Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from this story unless they aren't regulars on the show. (like Gianni)
Chapter Seven: You Kept Insisting and Resisting that You Would not Fall Again
"So let's get started." Gianni began, happy that he was paired with Ellie, thus giving him an excuse to be around her and to explain himself. For some reason, that he could not explain, Gianni couldn't seem to let it go. This wasn't the first time that he'd been with two girls at a time, and most of the time he just moved on, but something was preventing this.
"Don't think that just because we got assigned to do with unethical project, I'm going to start talking to you. I won't. I'd rather fail before doing this." Ellie spat out.
"But if you fail this, then you fail the course." Ms. Scarlett chimed in, handing Ellie and Gianni an information sheet about the software.
"Three hundred dollars! How am I ever going to come up with that money?" Ellie shook her head as Ashley gave her a look of sympathy. They were both in the same boat.
"I could … lend it to you." Gianni offered.
"Like you have that kind of money. I don't know why you're even talking to me. I want nothing to do with you." She argued again.
"Ellie, I'll give you the money if you just talk to me. Give me a chance. Consider … consider taking me back." He begged, even though it was difficult for him.
"Hmm. I've considered it and my answer is still no!" Ellie slammed her binder closed and grabbed the restroom pass.
"What the hell is this?" Alex wondered as she woke up next to Jay. "Great." She muttered to herself. Most of the time, she used to wake up early enough to make it back to her house, but she lived clear across town and that was not happening now. "Would you wake up?" She shook Jay roughly, rolling her eyes.
"What?" Jay sat up suddenly. "Oh. Hey." He greeted Alex, once he remembered what had happened.
"You know this is stupid, right?" She stood up, pulling on her sneakers. "There's no way I'm going to make it home now, and when I finally make it there this afternoon, I'm gonna have hell to pay." She continued to complain.
"Not to mention that you'll be going to school wearing your work uniform." Jay joked.
"Yeah. You're real funny jackass." Alex hit him with a pillow, noticing that he was right.
"Don't hit me." Jay threw the pillow back at her as they continued hitting each other until they both fell off the bed. Jay landed on top of Alex as they both stopped laughing and stared into each other's eyes.
"Ouch." Alex muttered, looking down at her stomach.
"Still hurts?" Jay moved, feeling a little guilty for feeling what he was feeling, but he didn't have room in his life for Alex to be his friend. It bothered him too much.
"Like hell." Alex peeled herself off the floor, switching the topic. "Your sister still has some stuff hanging about here?" She wondered, walking toward Anna's room.
"Yeah. This is her second home." Jay answered.
"So, I'm gonna look like a priss today?" Alex grabbed a towel and walked into the bathroom. She had been through this many times before and new every corner of Jay's house—she also knew that his father was never around, but left enough cash for Alex to figure out that they were loaded, even though Jay never took the money.
"Let me handle it." Jay smiled, laying back on the bed with his hands behind his neck.
"I really miss you." Kiowi sighed. He knew that not seeing Manny was going to get to him, but he didn't think he'd feel this alone.
"Aww. Baby, don't do this." Manny begged. She had so many things to do to clear her head before she went back to the studio to find out if she had made it or not. Getting all emotional about this would only make things worse.
"No, listen to me Manny. This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and … I'm making a trip back down there." He admitted. "I hate this Manny. I hate not being near you."
"Oh, don't be dramatic. I'm coming back. This isn't going to be permanent. I promise." Manny arrived at the studio. She was almost late and all the other girls had already started warming up. When she walked in, everyone stopped and stared at her. "Oh-kay." Manny sighed, ready to get this over with. "I'm at the studio hon. We'll talk about this later, but don't do anything impulsive."
Manny hung up the phone and rushed out to the middle of the floor. She hadn't even really paid attention to what she put on, but she was guessing it was a little extreme by the looks she was getting.
"I know she's beautiful, but you don't have to stare." Aaron chimed in as the rest of Dying Rose walked into the room. Manny smiled shyly as she noticed Craig walking in. For some reason, she couldn't keep her eyes off of him and was holding her breath the entire time.
"So, you all know why you're here." Craig began, looking directly at Manny.
"But we liked you all, so this is going to be the final cut. Today."Their manager explained. "As you all may or may not know, the band Dying Rose is moving in a new direction and we're looking to expand our horizons.
