I smile all the way back to my seat.
Everything I ever wanted has come to me.
But you can get everything you ever want in life and never fit in.
"Taylor, may I talk to you a moment? In the hallway?"
The hallway.... Um...
Anxiety builds inside of me.
"Nicole, maybe in a minute..." My teeth chatter.
"No. Now." Her tone is firm.
"I said in a min-" but before I can finish she grabs my wrist and practically drags me out of the theater.
"Now, little miss Taylor, I know you think you know places you can't be found- but think again!"
"What?" I'm starting to think this is definitely about the... thing that happened.
"Don't be stupid. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"
"What are you even talking about?" Perhaps I can keep the innocent schtick going.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You kissed Ed! "
She knows. Oh, what more could go wrong?
"Really? Where's your proof?" I raise one eyebrow at her. "Did you videotape it or something?"
"Why, now that you mention it...." She cackles. "I did!"
She pulls out a videocamera, presses a few buttons, and BAM! There it is.
Ed kisses me passionately and I kiss back. But then I pull away. Ed... we shouldn't have... What about Nicole?
Who cares about Nicole. I love you.
I'm a cheater...
Nicole looks a little lost in thought during that part. Sad, almost. And I can almost feel bad for her. Almost.... But she's just such a witch!
"Well, well, well. There's my proof, Taylor. And I'm going to show it to the whole world. And if there really are Martians out there, I'll show it to them, too!"
I notice a puddle of water on the floor. And I have only one chance.
I grab the video camera out of her hands and throw it at the puddle of water as hard as I can.
She picks it up. It's shattered across the top- somehow, it didn't scatter everywhere. The camera starts making fizzling sounds from the water and turns black.
A look of hatred and dismay comes across her face. "You little-"
"Nicole, next time you try something like this, make sure there's not a puddle of water in our presence... Or at least not one I can see."
She makes the most aggrivated sound I've ever heard and stalks off.
A few minutes later I return to my seat. "Taylor, where are you?" Meghan calls out. "You've just won the Best Genre Change Award!"
They have one of those?
I run up to the stage. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! This means a lot to me, as for the past few years... I've wanted not to change what I wrote, but how I made it sound. And I'd like to thank my buddies Max and Johan for introducing me to the lovely sound of pop. Thanks, guys!" I take a bow and run offstage.
I fake a smile to the crowd. Now it's not anxiety I feel- it's guilt.