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When Sara’s name was called, I sat up a little straighter. She walked out on stage, her gorgeous ballerina costume on point. She looked amazing, and what was more, she knew it. Sara knew how to command a stage and how to get everyone looking at her. I wasn’t the only person in the audience holding my breath, but I was pretty sure that I was the only one holding it because I couldn’t wait to see her completely mess up and make a fool of herself.
Flexing her legs and extending her arms above her head, she posed, then nodded off the side of the stage. There was a soft click as the music turned on and then it started to play.
Immediately she could tell that something was wrong. It was obvious by the way her eyes widened as she tried to catch the beat. A few measures passed and she still stood there, blood slowly draining from her face.
The dance teacher, Mrs. Barthel, ran out onto the stage to talk to her as someone turned off the music. Sara turned to her, gesturing wildly, her face now growing red. Brett shifted in his seat next to me, like he was going to stay something to me, but I didn’t move or look at him.
My eyes were locked on Sara. I wanted to see her face public humiliation, and I was getting my wish.
After a moment, both Mrs. Barthel and Sara were nodding, and the teacher ran off the stage while Sara struck her pose again. The music started again and Sara closed her eyes, obviously trying to feel the beat.
But it was so much slower than what she had practiced that I knew she was going to struggle. She threw herself into it, though, trying to control her movements as she slowed down what she had done in practice.
I watched, my eyes bright and wide, as she failed time and time again to hit her beats with the music. She simply couldn’t slow down well enough while still keeping her form, and she looked like she’d never practiced a day in her life. Halfway through the song, she burst into tears and ran from the stage, her long skirt flowing behind her.
The audience didn’t move. I swear, you could hear people trying to hold their breath as everyone worked to figure out what had just happened. Sara was known for being the best ballerina in the area, and to see her crash and burn so hard was unheard of.
My heart had been slamming in my chest the entire time she was on the stage. As soon as she fled, however, I felt it start to slow down. I did it. She was humiliated, angry, and finally had a taste of what I’d been dealing with since coming to school.
Brett squeezed my thigh but I didn’t even look down at his hand. I was too focused on what was going to happen next.
Finally the announcer came out on the stage, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, it appears that we’ve had a problem with the music, which, unfortunately, means that she’s disqualified since she was not able to complete her performance. We’re going to, uh, move on with the next piece. Let’s have a round of applause for Sara, though, to let her know that we are thinking of her and that we love her.”
He started clapping and slowly the momentum grew though the auditorium as people began to clap for her, but even then it was scattered and light. I couldn’t move my hands from gripping the armrests. It had worked.
I’d managed to humiliate Sara without touching her.
“Was that you?” Brett’s face was pale when I turned to look at him. “You did that?”
Slowly, I nodded, then I got up to leave. I didn’t care to watch the rest of the competition. Sara was disqualified, and that’s all that I cared about.
The rogues followed me outside. Once the door shut behind us, I sighed and took a deep breath of air, enjoying the way it filled me. Seeing Sara fail spectacularly on the stage was every bit as sweet as I thought it would be. She wouldn’t win the competition, and since she had been disqualified, she wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the graduation competition.
I spun in a slow circle, my face tilted up to the sky. It just felt so damn good to know that I’d managed to take her down a notch or two. The night air was cool on my skin and I closed my eyes, letting it wash over me.
She had one thing that she loved more than anything in the world, and I took it from her. I had to admit, it felt amazing. I’d do it all again, if I could. My only regret was that I hadn’t been filming it, but other people had, and I had no doubt that it would be online before the morning.
“You.”
The voice cut through my thoughts and I opened my eyes, turning fast enough to see Sara as she lunged at me. Brett moved faster, though, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her back.
“You did this to me! How did you do it, huh? What did you do to my music?” She snarled, her teeth bared at me as she lunged against Brett’s grasp. “I’ll kill you, you fucking bitch! I swear to God, you’re dead!” She spat at me, but I jumped back in time, slamming into Jackie’s strong chest.
He instinctively put his arms around me and I relaxed back, feeling him comfort and protect me.
“What’s wrong, Sara? Feeling back that you fucked up on stage? It must suck to realize that you’re really not as good as you thought you were, huh?”
“Probably the same feeling that you get every time you look at your slut of a mother, huh? That why your dad died? He probably wanted to kill himself rather than live with you two.” Her eyes were still bright but she’d stopped straining against Brett’s grasp.
Taking a deep breath, I lunged from Jackie’s arms towards her. Jackie tried to hold me back, but I twisted out of his arms. I loved my rogues, but I almost wished that they weren’t involved right now. I wanted to be able to handle this on my own.
Sara’s face was twisted with rage and was bright red from the effort of trying to pull away from Brett, but she didn’t scare me any longer. Any power that she thought she might have had was gone. I’d taken it and then enjoyed watching her flail and fail on stage in front of everyone.
“Listen, Sara, you fucked up when you tried to get me to leave Taylor Prep. I deserve to be here more than you do, and you finally got what was coming to you. You want to make yourself useful? Go and tell your other little harpy friends that I’m coming for them, too.” Reaching out I grabbed the edge of her ballerina skirt and tugged. “It really was unfortunate that you weren’t able to perform, Sara. I’m sure that you had some college scouts in the audience, didn’t you?”
Her face paled and I knew that I was right. Of course, I was right. Any student who thought that they may be good enough to dance in college would have someone there watching them. Sara was probably hoping for a scholarship, and I’d taken that away.
It felt amazing.
