Sorry I realize it's been a while since I've added any chapters but I've
been monstrously busy...I Do ApOloGiZe. ;D ***Wait, why am I talking to
myself in a British accent?!*** Ok this is weird. Anyway, have a jolly-good
day and enjoy. I'd love it if you R&R, just ever-so-much! ~Cheerio!~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How's that for a two-bit act?" asked Reeny once she had returned backstage, a massive dose of self-satisfaction in her voice. Catrina, feeling guilty, looked down. "Listen Reeny, I want to apologize. I--"
"Don't bother Miss fancy pants. Who are you tryin' to fool? You're about as real as my mother's plastic poinsettias. I know you don't have any real friends, but you're too scared to do anything about it. You think I can't see right through you? You're just a spineless coward. And you know what? I don't need you. I don't need anybody! But at least I don't have to trash other people to make myself feel wanted. I'm not that pathetic." Reeny abruptly turned away from her.
Catrina could feel her temperature rise at these words, and her entire complexion began to shine a luminous shade of crimson. But before she could say anything, Reeny turned around and faced her again, glaring at the young brunette that had shunned her groundlessly. "Oh and sweetie, when you go out there, make sure you don't trip over those big clodhoppers of yours. You know what they say.. The bigger they are, the harder they fall." She looked her over tacitly, comparing Catrina's tall, solid, big-boned figure to her own skinny more dainty physique. She giggled and walked off.
Catrina stood there unable to move or speak. She had never let anyone--NOT ANYONE--talk to her like that. Yet what made Catrina sick to her stomach and had left her at a loss for words for the first time in her life, was the legitimate fact of what Reeny had spoken. Some one had finally understood her. The deepest darkest corners of her heart that she had always carefully barred from the rest of the world, this girl read like a book. 'What is it with this girl?' she thought. 'Who is she? Why does she get me so well?! I swear I've known her in another life or something.'
Still, recent events did nothing to stifle Catrina's anger. Since when would she let another kid get away with treating her like that?! She didn't know whether she felt more like crying or going over to the little brat and ripping all her hair out. On every other occasion, she would have just laughed and clocked whoever it was that had gotten her goat...but with Reeny it was different, because she new the truth. She knew just how miserable her life really was. There was no way she could laugh that off.
Nevertheless, Catrina had to save face. "I'm gonna make you eat those words, you little worm!" She yelled across the room to Reeny.
Just then Catrina heard something that almost made her heart jump up into her throat. The band had started playing number 24's song, but it wasn't just any song...It was her song! "What the-!" Catrina ran to the opening in the curtains. There she was, Catrina's new so-called "friend" Julia, doing her act! She had even attempted to copy her dance number. "That little bitch!" Catrina cried. She had gone into this event so frustrated with so many harrowing thoughts constantly violating her mind, and finally when she had gotten into the idea of performing she had worked tirelessly to perfect it. Now this little demon of a redhead had jeopardized her one chance at having a real friend and had stolen her act, all in one blow!
'What am I gonna do?' she thought. 'I'm ruined. I can't go on now!'
Out in the audience Velma, herself, by now had almost suffered a coronary. "Oh no, that stupid kid is doing my baby's act!" She said aloud. She couldn't think of anything else to do except comfort her Cathy-Fly, whom she assumed was fuming just as much about the situation as she was.
Velma at once vacated her seat and quietly made her way backstage to the enormous dressing room. A group of at least 10 or 15 other contestants were watching Julia from behind the curtains. "Move!" Velma bellowed as she pushed her way through the girls to get to her daughter who was standing about 20 feet away in a panic.
"Excuse me ma'am, no one is allowed back here during the show! And how rude of you to come bursting through the door pushing my girls around!" exclaimed Mrs. Johnson. "Step off Emily Post, my daughter needs me!" Velma retorted zealously. "Tramp." Muttered Mrs. Johnson looking over the 38-year-old former headliner who still dressed like an 18-year-old flapper stuck in the roaring twenties. "Well I never!"
**As if Velma didn't notice!** She whipped around to confront the plump little woman. "Well maybe you should have, ya old butterball! We don't all have to look like Aunt Jemima by a certain age!" Stifled giggles and snickering engulfed the room from all sides, as Mrs. Johnson walked off in disgust.
