Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (20 page)

“Real
ly?
I never would have guessed.”

Elena laughed. Anya would be horrified at the thought of being with anyone who looked so rough and disheveled.

“She’s a good person
,
just a little prissy.”

Leon came onto the dance floor out of nowhere and began dancing with Elena and Darius. Elena felt him move closer and continue to dance provocatively. She could smell the alcohol as he breathed on her neck. She pushed him away, but he wasn’t moving.

“Back off
,
Leon.
What are you doing?”

“Just dancing with my
Ju
-
li
-et.”

“Juliet’s lying dead back in Verona and your Frankie is watching us closely so back off!”

“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Darius said, winking at Elena.

“No wait!” she said, trying to stop him
,
but Leon was grabbing her arms. Watching them, Darius turned and bumped into Anya, knocking her back onto a nearby couch with him on top.

“Get off me
,
you vagrant!” she yelled
,
pushing against his chest.

“Sorry! It was an accident.”

“Can’t you look we’re you’re going?” she screamed. Elena had never seen her so angry.

“You’re a bit hard to see down there, sweetie,” he said, grinning mischievously at her.

“Just get off me!” she yelled and shoved
him
hard away from her so that he rolled off the
sofa
. Her face went crimson with rage. She grabbed her jacket and stormed out.

Darius looked at
Elena
questioningly but she shook her head. Elena had never seen Anya like this. She was always so calm. She moved to go after her, but Leon was groping her insistently.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked Leon, pushing him away forcefully.

“I
ammm
an itsy bitsy bit drunk I
th
-think,” he said and hiccupped while still trying to slow dance with her.

“Man, you need to sober up before you make a fool of yourself at this party and get expelled. How did you get so much alcohol anyway?” she asked while keeping him away from her with her hand on his chest. She saw his face lose color and thought he was going to be sick.
“Oh man, we need to get you to a bathroom.”

She held him up with her arm around his waist and led him over to the men’s bathroom as quickly as possible. But he was unsteady on his feet and as they stumbled through the door, he fell down, pulling her down with him and somehow ending up as a heap on the ground, with him on top.

“Leon!” she groaned. “That hurt! You’re an awful drunk. Get off me before you spew all over me.”

He started giggling and Elena couldn’t help
but to laugh,
too. This was so incredibly ridiculous and uncomfortable. She was lying on the cold concrete floor of the men’s bathroom, trying to get Leon’s drunken ass off her so he could throw up in a toilet. 

“Come on Leon, you weigh a ton.”

Elena hadn’t had a chance to get Leon off her completely when Frankie walked in and saw them
piled on top of each other.

“What the hell is going on here?” Frankie yelled, a small crowd behind her including Letitia. Elena could see how this looked bad
-
though she wondered why Frankie and a crowd of thousands were in the men’s bathroom. 

“Well,” Elena said as she tried to push Leon off
,
“I was trying to get Leon to the bathroom before he threw up. We just made it through the door when he tripped and fell and he we all are.” Frankie glared at her. “Some help would be nice.”

No one moved except Leon, who finally managed to pull himself up to reach the urinal and start vomiting.

Elena was relieved to be off the floor and eager to escape the sounds coming from Leon.

The crowd moved back as Elena walked out of the bathroom. “Quite a line for the bathroom isn’t it?” What was the big deal? Leon was
sic
k
. Everyone could hear it.

“You bitch! It wasn’t enough you had to play Juliet and
pretend
to seduce him was it?”

“Frankie, what are you talking about? Leon is drunk. I was just—”

“You.
You have to have it all. It’s not enough that you’re smart and can act and can dance and sing.”

“Maybe not sing, honey,” Letitia piped in.

“But you had to take advantage of Leon the one time he is
drunk
at the most important
party
of the year!”

Letitia’s friends were standing behind Frankie with crossed arms, nodding their heads in support.

“Frankie, you’re totally blowing this out of proportion. I told you what happened. I was helping Leon to the bathroom before he spewed all over the school hall and got suspended for drinking on premises,” Elena said working hard to remain calm. 

“Liar!”
Frankie screamed at her. “I saw you dancing with him. I’m not blind. I could feel Leon distancing himself and now I know why.
Slut!”
With that
,
Frankie slapped Elena.

Elena held her hand to her cheek. She couldn’t believe this. This was insane. It was like she was in a bad soap opera.

“Frankie,” Elena said through gritted teeth, feeling her anger rising, “I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink, too. Why don’t we continue this conversation tomorrow morning when you and Leon have both sobered up?” She turned to walk away but Frankie grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“No, let’s talk about this now. Let’s talk about how you flirt with all the boys but give up nothing,” Frankie hissed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about and this is really not the time or place,” Elena said. She was losing patience. Letitia and Frankie’s friends were surrounding them now and closing in slowly. Elena started to panic. Darius and Sebastien had managed to join the circle too, with Sebastien pushing through to the front.
Someone on her side at least.

“I can help here,” Letitia said, obviously enjoying
herself
. “Let’s take Sebastien, for instance. You always hang around him but you won’t date him. You won’t have him but you won’t let anyone else have him either.”

There were mumbles of agreement from these strangers. 

“First, what does Seb have to do with anything? He is free to talk and see whoever he pleases. It’s not my fault he doesn’t like you, Letitia.”

