Love Me or Hate Me

It was last period and Vanessa and I were in science, just about to finish up the lab we were working on for class. I felt like peoples eyes were boring into the back of my head. Everyone in the school was staring at me after my outburst with Tiffany and Monique. I turned around to see who was staring at me and saw a group of girls turn away from me quickly. Figures it would be the wanna-be populars. No offense to them, but they always wanted to know the newest gossip about me. It frustrated me so much.

I turned to Vanessa and found she was doing the same thing as I was, glaring at some kid who had been staring at the back of her head. I nudged her shoulder, and she whipped her head around.

"Yeah?" She asked, one of her eyebrows raised behind her safety glasses.

"They're driving you crazy, too, aren’t they?"

"Yes." She groaned in frustration. "I don't understand why they can't just give it a rest. Those two girls are total bitches, and they deserved everything they got. Neither of them got expelled, they just got detention for punching you. We didn't even do anything in retaliation except yell."

"I know. I can't believe-" I was cut off by Ms H, the science teacher.

"Are you guys gossiping or talking about science?" She asked. She was always the strictest of the teachers, but as long as you listened to her in class and worked hard you had an easy A.

"Sorry, Ms. H." Vanessa said apologetically. "We've just had a lot of drama lately."

"It's okay. I heard about Tiffany and Monique." She gave us a small smile. "Awful girls. I see you're pretty much done with the lab. You can leave whenever you finish."

"Thanks." I smiled at her.

"Sure. Good luck at the show. I'll be watching you two. I bet you're the next big thing."

Vanessa laughed. "We hope so. See you there."

Ms. H nodded and walked over to the next lab table, severely chastising the girls who were staring at us earlier for not even being halfway done with their lab. That's what happens when all you do is stare at people.

Vanessa and I finished our lab quickly and cleaned up or lab table, saying goodbye to Ms. H as we walked out the door. We had to practice before the show. It was only two hours away.

<<<<LOVE>>>>

We were finally on the stage. After an hour of practicing and an hour of make-up and costume, we were ready to perform. I felt like I couldn't breathe. It always started like this, and then I would explode into the character I wanted to be soon after. I just couldn't wait for the curtains to be drawn back and the spotlights to shine on Vanessa and I. We were the fifth act, and the ones before us had been good, so that meant we had to be stellar.

Over the summer we had written and perfected a musical about these two girls who had the summer of their lives. The original play had many more scenes and characters than the skit we were performing, but we didn't have that much time. We only had ten minutes to convince Mr. C that we deserved to win, and we planned on using those ten minutes to the best of our abilities.

Suddenly I heard the rustle of the curtains being drawn back, and my eyes were blinded by the sudden spotlight. I smiled as the adrenaline rushed throughout my body, and I took a deep breathe as I began to sing the intro to our scene. I hit every note perfectly, and I felt chills running down my spine as the music rolled off my tongue. So far, perfect.

Then it was Vanessa's turn. She did perfect as well, and then we began the speaking part of our scene. In the scene the girls were in a fight over a boy they both met at the beach, and we played it off perfectly, countering with petty remarks and bitchy comments. We fought and fought, and then realized we were both in the wrong and we loved each other as sisters, just as we always did in real life. The scene ended with us laughing in each other's arms, and the curtains fell to the applause of the whole school.

I turned to Vanessa. "You did beautifully!" I squealed throwing my arms around her and hugging her.

"You too, V." She smiled and hugged me back, and then pulled away. "We have to get off the stage. The next people are set to perform in two minutes!"

I looked at my watch. "Oh my gosh! You're right! Let's go!"

Vanessa and I quickly stood and ran off to backstage, so the next group could set up their stuff. Rushing to our dressing room, we stripped, rubbed off all of the stage make-up, and put on normal make-up and clothes all in a record two minutes and thirty seconds. We made our way to our seats in the front of the audience and sat next to Mr. C, who beamed at us and gave us a thumbs up as we sat down breathlessly.

"You both did wonderful!" She whispered-yelled at us. "Now I must see how the competition does."

He winked, and turned back to the people who were performing. Vanessa and I looked at each other with smiles, and then watched the performance as well. They were all right, but they missed some of the notes in their song, and they forgot some of their cues. You could tell they hadn't practiced that much.

The next three acts were all the same, and Mr. C wasn't looking very impressed. The last act finally came on, and both Vanessa and I were shocked. It was Tiffany and Monique. They both had skirts that came up to just the bottom of their crotch, and shirts down to their belly buttons. They were holding microphones, and Tiffany stepped forward to speak. She tripped a little, and it looked as if she might be drunk, but I just blamed it on the eight inch heels she was wearing.

"We'd like to dedicate this song to the two lovely ladies in the front row." She sneered. I knew now by her voice that she was definitely drunk. "To Vanessa and Genevieve!"

I was outraged. She was drunk, and now she was sarcastically dedicating a song to Vanessa and I. This would ruin my whole night. I pushed myself to stand up but felt myself being held back by an arm. I turned to see Mr. C looking at me.

