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The theater was silent.
Sora stepped back in shock as if she had been slapped in the face. A little wide eyed, Sora turned to her old partner, hoping that she misheard her.
"May was invited by you?"
"Yes," came Layla's lithe voice.
The pit in her stomach came back with a vengeance.
First Leon and now Layla…
"Looks like you're not the top choice anymore," May snidely said, unknowingly voicing out Sora's thoughts.
The dark haired teen intended for her words to crush Sora down even more and had even stepped extremely close to her; however, with the sharp look in her brown eyes, May realized too late that it only added anger to the storm inside her.
"We'll see about that," Sora muttered to her face, and then shoved the girl away from her.
May's foot caught the corner of her suitcase and she tripped over it, landing onto the floor in an undignified heap. Her hands quickly pulled her skirt back down as it had ridden up indecently when she fell over. Some hooting came from those that had seen her red underwear.
With a hiss, May came up from the floor and viciously shoved Sora back.
The redhead stumbled backwards and crashed against the side of the raised stage. She bit back a cry as she felt the beginning of a bruise on her lower back. With a frustrated huff, she came forward as May was coming.
The teens collided in an angry mess of hair pulling and nail scratching.
"Alright, break it up you two!" hollered Cathy as she ran over to the catfight, closely followed by some other performers coming over to help break up the fight.
Layla watched as her once timid ex-partner gave a hard pull on one of May's pigtails, resulting in a loud shriek from the dark haired girl. Her arms crossed as she shook her head.
Kalos wasn't exaggerating.
IN
The two teens had patched up and were in Layla's hotel room.
They sat on opposite ends of the couch as Layla was on the other one across from them. Cathy had been in there earlier to scold them about proper theater behavior and then promptly left for Layla to say her piece to the two teens.
Sora idly smoothed over the Band-Aid on her cheek as she waited for Layla to scold them.
I'm kind of worried what she'll say.
She had never before been in a catfight. Sure, she'd seen them on TV and even in her school back in Japan, but she really didn't understand why girls would behave so viciously with each other. The feelings that had coursed through her were foreign and strange, yet so consuming and quick to multiple.
It was like a disease that infected her body.
She didn't like the feeling.
"What you two did back there," Layla finally started, "you need to do it again."
Both teens gaped at their role model.
"What?!"
"But Layla—"
A firm hand came up and halted their speech.
"The fighting aspect was not what I meant. The intensity of those emotions is what I am looking for in the performance. You two," she looked at one and then the other, "are both needed. Separate, you don't hold enough presence; but together, you create the perfect chaos of emotions for Salome."
Chaos…is that what I've become?
Sora's head drooped a little.
"I'll make you proud Miss Layla! You can count on me!" crowed May, "It's been my lifelong dream to perform with you!"
"I'm counting on both of you," Layla corrected. "Opening night is this Friday."
Sora lifted her head a little at that, but not by much. The fact that May had to be called in was a blow to her already low spirits. "We'll work hard," she finally said.
"Good." Layla stood up. "I'll see you two in the morning."
Sora stood up and when Layla entered her bedroom, she turned around and headed to the front door. She paused as she noted that May hadn't followed.
"She said she'll see us in the morning," Sora bit out.
Smugly, May stretched her arms out along the back of the couch. "I know. You can go. Layla and I will meet up with you in the morning, since she offered me the spare bed in her hotel room."
Sora's hand tightly gripped the doorknob. "'Night, then."
"Nighty night!" came May's voice in a superior tone, "Don't let the vampire bite; not that he'd want to bite you."
For the second time in one day, Sora wanted to go over and put May in her place. She took a long breath in and with great willpower she opened the door and left Layla's room.
As she walked down the hallway, her mental barrier began to falter with May's parting words.
"..not that he'd want to bite you…"
She knew the 'he' that May was referencing and the hurt she had been holding within was coming back out along with the sting from Layla calling in the bane of her existence. Her hand came up to her mouth to muffle the sound that had slipped out.
By the time she got to her floor and inside her room, her eyes were red from the drops that had fallen down her cheeks. When her door closed, she could no longer hold the feelings back at bay anymore.
She slid down onto the floor and bawled out the pain.
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AN: I'm sorry, this needs to happen... :(
