Passion and Pain (Dancers and Divas) (30 page)

Elena looked around at her friends, happy and playful. Darius was right. Sometimes they just needed to enjoy music without caring or performing or competing.

Sebastien was the first man down. At around midnight, he lay down across the floor to sleep.  The others continued to sing and dance around him, sometimes changing his position, just for fun. By about two a.m., Elena admitted fatigue. ”I’m done.”

“Ah, me too,” Veronika said as she slumped into the sofa.

Anya was still singing. “
We’ve created a monster,
” Elena said.

“I’ll take her up,” he said as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder to take her to her room.

“Can you carry me up too?” Veronika said as she pulled herself out of the sofa.

He dropped Anya onto her bed and pulled her shoes off. She continued singing with her pretend microphone.

“O
K
now, time for bed.”

Veronika and Elena had dragged themselves up by that stage.

“We’ll take care of the rest,” Elena said. “You deal with Seb downstairs.”

He nodded as he left the girls to get ready for bed.

“Bye Dari,
wari
,” she said as she waved furiously at him.

He waved back, an amused smile on his face before closing the door behind him.

“Did you have a good time
,
Anya?” Elena said as she stripped Anya and put her into her pajamas.

“Darius is so cute isn’t he?” she said giggling.

“Yes, he is.”

“I had fun! Thank you
,
Elena,” she said, hugging her tightly. “Thank you
,
Roni
,” she said, hugging her as well. Veronika and Elena looked at each other grinning. Anya would be horrified to know how different she was that night.

“Oh my god,” Anya said suddenly, sitting up in bed. “Did we dance like strippers in front of the boys?”

“Y
u
p,” Veronika said.

Anya thought for a moment. “Oh well.” She then lay back down into her bed and snuggled into her pillow sighing. “I’m a sexy girl,” she murmured to herself.

Elena and Veronika could only giggle. They couldn’t wait to remind her of what she had said and done.

Thirty-seven

“Couple of the year,” read the article in the school newspaper.

“
Roni
, what is this about?” Elena asked as she slammed the school newspaper on the lunch table.

“Oh look, it’s a photo of you and Jay, making out.”

“Couple of the year?
Are you kidding?”

“It’s news. What can I say?” Veronika said. “You should take it as a compliment.”

“
Roni
, my mom is going to see this newspaper
,
and so will all the teachers.”

“Trust me Elena, they’ve all seen you.” Elena blushed deeply. It couldn’t be that bad could it? They tried to be discrete whenever they made out, but when it came to Jay, she couldn’t help herself.

“There have been many famous couples at Montacrue High School but none can compare to the great romance of Elena Martinez and Jeremiah Washington, who can frequently be spotted showing their affection throughout the school,” Elena read aloud.
“Really Veronika?
That sounds like we
’
re sex fiends!”

“It’s not that bad,” Anya said quietly. Elena glared at Anya. “I mean,
it’s quite romantic that you can’t keep your hands off each other.”

Veronika giggled with Anya, but Elena just sunk her head back down into her arms.

“Hey babe,” Jay said kissing her gently on the back of her head.

“Get away from me,” Elena said as she waved him away, keeping her head down. “There will be someone waiting to take a photograph.”

“I wouldn’t get too ahead of
yourself
, Elena. You will be yesterday’s news tomorrow,” Veronika said.

Jay just laughed. “Hey, I look like a regular Romeo from this article.”

“Not funny,” Elena mumbled from the table surface.

“Come on honey, it’s not that bad. It’s nice for people to think we have something special,” Jay said as he rubbed the top of her head affectionately.

Elena slowly lifted her head. “I guess.”

“There you go, that’s a much better view.” He looked at Veronika mischievously. “Maybe we should give them a real show.” He lifted Elena onto his lap and kissed her gently, intimately, right there in front of them. Anya blushed furiously and looked away.

“Okay, okay, point taken,” Veronika said but they didn’t stop.

Some kids came past and cheered and others just made comments like “Get a room,” but still they kept going. It wasn’t
’
til the bell rang that they stopped to take a breath. Anya and Veronika had long gone by then.

“I love you, you know that Elena
?
” Jay said as held her face and gazed into her eyes. Elena was stunned. He had never said that to her before. She blinked for a few moments to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.

“I love you, too, Jay,” she whispered. She couldn’t believe she had said that.  She kissed him again.

“Ahem, lover birds.
The bell has rung,” said a passing teacher.

“We’ll catch up later okay?” Jay told her. Elena could only nod as she floated off to her next class. He loved her.

Sebastien was pacing furiously around the lunch table the next day. As Elena approached, he threw the newspaper onto the table. “So it’s getting serious, eh?”

“We love each other,” Elena said.

“You love something that doesn’t exist.”

“What are you talking about and why are you being such a shit? You haven’t sat here in weeks and when you do, it’s just to be an ass to me. I didn’t write the article. Yell at Veronika.”

Veronika and Anya sat silent.

“You really frustrate me sometimes. You are so, so naïve!” he said. He ran his fingers through his hair and paced.

“Just because you’ve dated half the girls in the school, doesn’t mean all guys are like that. If you want to be a player, that’s your problem. I would have expected more from you, that’s all.”

