"I didn't say anything. I'm not the one who got in trouble either." He shrugged mockingly.

I glared at him, "It's as much your fault as it was mine."

He nodded, "But I got ahold of myself. You don't seem to possess that ability."

"Shut up."

"Why?" His smirk grew, "One more mistake and Miranda might lose it for real and wouldn't that be fun?"

I shook my head at him, turning towards our directors to pay attention to notes. Unfortunately, notes are boring. It's basically a solid hour of everything you do getting criticized and torn apart, broken up by the criticism and tearing apart of other people's actions. It sounds more interesting than it is.

"Edmund and Goneril." Marie read off her paper, looking around to find Max and I. We raised our hands to help her find us and she broke into a huge smile.

"4.2 was amazing today. The chemistry was totally there and you guys killed your blocking. I'm not sure what the improv was, but..."

"We were just trying something." I cut her off. "We can change it back tomorrow."

"No. It was really good. I'm not sure why, but I totally bought it today. I could see the strong Goneril soften a little and I felt the nervousness of her going in for this guy she wasn't sure liked her. It was great today guys. You killed it!"

I looked over at Max, but instead of pride, he just looked flirty. His smile was huge and he looked like he was sporting a whole slew of bad ideas. I rolled my eyes, but felt an involuntary blush creep into my cheeks.

"She has a point." I was kinda surprised Cort was interjecting, "You guys were pretty good today."

"Oh my gosh! Cort, are you being nice right now? Are you sure you don't want to add a bitchy comment right here? The window's closing."

"Shut up" He shook his head at me. "Besides, I'm not bitchy. You're bitchy. I'm an asshole."

I laughed, "Why? Cuz guys can't be bitchy?"

"No. Asshole is defined as stupid, irritating, and contemptible. Bitchy is just, like, snide and vindictive. More salty and bitter, less rude and outright insulting. There's very much a difference."

"I think the better question is why do you know the difference?"

He shrugged, "For moments when it comes in handy. Like this one."

"You memorized something in case, one day, you might, just possibly, be able to use it to prove some point of yours? That's insane."

He smirked, "And yet it worked. So maybe it's a little less insane than it seems."

I laughed at him, shaking my head. "You're an idiot."

"And that's why I get to be the ass."

"All right guys, that's it for tonight." Marie ended rehearsal.

"Go home and get some rest! We're here at five o'clock sharp tomorrow!" Miranda added.

I rolled my eyes at them as I stood up from the stage. "She seriously needs to take a second and breathe."

"I know. She's gonna stroke out before she hits eighteen at this rate." Max walked up beside me.

I smiled, "Right? Like forget college, this girl's not gonna be able to graduate high school."

"Is it weird how nice that sounds though? She doesn't even have to fill out a college app."

I sighed, "Heaven."

Cort shook his head at us, "Right, cuz all this work in high school leading up to absolutely nothing is definitely my idea of a good time."

"That's why some of us didn't work hard." Max joked.

I shoved his shoulder lightly, "Don't even joke about that. I saw you crawl into AP Gov sleep deprived and stressed waaaay too many times to buy that."

He looked a little surprised, "You were in my gov class?"

I rolled my eyes, "You're an idiot. I literally sat two seats behind you."

He still looked confused, "Are you sure? I feel like I would've remembered you being in my class."

I shook my head, exasperated.

"Take the loss and move on." Cort advised him, "This obviously isn't something you're gonna come out of well."

Max shrugged, "I guess. I just feel like I would've remembered that."

I laughed it off, ignoring the part of me that was remembering the reason's I'd gotten into this – all the years of them cliquing up, ignoring and excluding everyone on the outs. "Guess you were too wrapped up in your own world to notice me. I feel so special." I joked.

"Hey, it's not my fault. You didn't talk much or I definitely would've noticed you being there."

"I feel like she probably did talk." Cort argued, "She wouldn't shut up in Spanish class last year. It got a little annoying actually."

I blinked, more surprised Cort had noticed me in one of his classes, then that Max hadn't.

"Guess so. Maybe I just really am an idiot." Max agreed.

I shook off the weird situation, laughing. "At least, that's one thing we can all agree on."