Chapter Twelve
(Thursday: morning before the show)
Sam Finds Out
It was almost performance day.
Sam knew her performance with Paulina was going to be a breeze, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Principal Ishiyama, her parents, half the school, and Danny and Tucker were going to be present. They were kicked out of the performance last minute by Paulina along with Dash and Kwan.
The cheerleader decided that she only wanted to perform with Sam, so that's the idea they both agreed on. Performing in rehearsals with a single person was one thing, but performing for real in front of a bunch of people was a whole different one.
All of the participants were called down to the auditorium immediately after first period to discuss the rules and expectations for the show. Sam felt crowded; she was surrounded by a sea of unfamiliar faces, all except for Paulina, who was chatting it up with someone she had never seen before.
Though they were somewhat on good terms with each other now, she still wasn't comfortable with the idea of strolling over there and starting up a casual conversation with her. It just wasn't going to happen. Her pride was way too high for that, so she sat in the back of the auditorium and kept to herself.
The rules of the talent show were pretty simple: no acts exceeding three minutes, each student could only perform once, songs had to be appropriate, and every performer had to provide their own props for the show. The judges were present during the meeting, announcing that they were only accepting 20 acts and that everyone else would be cut from the show.
Auditions began right after that.
Sam was caught off guard because she didn't know that she had to audition to get into the show, but Paulina obviously did because her facial expression remained nonchalant. She was hoping that auditioning would help her nerves subside enough for the actual show.
After everyone filled out their talent show entry forms and turned them in, two of the teachers in the auditorium escorted everyone out into the hallway. The judges would be calling performers in one at a time to audition, so before that happened, they were all allowed to rehearse their act as they waited in the hallway.
Sam noted different acts; some people did karate, someone did a pogo-stick routine, another person was doing a card trick, and a good majority of everyone else was doing a singing or a dancing routine. They all looked so good that she began wondering if she and Paulina would even make the cut.
Speaking of Paulina, she spotted the cheerleader chatting with Star and Dash a few feet away from her. Next to them stood Ava, who didn't look engaged in the conversation. As per usual, she had an attitude and was ignoring someone in that group.
Sam guessed it was Paulina.
Ava turned her head in Sam's direction about half a minute later, and once she caught her eye, she flashed the Goth a glare so deadly that she would've looked away if the expression actually intimidated her. It didn't, so she waited until Ava tore her gaze away first before finally looking away.
Two females were called into the auditorium about a minute later. They eagerly got up and made a beeline for the doors, entering without hesitation. The door was shut then, and about two minutes later, Sam heard music coming from the inside that told her the girls were now performing.
She was glad that there weren't too many people performing, which meant that she didn't have to completely miss all of her classes. She waited and waited as more people went in and out of the auditorium, some looking excited afterwards and some looking distraught.
Finally, she and Paulina were called into the auditorium. She wasted no time in getting up and shuffling over to the double doors. The judges weren't anyone she knew personally or had ever seen before, so she wasn't too anxious about getting on the stage and performing in front of them.
That didn't mean she wanted to do it though.
Right before she stepped into the auditorium, Paulina touched her shoulder, making her turn around curiously. "Remember, they're looking for audience engagement and confidence," the Latina reminded her, moving her hand away. "They can smell fear for some reason."
"I'm not scared," Sam insisted, rolling her eyes and continuing forward. Paulina followed behind her, and together, they made their way onto the stage. The three judges from earlier were sitting in their seats, staring at the girls as they moved onto the stage.
"Hi, you two," one of the judges, a young woman, greeted politely. Paulina grinned and waved respectfully at her while Sam just smiled slightly. "What are your names?"
"Paulina Sanchez," Paulina answered.
"Sam," Sam replied. She saw one of the judges mark down something on two sheets of paper before looking back up at her. She could automatically tell that he was the more strict and judgmental one within the trio.
"And what will you lovely ladies be offering us today?" the woman asked, her kind smile never fading.
Paulina smoothed down her hair with a confident smirk. "We'll be singing for you guys today," she responded. The woman's eyebrows raised and she looked genuinely interested. "It's a song we wrote by ourselves."
