PART TWO

"Alright," Charlotte shouts through the bullhorn, "you can all grab a seat now and put your eyes on me." Students shuffle around, trying desperately to find a seat good enough to see and hear her. I wonder to myself, why they need to see more of her, but I keep the thought in the confines of my mind.

When we're all sitting down, she raises the bullhorn to her lips and starts speaking once again, "So, the setting up is obviously not for the play." she says smiling, "But fear not, it's actually for the awards ceremony we're having here. It's annual; yes, but this time the ceremony will be held in accompaniment to my birthday-- hence the mandatory attendance."

We all are in shock, well, some more than others. Her groupies are being way too loud to just be normally surprised, and the wannabe's who try to gain her approval are all squealing with excitement. However, Charlotte's eyes are not on either of them, they're placed firmly on me.

Dark brown eyes that pierce my soul each time I manage to stare too keenly at her, it's a terrifying thing, but she enjoys doing it. "Yuki Vit," she spits as she says my name, "are you even supposed to be here?"

My eyes widen in horror because the public humiliation is about to start. This is why I remain invisible; so that the few stares from glaring eyes wouldn't be from hundreds. "Why do you still come to this school Yuki? You've technically finished high school, so what's the point of coming back here every day?" she asks.

Everything that Charlotte says is being hurled at me through the bullhorn. I want to run away, and disappear behind doors that they don't know exist, but I can't move. My legs have become jello beneath me and with the growing edge of malice in her voice, I become weak.

"Why don't go fade into the background while normal people finish high school?" she laughs. The hordes of muttering voices join in with laughter from her insults. I've done nothing to provoke her. I stayed out of her way and I've given her more space than necessary, but for some reason, she always decides to start things with me.

"Did you even need to come to school, I mean, you're pretty smart right?" she says, continuing her assault as the jeers from the other students gets louder. I begin to look for my friends, the few people that I know and who I know would try to help me out. I see no one, not even Christian who had been so comfortably perched in a chair since we'd walked in.

"Hey," a girl next to me says, "Why are you here?" Her voice doesn't sound insulting or like she's teasing me. She just sounds like she's curious but I can't answer her. I don't have an answer for her. Other than the fact that extra credit looks good for College I don't know what else to say. I don't even know why I bothered to come to the Auditorium. It's not like I could get in trouble for not attending -- for someone like me, it isn't mandatory.

I look at the girl carefully and I know her. She's in my history class -- Faith, I think is her name. She does well in her studies, not as good as me, but better than most. I think to myself how she must feel. I'm here probably taking up the top spots for coursework, but it's unfair to her, isn't it?

"I. I," I struggle to say. My eyes wander around the room, looking at their scrutinizing faces and taunting eyes. My throat becomes dry like the desert and I feel the tears filling the bottom of my lids. This hasn't happened in months; the last time I was publicly ridiculed by Charlotte was in January. She bumped into me at the mall, but I was dressed differently so she didn't know who I was. She started apologizing, but as soon as she figured out that it was me, the hate fest started.

Once she opened her mouth the crowd just grew. Women, men, children and nosy teenagers all watched as I was publicly berated. It wasn't until I was bathed in tears and my own self-pity that her attack ceased. When she was about to leave, she walked over to me, a smile on her lips as if she'd just gotten the biggest prize and whispered, "I win again."

This is no different. It is unprovoked. It is unwarranted. It is humiliating.

My eyes find hers once again. I can feel her gaze digging into me like a Laser cuts through its target. It hurts to be here. I had started to enjoy the time decorating and let myself forget what things could occur, and now I am being reminded of it.

"Aren't you gonna answer?" Charlotte says while still keeping her eyes fixed on me. She has that same smile. The dark red of her lipstick causes her to appear sinister but to everyone else, she just looks sweet. And her blonde hair, it's nothing but snakes to me at the moment. She is evil, and the beauty I recently admired is now a distant memory.

"I..," I start again, "I like coming here that's all." the words can barely be heard as I whisper them.

"Huh?" she says through the bullhorn, "I can't hear you, Yuki."

"I said," I try speaking a bit louder, "I just like coming here." My voice cracks as the words come out but it's the best I can come up with. The crowd becomes silent, waiting for her answer, and as her lips turn into a devilish smile, they all turn back to me.

I'm waiting for her to instruct them to laugh or to tell me to get out, but it's not happening. She removes the bullhorn from her lips, tucking her hands behind her back and stepping forward, "Well," Charlotte starts, "That's interesting," her head tilts to one side, and the muttering starts up again, "hmm, moving on--" She says. As if what just happened was something minor she'd soon forget. She pulled the bullhorn back up to her lips, "As I was saying, the awards ceremony this year is being held alongside my birthday celebration. When you come up to receive your certificate you'll be given a letter that holds instructions on your task to attend the party."

