Let My Heart Rest In Pieces

Let My Heart Rest In Pieces 091

I Didn’t See A Thing

“You girls did so wonderful,” Mr. Smith mumbled to Tamara and I, having both been pulled into a hug as soon as we came off the stage. We laughed in unison and hugged him back, giving him a muffled thanks. When he pulled away he looked us both dead in the eye.

“This year has been amazing with everything we’ve done. We completely innovated our Chorus group, got more support our way, and we got recognized above all the other schools for this chance, and it’s all because of you two.” He turned to Tamara and gave her a soft smile. “I can’t wait to work with you again next year Tamara, you can go.”

“Thank you Mr. Smith,” she replied, grinning at him before almost skipping away.

“And you, Ms. Envy,” Mr. Smith started, his ocean blue eyes joking, “Thank you for giving me all these amazing chances. I know I made your life a living hell for a couple months, but I meant well. Now that this is all over, I hope you realize that. I’m going to miss you so much.”

Pulling the tall man into another hug, I whispered in his ear, “I’m going to miss you too.”

We stayed like that for a little while, disregarding the people that walked by and gave us strange looks. When we finally let go, I could have sworn I saw Mr. Smith’s blue eyes welling up with tears but decided not to comment. With a simple farewell and a kiss on his cheek, I waved him away and went back to my dressing room.

When I came inside, Sarah was there, having all the dresses I got to keep in plastic bags, making it easier to take home. I was about to take my heels off and hand them back to her, but she shook her head with a sly smile.

“As far as I’m concerned, you returned those really cute boots to me as soon as you got here then left when I handed you the dresses,” she said, handing me my bags with that smirk. I gave the woman a hug, thanking her silently, and bolted out of there before anyone could catch me stealing shoes.

It was surprising how many people were still milling around backstage. The stage hands were moving equipment here and there—though plenty of them were taking time to talk and gossip—other performers were getting their stuff ready to leave, and more unfamiliar people were passing through the halls.

It took me a little while to get outside, but when I managed it I was almost tackled to the ground by warm bodies. Their immature giggling gave away their identities and made me smile. With my friends all tangled up with me, I could only hug the mass of them and tried to listen to them as they all talked at once. After a minute or two, they all pulled away from me and stood there like a bunch of normal people.

“That was amazing,” Dan summarized, simple grin on his face. We all laughed but nodded our heads, agreeing with him.

“And damn girl, do you look good in that dress,” Quinn jested, looking me up and down. I posed for him and some of the boys pretended to take pictures of me.

“I was ready to slap you when you came out the first time though,” Roxy sighed, her eyes rolling, “Haven’t I told you a million times that these kinds of things are a dress up affair?”

“Whatever, I got away with it!” I huffed.

Jeremy, who had been absent from the group hug—along with my father and Frank—came over then, not even bothering to say hello or congrats before he dipped me back and kissed the surprised noise right off my lips. I kissed him back while our friends hooted and hollered and was left breathless but smiling when he pulled me back up.

“Hi,” he said, his chocolate brown and icy blue eyes looking at me.

“Hi,” I repeated, pushing a hand through his blonde hair.

“Yuck, lovey dovey shit,” Bert gagged, turning away from us to start a conversation with Jepha. Most of us rolled our eyes at him.

“We should party it up! You know, celebrate Envy and Tamara’s awesome performance!” my dad said, stepping into our group sneakily and side hugging me. I hugged him tight against me as everyone agreed to his suggestion.

“Pizza party!” Jepha yelled suddenly, a strangely smart suggestion coming from him.

