Chapter One
This was terrible. In fact this was horrible. It was a to-be disaster. There was not a single moment in Leonie's life, when she was around Jade West, which was pleasant. Now Leonie was being forced to enroll in her cousin's high school. Of course this would happen to Leonie. It was just her rotten luck.
Even though the two girls were cousins they looked almost identical to each other. Their personalities were different, but they looked the same. Usually someone would mistake Leonie for Jade or Jade for Leonie. This is what Leonie hated the most. Her cousin, in Leonie's opinion, was a demon. She was always shooting off insults and almost never said anything nice.
Leonie stood in the main foyer of Hollywood Arts High School, standing alone among a mass of students. The students were chattering and talking with each other, laughing and giggling at each other's jokes, and a few of the students were singing with each other. Leonie felt out of place. Hollywood Arts was a high school for students who have some kind of extreme talent.
From the stairway a dark-haired boy gave Leonie a small wave. He weaved his way through the mass of students, headed in her direction. Please don't think that I am Jade. Please. I beg of you. Please don't think I am my cousin. Leonie pleaded in her head, over and over and over and over and over and over again. The boy stopped in front of Jade. Damn it, Leonie groaned inside her head.
The boy leaned against the nearest wall of lockers, "About time you showed up, Jade. You usually get to school earlier than this."
Leonie knew what was going on. This guy obviously thought she was Jade West. Leonie thought about what to say and tried to appear calm. She tried to act as Jade would act, afraid that if someone knew she wasn't Jade then Jade would get word of Leonie being at her school. If that happened then Leonie would be screwed.
Leonie folded her arms over her chest, "Traffic."
The boy nodded and took a step closer to Leonie, "Well at least you are here now."
Before Leonie knew what was happening the boy was wrapping her in a tight embrace. This was not OK. She wasn't Jade West. This must be Jade's boyfriend or if not that than he was someone really close. Leonie gently pushed the guy away, trying to act normal. But the guy simply frowned, "What? What's wrong? Are you OK?"
Leonie blurted out, "Not in the mood for hugs."
The boy blinked and nodded, "OK. OK. No hugs. Got it."
Leonie gulped as her eyes trailed to the girl's bathroom. Of course this would happen. She had to get out of here before the real Jade West showed up. Leonie thought quickly then began to walk backwards, "I uh have to go to the bathroom."
She began to walk towards where she had seen the bathroom logo which located where the girl's bathroom was. Without looking back she made a run for it. The instant she entered the bathroom Leonie felt her body relax. Apparently she was tense. She waited a few minutes before peeking out of the doorway. The boy wasn't anywhere in sight.
"Hiya Jade!" A perky voice echoed from behind Leonie. Once again someone thought she was her cousin.
Leonie let out a sigh and spun around. The voice belonged to an overly perky girl with red-hair, which was the color of red-velvet cake, and who was wearing a dress. The girl smiled at Leonie, showing her pink-tinted lips and shiny white teeth. Leonie gave the girl an annoyed wave, wanting her to evaporate from view. She wanted for people to stop thinking she was her cousin.
Leonie waited, but the girl continued to smile. With a groan Leonie stood up straight, having been bent over while looking out of the doorway, and glared silently at the girl, "Can I help you?"
The girl continued to smile, "I saw Beck, he was looking for you."
Leonie frowned, "Yeah. I saw him."
The girl sighed, "I think you two should get married."
Get married? Leonie was starting to get annoyed. She found herself becoming more and more annoyed the more this hyperactive red-head spoke. The girl, not to Leonie's surprise, merely continued to smile. Leonie blurted out angrily, "Take a picture. It will last longer!"
The girl let out an annoying, ditzy laugh. Leonie rolled her eyes. She figured that the coast was clear, and was about to walk out when the red-head grabbed her hand. The girl pulled her back.
"Wait!"
"What? What is it?"
"What about Beck?"
"What about him?"
The girl blinked, "You were hiding from him. Are we playing a game?"
Leonie was about to say no, but then she stopped herself. She smiled, "Yes. We are playing a game. You can't let him see you, or else you lose. I am going to go now, but you stay here and take care of the headquarters."
The girl wasn't too bright because she saluted Leonie and then let Leonie leave. Leonie couldn't help but roll her eyes. This was going to be a long day. How many more people would think she was her cousin?
Leonie took out a crumpled piece of paper from her back pocket and glanced down at it. According to the schedual she was supposed to attend theater class. At least she could act. That was one thing she could do. She headed towards the room number which was labeled on the schedual. She entered the room and then froze. Everyone was staring at her, including a very surprised Jade West.
Chapter Two
Jade West sat near the front of the classroom, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide, staring at her cousin who stood in the doorway. Everyone in the class was doing the same. Without really knowing whatelse to do Leonie slowly took an empty seat at the very back of the room, next to a dark and curly-haired boy who had a puppet sitting in his lap. The puppet turned its head and looked Leonie up and down. Leonie felt awkward, Even a damn puppet is staring at me! She slunk back into the seat.