The murmuring begins again as they all listen intently to Charlotte's words. Me, I'm trying to remember how to breathe as the little lump in my throat slowly moves downward. Charlotte has taken her attention off of me. She's let me live another day with the minor emotional scars that she's just inflicted.

"Everyone-- will receive an invitation," she emphasizes the 'everyone' and looks down at me again, then slowly pulls her eyes away to roam the crowd, "Once you complete the task, you'll receive your prize which is entry to my 18th birthday party, and if you don't. . . well, you can't come."

"But, how would you know we did the task?" A boy by the name of Mark asks.

"Don't worry about that, I have my ways," she replies. I take the chance to look around again for my 'friends', and spot Kairo at the door carrying a large black bag. I'm guessing he received it some time before we took our seats, but that doesn't explain why I can't find the rest of the guys or why he's standing at the door.

My attention gets pulled back to Charlotte as she continues her speech, "The ceremony starts on Friday at 11:00 am, make sure you tell your parents and friends; there's a special treat that I don't want anyone to miss."

She ends, handing off the bullhorn to her main follower Cassie and then walks off the stage. Cassie, who's real name is actually Mary-ann, starts barking out orders. "Make sure you pick up any trash left lying around and once the bell sounds, you can head to your sixth-period class," Cassie-- Mary-ann, has long dark brown hair that has been lightened, as her name has been changed, to match the color of the Queen Bees.

I remember her from freshman year, she wasn't mean or rude to anyone, but once Charlotte pointed out that she liked the shape of her eyes, she began to change. I will never understand how some people could be so shallow or easily influenced, but whatever the reason, she's a different person now.

We all look down, making sure that there is nothing left on the floor of the Auditorium and then, once it's clear, students start milling around. The people closest to me make faces and snicker when our eyes make contact but none of them directly ridicule me. That I'm grateful for.

I look back at where I saw Kairo and see him still standing there, this time joined by Max and Sam. The notebooks they had earlier are still there so I wipe my face and try to rush over to them. The middle aisle is crowded so I move to the side. There's a small hallway that gives entry to the control rooms and a side exit but even if it's longer, I take it to get to the guys.

The hallway is dimly lit and fairly quiet, but as I continue to walk, I hear the sound of Christians voice. Immediately, I glue my body to the wall and cover my mouth.

"This isn't even fair!" he shouts from inside one of the control rooms.

"It's fair if I say so, and I want you to be the Prince instead of Marcus," Charlotte says back.

If I look into the small room they're in and get caught I'll probably be sacrificed like a virgin to an idol god, but I don't mind risking it.

"Auditions are fair Charlotte," he replies, "This. . . you're just doing it because you can."

"And so what?" she says back, "I want you to be the Prince. You haven't been friends with me since she came around here Chris, I miss you!"

My heart leaps into my chest. I've been interacting with the same people since I started this school and they've always been near me. One in each period like they were some sort of team of bodyguards. I'd seen them interact with others obviously, but I never thought that either one of them was close to Charlotte, especially not Christian.

"Why don't you just hold the auditions like you're supposed to?" Christian asks her but she doesn't respond, "Are you afraid that someone else will get the part and you won't be the center of attention anymore?"

Charlotte laughs, "Not possible, I'm the most beautiful girl in this school and everyone loves me. Of course, I'd get picked for the lead."

"If that's what you tell yourself, that's fine . . . but we both know it's not true. That's why you hate Yuki so much, she's better than you." Something deep inside me starts turning as I listen to Christians words. I hear footsteps approaching and take off down the hallway, running as fast as I can without making too much noise on the cold linoleum floors.

When I make it to the exit, I walk around the corner and head over to the guys at the door. I'm utterly breathless, my heart is pumping and though I'm smart, I can barely process the new information I just heard.

"Yuki? You okay?" Kairo calls out to me. I wave my hand around telling them that it's nothing and that I'm fine, but I'm not, especially not after what I just found out.

"No!" Erick shouts running up to us, "Why didn't you tell me we have a quiz in history, I just heard that from Tricia and I haven't studied yet," He throws himself at my feet dramatically, "Yuki please don't let me fail!"

I smile down at him, happy that he is now becoming my distraction from things I didn't want to know and as he looks up all teary eyed I say, "If I let you fail, what would be the point in coming here?"

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