Chapter 4

After getting what I'm sure was a good scolding from Principal Hudson, Miranda and Allison exit her office. Neither of them look regretful for what they did.

"I'm gonna make you pay for this," Allison threatens as she shows us a piece of her hair that Mia had ripped out. Not that any of it is her real hair so I couldn't care less anyway.

"Wanna go for round two?" Miranda asks, more than ready for another fight. It seems they weren't given detention, perhaps Principal Hudson is tired of giving Miranda detention a thousand times a week. 

"You should focus on working on your anger issues rather than always looking for a fight," Madison speaks for the first time since the fight, and it just has to be trash.

"You started this, Allison. You provoked her on purpose and you know how short tempered Miranda can get," I say.

"I don't care. All I know is that you are going to pay for my hair," she threatens and walks away, Madison in tow.

Madison is Allison's best friend and not a very good one because she never advises Allison on the right things to do and never corrects her when she's wrong. They are just birds of a feather and are always seen together. It's rare to find Allison without Madison beside or behind her, it's almost like Madison is her minion or something. But what do I care? 

"That hair's not even real so get a grip!" I yell after her.

"Shut up, loser!" she yells back.

"No, you're the loser!" I yell again, only to be met with disappointing looks from my friends before they walk away one after the other.

"Hey!" I call, going after them.

*

I anxiously wait for my turn to audition. I look at my tag, I am number twenty-eight, and only about four people have gone in to audition. It is going to be a while before it gets to my turn. I sigh.

"Sam!" I hear Sandra scream.

"We came to show our support, and, we also bought you lunch since you were too busy to get yourself food." She hands me a hoagie with a smile.

"Thanks guys, I was actually getting kinda hungry." 

"Just let us know when you're done," with that, Miranda walks away.

"Break a leg," Olive says and leaves, still holding her book. She's probably going to continue her reading over lunch. 

"I'll try not to," I joke pathetically.

Sandra sits down beside me. "I'll stay here just in case you'll need some support," she says with a wink.

"Thanks, Sandy. Can you hold this for me?" I take a large bite of the hoagie before handing it back to her. I chew slowly, going over my audition lines in my head.

I see Allison go in with Madison when number twenty is called.

How come she's going in now, isn't she supposed to be number thirty-four? I ask myself but quickly shrug the question off. That's none of my business anyway, it would definitely get to my turn.

After a couple of minutes, Allison exits the theater with Madison. They flash me sinister smirks as they sashay away. What the hell is wrong with them? And why does Allison seem so confident? This is her first time auditioning, if anything, she should be scared of me. 

I stand up and brush my jeans when I get called. Sandra helps fix my hair and looks me over before giving an approving nod. I go in with her and stand before the judges while she sits in one of the empty seats. I am nervous, but I'm not going to let it show because I need these people to see my confidence through my acting. 

"Alright Sam, this audition is easy, just show us what you've got in two minutes." That was Mrs. Black, the drama director and coordinator or whatever it is she calls herself.

I nod, then take a couple seconds to compose myself as I start to feel a little uneasy. My breathing becomes difficult and I start to sweat despite the air conditioning. I thought I can tough it out and continue with my audition but I realize that my tongue and lips are swollen and my mouth is itchy. What in the world is happening to me? And why now?

"You can start now." I hear one of the judges say.

I nod again and try to speak but I just can't. My airway feels congested and my breathing becomes more difficult, not to mention my tongue starts to throb. My sight begins to blur and my head starts to bang. 

"Shelby, are you okay, girl?" Mrs. Black asks, but I can't even answer her.

I couldn't take it anymore and fall to the ground cause I feel so weak. I start wheezing as footsteps approach me with urgency. Someone carries me in their arms and gently shakes me. I hear Mrs. Black ordering whoever was carrying me, "Take her to the nurse! Now!"

I feel myself being lifted up ever so swiftly and I figure it's a male carrying me. We head to what I presume is the nurse's office. I feel weaker and weaker and the last thing I hear before falling into oblivion is Sandra's shrill and scared voice screaming, "Sam! Please wake up!"

*

I wake up to find myself lying on a bed in the nurse's office. My face and lips are no longer swollen, my mouth isn't itchy anymore and my head stopped banging. Most importantly, I can breathe fine and without difficulty. I look around to find my best friends sitting beside my bed.

Sandra is the first to notice that I'm awake. 

"You're awake!" she exclaims excitedly as though they've been waiting for me to wake up for ages.

"Oh my god, Sam!" Olive hugs me tightly, "you had us worried sick about you. We heard that your face was all red and swollen and you could barely breathe!"

"We were worried, but not worried sick. I knew you were going to be fine," Miranda says. She looks pretty sad. I know for a fact that she was worried sick about me.

"Says the girl that kept checking your pulse every five minutes," Sandra chimes.

"That's not the pressing matter here," Olive speaks up, "What really happened to you, Sam? Why did you pass out? Were you nervous about the audition?"

"Geez, how could you even ask me that?" I huff. 

Olive is about to say something else when the nurse walks into the room and smiles at me. 

"Seems like your friends' love made you recover so quickly. They refused to leave your side even though I tried to keep them out so you could rest well."

"What do you think happened to her?" Olive asks. 

"She must have eaten something she's extremely allergic to."

"What on earth did you eat?" Miranda asks me. I shoot up from the bed, ignoring her question.

"Oh no! My audition!" I exclaim.

"Why the hell are you still bothered about it? You nearly lost your life!" I hear Olive say.

"No. I need to get back so they can know that I still got my head in the game," I stand up from the bed, despite my friends holding me back.

"You need to rest a little more, besides, the auditions ended about an hour ago."

"It wasn't my fault I wasn't able to audition then," I say, making my way out of the room. 

When I get to the theater, I find Mrs. Black talking with the other judges.

"Mrs. Black?" I call. 

"Sam," she turns to me, "Are you okay now, girl?"

"Yes, in fact, I'm more than okay," I reply as enthusiastically as I can.

"That's good. I got quite frightened back there, you looked like a boiling meatball."

Hahaha.

"Can I help you with something?" she asks when she notices that I'm still standing there, looking like a lost child.

"Uh, about the audition I wasn't able to complete..." I trail off, unsure of what I was even saying.

"I'm sorry dear, but the auditions are over and we've already made our decision."

"But I wasn't even able to audition," I protest gently.

"I know, which is why you need to rest and fully recover. We don't want a case where you're rehearsing for the play and suddenly you pass out just like you did today."

"I won't pass out again I promise."

"We don't know that, I don't want anything bad happening to you because of a play. Your health comes first. Just take good care of yourself, okay," with that, Mrs. Black pats me on the shoulder and walks away to talk to someone else. She seems genuinely concerned about me but how do I convince her that I am okay now.

I turn around to find my friends staring at me sympathetically. They probably heard what Mrs. Black said to me. I run to them and hug them.

"It's okay, Sam. I'm sure you'll get another shot, maybe even a bigger shot," Sam says to me.

"Thanks Sandy," I reply, knowing that she's just trying to soothe me. 

"Say hello to your leading lady," we hear Allison say from behind us.

Here we go.