"They registered. They get to perform." He sighed. "Plus it'll only embarrass them, and not you. They're singing is bound to be horrible with the amount of liquor they've drank."

His last statement cracked a smile from me, and I reluctantly stayed in my seat. I turned to the right to see Vanessa glaring at them with hate in her eyes, and then turned back to the stage when I heard music begin to play and I could tell that it was Misery Business by Paramore. My eyes filled with tears of anger. How could they dedicate this song to us? We were nothing like the girls in the song. I hate them so much.

"(Hit that, hit that snare)

I'm in the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top.
She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock.
It's a matter of time before we all run out,
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth.

I waited eight long months,
She finally set him free.
I told him I couldn't lie he was the only one for me.
Two weeks and we caught on fire,
She's got it out for me,
But I wear the biggest smile.

Whoa, i never meant to brag.
But I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But God does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.
'Cause God it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change.
Once a whore you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change.
And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged.
I'm sorry honey, but I passed it up, now look this way.
Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you.
Looking as innocent as possible to get to who,
They want and what they like it's easy if you do it right.
Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!

Whoa, i never meant brag
But I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But God does it feel so good,
'Cause I got him where I want him right now.
And if you could then you know you would.
'Cause God it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

I watched his wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving you
Just watch my wildest dreams come true
Not one of them involving...

Whoa, i never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now.

Whoa, i never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But God does it feel so good,
'Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.
'Cause God it just feels so...
It just feels so good."

The song ended end the girls bowed to the boos of the crowd. Everyone was mad at them fore singing that song to us, even the bitches in the cheer squad and the jerks on the football team. Monique and Tiffany just smiled and Monique opened her mouth to say something into the mike, but Mr. C stood up before she could.

"That's enough." He boomed. He may be gay, but he was serious and stern when he needed to be. "Monique, Tiffany, get off the stage, take off those stripper outfits, and get sober fast. You get two more weeks of detention for this little act. It was degrading and awful, and I expected more from even you."

Tiffany and Monique stared at him with drunken shock.

"We were only trying-" Monique started, but Mr. C held up his hand and rubbed his forehead with the other one.

"I don't want to hear it." He sighed. "Please go and let me judge the REAL talent that was at this show."
They both left, dropping the mikes on the stage carelessly, with the hooker outfits pulled halfway up their butts. Mr. C turned to look at Vanessa and I, and his face softened when he saw the tears in our eyes.

"You girls all right?" He asked, his voice full of fatherly concern.

"Yeah." I wiped my eyes. I turned to Vanessa. "You all right, Ness?"

She wiped at her face as well. I was so glad we had put on water proof make-up. "Yeah. It was just really degrading and embarrassing." She sighed. "Don't you have to go judge the contest with the other people, Mr. C?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I just wanted to make sure my two favorite girls were all right. Now that I know you are I'll be on my way to judge. It shouldn't take too long, though, because I'm pretty sure we all knew who was the best." He winked, and walked away quickly, leaving us to wonder if he had really meant we were the best.

<<<ME>>>

Twenty minutes. That's how long they had been in there. It was killing me, and it looked like it was killing Vanessa too. Not long after Mr. C left both of the boys had come to sit with us, but at the moment it was dead silent, just like it had been for the past ten minutes. We were all waiting on the dreaded results, and it was taking forever.

"How long has it been?" Vanessa asked worriedly.

I looked at my watch, and groaned when I saw that it had just reached twenty-one minutes since Mr. C had left.

"Twenty-one minutes. They're taking forever." I slid back in my seat. "Do you think we're even going to win? Because if we don't even have a chance I'm going to go home and sleep. Today was so tiring."

"It looks like we're going to find out now if you guys won it." Ashton said. "It looks like Mr. C's about to announce the winners."

Vanessa and I shot up in our seats and looked at the stage. Mr. C cleared his throat and tapped the mike.

"Before I announce the winners, I would like to say something about the show. We never told you in the beginning, but this show was actually a real contest. We received an offer over the summer from one of the Hollywood film directors, saying that he would like to have the winner of our next talent show star in one of his next films, a romantic comedy centered around three famous boys with a dream and three girls they meet and fall in love with." There was a sudden outburst of gasps and whispering as everyone expressed their shock. Vanessa and I looked at each other in wonder. If we won this we would get a shot at a film. Mr. C waited patiently for the noise to die down, and then continued. "So the director came, and he helped me judge this contest. Unfortunately it took us a while to agree on who should win, but in the end we figured it out. I would like to ask the winners to come up to the stage after I announce their names. The winners are…" He paused for dramatic effect, and Vanessa and I prayed silently that we would win. "Vanessa Riggs and Genevieve Adams!"

Vanessa and I both screamed with joy and ran up to the stage, smothering Mr. C in hugs.

"Thank you so much!" We both exclaimed, jumping back and standing on either side of him.

"You're welcome girls." He smiled at us. "Would you girls like to know who you'll be co-starring with?"

"Sure."

He turned to the stage door on the side.

"Come on out boys!"

Vanessa and I turned and our jaws dropped when we saw who came out of the door. All the girls in the crowd began to scream. It was the Jonas Brothers.