The teacher, who's name Leonie couldn't pronounce, stood at the front of the classroom, clapping his hands like a mad-man. He was very oddly dressed but then again everyone at this school was odd. Leonie tried to ignore the stares from the others around her, but it was nearly impossible to do so. Why? Why did she have to go to this stupid school? There were so many other schools which she could have gone to...but her parents had to chose the one where Jade went to!
The puppet continued to stare at Leonie, and Leonie was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. It was just a puppet. Right? Leonie glanced, out of the corner of her eye, at the puppet. It looked similar to the boy which obviously owned the puppet. It was wierd. The boy wasn't looking at her, he was focused on what was going on at the front of the class (which was some bizzare skit that Leonie didn't really understand), but the puppet was looking directly at her! Its head moved up and down, as if it was observing her very closely.
The puppet shook its head with a laugh, "Man, if I would have known better I would have thought you was Jade. But you are much prettier girl."
"Rex!" The boy exclaimed. He turned to look at Leonie with an embaressed smile, "Sorry, he can be rude sometimes."
Leonie nodded, starting to feel creeped out. The puppet slapped the boys face (actually the boy used his own hand to make the puppet slap him) and the boy shrieked out in pain. The puppet seemed to frown, obviously offended. What in the world was this place? A freak-show for wierdos? Leonie tried to force a smile. The boy held out his free hand, "Oh. I'm Robbie. Robbie Sharpio, and this is Rex."
Leonie nodded again, "The puppet is Rex. Got-"
"-Don't be racist," The boy leaned in and whispered, "Rex is really sensitive about that word."
Leonie blinked. She nodded for a third time then focused on the confusing skit, which now involved squatting, instead of the boy and Rex. The boy, on the other hand was not finished talking. He pointed to the man at the front of the class, "That's Mr. Sikowitz, our teacher, and he loves coconuts. Apparently they give him visions. The red-head is Cat Valentine. She is, well, more like a pet than a student. Then the dark-haired guy is Andre Harris, and he is a really good musician. Oh, and that guy, the one with the longish hair, that's Beck Oliver, the cute one of the school. And over there is Tori Vega, the most talented singer I know. And," the boy paused, "I think you know who Jade West is."
Leonie blinked and looked around the room. There were others in the room but they weren't actually all that important, considereing that Robbie hadn't introduced who they were. Leonie gave Robbie a thumbs up and then realized he was waiting for her to say something. She hesitated awkwardly, "What?"
Robbie blinked, "Aren't you gonna say who you are?"
Leonie awkwardly smiled, "Oh, right. I'm Leonie West. Jade's cousin."
The bell suddenly rang. Had one class period really gone by so fast? Leonie stood up. Before she could reach the door Jade blocked her path with a scowl. She seemed to stare, darkly, into Leonie's soul. Why? Why did she have to be here? Jade pinned her, not so gently, against the door frame.
"What the hell are you doing here," Jade asked, venom in her voice.
Leonie gulped. She couldn't speak. Jade could easily kill her, right then and there. Leonie was screwed. Jade noticed that Leonie wasn't going to respond and slamed her back against the spot where she had pinned Leonie, in an effort to make Leonie talk.
"I said why are you here?"
Leonie cleared her throat, "I go here now."
Jade let go with a bigger scowl, "Ha-Ha. Funny."
"I'm not joking. My parents forced me to go to your school."
"Then leave," Jade glared at Leonie.
Leonie managed to scoot towards the door, allowing her the freedom to run out of the classroom, "Well I would love to, to be honest, because I hate you. So bye."
Leonie dashed out of the room, her heart beating quickly. She ran down the hall to her next class. Jade was most definetly going to kill her, Leonie knew she would because that would be something that Jade West would do. Leonie hated Jade with all her heart. Leonie found her next class, thankful to not be in another class with Jade, and relaxed her body. She, again, chose a seat in the very back and tried to listen to the teacher, but it was no use. Her mind was focused on other things. Things such as how much she hated her cousin. Things such as how she thought Robbie's puppet Rex was really creepy. Things such as trying to fit in when she had no talent.
She had not talent. How could she go to a school for talented kids when she had no talent? Leonie came from a very talented family. Even Jade, her evil cousin, was talented. Leonie, on the other hand, was nothing out of the ordinary. Her parents met when they were involved with a traveling theatre troop, her uncle was a musician, Jade was good at singing, and Leonie had nothing. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Goose egg.
Leonie only went to this school because her parents believed that it would help bring out her talent, if she even had one. She was practically tone deaf and she was a fair actress. Leonie slouched and let out a silent sigh, Face it you're a loser and you're nothing special. You only go to this school because your parents want to make you feel special and possibally talented. Leonie closed her eyes. She sooooo wanted this day to be over, and she wanted it to be over right now. In fact she wanted the school year to be over, but that would never happen. She was stick here, at Hollywood Arts, with Jade West.