Page 38 of Don't Love the Boy Next Door
“Ha.” She pushes her plate away and reaches for her pudding. “Anyway, what were you whining about?”
I give her a look. “I didn’t whine.”
“Sure did.” She eats a spoonful of the pudding. “This isn’t that great, but compared to that crap? Wow, my standards have really hit rock bottom.”
That makes me laugh again. Then I gaze over the room, at the students seated around the tables, searching for one specific person. Eric rarely eats here. I think he spends most of his lunch periods in the music room.
Ethan and the football team aren’t here, either. They must have gone out to eat.
“So, whiny, what were you complaining about?” Phoenix asks as she scoops up some more pudding.
“That I’m almost failing art.”
Her eyebrows rocket toward the ceiling. “You’refailingart? It’s, like, the easiest class. How can a teacher grade us on artistic expression?”
“I know, right? I think Mr. Angelos hates me. He keeps telling me to try harder every time he checks my pieces.”
“Maybe he wants you to dig deeper. Like you’re not reaching your full potential or something. Maybe something’s blocking you?”
I know what she’s getting at. That I put up a wall the day my mom died. Which is probably true. Maybe I don’t want to dig that deep. I do enough of that when I perform on stage. Any further and I’ll crack.
“Of course the show must go on,” Harper’s loud voice echoes off the walls, completely dwarfing every other sound in the room. “Obviously they needed to replace me. But everyone knows no one here can portray Belle the way I can. But Coach Lawrence forced me to choose between cheerleading and the musical. Doesn’t she suck? I was handling everything just fine. But she thought I wasn’t putting as much effort into cheer as I should. Which is total BS, because I’m, like, the best cheerleader on the squad.”
When no one at the table says a single word, she gives them all a glare.
“Yeah,” they quickly murmur. “You’re the best.”
I roll my eyes to Phoenix, who makes a choking gesture and falls over on the table.
“It’s just total BS that I can’t do both. OurBeauty and the Beastwill never reach new heights without me in it. I, like, made the show. I feel bad for all the people who are going to watch it.”
“That girl has issues letting things go,” Phoenix says.
I roll my eyes again. “Tell me about it.”
“And what makes all this even a bigger disaster? Is that Diaz didn’t bother to hold new auditions to replace me. Obviously I can’t be replaced, but I’m sure she can find someone at this school with good enough skills. But what did she do? She gave the lead to theunderstudy.”
“But isn’t that what the understudy is for?” a girl at the table asks.
Harper gives her a look you’d give a little kid who said something stupid. “Bailey, don’t you know anything about theater? The understudy is never as good as the principal. That’s why she’s theunderstudy. Because if she was good enough to be lead, she would be lead. The fact that Diaz is putting our beautiful musical into the hands of someone so unqualified and untalented—”
I yank myself off my chair and march over to the popular table. Harper’s mouth shuts as she takes me in, a smug smile teasing her lips.
“I’m so sick of your attitude, Harper,” I say, my voice rising in pitch as my cheeks flush with anger. “You’re so self-centered and insecure that you can’t accept that someone might be a better performer than you. But guess what? Iama better singer than you. Iama better actor than you. That’s why you had it in for me since day one. Because you’re threatened by me. But it’s obviousyou don’t know anything about theater. Because in theater, everyone supports each other. Every role is important, which means every actor is important. There is nothing wrong with an understudy. She isn’t less talented than the principal. In fact, the understudy’s role is essential because if something happens to the lead, there would be no show. If you want a career in theater—which I highly doubt you do—you’d better change that attitude. Because no one will want to work with you.”
I spin around and march back to my seat.
Phoenix gapes at me. “Have I fallen into an alternate reality where my best friend is a major butt kicker?”
“I’m just so sick of her and her toxicity.” I stab my fish stick angrily and take a bite.
“Katie!” Phoenix says.
“Ew!” I spit it out.
That’s when I realize the cafeteria is dead quiet. Everyone is staring between me and Harper.
Speaking of The Harpy, her face is red with fury, her eyes bulging for my blood. Every other person at her table has their heads slightly lowered, like they’re scared to meet her wrath.
