Abercrombie & Bitch

Sunday, April 27, 10:55am – auditorium

It only took me a few seconds to realize that the talent show was a bigger deal than I’d thought. It looked a little bit like we’d stepped into the set of High School Musical, what with the people singing and dancing and stretching and whatever the hell else they were doing.

Donelle rolled her eyes. “Show-offs.”

I knew precisely why Donelle was there, and it made me the slightest bit uncomfortable. She was the only one of us – besides Zach, I guess – that could sing, and she could sing well. Really well. She’d won the talent show freshman and sophomore year. She’d sworn to me that her act this year would be easy to beat, but she also hadn’t seen Zach and me dance yet. She had let me borrow a dress she wore to some dance or another, and – while it was way too long on me, thanks to Donelle’s five-foot-nine stature, it would have to do.

Zach tightened his grip on my hand as if to comfort me, but it didn’t help much. There was a reason I stopped the dancing lessons when I was younger, and it wasn’t because I was bad at it – because I was actually pretty good. I just never in a million years would do it in front of anybody. Besides Zach, but he didn’t really count because he was my partner, and at the dance, because we’d been in a crowd and not on a stage.

I gulped, so loud that Zach squeezed my hand again.

“Okay, everybody, take a seat in the first two rows,” Ms. Weber announced, appearing on the stage out of nowhere.

We all took our seats. Zach automatically put his arm around me comfortingly. I leaned against him, breathing in his smell. He smelled like soap and cologne and just… Zach. Donelle nudged me in the side, and I snapped back to attention.

Ms. Weber clapped her hands. “This is how this is going to work. I’ve got all of your names here, and you’ll perform when I call you. If you’re not on the list, you’ll perform when I’ve gotten through it. Sound good?” She was answered by a chorus of groans. “Alright, let’s get started.” She glanced at her list. “Donelle O’Hara? You’re up.”

Donelle blew her bangs out of her face. “Here goes nothing.” She hurried up to the stage and leapt up effortlessly, thanks to her freakishly long legs.

People started chatting aimlessly, not willing to pay attention to the first act. It was almost like a courtesy; if people weren’t paying attention to the first act, they wouldn’t be so nervous about going. Unfortunately, these people didn’t know Donelle.

If you weren’t paying attention, she’d make you pay attention.

“I will not make the same mistakes that you did, I … will not let myself cause my heart so much misery,” she sang, barely able to contain her smirk as people’s conversations came to a screeching halt at the sound of Donelle’s voice. It squashed any chance she had at showing the ‘emotion of the song’, as she always put it, but at this point it didn’t really matter.

“I will not break the way you did, you fell so hard… I learned the hard way to never let it get that far…” I really couldn’t believe she was singing a Kelly Clarkson song. Not that it wasn’t good, it just wasn’t… her.

“Because of you I never stray too far from the sidewalk… Because of you I learned to play of the safe side so I don’t get hurt… Because of you I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me; Because of you… I am afraid…”

I’ve gotten used to the shock of Donelle’s singing voice, but the rest of the people in the room certainly hadn’t. Even Zach’s jaw dropped when she started. The thing is, Donelle didn’t want to be a singer. She said she always enjoyed it, sure, but she could never pursue it as a career. She’d rather be a scientist or a doctor or something, mainly because she’s so smart.

That’s her thing, I guess. Donelle’s rich, she can sing, and she’s insanely smart. But she still acts like she’s this total loser who doesn’t deserve anything she gets, unless it’s bad. I know she has some issues, like the fact that her mother died of cancer when she was eleven and that Mason – her brother, a junior – had a drug problem. I think that’s the reason she wants to do something meaningful in her life; she wants to prove she can.

Her words, not mine.

“Because of you…”

It was silent for all of two seconds, and then everybody seemed to wake up. No one clapped except for Ms. Weber; it was like they already knew they had major competition. I mean, they did have major competition. They certainly weren’t going to encourage her.

“Well, that went well,” she said brightly, plopping down on the seat next to me and taking a gulp from her water bottle. Seriously. She was always like this. Relaxed, and crap. I never knew how she didn’t get stage fright.

Ms. Weber nodded happily and looked back at her list. “Miranda Gregory and Zachary Sinclair.” Her tone suddenly took a turn toward pissed-off.

Damn it.

Zach hugged me one last time. I swallowed hard and glanced around as every eye in the room was suddenly on me. Not Zach. Me. Zach’s ‘girlfriend’. Is it just me, or did I suddenly become public enemy number one? Especially with the drama crowd – there’s crazy for the jocks. Emphasis on crazy. Not that I’m judging, or anything.

They just scare me.

“She said "I've gotta be honest,
You're wasting your time if you're fishing round here."”

This may just be a sign of just how little I knew about performing, but that was the first time I’d ever recognized Zach’s song choice for the dance. It was a song that I’d listened to over and over again when I was little, singing along to the words that I didn’t understand. Until… until that moment.

”And I said "you must be mistaken,
I'm not fooling... this feeling is real"

Zach… He was grinning like a madman as we started the first counts of the routine. I told myself not to focus on the music, but on the footwork and the routine, but all my brain would concentrate on was the feeling of Zach’s hands against my waist and the lyrics floating from the speakers. I couldn’t help but think that there was a hidden meaning in that song choice of Zach’s.

”She said "you gotta be crazy,
What do you take me for? Some kind of easy mark?"
You've got wits, you've got looks,
You've got passion, but I swear that you've got me all wrong."
All wrong…All wrong…But you got me...
I'll be true, I'll be useful...
I'll be cavalier...I’ll be yours my dear.
And I'll belong to you...
If you'll just let me through.
This is easy as lovers go,
So don't complicate it by hesitating.
And this is wonderful as loving goes,
This is tailor-made, what’s the sense in waiting?”