"Mom!" Catrina jumped into her mother's arms and tried to hold back tears as she hugged her tightly. "What am I gonna do, mom? That little hussy stole my act on purpose!" Velma didn't know what to do or say. She knew how important this was to her daughter and deep in her heart, she knew how meaningful this was to herself as well. No...A Kelly girl shall never be defeated...And then it hit her! But she had to act fast.
Velma knelt down and quickly began pawing through her handbag. Catrina watched her mother curiously as she threw one thing after another out of her purse, until finally she turned the bag upside down and furiously dumped everything onto the floor. Lipsticks here, scattered change there, a comb, some mints, her keys, a handkerchief. But something out of the ordinary caught Catrina's eye as Velma still passionately searched for whatever it was that she was looking for. They were wrinkled and tattered and probably the oldest looking photographs she had ever seen. Still Catrina was able to just make out a young tiny sparrow of a woman, with a wavy blonde bob in a white dress, wrapped up in the most beautiful white sable fur robe she had ever seen. Her skin was as smooth as polished marble and her glistening eyes and genuine smile could have melted an iceberg. Catrina felt her knees start to buckle. 'Reeny?' she thought. 'But how can that be? Whoever that woman is, she's too old now to be Reeny.'
Then Catrina noticed the other picture. A man with salt-and- pepper hair in a flawless Brooks Brothers' suit holding a fedora to his chest, stared back at her with beady eyes and a pursed up grin. Suddenly she felt a shiver down her spine. Something about the slightly middle-aged man fascinated her something fierce. She felt like she had seen a blurry facsimile of the same man in a dream before. It was scary, but intriguing as well.
"Mom, who are these people?" She picked up the photos and handed them to her mother. "Uhh...Old friends, hon. Yeah, old friends from when I used to live here in Chicago years ago. Now I have something else for you." She said grabbing the pictures and stuffing them into her purse. Velma was a damn good actress, but not so good that Catrina couldn't catch the faint quiver in her voice.
Now Catrina watched as her mother picked up an even older rattier piece of folded paper off the floor. It was yellow and stale with age. But obviously it was of some value to her mother, Catrina thought, as she watched Velma close her eyes and press the folded piece of paper to her breast, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
It was the one thing Velma carried everywhere she went, the final remains of her long faded glory days in the limelight. Now it had returned to seek and save, alas not her, but her daughter, who was now clearly destined to walk in her mother's eminent footsteps.
The sudden applause of the crowd broke Velma's trance. "OK Cathy-Fly, we don't have much time. Do you remember that old number of mine that I taught you two years ago?"
"Yeah, but I don't understand what that's got to do with--" Catrina stopped in mid sentence as her mother unfolded the torn yellow scrap paper to reveal its true meaning. "That's the sheet music?" asked Catrina amazed. "What do ya say, huh?" asked Velma raising an eyebrow deadpan in her infamous sardonically amused tone.
"But mom it's only piano music! "I mean, how will it look? Just one guy playing the piano for me in front of the whole stadium!" "You can do it, Catrina. I know it. It'll be fine." Said Velma. "Just sing your little heart out and dance like there's no tomorrow!" Remember baby, if there's anybody that can pull it off it's us."
"That's just it mom. I don't know if I can do it alone." Catrina looked up into her mother's expressive eyes searching for the strength that was always behind them, and that right now she so desperately needed.
"I know. Maybe in the future you're gonna need help. Of course you will! Everyone does at some point. Ya see, I could never accept that...And look what I did to myself, to my best friend, to you, to your dad. I screwed everything up. But this, this you can do on your own. You're strong Cathy-Fly. You've got the best of two amazing worlds...You're dad would have wanted you to go out there and give it your all." Velma added seriously.
Something snapped in Catrina's mind, and with that she now knew where her head was at. It was time to rock this contest. For her mom to go as far as saying something like that, she knew it was time. Every doubt that laced her musings, totally disappeared. It was now or never, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be never.
"And now our last contestant...Number 25, please welcome Miss Catrina!" voiced the announcer. "Thanks mom." She hugged her mother. "It's time for Chicago to meet their new 'Teen Queen'." "That's my girl." Velma tapped her daughter's shoulder. "I'm gonna kick some pre-teen wannabe butt...And all that Jazz!" Cat proclaimed as she bounded towards the stage door with her new music.
