Stolen Virtue

It's show time

I KNOW, I KNOW. NOTHING REALLY HAPPENING IN THIS CHAPTER, BUT TRUST ME YOU WANT TO KEEP READING. THE NEXT CHAPTER IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAINS.

HAPPY READING

Chapter 7

 The day of the show was finally here and I was not feeling as excited as the rest of the group. After the incident with Brianna, I started to keep more to myself. A few member of the dance group would avoid making eye contact with me, or they would be whispering and talking about me, when they thought I wasn’t listening.

 Clyde has been trying to talk to me all week, but I always made sure that we were never alone. Or I would make an excuse and leave. The Bs has left me alone too, they were back to pretending like I didn’t exist.

 I was warming up in the girls changing room with Amy, waiting to be called out when it’s our turn to perform. Sanity was there too, trying very unsuccessfully to calm my nerves. I was scared and worry that I’d go out there and forget my steps. I’ve grown a lot more confident than when I first walked into the auditorium, but not so confident, that I’m not scared witless of making a complete fool out of myself.

 Mrs Moore, the music teacher, poked her head into the room, to tell us we were on in 5. Ok, I was about ready to run for the nearest exit. My palms were sweating and I was shaking like a leaf.

 Sanity noticed this and started to reassure me, “Hey Juliet, look at me.” I looked at her and she smiled, “You can do this. You’ve survived worse than this. I know you, you’re not a quitter. You’ve got this. So go out there and make me proud.”

 I nodded, tears running down my face and hers. She chuckled swiping at the runaway tears. “Now, you’ve got me crying, and I hate crying.” We both laughed and hugged each other.

 There was barely enough time to touch up my make-up after my crying session. It was my groups turn to go out and perform. Amy came to stand by me as I was watching the turnout of students and parents. I scan the crowd for my sister and saw her sitting in the front row of the auditorium, with Dillon and Sanity.

 Clyde motioned us over to him, “It’s time to go guys.”

 Amy smiled, “Let’s go show em how it’s done.” She ran out into the auditorium.

 I blew out a nerves breath and started to follow the group. Clyde captured my hand as I was leaving, pulling me back into the shadows, startling me.

 “Hey, you ok?”

 The concern in his voice was very sweet. But why does he care? After the way I’ve been ignoring him, I’m the last person he should be worried about. Unless he's afraid, I’ll screw up and mess up the whole show. Yep, that must be it.

 I smiled my best confident smile, hoping to reassure him. “Yeah, I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me screwing up the show. I’ve got this.”

 Clyde looked at me hurt and confused for a few second, then it went just as fast as it came. He ran his hands through his beautiful brown locks then smiled.

 “That’s not the reason I... Look, I just wanted to make sure you were ok and now that I know you are, I’ll leave you alone.” The way he said that and walked off sounded so final. Why did that bother me so much?

 The crowd was cheering loud and a few of the students had banners, with words of encouragement. The music started and we danced and sing. Slowly first to a song from the 50s then we work our way through to the 20th century. The crowd cheered and shouted, there was even some whistling. I was tired and glad to be done. There was one last number to do, the closing number that involved Clyde dancing and singing with Brenda. Their closing duet.