Damn him. He was actually enjoying my reaction to this. There was some part of my brain that was telling me that I should at least acknowledge the audience in some way, but the part of it that was in control seemed to only care about Zach’s eyes and the way they sparkled in the stage lights and… Wow.

”And I said "I've gotta be honest
I've been waiting for you all my life."
For so long I thought I was asylum bound,
But just seeing you makes me think twice.
And being with you here makes me sane,
I fear I'll go crazy if you leave my side.
You've got wits... you've got looks,
You've got passion but are you brave enough to leave with me tonight?
Tonight…Tonight…But you've got me...”

Our version of the song was almost over. Zach’s techie brother, Zane, had managed to crop the actual song by about thirty seconds, and I thanked him for it. I didn’t know how much longer I was willing to take of this.

Zach dipped me again, slowly, as the fading piano notes filled the room and the last lyrics followed them. No one else would’ve heard him, but I saw his lips mouth the final, closing words.

”This is tailor-made, what’s the sense in waiting?”

I forgot that I was onstage, in front of – well, okay, let’s face it, the drama freaks. I forgot that Donelle was most likely scrutinizing every move I made, and was probably going to grill me about it later. I think I even forgot how to breathe.

But, luckily, I didn’t forget what Zach had said to me on Friday night.

“Miranda, I’ve been in love with you since we were in eighth grade, okay? I… I think I still am.”

I didn’t even stick around to hear Ms. Weber’s verdict on our performance. She wasn’t that agreeable when it came to me anyway; although, admittedly, she did come up with a way for me to graduate. I ran out of the auditorium, tripping and falling all over the place, thanks to my heels and uncoordinated nature.

There weren’t many people in the halls. Obviously; it was Sunday, and anyone in their right minds would be hanging out as far away from it as humanly possible. As it should be. I’m starting to think I was going insane.

There were two girls in the bathroom, but with a glare and a slam of the door, they bolted. It was wise in this school not to get on my bad side if I was upset about something. Otherwise, though, I didn’t think I was all that bad. Some of the things I’d pulled in years past – like the dry ice bombs in the bathroom stalls or the rather recent exhibit of my ex’s underwear – had earned me my reputation. But face-to-face, I wasn’t totally heartless.

I can totally prove it to you; my heart was giving a jackhammer a run for its money.

“Miranda?”

Thank God someone with a brain is here. Maybe I’ll be able to figure out what’s going with me. “Hey, Elle.”

Donelle just crossed her arms over her chest, a smug smile gracing her lips. “I think you rather enjoyed that. If, you know, I didn’t know any better.”

I could feel my face heating up. I sighed and leant against the tiled wall, closing my eyes and letting myself slide down to the floor. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Elle. I just…” I shook my head. “Zach’s changed. Yesterday he surprised me with this picnic at the beach and-”

“He did?” she asked, almost incredulously, as she came and took a seat beside me. “Wow. That’s… That’s really unlike him.”

“I know.” I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. “I’m just… y’know, worried about this. If we don’t win, then neither of us get to graduate-”

Donelle just looked at me like I was crazy. “What do you mean neither of you will get to graduate?”

I raised an eyebrow. “That’s the whole reason Zach volunteered to do this. He needed the school credit that comes with the win in order to earn enough credits to graduate.”

She did the last thing I expected her to do. She laughed. And she wouldn’t stop laughing; at least, not until I threatened to break her annoying teal glasses in half if she didn’t tell me what was so funny.

“I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered, covering her mouth in a vain attempt to stop her giggles. “But you think Zach needs the credit?”

I looked at her, confused. “But… But he said-”

“That he wanted the credit,” she informed me. I was still confused. “Miranda, haven’t you ever noticed that Zach is always at the top of the class? Well, besides me,” she added, for her own benefit. “He needed the credit so that he could beat me out for valedictorian.” She bit her lip as she glanced at my expression. “Didn’t you know that?”

I couldn’t believe it. Not the part about Zach being smart – because I actually think I knew that, at one point, and just blatantly forgotten it when this whole thing came about – but the fact that he’d lied to me. Again.

And, alright, he’d never actually said he was doing this to graduate, but… It’s still lying. Because he’d never told me specifically why he needed the credit.

Right?

“Oh, God,” Elle whispered, resting her forehead in her hands. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

“No,” I muttered, pulling myself off of the floor and straightening my dress. “He didn’t.”

“I’m sure there was a reason. Look, knowing Zach, maybe he-”

I wasn’t listening. I’d kinda gotten into a habit of that lately. I stormed out of the bathroom, only to find the lying jerk leaning against some lockers with a concerned look on his face.

“Hey, Miri. Are you alright?” he wanted to know, stepping towards me ad wrapping his arms around my waist.

Without thinking, I punched him in the stomach. Not very hard, by my standards, but enough that he leapt away from me and doubled over, moaning in pain.

“Peachy.”

I didn’t really know if we were ever going to get this worked out. There were things I didn’t know about Zach. And I’d realized that. But I’d also thought that at least he’d bother to tell me about something like this, when we’d been locked in a closet for two hours or spent the entire day together on a secluded beach and then his room, creating the routine.

I had every right to be angry. Didn’t I?

This was uncharted territory for me. All of my previous boyfriends – fake or not – never questioned what I told them to do, and in turn let me know everything about everything that involved me. I didn’t like being lied to. I got that enough from my mother, thank you very much.

Whatever I was with Zach, I knew it was different from my other relationships.

It sure as hell will take some getting used to.