“If you get pizza on me, so help me God, I will murder you,” Quinn threatened, causing the other boy to shrink down in fear.

~~~~~~

“Oh my god, I’ve had fifty pieces of pizza, I don’t think I can take any more,” I whined, pushing my plate away from me as I leaned against Jeremy, who had his arm wrapped around my shoulder. He scoffed at my over exaggerated statement and finished off my barely eaten piece, making that his fifty first piece. Ugh, boys and their never ending stomachs.

“But it was so good,” Tamara replied, copying my exact movements on the other side of the table, her belly looking like it was about to explode. None of the boys seemed to be that effected by everything they had eaten, and Ray was still going in for more. Where he put it all, I wasn’t quite sure, but I had a feeling all the fat was going to his hair.

“Today was just an amazing day,” Tay sighed, wistful smile on her face as her head rested on her hand. We all agreed with her with mumbles and grumbles.

“What’s even more amazing,” Roxy started with an evil looking smirk, “Is that graduation is in a couple days.”

“I hate you Roxy!” Bert yelled, throwing a rumbled napkin at her while looking like he was about to break down into tears.

“Why did you have to ruin my perfect night?!” Tamara squeaked, hiding her head into Frankie’s chest.

“Because I am an evil little girl,” the small girl laughed, making it sound like evil chuckles.

“Not only do we get an early start on summer,” Mikey added on, looking confident, “We never have to go back to high school again!”

“I want to leave now,” Jepha cried dramatically, throwing his pizza back onto his plate, too disgusted with what we were talking about to eat anymore.

“We still have to worry about college though,” Jeremy offered, making all the Seniors groan.

“Whatever, we worry about that when it comes, which isn’t for months.”

“Unless you’re like me and you have to leave a week after graduation,” I sighed, pouting.

“You’re leaving?” Ray and Frankie said at the same time, both sounding shocked and confused. My brown eyes turned to them, just as bewildered as them.

“I didn’t tell you guys?” I asked. Everyone else nodded their heads at my statement, already knowing my college plans.

“No, you didn’t,” Frankie said, his hazel eyes staring into mine.

"Ray, you idiot, I told you one day at work!" Bob interrupted, glaring at the curly haired man.

"Must have been when I wasn't paying attention to your boring rants."

“I got accepted to Pepperdine University over in California," I continued over them, answering their question, "full ride and everything. I have to head over super early to start on classes and boarding so that my scholarships are valid.”

“Congratulations!” Ray squealed, leaning over the huge booth we had occupied to grab my hands. We held hands and did that really girly excited talking before we calmed down.

“Girls,” Jeremy said with an eye roll, though it was cut short when I elbowed him in the side and Ray glared at him.

"Hey!"

“Shut your mouth.”

“God, you’re so abusive!”

Everyone laughed as Jeremy groaned in pain, though Dad patted him on the back, catching his attention. “At some point in the relationship, you figure out just being quiet saves you a lot of pain.”

“Amen!” Gerard shouted, though it turned into a pained moan when Roxy copied my move.

We didn’t stay in the pizza place much longer after that, all of us having had our fill of the greasy food. Our large group, all fancily dressed, got up and left the small diner with quiet talking—or quiet for us—as to not disturb the other patrons.

I was one of the last people to leave, seeing as I had been stuck in the middle of our large booth. It always sucked when you were stuck in the middle and it took ages to get out. It also didn’t help when your ever loving boyfriend ran off to get a piggy back ride from Bob. Why, I wasn’t sure, but I stopped questioning his antics a long time ago.

Just as I was about to leave the pizza parlor, a hand fell against my bare shoulder. Turning around, I noticed Frankie standing there with a ghost of a smile on his face.

“What’s up?” I asked, wondering where his usual grin had gone.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you were moving away?”

I had to think on what he was talking about for a second before I remember I had brought up the fact my college was on the other side of the country. “Well, I told everyone at lunch one time when you were sick, and when you asked another time, we were interrupted by our idiot friends.”

Frankie was quiet for a minute, nodding his head slightly, before he said anything else. “How did Jeremy take the news?”

“Well, it was a shock at first,” I started off, confused as to why he really cared, “But we both just decided that our time was better spent just making memories before I went. We’re still going to try and work things out; I love him too much to just give him up.”

Frankie laughed softly, though it didn’t sound like it usually did. “I told Tamara I loved her today. It’s really strange; I’ve never really said that to a girl before.”

“You been together long enough, it should feel right now,” I said, for once not feeling depressed by the fact that Frank wasn’t saying those three words to me.

“Aw, were you two waiting for me before you left?” Mikey voiced, pushing his way between us with that goofy smile on his face.

“Oh, you were still in here?” I teased, making him fake a hurt face. With a laugh, I walked off to meet up with everyone else, though I heard Frankie ask Mikey to stay behind for a minute.

“Hey V, will you help me decorate my cap and gown?” Roxy prodded, making another wave of groans and moans echo through our group.