Love, Loathing, and Limelight

Chapter Ten

I thought I'd sleep it off, but I still missed him when I woke up and was ready to start a new day. He hadn't left the city, and I wanted to see him. But I knew I couldn't dwell on it. Sure, I might not get to see him again, which might suck, but I have to get back to my life. I have ballet camp to focus on, and I will enjoy the rest of my senior summer. Surely I can't let his absence dictate the rest of my summer. He's just a friend- a good friend- but still just a friend. Friends come and go. I can't hold on. And it's not like I'm completely cutting him out. I'll keep in contact.

When it was time for my next mid-week rehearsal, Mr. Lee had us gather for announcements towards the end. He had a paper in his hand and was smiling at me. I knew what it was. One of the moments I had been waiting for since my freshman year; the announcement of the captains. I had been the representative of my grade every year since my freshman year. There's a rep for every grade, then there are three captains overall that are seniors, and it makes up the leadership team.

"Okay, everybody," he announced. He put his glasses on and smiled as he read the list aloud. I eagerly waited for him to reveal the seniors.

"Hey Sara," Ari said.

"Hey," I said. "Did you apply for leadership?" I asked her. Ari had always talked about it but never did it.

"God no, but uh, Chris did," Ari said as she patted Chris's shoulder. He gave her a mean look. "He told me not to tell anybody." It was kind of surprising. Chris was a reserved guy. Despite his talent, I never thought he'd want to be in leadership, so you could imagine how surprised I was when he was chosen for senior rep.

"Ballet Captain, Sara Connor," Mr. Lee said. Everybody clapped. I was kind of expecting it. It's been my number one goal since the beginning. "And the assistant captain is Hallie Kim," said Mr. Lee as he quickly folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Hallie leaned against the wall with her bag on her shoulder and her arms crossed. She was not happy, but I don't know how she didn't see it coming. I sure did. We were dismissed after that.

Ari, Chris, and I walked out. Chris was glowing, trying to keep his smile contained.

"Chris, how come you didn't tell me you applied?" I asked. I could have helped him. There is so much I could have done because of my position in this program. Why would he not want to take advantage of that? He looked at me weirdly.

"You would have laughed," he said. I quickly had to put that thought to rest.

"Of course not, Chris-"

"No, you would have," he interrupted. "Sara, you're the most talented dancer at this school. When I came to freshman camp, I had just moved from Brazil. I didn't have any friends. I told myself I would be on the leadership team as a freshman, but I saw you on the first day, and you showed so much more talent and effort than anybody. It made me realize I was worse than Ari, no offense Ari," he quickly added.

"None taken," Ari said casually. He was right. He was the worst dancer at one point.

"It shocked the living hell out of me when the best dancer chose the two worst dancers to be her friends. Once again, no offense, Ari. But I kept working, and here I am. You would have laughed if I had ever talked about it before it was a reality." I didn't know how to take that.

"Chris, I don't know why you would ever think that," I said as I looked at him. How could one of my best friends feel like that for years? Is it my fault? How could he think I never noticed how hard he was working?

"It's okay," he interrupted my thoughts. "We're cool."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"Guys, if there's anything I can do to be a better friend, just tell me," I said. They both looked at me funny. "What?"

"That does not sound like something Sara Connor would say," Ari said.

"I know," I said. "Just tell me. Promise?"

"Okay, Sara," Chris said.

I ended my day, like most days, by talking to Noah over video chat. When I answered, I saw that he was outside somewhere dark.

"Hey," he said, excited as always.

"Hi," I said. "Where are you?"

"Uhh," he hesitated. "Paris." I scoffed. "What?"

"Nothing, you're just casually calling me from Paris. I'm jealous. Why are you even talking to me? Go enjoy your trip."

"No, I wanted to talk to you," he said. "What'd you do today?"

"I went to dance practice," I said. "I'm the ballet captain for the year."

"Of course," he said.

"You?" I asked.

"Nothing much, just a couple of press conferences."

"How have things been?" I asked.

"Well, I'm still in trouble," he said. "It's not been great, but I expected that. I just wasn't ready, you know? It all happened so fast, and I didn't have time to prepare myself to come back to this." As I continued to talk to him, I thought about the fact that he was literally in Paris, and he still wanted to talk to me. 

Hello, lovelies! Hope you are doing well. Do you guys like Noah? I think he's the sweetest. What do you guys think? LMK! Or don't. Live your life! Have a good day :)