PRIDE & PRINCESSES: A Pride and Prejudice (type) of teen story (Sunrise High #1)

Apologies and Whispers (chapter fourteen)

Chapter 14

Apologies and Whispers

    The year was half over. Mouche and I had not really been on any successful dates, and the treasure chest prizes all came about in unexpected ways. We didn’t  mind. The “treasure” was all part of the game. We stopped being so strict about how we obtained the items, which resulted in multiple sweaters and pens hoarded in a spare locker awaiting transfer to the real chest in Mouche’s  room. We could sort out what we needed at a later date. I hand washed, dried and ironed the black sweater and sewed a row of sparkling sequins around the edge. It would be perfect for New York. 

    When we arrived back at school the following Monday it seemed obvious that Jet had hooked up with Teegan after we left. We also noticed Tory had her hand hooked firmly into the pocket of Mark’s jeans as they all walked down the hallway together.

   “Men can be dogs,” Mouche whispered.

    I ignored the foursome, but I felt Mark’s stare in the small of my back as Mouche and I walked past them. 

   “Hey, Phoebe...” Mark said as I passed him, trying to disassociate himself from Tory.

    Mark tried to talk to me again during study hall and then at rehearsals but I ignored him. Later, we had dance rehearsal for the part of the play with the musical interlude. I was huddled in the corner of the theatre.

    “Now I’d like Phoebe to hold hands with...Mark, can you stand in for Peter?”

    “Help me,” I said under my breath when Mr Sparks tried to pair us up. I stood about as far away from Mark as possible. I looked in his direction only when I couldn’t  avoid it.

    Exasperated, Mr Sparks declared, “I have an announcement to make. Since Peter injured his foot on the weekend, Mark will stand in for him at rehearsals. He should be fine in a few days.”

    I groaned inwardly. Mark had gone from hero to zero all in the space of a week, in my opinion. A tiny bit of Mouche’s  pragmatism had entered my world. It was like I couldn’t  be light-hearted anymore.

    “I may have had my pride badly injured but I am determined not to let the seriously haughty Mark Knightly get to me,” I told Mouche.

    “Mark’s  behaviour puts them both under the microscope,” Mouche said, glancing at Jet.

    We rehearsed scene three, then during the dance number, Mr Sparks tried to make us touch hands again.

     “Enough already!” I announced, stealing Mouche’s  favorite line. I broke away from Mark. Peter barked, “Stop” to Ethan Mandel in his stage manager voice, giving the order from a chair to start again. I sighed and even Mark noticed (how could he miss) that I was so over him.

    “There is no way I am dancing with the understudy,” I said loudly to Mouche after Mr Sparks decided Mark and I should dance together since he was the only one left over (Mark had been hiding out in the lighting box trying to avoid his understudy duties). He towered over me, like I told you, and it was easy to avoid his eyes.

     “There is nothing in the world that could inspire me to touch his hand,” I added in a hoarse whisper. “In fact, I’d rather not be in the dance number at all.”

      Besides, I had my soliloquy to practice and there was no way he was going to succeed in putting me off my lines.

     “Drama queen,” Mr Sparks added under his breath, “while Miss Phoebe-the-Star has her own personal tantrum we’ll just continue with Act Two and come back to the dance scene tomorrow – oh and you two are definitely partners. The tension will create chemistry. You’ll just have to find a way to stop acting like children, start acting like young adults and make it work. Remember, it’s for extra credit.”