26. Duet

Chapter twenty-six

Duet

I t's close to half past five in the morning when a few of us end up walking down the stairs in our groggy tracksuit pants and messed up bed hair. The triplets look so disheveled that I'd can't even tell them apart at the moment. The only ones who seem even remotely awake are just Oliver and Nolan. Kane and Reyes also grace us with their presence, but they certainly don't seem awake.

“Good morning everyone.” I groan at his perky voice.

“Seth, you cannot approach people like that if you have not given anyone a chance to have a decent coffee yet. The fact that I have not had a coffee yet means that I am more likely to kill you than anyone else in this house right now.” Even though I did my best for it to come out as a threat, it doesn't sound very convincing when it's coming out of someone that's half the size of anyone else in this room.

“See, and that's why you belong here.” I rolled my eyes as he gestures for everyone to follow him outside.

Thankfully, the sorority house is not too far away, and we reach there in about ten minutes, according to Seth. Since we can't go inside, we're all waiting out on the curb side. I still don't really know what I'm expecting to see. I hear Reyes muttering to Ivan again, but I'm not really sure what he's trying to say. I look at my clock and see the number on it switch from 5:44 to 5:45. As if on cue, I hear one of the girls in the room start to scream.

“If I'm correct, which I am,” Seth begins, “, that one just went to turn her alarm clock off and realized that it is completely covered in a warm caramel coating. Thankfully it stays sticky because of the heat that the clock was giving off.” My mouth gapes open and Nolan starts to laugh. Suddenly more lights in the house turn on as more people start to wake up. There's more yelling in the house going on, and someone squeals extremely loud. “Ah yes. I forgot we put oil in the main hallway. Their wood floors look like they needed a refresher coat. It's going to be really awkward when someone turns on the light and the fan automatically comes on with it.”

Through eccentric laughter, Niles asks, “Why’s that?”

“Because we opened up one of the feather pillows and left it on top of the fan blades.” Oh my god, I cannot believe they did this. “Given all the things they've done in order to try and ruin Amelia's time here, I had contemplated streaming from one of their laptops everything that is happening this morning.”

“Why didn't you?” Kane asks him.

“Because even though they're trying to humiliate me in public,” I answer, “, I wouldn't want to sink low enough to be on the same level as them.” I look over to Seth and he nods, but comes a bit closer to me to whisper.

“Ivan is also inside making mischief with the electrical equipment, which means I would assume most of their storage devices are going to go blank.” Which means that picture of me will be gone.

“Thank you.”

“Don't thank me yet. I still don't think it was enough.”

“Why?”

“Amelia, you insulted those girls the moment you left the house. That being said, I know their kind and they would have completely torn you apart. Worse than a demon possibly could. The only reason Tyson asked you out that day is because one of them told him to. They knew exactly what was going to happen that night. Trust me, they're going to keep retaliating for your entire college life. You have another option. You can go back to the other college that you got a second admission for. You don't have to tolerate them.”

“If I chose the other college and I left, it would literally mean leaving San Francisco. It would also mean leaving you guys.”

“I'm really happy you're staying.”

“Me too, cuz.” He offers me a fist and I bump it gladly.

“Well, that certainly jumpstarted our day.” Nolan acknowledges rubbing the back of his head. I thought all the screaming and yelling had stopped, but then all of a sudden I hear several go all at once.

“Reyes,” Seth groans, looking at his friend, “, when I said get a spider, I didn't mean several of them.”

Aside from seeing my parents off at the airport around lunchtime, the rest of the day was particularly uneventful. But I haven't walked into the drama hall yet. As I push open the doors, I can see that people have already started to arrive. Mr. Fasoli is assisting everyone with their choreography for certain dance routines on stage. I don't know at which point it switched from a regular theater play into a musical, but hey, I enjoy dance anyway. I'm instructed on one of the particular dance routines, but I picked it up quite quickly. Back in L.A. I was part of a drama club that was outside of school. It was quite a brutal place to be, but I just loved it so much. Even so, they taught me how to pick up dance moves quickly. Although I wasn't taught how to pay attention when there was a boy staring at me. As Oliver entered the hall, he merely sat down and started watching me. I know we have our own routine during the play as well, but it's not something we've rehearsed yet. I know it, and I think he knows it too, but we haven't done it together. He can barely kiss me for a moment, how we supposed to dance together?

“Miss Weaver, feel free to jump down and rehearse with Mr. Pierce.” I thank the stars that he doesn't make me practice on stage with Oliver when we haven't prepared. As I take the steps down the side of the stage, I go over towards where Oliver is sitting, pulling up one of the rickety wooden chairs beside him.

“A full rehearsal is due the day of the play. We're gonna have to make sure our parts are perfect so that we don't have to repeat it too many times. That's the only way I think we'll get through the day.” I say to him. He doesn't respond, he just stares and smiles at me. “What do I have something in my teeth?”

“No.”

“So why are you looking at me like that?”

“I can't just stare at a pretty girl?” If he was trying to turn me into a beetroot, he probably succeeded.

“Lovely turn, Amanda.” I hear Mr Fasoli clap. After learning what Seth told me this morning, I can't really stare at her without getting really angry.

“Thanks Mr Fasoli. Can I ask you something?” The music ceases as everyone turns to hear what she has to say. “I just wanted to confirm who the understudies were for the main roles, just in case. We wouldn't want a Snow White and Prince Charming to get sick and have to cancel.”

“You are absolutely right, Amanda. Perhaps you and Alex would be the best choice for our backups for our main roles. You did perform quite well at a previous theater piece.” She smiles evilly as if she just got exactly what she wanted. I have a terrible feeling she's got way more planned than this. I look over to Oliver and I think he's thinking the exact same thing.

“Come on,” He says to me, “, we still have a duet to finish.” As we walk away, I can feel Amanda’s eyes on us, her gaze sharp and calculating.