Catch Me

Alexandria: Alone

CeCe stood up confidently. 

"Might as well get this over with. The other losers don't stand a chance anyway," she whispered and flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. Thankfully, the cameras hadn't zoomed in on her yet. I giggled on cue. Everyone did. We practically had to.

The cameras finally found her and she shot them her signature CeCe smile. Of course, the fans seemed to notice.

ShortEmily: She looks so pretty!

CarrotBrooklyn: Beautiful

BiForIndiana: Absolutely stunning

"She's sooo going to rank #1," Faith gushed. Ranks are like places in a competition. Usually, the top 10 are announced, with the top 5 debuting. The winners are announced 1 to 5, with 1 being announced first and number 5 being announced last. One member is announced per day. 6-10 are announced after the members have been.

"Besides us, nobody here is talented. Just saying," Aisha shrugged. She seemed to get over her anger at me. Thank goodness. Aisha is like a bull. Dangerous and wild, but also easily angered or calmed. 

"Yeah. But I'm pretty sure the nerds think they're SO much better than us. Especially that Winter girl. Total homewrecker," Mia ranted. I was instantly uncomfortable. Even with this whole Winter-stealing-Dean situation, I don't think I can think bad of Winter.

"Or that new girl. What's her name?" Faith asked snapping her fingers, "Cinderella? Belle? Mulan? Meredith? Tiana-."

"Her name is Ariel," I said in an annoyed tone, rolling my eyes in my head. Seriously, they don't like her because they consider her pretty face a threat. She honestly seems nice besides the fact that she's nosy as h-.

"I was going to say that," Faith growled, inching closer to me. I reflexively flinched. 

She grabbed my arm. I could feel her 3-inch nails digging into my skin. I winced but managed to keep my composure. I'd learned long ago that screaming or crying just makes things worse. 

"Now stop acting like a smartmouth and keep your mouth SHUT. Understand me, you ungrateful wench?" Faith seethingly whispered into my ear. I gave her a quick jerk as a nod. She released her claws and I immediately felt the rush of relief and pain. Trickles of blood were dripping from the three new crescent-shaped marks on my arm. Great, I thought, I bleed the day I forget to bring band-aids. Just my luck.

"Ugh, and now you got my nails dirty," Faith complained. My blood was splattered on the tips of her sky-blue acrylic nails. I stayed silent, wondering how I was going to clean this up before my audition. Running to the nurse wasn't an option. 

I think Mia saw the disappointment and panic on my face because she pulled my uninjured arm and whispered, "Let's get you cleaned up."

I gave her a grateful nod and scoot over to where she sitting. She grabbed a sanitizer bottle from her backpack and starts slathering that all over my cuts.

I let out a low hiss from between my teeth but otherwise, say nothing. This hasn't been the first time Mia has patched me up, and it hasn't been the worst injury. Writhing helps nobody. I know what's she going to do. Sanitize to keep the infections away, clean the blood, and then put on band-aids that she has in her bag. She's done it several times and the process was not only painful but also boring. So instead of focusing on the pain, I decided to focus on CeCe. 

At this point, she's finished with her greeting and introduction and her continuous "I'm so nervous," and she's getting ready to start.