"Then by all means, take us away," the second judge, another woman, said with a broad smile. Paulina pulled out her phone from her pocket and plugged it into a nearby speaker. Sam walked up to a microphone stand, but didn't grab the microphone that was placed there.
She didn't see the reason why she had to dance all around the stage and be extra for an audition if she wasn't entering as a dancer. She was supposed to be singing, so she was going to stand there and sing. Paulina could do whatever she wanted to do; that was up to her.
After the music started, she began singing on her cue. She put in the same amount of energy that she did the first day of rehearsals so that she had a better chance at making the cut. When her verse was finished, Paulina took over, but something was different about her.
She was noticeably more energetic than usual. She walked right over to Sam and slung her arm around her shoulders while continuing to sing. Sam was a little caught off guard by that, but she didn't show it and just kept performing.
It wasn't until Paulina discreetly whispered, "They want engagement," in her ear as she passed by that she realized that the judges were looking for some form of interaction between them. That meant she had to force herself to look as buddy-buddy with Paulina as possible.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, so quietly that no one caught it. She and Paulina were on good terms now, but that didn't mean she was going to be the girl's best friend. She could pretend, however, for the sake of making the cut, so that's just what she did.
She turned to the side so that she was facing Paulina and then she sang into the microphone. Paulina did the same, so it looked like they were singing to each other. They kept that up until the end of the song, after which they proceeded to take a bow.
The judges all wore unreadable expressions, confusing both Sam and Paulina. They turned away and huddled together, murmuring to each other for about a minute before facing them again. None of them spoke for a few seconds until the first woman broke through the silence.
"Congrats. We'll be seeing you two here tomorrow night," she said, smiling brightly. Paulina squealed and clapped her hands together while Sam merely smirked. She certainly felt much more excited than she looked; she was in a great mood.
"They really liked the finale part. Nice job with the whole microphone turning thing," Paulina remarked as they started to walk over to the exit. "We should wing our performance like that more often. Natural really does look better."
She flashed Sam a quick smile before walking back over to Ava, Dash, and Star. The people who survived cuts were supposed to wait in the hallway until everyone was finished, so she didn't go far. Sam sat down in her same spot by the water fountain, smiling a bit.
After auditions wrapped up for the day and all of the talent show discussions were over, Sam made her way over to her locker. The school day was done; she didn't have to go to practice and she didn't have to go to detention. Finally, she could go straight home.
As she placed some things into her locker, her gaze drifted to the left and a few lockers down, where Ava was doing the same thing that she was doing. She knew that now was the chance to ask her one on one what her problem was towards her.
Almost reluctantly, she closed her locker door and made her way over to the girl. Ava didn't notice her approaching at first, but once she did, she rolled her eyes and forcefully stuffed something into her locker. "Get away from my locker. You're losering it up," she said.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that was harsh. Did I do something to you?" she asked.
"We were never friends, freak. I don't owe you any respect." Ava slammed her locker door shut and turned to face Sam with a dark expression on her face. "Stop acting surprised and just cut to the chase. Why are you here?"
"For your information, that was the reason why I came over here," Sam told her, shaking her head in disbelief. "I wanted to know what I did that made you hate me so badly, but now I'm seeing that it points to you being jealous about Paulina warming up to me."
Ava snorted and crossed her arms. "Please. You think I'm worried about that?" she asked, and Sam shrugged in response. "She doesn't even seriously like you. She's only pretending to be your friend so that she can get closer to Danny."
Sam blinked. "Okay, I'm not following you."
"It was a scheme she came up with. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. That's the only reason she was being nice to you. She wanted you to feel like you guys were close so it would hurt you more when she kissed Danny in front of the whole school at the talent show. That's why she wanted him in the performance."
Ava clicked her tongue and continued her explanation. "She wanted to get back at you for humiliating her in that fight on Tuesday. What, did you honestly think she just magically had a change of heart? Hello? She's Paulina freaking Sanchez. Master manipulator." She then started to walk away. "C'mon. Even I know you're smarter than that."
Sam simply stood there for about two minutes, fuming to herself before stalking out of the building. She couldn't catch up with Paulina to confront her because the cheerleader had already left the premises, but one thing Sam knew was that she was definitely going to hear her mouth tomorrow.