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Reminder: If you don't like, don't read. Thanks again!
Chapter 5
(The next day: after school)
"What!" Star shrieked, gaping incredulously at Paulina. The cheerleader had just briefed her best friend in on everything going on with her, the talent show, Sam, and Principal Ishiyama. Long story short, she wasn't handling the situation well.
"I know!" Paulina huffed. "Unfortunately, I can't perform without her, so me and the loser are going to have to stick together until Friday night."
Ava rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. "Dang. That blows," she remarked bitterly. "She beat you in a fight, embarrassed you in front of the entire school, stole Phantom from you, and now she's going to ruin your performance. I hate to say this, but she's dominating you."
"Like hell she is!" Paulina snapped, but deep down inside, she felt like her friend was right. In her opinion, Sam was sneaky. She could start a situation and then manipulate her way out of it whilst simultaneously making herself look like the victim.
It pissed her off.
"There might just be a way for you to get back at her," Ava responded, smirking deviously. Paulina's eyebrows rose as curiosity got the best of her. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. All you have to do is be cordial with her and get her to warm up to you. Then, you swoop in and steal Danny from her."
Paulina thought that idea over for half a minute before grinning in approval. "That's actually brilliant. I like that." She felt like that was the perfect revenge for everything Sam had put her through. The Goth stole Danny from her, so she was going to casually swing by and steal him back.
"Thank you. I know," Ava replied, her smirk increasing into a broad smile. "Just make her think you actually want to be her friend because in order to gain access to Danny, you have to get through to her. Good luck though, because talking to her is like talking to a brick wall."
"Yeah, but she's not going to let her guard down around you just because you're both working on the same project," Star chimed in. "She's not going to trust you right off the bat, so try opening up to her first so she can see that it's okay for her to open up to you too."
"Good idea, Star," Ava complimented. She turned to look at Paulina while retaining her devious little smile. "Once you get all buddy buddy with her and Danny, bring him on stage during your performance and kiss him. There's no way he'll be able to resist that. Teenage hormones are way too strong."
"Please. I know firsthand how to steal a guy away from his girlfriend. The only hard part in this is pretending to be her friend," Paulina told the two girls before her. She then closed her eyes and slid her hand through her hair. "Then again, I'm not labeled the best actress in Casper High for no reason."
Ava began rubbing her hands together like a villain. "Now I really can't wait for the talent show. Me and Star will be sitting in the front row with our phones out to record that moment."
"Actually, Principal Ishiyama has the front row, so you guys might want to find a new spot," Paulina replied.
Ava nodded, but before she could respond, Star cut in. "Wait. Am I still doing the choreography with you?" she asked, but Paulina shook her head. "Wow. Now I really want to see Manson crash and burn just for stealing my spot. Can she even sing?"
"Nope. That's why I let her have a part in my song," Paulina answered. "I'll have her sing first so that when I outshine her with my singing, Danny will come running to me. She'll die of embarrassment, so make sure you record that."
"Oh, for sure," Ava laughed. "This will be the best revenge scheme ever. I'm calling it now."
Star glanced down at her phone and then looked over at Ava. "We should get going before the mall gets packed," she told her before turning towards Paulina. "We'll pick you up after detention."
Paulina nodded and watched her friends walk briskly down the hallway. Once they were out of sight, she shuffled over to the detention room and entered through the door. She immediately spotted Sam sitting at a desk in the corner with her head down.
"Time to get up, loser," she said as she started approaching the Goth girl. She quickly remembered that she was supposed to be on her best behavior, so she backpedaled. "I mean, only losers sit in the corner, so come to a center seat."
Sam narrowed her eyes, but gathered her belongings anyway. "Since when do you care where I sit?" she asked as she moved to a desk in the middle of the room.
"Since you became my partner for the performance," Paulina replied, smiling a bit. She set her backpack down on a random desk and continued walking over to Sam. "All right, so have you started on your lyrics? We have the whole auditorium to ourselves on Monday so we can rehearse."
Sam dug around in her backpack and pulled out her journal, flipping it open. "I stayed up all night to work on this because I wanted to get it over with. I'm still revising some of the lyrics though," she explained.
Paulina took the journal and skimmed over the lyrics, not necessarily caring what Sam had written down. She then put the journal down on the desk and pulled out her cell phone. "Okay. I'm going to see how it fits with the instrumental," she informed her.
She could tell Sam felt awkward about that, as the girl frowned and averted her gaze. She paid no attention to her and started up the instrumental, humming the lyrics as it played on. She thought it was pretty catchy, at least for someone like Sam, so she accepted it.
"That got done a lot faster than I thought," she murmured. She locked her phone and tucked it back into her pocket before clasping her hands together. "Let's walk through the performance from the beginning to the middle so we can figure out the ending."
Sam shrugged and nodded simultaneously as she stood up. "What are we supposed to do? Performances aren't really my thing as much as they are yours, so I don't even know where to begin."
Paulina forced a smile upon her face and pulled her hands to her hips. "Well, I was thinking that you should open up the performance," she said. Sam blinked. "I just don't want the spotlight that soon, so you should have the first part."
She smiled when Sam agreed, though it was done hesitantly. She just knew her plan was going to work because she was a great manipulator and schemer. Sam was definitely going to be hard to crack, but that was okay because Paulina liked challenges.
"Are your friends coming to the show?" she inquired. She was mainly asking because she wanted to know if Danny was coming, but she didn't want to solely put his name out there like that and rub Sam the wrong way.
