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She still had something to do.
Miss Allison tried to stop her, asking her to stop and wait for the police and paramedics. Noelle gave her no mind as she continued to smile.
"The show must go on," she murmured as she went straight for the stage, bypassing all attempts to stop her. She ignored the strange looks or the whispered words all around.
She simply stepped on to the stage and played.
For the audience, it was just a performance.
For Noelle, it was the end.
Just…the end.
8Noelle
"Do you realize what this means, Noelle?" Cisco asked her as he perused the contents of the document in front of him.
Noelle nodded.
"I don't want to go back to school either," she confirmed, though she didn't have much choice after the school had decided to expel her.
In a moment of shock coupled with what a doctor had called a manic episode, Noelle had performed on the stage of the celebrated Carnegie Hall covered in blood and brain matter from head to toe.
Initially, the audience had thought the gory display was part of the performance since Noelle's music had taken a lugubrious turn. But when the police arrived at the scene, evacuating everyone so they could conduct their investigation, they quickly realized the blood was very real.
Though Ann Marie's death had been ruled a suicide, Noelle had been judged harshly for her actions and the fact that she'd gone on to perform in such conditions.
Multiple news outlets had run the story, calling her themodern-day Carrie, with some even going as far as to suggest she might have had something to do with Ann Marie's death.
Of course, since there had been multiple witnesses at the scene who'd corroborated Noelle's account that it had been a suicide, the police had not pursued the matter further.
Regardless of the lack of legal implications, Noelle's reputation was in shambles. Not only were people reviling her for her gall to go on stage covered in the bodily fluids of her deceased classmates, but they were also calling her a psychopath.
Multiple blogs had already published their own conspiracy theories, and with accounts from multiple classmates who'd never liked Noelle, she suddenly became persona non grataeverywhere.It didn't matter that her name had been crossed out because she was a minor, or that her face had been blurred out. Everyone knew aboutpianist N who'd caused her classmate's death.
She couldn't even go outside for fear she might run into a media outlet looking for an interview, let alone go to school—evenif she hadn't been expelled.
The school's reasoning had been simple. They did not want the bad publicity associated with Noelle and had done everything in their power to separate themselves from her.
"Noelle," Cisco sighed. "We tried to make this go away but…" he trailed off, a weary look on his face. He would have been able to make it go away had she not performed that damned piece. Worst of all, someone had obtained CCTV images which showed her smiling after she'd left the crime scene—all more evidence for people to condemn her as the worst type of monster.
"Why is no one talking about the fact that she tried to kill me?" She looked up, meeting Cisco's gaze. "Why is no one talking about her stealing my piece? Or playing ugly pranks on me? Why amIthe bad guy?"
"People always love a show. And you gave them exactly that," Cisco added dryly.
"But you don't believe that I did what they say, do you?" She asked carefully, watching for his expression.
"Thomas gave us an account of what happened. It was clearly suicide," Cisco replied carefully.
It didn't escape Noelle that he never once said he believed her.
She blinked.
"If that's all for today, may I be excused?"
"Of course. We'll see you at dinner."
Noelle nodded absentmindedly as she went upstairs to her room.