As she watched her daughter take center stage, egotistical as ever, Velma laughed uncontrollably...A deep, cynical, heinous laugh. But if you knew Velma, I'd have to say truly knew Velma, you'd know just how good she really felt inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not too many chapters left, and more coming soon! I think I'm on a roll. But you gotta review. I give a lot, you give a little. I think that's a fair deal. ;D I love you guys!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How's that for a two-bit act?" asked Reeny once she had returned backstage, a massive dose of self-satisfaction in her voice. Catrina, feeling guilty, looked down. "Listen Reeny, I want to apologize. I--"
"Don't bother Miss fancy pants. Who are you tryin' to fool? You're about as real as my mother's plastic poinsettias. I know you don't have any real friends, but you're too scared to do anything about it. You think I can't see right through you? You're just a spineless coward. And you know what? I don't need you. I don't need anybody! But at least I don't have to trash other people to make myself feel wanted. I'm not that pathetic." Reeny abruptly turned away from her.
Catrina could feel her temperature rise at these words, and her entire complexion began to shine a luminous shade of crimson. But before she could say anything, Reeny turned around and faced her again, glaring at the young brunette that had shunned her groundlessly. "Oh and sweetie, when you go out there, make sure you don't trip over those big clodhoppers of yours. You know what they say.. The bigger they are, the harder they fall." She looked her over tacitly, comparing Catrina's tall, solid, big-boned figure to her own skinny more dainty physique. She giggled and walked off.
Catrina stood there unable to move or speak. She had never let anyone--NOT ANYONE--talk to her like that. Yet what made Catrina sick to her stomach and had left her at a loss for words for the first time in her life, was the legitimate fact of what Reeny had spoken. Some one had finally understood her. The deepest darkest corners of her heart that she had always carefully barred from the rest of the world, this girl read like a book. 'What is it with this girl?' she thought. 'Who is she? Why does she get me so well?! I swear I've known her in another life or something.'
Still, recent events did nothing to stifle Catrina's anger. Since when would she let another kid get away with treating her like that?! She didn't know whether she felt more like crying or going over to the little brat and ripping all her hair out. On every other occasion, she would have just laughed and clocked whoever it was that had gotten her goat...but with Reeny it was different, because she new the truth. She knew just how miserable her life really was. There was no way she could laugh that off.
Nevertheless, Catrina had to save face. "I'm gonna make you eat those words, you little worm!" She yelled across the room to Reeny.
Just then Catrina heard something that almost made her heart jump up into her throat. The band had started playing number 24's song, but it wasn't just any song...It was her song! "What the-!" Catrina ran to the opening in the curtains. There she was, Catrina's new so-called "friend" Julia, doing her act! She had even attempted to copy her dance number. "That little bitch!" Catrina cried. She had gone into this event so frustrated with so many harrowing thoughts constantly violating her mind, and finally when she had gotten into the idea of performing she had worked tirelessly to perfect it. Now this little demon of a redhead had jeopardized her one chance at having a real friend and had stolen her act, all in one blow!
'What am I gonna do?' she thought. 'I'm ruined. I can't go on now!'
Out in the audience Velma, herself, by now had almost suffered a coronary. "Oh no, that stupid kid is doing my baby's act!" She said aloud. She couldn't think of anything else to do except comfort her Cathy-Fly, whom she assumed was fuming just as much about the situation as she was.
Velma at once vacated her seat and quietly made her way backstage to the enormous dressing room. A group of at least 10 or 15 other contestants were watching Julia from behind the curtains. "Move!" Velma bellowed as she pushed her way through the girls to get to her daughter who was standing about 20 feet away in a panic.
"Excuse me ma'am, no one is allowed back here during the show! And how rude of you to come bursting through the door pushing my girls around!" exclaimed Mrs. Johnson. "Step off Emily Post, my daughter needs me!" Velma retorted zealously. "Tramp." Muttered Mrs. Johnson looking over the 38-year-old former headliner who still dressed like an 18-year-old flapper stuck in the roaring twenties. "Well I never!"
**As if Velma didn't notice!** She whipped around to confront the plump little woman. "Well maybe you should have, ya old butterball! We don't all have to look like Aunt Jemima by a certain age!" Stifled giggles and snickering engulfed the room from all sides, as Mrs. Johnson walked off in disgust.
"Mom!" Catrina jumped into her mother's arms and tried to hold back tears as she hugged her tightly. "What am I gonna do, mom? That little hussy stole my act on purpose!" Velma didn't know what to do or say. She knew how important this was to her daughter and deep in her heart, she knew how meaningful this was to herself as well. No...A Kelly girl shall never be defeated...And then it hit her! But she had to act fast.