"Uh, not that I know of, no. I mean, they would if they knew I was performing," she answered coolly. "I still haven't told them about all this yet. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise, but—"
"You should tell them," Paulina interjected. When Sam rose an eyebrow, she quickly added, "I was thinking we include them in our performance. We can have all the A-listers on my side representing me and all your little friends on your side representing you. Then, when we merge together, they'll merge with us too."
She was pretty much lying through her teeth. She was only trying to get Danny on the stage somehow so her plan could play out the way she wanted it to. Sam looked like she was considering it, which made her mentally cross her fingers.
"I guess that's not a bad idea. I actually like it." Sam started to smirk as she continued thinking about that idea. "Of course, I'll have to recruit other people who are at the bottom of the social ladder because I only have me, Danny, and Tucker in mind so far."
Paulina grinned. "Perfect," she remarked, "so that'll be our finale." She wanted to ask if Danny should be on her side instead because he was technically considered popular now, but she figured it wouldn't matter because thanks to Ava's plan, he was going to end up on her side anyway.
"So, back to the performance. How should I open it up?" Sam asked her.
She brought her index finger to her lips and hummed contemplatively. Quite frankly, she didn't care how Sam chose to open the show because she was going to be the main one shining, but of course, she couldn't say that.
"Well, what suggestions did you have in mind?" she countered, raising an eyebrow.
Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "I honestly don't care. I'm just trying to get this over with here."
Paulina was right about to tell her to lose the attitude because hers could be much bigger, but flashbacks of her conversation with Star and Ava flashed through her head. She remembered that she had to be cordial and get Sam to warm up to her, so she mentally kicked herself.
"You know, I'm actually trying to be nice to you," she started, frowning deeply. "We already fought. We don't have to keep arguing and fighting." Sam's hard expression softened a bit, but her body language remained closed off. Paulina sat on a desk, glancing over at Mr. Duval for approval. He shrugged.
"I'm not trying to be rude or disrespectful, but how else do you expect me to act towards you? We're not exactly friends, even if we're stuck working with each other," was Sam's response.
"I know, Goth— well, Sam," Paulina corrected. Sam's face screwed up, like she was actually disgusted to be called that name by her of all people. "You have every right to feel that way, but I'm just letting you know that I'm done fighting and arguing with you. I'm moving forward."
Sam simply stared at her for a long minute before looking away with a sigh. "Actions speak much louder than words, Paulina. I can't just trust you like that, especially after our past history. It'll take some time, but for the sake of this whole talent show fiasco, I'll play nice."
Paulina inwardly rolled her eyes; that response was good enough for her. "I suppose," she replied. "So, I was thinking that you open up the show by lying on the stage and singing into a microphone because your part starts off slow. By the time the beat picks up, it'll be my part."
Again, Sam shrugged. "That's fine with me, I guess," she said. "I'm not really worried about what I'm going to be doing as far as body movements and such."
"You should be. Stage presence is key. The audience would prefer to watch someone who's confident and moving around the stage than someone who's shy and standing there stiffly throughout the entire thing."
"I get that. I'm sure I'll come up with something the day of the show, but until then, I'm chilling." Sam crossed her arms and leaned her head to the side. "I don't normally follow rules, so I think I'll pass on the choreography and settle for something that comes naturally to me."
"Ava was right. This is like talking to a brick wall," Paulina said quietly to herself. It was so quiet that Sam didn't even notice she said something. "It's whatever you want to do. I'm not forcing you to do anything."
She refused to be Sam's crutch; if the girl wanted to blow her half of the performance, then that was all on her. That would only put Paulina at the top whilst making Danny come running to her, so she was willing to let the girl take one for the team.
Detention ended a little earlier than she expected it to,but she had no complaint about it. True to her word, Star picked her up fifteen minutes after she texted her and Ava that she was done with detention. They had already went shopping, so they were taking Paulina over to the Nasty Burger with them.
"So? How'd it go?" Ava asked, leaning forward in her seat to stare at Paulina. She was forced to move to the backseat, as Star reserved the passenger seat for Paulina and Paulina only when the cheerleader was present.
"She's not warming up to me as quickly as I thought she would, but I'm getting there," Paulina reported. "She's still holding a grudge from everything I've said and done to her in the past. I'm not going to apologize from my heart, especially when we're just going to go back to hating each other after the show."
"Yeah," Ava drawled. "Apologizing is for losers. Don't do it because after you snatch Fenton from her, it'll all be for no reason. Just keep pretending to be friendly with her until she starts opening up to you."
Star said nothing and continued driving. Paulina turned her gaze out the window and watched as the buildings passed by. "I'm Paulina Sanchez, Ava. I already know what to do. Don't worry," she assured her friend.
Ava snorted. "Okay. Markell Rodriguez is going around and showing everyone the video of Manson beating you up," she informed Paulina, who growled.
"For the last time, that geek didn't beat me up. She just caught me off guard and gained the upper hand on me," she defended, though she was fully aware that she had lost the fight. She wasn't about to admit that though, so she insisted on the contrary.
The more she heard that, however, she became angrier. It was like Sam was getting recognition and props for winning the fight, which only made Paulina want to carry out her revenge scheme even more. She wanted to humiliate Sam in front of everyone the same way she was humiliated.
Oh, she was going to make sure of that.
Author's note: So, do you think Ava is a good influence on Paulina? Was she wrong for her devious plan against Sam? Thanks for reading.