"Now, we're going to have each of the guys dance with you girls in order to make our final decision." Dani, the choreographer explained as Manny looked around. There were at least 11 girls here and this audition was going to take forever. She had been planning on calling Kiowi afterwards. She sighed thinking about how she kissed Craig last night, lied to Kiowi about it, and … maybe apart of her actually liked it. But Kiowi was a perfect match for her. Her mother even liked him.
"We will start off with you five." Dani began. " Number five with Craig, number seven with Aaron, number sixty-seven with Brad, and number twenty-nine with Julio."
"I'm glad it's finally just me and you." Hazel admitted, not wanting to tell Jimmy what was going on.
"Yeah. Me too. I have something to show you." Jimmy wheeled himself to the edge of a sturdy table and struggled to stand.
"Jimmy." Hazel rushed over to him.
"No. I can do this." He reassured her, after a long fight. Eventually he stood and Hazel smiled at him with tears in her eyes.
"Now, I'll tell you my news." She whispered, watching every part of his body help him maneuver back into the wheelchair. "I love you." Hazel professed, kissing Jimmy passionately. "And I want to prove it to you. Right now."
"Now?" Jimmy wondered as Hazel nodded, sitting on his chair with him.
"Uh-huh." Hazel kissed him again, forgetting everything she had been taught about her entire life, unsure of what she was getting herself into, but set on defying her mother and everything that she supposedly stood for.
"Did you ask for this to happen?" Manny wondered as Craig stood beside her, looking at her closely. "And why are you staring?"
"I'm not."
"Girls, I hope you remember your routines from yesterday because we will be expanding on that." Dani interrupted, slinging her long black and bleached blonde hair over her shoulder.
"You probably just want another excuse to kiss me." Manny muttered as the routine progressed and Craig dipped her.
"Like you didn't wan it." Craig shot back, more focused on Manny than the routine.
"Look. I'm very close to finding the perfect guy and you're ruining it." Her voice rose as Toxic continued blaring in the background.
"I'm not doing anything Manny. What's your problem?" Manny was relieved when a guy yelled "switch" with Dani's permission. Manny was no longer dancing with Craig, but with Aaron instead.
"I hate him!" Manny tried to convinced herself as Aaron smiled.
"But you want to work with us?"
"Of course. Why not? I love the band, but I hate having to do this. Craig doesn't understand what personal space is." Manny complained.
"Maybe you're not over your past." He suggested as her eyes blazed.
"That's the most intelligent thing you've said, even if you are so wrong. Kissing Craig meant nothing to me." She lied, starting to get into the choreography.
"And if you kissed someone else?" Aaron pried.
"Like who?"
"Me." He answered as the song ended with Manny's leg on his shoulder, arching back. Realizing that all eyes were on them, both Aaron and Manny made a show, leaning in closer to one another.
"Fabulous!" Dani called from the sidelines as Manny squealed with Aaron hugging and swinging her around.
"You are such a flirt." Manny whispered, kissing the side of his face.
"Switch!" The guy called again as Manny moved onto Brad.
"You want me to wear this?" Alex walked into Anna's room straight from her shower, catching Jay off-guard.
"It's the closest thing she has to what you would wear." Jay laughed.
"Black and white velour? Do you know what people are going to think when I show up to school looking like this? I'll be the joke of the school." Alex complained, actually being herself around someone instead of being who she thought they wanted her to be.
"Since when do you care what those snot nosed kids think?" Jay asked, staring at Alex in her towel.
"I don't." She snatched the outfit from him taking a closer look. "And you're taking me to school right?"
"Actually, I've got to pick up Emma." Jay commented, trying to distance himself from the space that was quickly lessening between the two.
"Goody-good has got a tight hold on you. I wonder what she'll say when she finds out that we spent the night together." Alex smiled. "Too bad I can't get a ride to school." She pushed.
"Why can't you just stay here and chill? I know you hate school." Jay pleaded.
"Yeah, but if my father finds out that I've been skipping, he'll have my ass." Alex joked. "I thought you understood that." She brushed past him, feeling like a fool for getting herself in this situation—for letting Jay take her back to his house and be completely platonic with her when she wished everything was non-platonic, at least until she could get over Gianni.
