Perhaps (Book 1) | ✔

ACT II - Scene 5

Accent Academy — the Auditorium

Sunday morning had been explosive in my house. And not in a good way.

As I had predicted, Mom was still furious at my behavior the day before. When I went down to the kitchen that morning for breakfast (still half-asleep, as I did not succeed in sleeping much the night before), she immediately began to yell at me. Dad had tried to calm her down, but she wasn't having it. I'd left the house again upset, and stayed out the entire day (mostly in my dance studio trying to use dance to forget about how angry she had made me). I had returned home around dinner time, but Mom just started yelling at me again. I refused to sit down and eat at that point. Instead, I had stormed upstairs, packed a toothbrush and change of clothes in my backpack, and then left for campus again. I hid out in my dressing room and chose to sleep in there that night.

It was much easier than staying at home and being yelled at.

On Monday morning, I caught sight of Sean and Layla talking to one another outside of the auditorium building. He had a huge smile on his face, and she was returning it. The sight of them together made me smile.

I really hope she says 'yes'.

I lounged on the couch in my dressing room before rehearsal, trying to eat the salad I had bought from the small convenience store in the student affairs building. It tasted like it was full of preservatives, and I knew that it would probably make me sick because my stomach was definitely not used to them; but I also knew that I needed to eat something before I got up on stage and started performing. I couldn't afford to go into that afternoon's rehearsal without any energy—I'd already hurt my ankle and set back our schedule by two weeks; the last thing I needed to do was pass out.

Forty-five minutes before rehearsal was scheduled to start, I tossed my half-eaten salad into the trash and walked into the auditorium. No one else was there yet, so I took it upon myself to practice some of my dance parts alone after some warm-up stretching. While I was on the stage, I forgot about all of my problems. I was pretending to be someone else entirely while I danced, and I almost preferred things that way as the days passed.

Though, the person I was pretending to be probably had bigger things to worry about: a serial killer that was obsessed with her, and was bent on destroying her for attempting to run away with another man; said serial killer setting her apartment on fire and attempting to kill her as an act of revenge; burns all over her body, and dying slowly from infection and the after-effects of all the smoke she had inhaled. Oh, and the icing on the cake: her beloved was slowly going insane from trying to find a cure, and had been drawn into a nasty deal by the serial killer to start killing people for it.

I guess I'd take Mommy and Money Issues any day over any of that.

A voice calling to me interrupted my thoughts. I paused from my dancing to see Riley climbing onto the stage.

"Hey, Gloria!" he chimed as he approached me.

"Hey, Riley," I smiled back at him. Sean's words echoed in my mind.

"He's totally into you. I can't believe you haven't noticed, actually."

"Practicing some dance parts?" he asked as he began to stretch.

"Yeah. Just doing something productive while I wait for everyone else to file in."

"Wanna practice one of our duets, then? While we wait?" His eyes stared back hopefully at me. In addition to everything Sean had revealed to me on Saturday night going through my mind, the inevitable arrival of Professor Lee's face began to consume me. I stifled it.