Chapter Eleven

(Wednesday: after school in the auditorium)

Paulina locked her wrists behind her back and slowly paced down the aisle of the auditorium. "So, the show is in two days and we barely have our choreography together," she pointed out. She stopped pacing and stood still, turning to stare at Dash, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Kwan. "Any suggestions?"

Crickets.

She rolled her eyes with an irritated sigh. "Fine. I'll just improvise." She pointed to Sam. "You. Up," she ordered lightly. The Goth, who was slouched in a seat with her arms crossed, reluctantly stood up after pausing for three seconds. "We're starting with your part."

"Great. I love wearing myself out for no reason," she muttered sarcastically. Since she was already holding her microphone, she just moved out into the aisle and waited for the music to start. When it did, she began lazily singing along, prompting Paulina to call for a halt in the song.

"What the heck is that? Where's the energy?" she demanded. "You weren't singing like that yesterday."

"I just don't see why I need to strain my voice during rehearsals when I can go full-out during the show," Sam answered truthfully.

Paulina's head tipped to the side and her brows dropped. "Because it's good to practice so you know what you're doing at the show. Besides, you're not going to be straining your voice. Just don't go all Beyoncé on us again and you'll be fine."

Sam couldn't help but laugh at that. "Okay, okay. Nothing special," she promised. Paulina rolled her eyes and smiled a little before turning towards the control booth. Before she could flash a signal to Nathan that let him know to start the music, the auditorium doors opened and all eyes turned in that direction.

Ava and Star walked in, much to everyone's confusion. Paulina frowned and started to approach them. "What are you guys still doing here? she asked. "School ended awhile ago."

"We wanted to watch you one time in rehearsals before the show," Star answered, smiling slightly. "It was Ava's idea."

"Was it, now?" Paulina countered, feigning a cheerful tone as she looked over at Ava. She knew the girl was just being messy and actually wanted a glimpse at the calm before the storm on Friday. This was confirmed when she smirked at Paulina and took a seat with Star next to Kwan and Dash.

"Just continue on like we're not here," she said, leaning back in her chair and fixating her gaze on Paulina, who glanced over at Sam for her reaction. The Goth didn't really seem to care, so she just signaled for Nathan to start the track over.

She wanted to kick Ava out of the auditorium for being in the way and she was going to, but then she remembered that the girl thought Sam couldn't sing. She was only there to see her flop and laugh at her. Paulina thought it would be funny to see her reaction, so she allowed her and Star to stay and watch.

Once the music started, Sam raised the microphone at a distance and began singing softly. She still wasn't trying as hard as the day before, but there was more energy involved. She even opened up the song with the same falsetto note, and it took everything in Paulina to avoid laughing out loud when she saw Ava's stunned expression.

"See? That was much better," Paulina remarked, clapping slightly. Sam blushed and looked away with a small shrug while Ava snorted.

"How? She sounded pitchy," she commented, causing Sam to lightly glare at her. Paulina knew Ava was just trying to be petty and that she didn't actually mean that, so she didn't intervene and just rolled her eyes.

"I thought she was pretty good," Dash remarked. Danny, Kwan, and Tucker nodded in agreement, but Star scowled at Kwan and made him glance away fearfully.

"Then maybe you need to get your hearing adjusted," Ava retorted.

Sam frowned, but then she smiled and held out the microphone towards Ava. "Think you can top what I just did?" she challenged. Paulina watched their exchange, with Ava looking almost fearful and Sam looking smug. When Ava scoffed and turned away, Sam said, "Oh. Okay then."

Dash whistled, smirking with amusement as he watched the tension between the pair increase. Paulina pretended not to notice it and continued on with the performance, singing but not dancing around the way that she usually did.

After their practice performance ended, Sam sat down on the floor of the aisle and looked up at Danny. "You know, you guys oughta be practicing as well," she told him. "What are you going to do on Friday?"

"Stand there and look pretty," Dash answered, flexing his biceps with a confident grin.

"Too bad not everyone can do that. Right, Manson?" Ava asked rudely, her right eyebrow rising high. Dash and Kwan made an obnoxious noise of surprise, but only to instigate and fuel the situation even more. Sam didn't appear too bothered and just flicked her hand out dismissively.

"Nobody asked for your opinion," she replied coolly.

"Well, you still needed to be told," Ava countered. "If I were you, which I'm glad I'm not, I'd watch that tone because I can really hurt you."

Sam snorted. "Go ahead and try." When she saw Ava get up, she got up as well, but that's when Paulina, Danny, Tucker, and Star decided to intervene. Paulina knew that if she didn't break them up now, then one of them would end up on the floor with a bloody nose.

And after fighting Sam, she could confidently say that the Goth wouldn't be that person.

"Break it up, break it up," she groaned, stepping in between the pair and holding out her arms to prevent them from moving closer to each other. Ava's glare was powerful enough to burn a hole into Sam's face, but she was forced to look away when Paulina grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the far side of the auditorium.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Paulina demanded, glaring right into her eyes. "I'm not going to get suspended because of you and you're not getting Manson suspended either! Stop trying to sabotage my performance."

"I couldn't give three shits about your performance enough to want to sabotage it," she growled. "My problem with you is that you keep kissing this loser's ass just because she can sing. What about our scheme?"

"I don't care about the scheme, Ava. If you want to see her crash and burn, do it by yourself."

"No, no. See, that wasn't part of the plan. We agreed on sabotage," Ava reminded her, pointing in her face. "So, to compensate for that, I might be willing to sabotage your newfound friendship with her by telling her all about the scheme you planned with me. You're only friends with her to get back at her for the fight. Don't forget that."

Paulina leered darkly at her. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Maybe. That depends on what you do Friday. All I'm saying is that if you aren't going through with the scheme, tell her that we planned one against her. Otherwise, I will." And with that, Ava turned on her heels and marched away.

Paulina stood there for half a minute, fuming. After Ava was fully gone, she turned around and stomped back into the auditorium. She was done being friends with Ava; the girl was simply overbearing and annoying. That, and she was practically blackmailing her into humiliating Sam in front of the whole school.

Well, to be fair, she did agree to that scheme, but she didn't expect to warm up to the Goth the way that she did. She didn't want revenge against her anymore, even if she did lose a fight to her in front of the entire school.

She was over all the catty drama, but most importantly, she was over Ava.