"Hey drama queen." Jay called motioning for Alex to come closer to him as Alex found herself wrapped in his arms. Caught in the intensity of the moment, they almost kissed each other. "Why'd we never have sex?" He asked suddenly, kicking himself for saying what he had been thinking.
"Your girlfriend's gonna be waiting." Alex rolled her eyes, suppressing the urge to flick him off. Jay was her only ride to school and she had to be nice to him … well semi-nice.
"You've got to sit in the back, kid." Jay requested as Alex rolled her eyes.
"Why? She's bound to notice my presence. I can already sense her annoying innocence." Alex complained.
"Why would have I my ex-girlfriend in the back seat and my girlfriend in the front seat? I wonder."
"Yeah, I wonder why anyone wouldn't want their girlfriend and ex in the same car." Alex rolled her eyes as Jay laughed at Alex. Her wavy hair was everywhere and it was funny seeing her look so girly.
"You actually look normal." Jay joked, reaching for her hair. "Aww. How cute." Alex flicked him off in response, holding back her urge to hit him over the head.
"Jay." Emma rushed to the other side of the car as Jay got out of the car, kissing Emma lustfully. They began a mini-make out session as Alex scoffed. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been asking myself that same question." Alex hopped in the backseat.
"Jay?" Emma looked to him for an answer.
"I won't do it." Ellie started popping her rubber bands and counting from 1 to 100. It was day two of the frog project with Gianni and it was killing her.
"Fancy seeing you here doom and gloom." Alex teased, hating how she looked. What was worst was that everyone kept staring at her. She couldn't count the number of guys that had said something smart to her and she'd almost been in a fight today.
"Look Alex, I just wanted to apologize for what Gianni did to you. He had no right to--"
Save the pity party. You've got him. Take him." Alex ruffled her hair, wishing that she had had time to fight with it this morning.
"But no one deserves to be treated like they're nothing. Not even you." Ellie added quietly.
"Look doom and gloom, I was fuc-- having sex with your boyfriend while he was with you. It was fun. It wasn't going to last. No apologizes needed." Alex shrugged. She was used to pretending like everything was okay when it really wasn't.
"Alex, what is your deal? Didn't we used to almost be friends?" Ellie shot back.
"We only put up with you because of Sean and I don't see Sean around. Do you?" Alex looked back at Ellie.
"Who is we? I don't see any guy attached to your arm." Ellie spat out angrily as Alex walked into the nearest stall, slammed the door, and barely stopped herself from crumpling to the floor. So far this day was much more sucky that usual.
Jimmy couldn't believe what happened last night. He and Hazel … but he hadn't seen her all day to talk about what happened. Now, he was waiting at her locker.
"Hey." Ignoring their usual kiss, Hazel asked, "Jimmy, what are you doing here?"
"I want to talk about what happened last night. What made you…"
"I will not have this conversation here." Hazel wiped away the tears that started to fall down her face.
"Then where? You've been avoiding this and we both know this."
"It's just all clear to me now. You don't care about me and maybe you never have. At least I'll be out of here." Hazel shrugged.
"Where do you get off?" Emma came up behind Alex. Jay was not letting up on why Alex was in his car this morning, and she bet Alex was willing to spill.
"What's up your ass goody-good." Alex turned around to see Emma's surprised face.
"Why were you in Jay's car?" Emma asked, getting right to the point.
"Why don't you ask him? I don't like you. I'm not your friend." Alex held in her smile. She loved pushing people's buttons, especially uppity, self-righteous bitches like Emma.
"Look, Alex I'm not in the mood." Emma explained.
"And I don't give a flying--"
"Why do you keep hanging around him? Don't you see that he doesn't care about you? No one does. Not Jay. Not Gianni. Not--" Emma's last words were stopped by Alex's fist meeting her eye.
From there, Emma pushed Alex against the lockers, getting a few good hits on her before Alex started clawing at her, puling out chunks of Emma's hair.
"Hey. Break it up." Ks. Kwan and another teacher broke up the fight as Alex spit on Emma's face. "Slut."
"White trash."
(A/N: This was a bad chapter, I know but I don't know where I'm going with this story again. Maybe I should take a break. I get writers block way too easily! Give me some ideas and tell me who you want to hear more about: (1) Alex-Emma-Jay (2) Alex-Gianni-Elli (3) Kiowi-Manny-Dying Rose (4) Hazel-Jimmy)