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"Or what? He would have died again?" Noelle rolled her eyes.
The slap that came her way this time was expected. Noelle moved her head to the side to avoid it, smirking as she saw her mother's eyes widening in shock.
"You're being impertinent!"
"Tell me something that's new," Noelle muttered under her breath, but Elena didn't hear her. She was too busy listing all of Noelle's faults.
"I don't know what I did to deserve an ungrateful daughter like you. Why couldn't you be more ladylike?"
"Maybe you got what you deserve,mamma," Noelle replied sweetly. "Look at this big house. It'sempty.And why? Everyone left," she paused, a sarcastic smile pulling at her lips. "Everyone left because ofyou.Even your beloved son would rather move from place to place than spend one minute in your presence."
"W—what…" Elena blinked.
Noelle continued to smile. After all, she knew far too well that Cisco was her favorite, just as he was the source of all her heartache. Whereas with Thadeo and Amo Elena was cordial enough, with Cisco she'd always been a mother hen, worrying about her baby and trying to keep him to her side.
Cisco, for his part, had always respected her and never badmouthed her.
Until Yuyu.
The moment he'd married her everything had changed. Yuyu had become theonlywoman in his life and Elena had been relegated to the sidelines.
And so Elena had started taking out her frustrations on Noelle more and more. If before her disappointment had been merely verbal, after a while it had become physical. A slap here, one there, who could stop her? After all, the two of them were the only ones residing in the house.
The staff saw, but never dared to speak where it wasn't their place.
"You only know how to drive people away,mamma. Don't worry. Iwillwin," Noelle stated with increasing confidence. "I will win this contest, and the next, and every one after that. I will win everything until I will be the best. And you know what happens then?" She wrenched her arm from her mother's grasp, but instead of walking away, she took a step closer, looking her mother straight in the eye.
"You won't be able to control me anymore," she told Elena in a slow, even tone.
Without waiting for her reply, she turned and left.
If there was one thing Noelle had in spades, aside from the musical talent everyone acknowledged, it was her obstinacy. She was stubborn as a mule, but when she put her mind to it, it became the strongest determination.
That night, though the anxiety was still killing her, Noelle went to bed with unwavering conviction.
She would win the contest. She would win them all.
Easier said than done, Noelle had to begrudgingly admit the next day when she spent more than half an hour simply staring at the stage gown she'd been sent by the school.
To add more weight to the listening component rather than the visual one, the school had decided to have all contestants wear the same attire.
The girls would wear a creamy beige dress while the boys would be donning a standard black suit.
Alas, Noelle set aside her dislike of the dress and put it on, adding on some light make up and getting ready for her big moment.
As she went to the auditorium where the contest would take place, one of the teachers appeared on the stage to list the order of the participants. Unfortunately for Noelle, she was last in the piano section, with Ann Marie right before her. That meant she had more time for her anxiety to grow.
The contest started, with the first sets taking up the entire morning.
Noelle alternated between backstage and sitting in the audience. Yet as she studied everyone present, she couldn't help the pang of disappointment that assailed her.
Elena would come, of course. She couldn't miss the moment when she could finally brag with her daughter. But Noelle didn't particularly see her mother as the support she so desperately wished for. And though she understood why her brother and Yuyu could not attend, she couldn't help but feel a little sad about it.
Everyone's parents, friends and extended family had come. She could hear the words of encouragement around, and the way other parents behaved with their children, once more awakening the gaping hole inside her chest.
And once more she tried to assure herself she didn't need it—that she was lucky enough to have a roof over her head, food in her belly and the chance to exercise her talent. She already knew that was far more than others had. Yet all the riches in the world could not make up for the fact that she was utterly and terrifyingly alone.
So alone, in fact, that she would have given anything to have someone care about her—appreciate her. She would have given up even her talent at the piano.
