Chapter 14 I Can't Believe You Did It Again

Annabelle was confused as she tried Simone's number again. She tried to think of what she had done to earn the silent treatment herself this time and had no clue. She knew that she had been busy with the school play and getting her students ready for it, but that was no reason to ignore her. Sighing she put her phone up and entered the auditorium for the dress rehearsal they were about to put on for the first time. It was just to see how everything looked and how the music sounded. Annabelle smiled remembering how the choir had managed to sing every song from memory with the orchestra and how they had sounded amazing together. She was thrilled that they had done such a good job and had made so much progress in the last month. Thanksgiving break would be there soon and they wouldn't be able to practice for a whole week. Her phone went off and she saw it was AJ calling her. Annabelle sighed and shook her head at the caller ID. She admitted she was attracted to him, but her heart belonged to Simone.

"Hey." Annabelle answered the phone just for the hell of it.

"Hey! I was wondering if you wanted to hook up later. Just as friends, you can bring some other people if you're afraid I'm gonna corrupt you or something." AJ said with a laugh.

"I think corruption is pretty much lost on me at this point." Annabelle sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Is that a yes?" AJ asked waiting for an answer.

"I actually can't. I'm having a dress rehearsal for the play and have no idea how long I'm gonna be. I also need to find Simone and find out what's been going on. She hasn't spoken to me in almost a month and I have no idea why." Annabelle replied and shook her head.

"Wow! A month without sex and you get all cranky!" AJ teased her relentlessly and laughed again.

"No. Actually we don't have sex." Annabelle said wiping the smile off AJ's face.

"What kind of lesbian are you?!" AJ demanded in mock shock.

"The garden variety kind." Annabelle laughed at her new friend's exclamation.

"I can see that. Garden variety is so much better than processed." AJ agreed causing Annabelle to laugh again.

"Thanks for that info smart ass! Listen I really gotta go. I will talk to you later, ok?" Annabelle laughed and got ready to hang up.

"Alright gorgeous! Bye!" AJ grinned and hung up.

Annabelle sighed and made her way down the aisle to the stage where everyone was gathering for the rehearsal. She arrived at the stage as Deann was directing the actors into place. Looking around she didn't see Simone at all, even though she was supposed to be there.

"Where's Miss Bradley?" Deann asked one of the English students who had helped with the script.

"She had an appointment and couldn't make it today?" the student replied sitting down in one of the seats close to the stage.

"Great. So much for complete support from your co-workers." Deann scoffed and turned back to the students on the stage.

"This is a complete dress rehearsal with costumes, scenery, and music. We are not going to stop and restart if mistakes get made. This rehearsal will be videoed so we can all view it after the Thanksgiving break and find our mistakes. Just stay calm, relax, and do your best. Places everybody!" Deann said ushering everyone into place.

Annabelle took her place in front of the orchestra pit and waited for her cue to begin the introduction music. Deann nodded at her, she motioned for everyone to raise their instruments, and soon "Overture" was being played. She led them through every composition that needed to be played while directing the choir as well. Two hours later the rehearsal was over and everyone had to agree it went pretty well. Annabelle helped everyone clean the auditorium up and get ready to leave and go home. She tried Simone's number again but there was no answer. She left the school and drove to her apartment building too exhausted to deal with anything else that day.

Simone felt her phone go off again, and for the tenth time that day she saw it was Annabelle. She ignored her phone and continued on her way out of the school headed for her apartment so she could escape the presence of the young girl who had captured her heart so many years ago. She sighed as she got into her car and pulled out of the school parking lot to go home. Simone couldn't believe that Annabelle had cheated on her like that after saying she wasn't planning to date anyone else. She also couldn't believe Candace was involved. Her own best friend that she had known for over twenty years had helped screw her over. Simone hated to think it was payback for what she had done four years ago, but even that didn't make sense because Candace had refused to take sides. She arrived at the apartment building and sighed with relief when she saw Annabelle's spot was empty. She continued on to her parking deck, parked her car, grabbed her stuff, and headed for her apartment. She had decided to just stay in and finish her paper work for school and head to bed. She sat at her desk grading papers not watching as the time slipped by. Suddenly it was 6 pm and an annoying pounding came from the apartment door. Simone stood up and went to see who it was and was shocked to see it was Annabelle.

"Can I come in?" Annabelle asked when Simone opened the door.

Simone sighed and moved out of the way to let Annabelle in. She realized Annabelle must have just gotten home from rehearsing since she still had her bag over her shoulder and the clothes she had worn all morning.

"Hey." Annabelle said turning to face Simone. Simone didn't say anything at all, she just looked at Annabelle like she didn't see her. "What's going on? Why won't you talk to me?" Annabelle asked stepping closer to Simone.

"Are you seriously asking me that?!" Simone replied angrily moving away from her.

"Yeah considering I don't know what the fuck is going on!" Annabelle argued back confused.

"How can you even deny it?! I saw you!" Simone shouted facing Annabelle now.

"You saw what?!" Annabelle demanded trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"The guy in the red Viper!" Simone spat glaring at Annabelle angrily. "The person you cheated on me with after you said you weren't going to date anybody else!" Simone added so angry she had started to cry.

"Oh shit!" Annabelle smacked her forehead as she realized what was going on. "That wasn't a date! That was for charity!" she tried to explain but Simone ignored her.

"I'm already hurt and disappointed in you Annabelle! Lying isn't going to help you any right now!" Simone shook her head in disgust at the woman who had broken her heart.

"Wow! I can't believe you did it again. I really am stupid sometimes." Annabelle sighed and turned away from Simone. She reached into her bag for something and walked over towards the desk.

"What was that supposed to mean?!" Simone demanded watching Annabelle as she walked towards the desk.

"What does it matter? It's too late now anyway." Annabelle replied grabbing a pair of scissors off the desk.

Annabelle felt the anger she had been feeling since Simone accused her of lying course through her veins. She turned around one last time allowing Simone to see the anger in her eyes, as she held the paper up to Simone's corkboard and stabbed the scissors through it. Without another word, she let herself out of the apartment leaving Simone behind to ponder over what had just happened.

Simone approached the corkboard and looked at the paper Annabelle had just put up there. She took the scissors out and held the paper in front of her and saw the letter from Annabelle's mother telling her all about the charity date she was required to go on, and how she was to pick two more events. Simone saw the slip of paper AJ had signed as well and the color drained from her face. Immediately she grabbed the phone and dialed Annabelle's number. All she got was a busy signal. Simone grabbed her keys and ran out of the apartment towards the elevator. As she got there she saw something on the floor. It was a busted cell phone that looked exactly like the one Annabelle had.