Chapter 9
(Monday: After School)
"And then I felt someone push me out of the way. When I got up, I saw that it was Manson. She took the fall for me," Paulina explained to Ava in the auditorium. She had booked the area that afternoon to rehearse, so now she was just waiting for Sam to arrive. "I don't think she's as bad as I thought she was."
Ava snorted and leaned her lower body back against a chair. "Okay, Twinkle Toes. That sounds like some stereotypical high school romance bullshit," she remarked bitterly. "You're not getting soft on me, are you?"
Paulina gave a grimace of mild exasperation. "All I said was that she wasn't that bad. How does that make me soft?" she demanded. She definitely thought Ava was taking the whole revenge scheme to the heart. She couldn't help but wonder if the girl had unresolved past issues with Sam.
"Because you're getting weak on me," Ava responded. "Manson is the enemy. Don't you dare forget that."
"Who do you think you're talking to like that?" Paulina snapped, moving her hands to her hips. "I don't take orders from anybody."
"Yeah, I can tell, because if you did, you wouldn't be blowing this plan the way you're blowing it right now!" Ava barked, stomping her foot like a child. "You said you weren't labeled the best actress in Casper High for no reason, right? Well, then show me that reason!"
"Hakuna your tatas, girl," Paulina instructed, sizing Ava up in surprise. "You're being such a baby about this whole thing. I just said Manson was cool for what she did Saturday. She could've easily let me get hit instead of her, but she didn't. What's your deal with her anyway?"
"I, um, ah," Ava hesitated, averting her gaze and glaring at the floor. "Nothing. Forget it."
Paulina stared at her inquisitively for half a minute before surveying her nails. "Well, I know what I'm doing," she assured her friend. "Relax. I don't know why it seems like you want this scheme to happen more than I want it to."
Ava grumbled to herself and marched out of the auditorium just as Sam walked in. They actually ended up bumping into each other, but Ava growled at her before continuing out the door. "Jeez. What's with her?" Sam demanded, glaring at the girl's retreating form.
Paulina shrugged; she didn't really care. "Let's just get started." She glanced down at Sam's combat boots with a raised eyebrow. "You're not seriously going to practice in those shoes, are you?"
The Goth followed her gaze down to her shoes before looking back up at her defensively. "Why not? I'm not dancing or anything," she huffed.
"Oh, yes you are," Paulina responded. She spun on her heels and started walking down the aisle. "Part of the reason why I let you write your own verse and choose a theme was so you could feel more comfortable with moving around, so you bet your ass you're going to do something dance-related."
"Nope," Sam refused, following her down the aisle, "because that wasn't part of our deal. We agreed on me not dancing."
"At least move around a little. Remember what I said about stage presence?"
"And remember what I said about letting my dancing come naturally to me? I don't do planned choreography."
Paulina inhaled deeply before exhaling sharply. "Fine." She then pointed upward towards the control booth. "Mikey and Nathan are going to be helping us out with all the technical stuff."
Sam's eyes flashed up to the control booth just as the two geeks grinned and waved at her. She greeted them with a hesitant and brief smile before turning her attention back to Paulina. "I barely want to sing in front of you. Why would I want to sing in front of them?" she asked.
"Because they don't necessarily care for you as much as they do for me," Paulina answered truthfully. "I highly doubt they'll swoon over your voice compared to mine."
"That's good enough for me," Sam concluded, heaving a deep sigh. "Let's just get this over with."
Paulina nodded her head and made a beeline for the steps leading to the stage. Sam remained in the aisle for whatever reason, which gave her an idea. "Do you remember what I said about you opening up the performance from the stage? Well, I lied. Start off the stage."
Sam reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper with a shrug. "Sure. That's much better than what you originally wanted me to do," she remarked. "I don't have any of my lyrics memorized, so I'm going to follow it on this paper."
"You should get it memorized before the show," Paulina told her, growing a bit irritated. She wasn't used to coaching other girls around because she had never done that in the past. Everyone she worked with on a showcase knew what to do, so she had quite little patience with Sam.
"I will. I just haven't exactly had the time to do so," Sam explained.
"Okay, well, let's run through the first few parts," Paulina replied. She grabbed two microphones from the microphone stands and tossed one to Sam before moving to the center of the stage. She raised the mic to her lips and asked Mikey and Nathan, "Can one of you nerds dim the lights in here?"
She saw Sam roll her eyes right before the lights were dimmed down a notch. "How am I supposed to read my lyrics? And how is the audience supposed to see me in this lighting? I know I'm pale and all, but that doesn't mean—"
"All right, all right. Spare me the sass," Paulina interjected. "Mikey, turn the lights up a little more," she ordered. When he obeyed, she thanked him and flashed Sam a look that pretty much said, 'Happy?"
"Very," was the Goth's retort.
Paulina snorted. "Nathan, you can start the music now." She lowered her microphone to her side and brought a hand to her hip. A few seconds later, the instrumental to her song started to blare through the auditorium's speakers. Her first thought was that the music sounded much better there than it did on her phone.