Velma knelt down and quickly began pawing through her handbag. Catrina watched her mother curiously as she threw one thing after another out of her purse, until finally she turned the bag upside down and furiously dumped everything onto the floor. Lipsticks here, scattered change there, a comb, some mints, her keys, a handkerchief. But something out of the ordinary caught Catrina's eye as Velma still passionately searched for whatever it was that she was looking for. They were wrinkled and tattered and probably the oldest looking photographs she had ever seen. Still Catrina was able to just make out a young tiny sparrow of a woman, with a wavy blonde bob in a white dress, wrapped up in the most beautiful white sable fur robe she had ever seen. Her skin was as smooth as polished marble and her glistening eyes and genuine smile could have melted an iceberg. Catrina felt her knees start to buckle. 'Reeny?' she thought. 'But how can that be? Whoever that woman is, she's too old now to be Reeny.'
Then Catrina noticed the other picture. A man with salt-and- pepper hair in a flawless Brooks Brothers' suit holding a fedora to his chest, stared back at her with beady eyes and a pursed up grin. Suddenly she felt a shiver down her spine. Something about the slightly middle-aged man fascinated her something fierce. She felt like she had seen a blurry facsimile of the same man in a dream before. It was scary, but intriguing as well.
"Mom, who are these people?" She picked up the photos and handed them to her mother. "Uhh...Old friends, hon. Yeah, old friends from when I used to live here in Chicago years ago. Now I have something else for you." She said grabbing the pictures and stuffing them into her purse. Velma was a damn good actress, but not so good that Catrina couldn't catch the faint quiver in her voice.
Now Catrina watched as her mother picked up an even older rattier piece of folded paper off the floor. It was yellow and stale with age. But obviously it was of some value to her mother, Catrina thought, as she watched Velma close her eyes and press the folded piece of paper to her breast, a single tear sliding down her cheek.
It was the one thing Velma carried everywhere she went, the final remains of her long faded glory days in the limelight. Now it had returned to seek and save, alas not her, but her daughter, who was now clearly destined to walk in her mother's eminent footsteps.
The sudden applause of the crowd broke Velma's trance. "OK Cathy-Fly, we don't have much time. Do you remember that old number of mine that I taught you two years ago?"
"Yeah, but I don't understand what that's got to do with--" Catrina stopped in mid sentence as her mother unfolded the torn yellow scrap paper to reveal its true meaning. "That's the sheet music?" asked Catrina amazed. "What do ya say, huh?" asked Velma raising an eyebrow deadpan in her infamous sardonically amused tone.
"But mom it's only piano music! "I mean, how will it look? Just one guy playing the piano for me in front of the whole stadium!" "You can do it, Catrina. I know it. It'll be fine." Said Velma. "Just sing your little heart out and dance like there's no tomorrow!" Remember baby, if there's anybody that can pull it off it's us."
"That's just it mom. I don't know if I can do it alone." Catrina looked up into her mother's expressive eyes searching for the strength that was always behind them, and that right now she so desperately needed.
"I know. Maybe in the future you're gonna need help. Of course you will! Everyone does at some point. Ya see, I could never accept that...And look what I did to myself, to my best friend, to you, to your dad. I screwed everything up. But this, this you can do on your own. You're strong Cathy-Fly. You've got the best of two amazing worlds...You're dad would have wanted you to go out there and give it your all." Velma added seriously.
Something snapped in Catrina's mind, and with that she now knew where her head was at. It was time to rock this contest. For her mom to go as far as saying something like that, she knew it was time. Every doubt that laced her musings, totally disappeared. It was now or never, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be never.
"And now our last contestant...Number 25, please welcome Miss Catrina!" voiced the announcer. "Thanks mom." She hugged her mother. "It's time for Chicago to meet their new 'Teen Queen'." "That's my girl." Velma tapped her daughter's shoulder. "I'm gonna kick some pre-teen wannabe butt...And all that Jazz!" Cat proclaimed as she bounded towards the stage door with her new music.
As she watched her daughter take center stage, egotistical as ever, Velma laughed uncontrollably...A deep, cynical, heinous laugh. But if you knew Velma, I'd have to say truly knew Velma, you'd know just how good she really felt inside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not too many chapters left, and more coming soon! I think I'm on a roll. But you gotta review. I give a lot, you give a little. I think that's a fair deal. ;D I love you guys!