SEASON 4 - LUKANETTE

LUKANETTE SEASON 4 - SOLE CRUSHER - PT 3

ZOE'S POV

After school I was back in Chloe's room. Chloe was searching through her closet, throwing shoes out of it.

'No' Chloe says as she throws a shoe. 'No.' She throws another shoe. I was sitting at the end of Chloe's bed, when I got a text message as Chloe continues to search for shoes. I see it is a message from Marinette. I open it worriedly, half expecting it to be mean because of the way I treated her this morning. But what she said surprised me.

Marinette: I can tell something is keeping you from being yourself. If it's Chloe, we can talk about it tonight, if you want. You're still welcome to come to the Barge.

I smile a relieved smile, but look up to see Chloe still throwing shoes around.

'Ridiculous!' she says as a shoe hits the ground.

I quickly text Marinette back.

Me: Sorry. I'll explain tonight.

I send the reply, but Marinette's picture and name pop up as it sends.

Chloe sees me messaging. 'Are you texting Dupain-Cheng?! I warned you! You walk over people, or I walk over you! Either you're proud to be who you are, proud to be a part of my family and you walk in my footsteps, or you clear out!'

I realised I have to put on an act to make Chloe like me and accept me. It was the only way. I had been doing it for so long in New York it was almost automatic now.

'Are you through?' I replied. 'This is all just part of my plan! I trick Dupain-Cheng into thinking I'm her friend, and tonight at the Barge I'll throw her disgusting macarons into the Seine, in front of all of her friends! Total humiliation.'

Chloe gasps and smiles. 'Brilliant! Utterly brilliant!' She puts a pair of diamond encrusted gold shoes in my hands. Then she jumps on her bed with a journal and a pen.

'So, how about 'stick a wad of chewing gum on her chair'? No, done that. Oh! 'Get her punished for something she didn't do'! Too easy' Chloe says.

She gasps. 'Roaches! Roaches in her locker! Yes!' I look at her horrified as flashbacks of what happened to me in New York came flooding back. I really didn't want to be a part of this and make such a nice girl like Marinette feel the same pain I felt. My heart began to ache. Chloe sits up on her bed as I try to sneak away. 'How amazing am I?' she says as she notices me walking away. 'Hey! Where are you going?!'

I had to think of something fast. 'I'm...' I turn to Chloe with my best positive expression. '...going to try them on outside' I reply as I lift the shoes up. 'I want to see the diamonds sparkle in the sunlight.'

I walk onto the rooftop area sadly, as Chloe goes back to scheming in her journal.

When I reach the roof, I look out over the street. I look at the shoes with disdain as they seemed to represent the horrible person I was becoming. I want to throw them off, but then I realised I wouldn't know how to explain to Chloe that I lost a pair of her shoes. I would most likely be sent back to New York for sure. I put my head on the rooftop railing and began to cry silent tears, wishing this nightmare would end.

Chloe's dad, André comes up to me. 'Is everything okay, Zoe?'

I quickly wipe the tears from me eyes, and smile.

André smiles back as he looks out over the railing. 'When I was young, I wanted to make movies, tell stories. Ah, that was the real me. But it made very clear to me that in order to earn my place, I had to let certain dreams go.' He looked sad as he turned to me. 'What about you? What are your dreams?'

'Well...' I replied. 'At first, I– I wanted to be an actress. I'm good at acting. Then I found myself acting all the time, playing these different roles trying to please everyone, until I couldn't do it anymore.'

André looks at me in sympathy.

'I just want to be accepted for being me, the real me.' I could feel the tears coming again so I cover my eyes with my arm. 'And now it's happening all over again, I just can't...'

André puts his hand on her shoulder. 'Let me show you something.' He takes me to a hidden cellar on the roof and opens it.

'I call this, my Cellar of Dreams.' In the cellar was a camera, some film reels, a Solitude script among many others, and three film booklets, one of them which he picks up. 'It can be lonely when even your own family can't accept you for who you are.' He holds the booklet to his chest. 'We end up burying out feelings deep, here.' He puts the booklet back in the cellar. Then he turns to me. 'If you want, I can make some space for you.'

He's hardly the motivational speaker I thought to myself. Yet this guy is mayor of Paris? I was hoping for a solution where everyone is happy, including me. But then I remembered what Chloe said: 'I warned you: either you walk over people, or I walk over you!'

I look down at my shoes sadly. I decided to resign to my fate. I take my shoes off and put the shoes in the cellar. I look down, hurt, as Andre closes the cellar door, as if that was the end of that chapter of my life. The only one I felt like myself.