Searchlight (Crystal 1)

Chapter 21

The next two weeks were a blur of revision classes and preparation for finals. Crystal was glad to have something else to focus on other than the SOT, Searchlight and Caleb.

It was a little hard to escape Searchlight though because the auditions started airing the week before Crystal started her finals. They ran each week on a Friday. Everyone at school was impressed by them so far.

The finals were hard, but Crystal was confident that she had done well. As she left her last final, music, she wondered why she was so determined to score good grades. She was never going to use her high school diploma, since the SOT was managing her life for her, so what was the point?

Jamie and Trixie walked out with her, the two of them chatting about their prom dresses. They’d forgiven her and understood that it was better for her to go on without them than for them all to be kicked out. Things were back to normal now, but Crystal wondered for how long. Trixie wasn’t the type to forgive and forget easily.

Things had been quiet on the SOT front for the past weeks. Maybe they were hoping to lull her into a false sense of security or something.

“So, are we meeting to watch Searchlight tonight?” Jamie asked.

Crystal shrugged. They’d met the past two weeks to watch it together, but today’s show was the final audition where she’d ditched them. She wasn’t sure she wanted to watch it, at least not with them.

“Nah, I’m going out with Neil tonight,” Trixie said. She’d gotten back with Neil since Kyran hadn’t been in touch since leaving the show, despite the fact that he lived in New York and they could easily have continued their relationship.

“I think I’ll stay home tonight,” Crystal said. “I’ve been up most nights this week studying. I need to pay my sleep debt.”

“Okay,” Jamie said. “See you girls tomorrow. Make sure you look fabulous.”

“You know I will,” Trixie said. “But Crystal is another matter.”

Crystal jabbed her with her elbow, and she yelped. They parted outside the school building and Crystal jumped into her car and drove home. The prom was tomorrow and she still didn’t have a dress, but she was going to check her mom’s closet. Designers sent her mom all kinds. She had hundreds of dresses that she never wore. Each year she auctioned a batch off for charity.

She wondered if Juda was still coming to the prom to draw portraits. She’d contacted him the day after she got back from Charleston to ask if he’d do it. He’d said yes, but he hadn’t spoken to her since. She’d called him a few times, but he never picked up. Then he’d text her hours later and ask what she called for. She got the point. Whatever they’d had was over. She guessed it was inevitable. She’d stood him up so many times, and he knew she was in the SOT. He’d given up on her. She didn’t blame him.

When she got home, she took out her cell phone and called him as she made her way into the house. No one else was home, so the house was still and much too quiet. Usually Caleb was home before her and would be hammering away in the back yard, working on one of his building projects.

“Hello?”

Crystal almost dropped the phone. “Oh, Juda, hello.” She hadn’t expected him to answer. “I, um, hope I’m not disturbing you?”

“No, I’m just on my way to a fight.”

“A fight?”

“Yeah, I’ve been doing a boxing tournament. The semi-final is tonight.”

“Oh yeah, you told me you would be doing a boxing tournament. Wow, you’re in the semi-final.”

“Yeah.”