“You mean like your perfect Jay,” he retorted.

“Yes! What is your problem?”

“I hate the hypocrisy. You only see in him what you want to see. What do you have in common besides lust for each other?”

“What, um, well, there’s music of course. We wrote songs together, remember? And we both work hard to make our dreams happen. What more in common could we have?”

“Really?
When was the last time you wrote a song together? Did you ever think that maybe it was a ploy to get you into bed? He didn’t even properly credit you for the songs you did do,” Sebastien continued.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. In the end, he’s the songwriter and I just helped him out a couple of times. I think of it as fate bringing us together,” Elena said.

“Yeah, well I’m a guy and I’m telling you, he just wants one thing and as long as he gets it, he’ll be happy.”

Elena slapped him.
Hard.
“What the hell do you know?” she screamed. “You hardly know him!”

“Oh I know him
all right
,” Sebastien hissed. “Half the senior year knows him!”

“What the hell does that mean?” Elena yelled at him.

“I mean it in the Biblical sense.”

“That’s not true! He had one long term girlfriend before me and hadn’t dated anyone since then.”

“No he didn’t date them, he just screwed them!”

“You’re lying!” she screamed.

“Yeah, ask him. Ask your precious Jay how perfect he is and then come and yell at me.”

Elena shoved him away and ran off, tears in her eyes. How could Sebastien be so cruel?
Kind,
caring Sebastien.
What the hell had gotten into him?
That stupid articl
e.
Making things up about Jay -
now that was going too far. 

“What is wrong with you?” Veronika said.

“That was a bit harsh, Seb,” Anya said.

“I’m sick of hearing talk about how perfect Jay is and how immoral the rest of us are. The guy is
the
player of the school and she’s too naive to realize.” He picked the newspaper up.
“To have this thrown in my face.
Why haven’t you warned her?” he said to Veronika. “You must have known.”

“I recently came across a similar rumor,” Veronika admitted. “But they are obviously in love. I’m not going to ruin their relationship based on his past. You can see he’s treating her well.”

“Right, by lying to her!” he said as he began tearing the newspaper into pieces. “Has she slept with him yet?”

“I really don’t think that concerns you. If Elena had told me I still wouldn’t tell you.”

Sebastien slumped into the chair and put his head in his hands. “Can’t she see he’s not right for her?”

“What? And you think becoming a world class ass
i
s
going to make her choose you? Have you met Elena?” Anya said.

“
I can’t wait around forever. I have needs, too, you know.”

“Yeah and what Elena needs is her best friend. Where did he go?” Anya said.

Sebastien stood slowly and dragged his feet to class, his thoughts in turmoil. He knew he had been unkind and hurtful to Elena. Seeing her with Jay was driving him crazy even before he had to read about them in the newspaper! Damn it! Everything was wrong! He was dating a senior he cared absolutely nothing about, just because she reminded him of Elena. He flirted with the girls in the hope that one would look at him the way Elena did when he was talking crap. But they all simply gushed and batted their eyelids. Boring!
And the thought of Jay touching her!
He screwed up the newspaper and threw it
away
. If she slept with him, he would kill Jay for sure. He wandered into the building, hands in pockets, full of self-pity. God, what class did he have?
Who cared?
Suddenly, he felt himself being shoved through a door into darkness. What
the
? He adjusted to the darkness to realize he was in a storage room.
With Letitia.
Great, just what he needed.

“Well, well Sebastien,” she purred while tracing his chest with her long fingernail. “Seems Jay and Elena have become a bit of an item.”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t think you like it any
more than I do, and I have an idea that would send Elena running back to you. I mean that is what you want, right?”

Sebastien sighed.
The devil at work.
“Really?
Since when did you care what Elena wanted?”

She leaned in closer. “Come on now
,
Sebbie
,” she said stroking his face. “
Think about it. If we were dating, she would be so
jealous,
she couldn’t help but want you.” She moved in to kiss him.

Sebastien pushed her away. “I would rather date the school mascot.”

Letitia slapped him. “You fool! You should be so lucky to date me instead of that second-hand slut. I know you want me too!” she said. She pressed her body against him and caressed his back. “Is it worth the sacrifice?”

“The only thing dating you would do is
ruin
any chance I have of being with Elena
-
your perfect revenge.” Sebastien pushed her away, shaking his head, aware that his body was reacting to her unconsciously. “You are some piece of work.”

“You are going to live regret this,” Letitia said as he opened the door to leave, “Nobody says no to me. Did you hear me?
Nobody!”

Sebastien didn’t look back. He ignored the stares from the students passing by and just kept walking, desperate to escape. He didn’t even know
why
he bothered fighting so hard. Elena had moved on. Why couldn’t he?

Thirty-eight

Anya had felt so different ever since her birthday. When she saw herself dancing and singing on the video footage, she was mortified at first. But then, she also felt relieved. It was like her friends had seen her at her worst and it didn’t matter. “I can do this,” she said to herself. “I am not afraid.” She repeated this to herself as she met Darius for their next session.

“So Anya,” Darius said as she entered, “are we ready for partner work?”

“Sure,” she said confidently. “Do you know how to lift people?”