Limelight

Chapter Sixteen

~~Frustrations~~

"What do you mean I can't have a spot in the showcase?" Madison demanded in outrage.

Aaliyah sighed refraining from running a hand down her face as she strolled into class just as the bell rang for second period.

Madison was glaring angrily at their classmates, Link, and the twins Amaya and Kano, both with inky black hair, though Kano had frost tips and a fade, whilst Amaya had her hair pin-straight reaching her waist. They all stared back at Madison only a little intimidated by her rage. Link was the one to speak first his arms crossed over his chest. "Don't ask me, talk to Brodeur, we're just relaying the message," He caught sight of Aaliyah walking through the door first, much to her dismay. She wanted to slide into class unnoticed to avoid any confrontation, "In fact, maybe the teacher's pet can explain for you?" He said gesturing to her with a smirk.

Aaliyah rolled her eyes. Since word spread that her English Literature teacher, Miss Munroe had given her an extension for her book report a few weeks ago, courtesy of Madison, there had been a few people to give her a hard time about it. But Aaliyah wasn't all that bothered, it was just added to the list. The group turned to look at her at that, and she shook her head. "Nope," She said quickly moving past them to get to her seat avoiding the looks she received from her other classmates, "Don't involve me in whatever mess that is."

Madison made a face at her, to which Aaliyah replied with a smile. "Mrs. Brodeur said that since you were out for the past few weeks she had to give your spot away," Amaya said in a quiet voice, "She gave it to Sydney."

Madison seemed even more offended by that. "Sydney?" She said in disgust, "Sydney's not as good as I am."

"Uh, Sydney here," Sydney called out, sitting in the chair in front of Aaliyah, her newly cut bob shifting around her shoulders, showing more of her purple highlights, "I was also here for the past month. We couldn't press pause on practicing for the showcase because you were off talking a bunch of bullshit on talk shows and promoting your album. Which I loved by the way." She said adding quickly dropping a wink at Madison.

Madison didn't seem to hear the compliment and scowled at her. "Bullshit?" She echoed as if she didn't hear her properly, "I guess you must know what bullshit sounds like, growing up on a farm and all⁠—"

"Hey!" Kano called out holding a hand out to Madison cutting her off, "There's no need to fire shots that way. It's just one performance, and in the grand scheme of things not performing in it doesn't make much difference to you, since you know, you're already famous," He reminded her in a calm voice. Aaliyah smiled. She liked Kano, he was always kind to her, and she liked how protective of his best friend he was. Very rarely did someone talk shit about Sydney in front of him and got away with it, no matter who it was.

Madison opened her mouth to reply, her eyes narrowed on Kano like she was honing in on her prey when Brodeur walked into class looking around in interest. "Don't tell me I walked into a high school drama, did I?"

Aaliyah snorted. "High school dramas are above this," She muttered, but Sydney heard her turning around in her chair to laugh with her.

Madison whirled round to meet her at the door, forgetting completely about the three she was talking to. "Mrs. Brodeur, what's this I'm hearing about you giving Sydney of all people my spot in the winter showcase?" She demanded, lifting her chin proudly.

Everyone in the room groaned in exasperation. Aaliyah looked around the room, clearly, everyone was a little too tired of her holier-than-thou and pop star diva attitude. One of the things she liked about this class, no one really cared about her fame, because they were all determined to get to where she was anyway and beyond. They knew that she wasn't the best no matter how much she pretended that she was.