Sebastien smiled and winked at her.

“And what about Leon?”
Frankie said, spitting out the words. “Couldn’t wait to get your claws into him could you? First you act all friendly, then you manage to recruit him to be your lover in the play and spend extra time rehearsing. You trick him into kissing you on stage and then, the one chance you find him drunk, you’re all over him!” With that, Frankie shoved Elena forcefully.

She knew she could beat Frankie down with one hand, but she wasn’t sure she could take on her whole army. Where were the adults when you needed them?

The crowd was closing in on her and Elena was feeling claustrophobic. She clenched her fists to maintain control though she was sure she couldn’t take much more.

“
You
know damn well I have never looked at Leon the wrong way, flirted with him or in any way encouraged him, so if you have a problem with Leon,
work it out with
him and leave me out of it!”

“No,” Letitia said. “Let’s
deal with this
here and now.” She rolled up her sleeves prepared for a battle.

“Letitia
,”
Elena said raising her hand to Letitia’s face
,
“
can you please stay out of this? This has nothing to do with you.”

“Oh yes it does. Frankie is my friend.”

“Well, bitch, if she was your friend, you would be more concerned about stopping her from making a fool of herself right now than in trying to get me back. Get over it already.”

“Get out of my face!” Frankie yelled hysterically. “How dare you speak to my friends like that? Who do you think you are?” And she shoved Elena again. That was it. One slap and two shoves
was
beyond any human limit. She was sick of Frankie’s crap. She’d had enough of Letitia
,
and she
’d
had enough of boys kissing her whenever they felt like. Elena exploded, driving her head straight into Frankie’s stomach, bringing her crashing to the ground.

“Fight!
Fight! Fight!” the crowd yelled as Elena slapped and hit Frankie.

Darius stepped in and pulled Elena off Frankie while Sebastien held Frankie back.

Elena fought against Darius’s restraint, no longer able to contain all her anger and frustration with both Frankie and Letitia.

“Good luck to you both! You deserve each other!” Elena yelled as Darius dragged her away
, her limbs flailing against his grip
.

“Go to hell, Elena!” Frankie replied. “I hate you!”

Elena stopped resisting Darius and looked back at Frankie. There was nothing but spite in her face. Her body sagged into Darius, defeated. How
did this happen
? She turned and continued to walk away, tears rolling down her face.

Sebastien watched Letitia
roll her tongue over her lips as she stared at Elena’s back.
“Happy?” he said.

“De-lighted,” she said inspecting her nails, a grin on her face.

He shook his head and began to walk off.

“How can you be her friend, Seb?” she said. “She uses you like she uses everyone else. It’s all about Elena. Doesn’t that bother you?”

Sebastien didn’t bother responding.

“You know she’s lied to you.”

Sebastien tensed but didn’t respond.

“My God, are you that blind?” Frankie said to his back.
“Don’t
worry
,
you’ll get your dose. She’ll hurt you just like she hurt me. It’s her nature. If she doesn’t get her way, she’ll simply push you aside.”

Sebastien turned and looked at the two girls staring at him, their eyes narrows slits filled with hate. He shook his head. “I’ll take my chances, thanks.”

Somehow, he was no longer in the mood to party. The atmosphere was destroyed and despite his dislike of Letitia and Frankie he squirmed, thinking that they knew something about Elena that he didn’t. Why was she hiding something from him? Maybe there was more to that Leon kiss than she implied. But no, he knew that was not true. It was that song she wrote with Jay. “Please don’t let it be what I think it is,” he prayed quietly, his shoulders slouched and his hands in his pockets.

Leaving the hall, he found a distraught Elena speaking with Darius and Veronika.

“Thanks Darius. I’m sorry you had to see that. I don’t know how it all started.”

“It’s all good,” he replied calmly.
“Just one of those things.
I’ll leave you girls to it then.”

“How am I goin
g to go home looking like this?”
She smelled her top. “I even smell like alcohol. Shit! Leon probably had some on his clothes.”

“We’ll stop at my place first and we’ll work something out,” Veronika said.

“I didn’t do anything Veronika, I swear. How could Frankie say those things about me?”

“Don’t worry. I know you didn’t do anything. She has her own issues. She’s just taking it out on you. And Letitia, well she was just being Letitia.”

“But Frankie was my friend. How could she think that of me?” Elena said, a single tear trailing her face. “I cared about her.”

Sebastien held out his arms and she fell into them relieved. “Don’t worry
,
El. There was nothing more you could do. Her mind had already been corrupted and she was hurt by Leon, so she needed someone to blame. You were an easy target.”

Elena relaxed into his chest. She felt so safe there but she could feel the tears staining his shirt.

“Thanks Seb,” she said as the car horn blew. She pulled away looking at him briefly with her puffy eyes and then jumped into the car with Veronika and her dad. She leaned her head against the window and sighed. What a crap
py
way to end the freshman year euphoria.

Twenty-seven

Elena
lay
across her bed, stomach down and chin on hands, looking at Sebastien on her computer screen through Skype.

“My mom has a new job
-
Assistant Manager for a hotel group. You know what that means? More shift work for her and more freedom for me. Woo
hoo
!” Elena said, crossing her legs behind her.