She watched as Sam timidly held up the paper and squinted at it, trying to decide what part of the instrumental she was supposed to jump in at. Paulina was curious as to how bad of a singer she was, but when Sam finally opened her mouth and started singing, her jaw dropped.
"Wait, wait. Hold the hell up," she interrupted, bringing the microphone up near her mouth again. "Nathan, cut the track!" Sam frowned, thinking she did something wrong. Once the music stopped, Paulina scowled at her. "You're not supposed to be able to sing like that!"
"Sing like what?" She seemed genuinely confused, which only irritated Paulina further.
"Like... that! I thought you said you couldn't sing!"
Sam's face turned beet red and she looked away shyly. "I-I mean, I never actually said that," she responded.
Though she had a point, Paulina couldn't help but feel lied to. She had it in her head that Sam couldn't sing, mostly because the Goth never denied it whenever the subject was brought up. Because of that, Paulina assumed she was going to outshine her at the showcase.
Boy, was she wrong.
Sam only sang two lines from her verse so far before she was cut off, but Paulina was referring to the beautiful falsetto note that the girl had chosen to open the song with. She herself couldn't hit a note like that, which is exactly why she felt jealous and upset; she refused to be outshined at her own show.
She brought the microphone up to her mouth again with a bitter sigh. "Nathan, restart the track." She then crouched down on the stage and stared at Sam, who glanced up at the booth just as Nathan restarted the song.
The instrumental played again, so Sam started singing at the very same time she chose to before. She skipped out on hitting the falsetto note the way she did before; most likely for Paulina's sake. Still, that did nothing to ease the cheerleader's envy because Sam sang beautifully.
Her singing voice was soft and smooth, being much lighter than her speaking voice was. Paulina didn't interrupt her this time and just forced herself to listen to the rest of the verse. When Sam was finished, she moved the microphone away from her mouth and shrugged awkwardly.
"Well, there's the opening," she said. "Now's your cue to swoop in and steal the show."
Paulina swallowed her bitter feelings for the moment and perked up when she realized that it was now her time to shine. Once the beat of the instrumental picked up, she flicked her hair behind her shoulder and began prancing across the stage like she owned it.
Her hips bounced with every step she took and she raised her microphone, singing into it confidently. She thought she was on a roll, and she was, until her verse drew to an end half a minute later and she attempted to sing the same note that Sam had hit earlier, only to fail.
Now fuming because of that, she lowered her microphone and yelled for Nathan to stop the music. After he did, she positioned the microphone back on the stand and growled with frustration. "Why can't I hit that same stupid note that you did?" she complained.
"Maybe because you only made one attempt at it," Sam suggested. "Don't try to hit the exact same note that I did. Let it come naturally to you," she advised.
Paulina shook her head. "What's the point? You're just going to swing by and steal the show with your soft and clear voice anyway. What, are your vocal chords infused with honey or something?" she scoffed. Sam's eyebrows knitted together and her frown deepened.
"You want to know something, Paulina? I think your voice is amazing," she remarked. Paulina looked down at her from her place on the stage, but she said nothing and let the girl continue speaking. "I can't believe I just said that out loud, but it's true. You're the most confident person I know, so this right here is a little odd for me to see."
"Yeah, I get that. I'm just so used to being the best at everything that when I bump into someone who's better than me at something, I overreact," Paulina replied.
Sam scratched her head and eyed the girl for a few seconds before quietly telling her, "You should really ditch the need to be perfect all the time. Don't base your self-worth on external accomplishments."
Paulina's eyes narrowed a bit. "I have absolutely no idea what you said after the first sentence, but you're one to talk. You're dating Danny Phantom, the guy who I've been swooning over since Freshman year. Your one friend Foley is a better friend to you than all of my friends are to me."
"Paulina—"
"You're stronger than me, faster than me, and smarter than me," she continued, disregarding the mention of her name from Sam. "I wouldn't have to be such a perfectionist if I didn't constantly feel like I was competing with you."
"Competing with me?" Sam repeated. "First of all, Danny used to swoon over you all the time when we were Freshman, despite all the times you rejected and humiliated him. You were, and still are, so obsessed with popularity that you overlook someone's personality and focus entirely on the way they present themselves."
As she spoke, she slowly stepped closer and closer, inching right up to the stage. "As for the friends situation, I think they're negatively affecting your personal growth. They thrive on the misery of others just so they can have something to talk about. What kind of friendship is that?"
Paulina glared darkly at her. "What's it to you anyway? Why do you even care?"
Sam returned the glare, though much more powerfully. "Because for a minute, I felt like there was more to you, that you weren't like them the way I swore you were, but you know what?" She was by the stage now, so she set the microphone down on top of it. "I guess I was wrong."
She stormed off and Paulina fell silent after that. There wasn't much for her to say because she was furious, but as much as she hated to admit it, she knew Sam had a point.