Anomalous

Chapter 2

"And you play 'til it's perfect,

You play 'till you ache,

You play 'till the strings

Or your fingernails break,"

I closed my eyes and let my fingers dance the keys.

"Cause you've got you're full ride,

And your early admit,

So you're done with this school,

And all of this s**t,"

I could've sworn I saw Mrs. Hathaway, my Drama teacher, flinch when I belted the vulgar word. Detention was calling my name.

"And there's nothing your paranoid parents can say,"

Taking a deep breath, I continued the song.

"And everything else goes away,

Everything else goes away,

Everything else goes away,"

Usually it would be completely silent after someone has performed, but the thunderous claps and bellowing from my best friend split through the silence like a gunshot.

"That's my girl, woo!" Camila cupped her hands around her mouth which made it obnoxiously louder.

Mrs. Hathaway gave her a death stare and turned back around to face me. After making scribbles on my rubric and discussing my final with Mr. Collins, she leaned into the tiny microphone in front of her and pulled her glasses further down her pale, sweaty nose. I thought I was the only one who felt like it was a thousand degrees in this school.

"You're father would be so ashamed."

My face dropped.

"You picked such a foul piece to sing when the assignment was to choose a melody that expressed who you truly are. I'm want to assume that you took advantage of this project to spit the devil's music without your parents present you-"

She was cut short and interrupted by Mr. Collins. My favorite teacher since I came to St. Afra's.

"Although I don't agree with all that Mrs. Hathaway is saying," he looked at her, "but this was a particularly vulgar song. Couldn't you have said 'stuff' instead of 's**t'?" Mrs. Hathaway's swooning eyes on Mr. Collins grew wide when she heard him speak the curse word. Snickers and giggles came from my classmates in the audience, and I couldn't even hide my smile. He winked my way and glanced back toward Mrs. Hathaway.

"What do you think, Allison?" Mr. Collins was playing with her emotions once again. He gave her one of his heart-stopping smiles that made every female in this school hang on to every word that he said. Even the elders. This was an all girls school which made Mr. Collins' everyone's crush.

"T-The song you chose, did it express your feelings and who you are?" She looked down from his smoldering stare to straighten the papers in front of her.

"Um, yes ma'am," I stood up from the piano trying to hide my grin.

"You get a pass. Next."

*                      *                      *                        *                    *

"Why does Mr. Collins have to be so fine," Camila held her chest as she watched him walk past us. I swear I saw her looking at his butt.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that he saved my ass," we walked to our lockers to get our bags so we could go home.

"I can't wait to watch Once Bitten tonight! I heard Grant is Erin's half-brother," Camila stated as she closed her locker. We had to struggle through the dozens of girls standing at the main entrance. Apparently Amelia Mitchell was standing on a stool speaking. We stopped behind her groupies.

"Do you think she's announcing the zombie apocalypse?" I whispered to Camila. "Or maybe professing her gospel that stilettos should be mandatory in prison?" She whispered back. We both snorted like pigs and then actually tried to listen to what she was saying.

"As many of you may know, although you should, my 18th birthday is this a Friday," she paused and every girl clapped like they were her little robots that were made to praise her. At the snap of Amelia's fingers they stopped on cue.

"I am having a birthday bash at my family's lake house; Hawthorne. Then, before the party, I'm going to a concert which is going to be super exclusive. Only the lucky ones who receive a personal invite from me will be attending the show with me," she glanced around the herd of excited girls who would die if they received one of her 'special invitations'.

"Who's performing at the concert?" One of her minions from the back yelled and the rest joined her curious of who the concert was for.

Amelia held her hands up to silent the crowd. "The performer who 'the chosen' and I are going to see is the amazingly talented and insanely gorgeous Ryder Jaxx!"

Camila and I had to cover our ears because of the screeching that erupted from the teenage girls. "Now, get your best outfits and look hot because one of you might be getting laid this week!"

The screaming stopped when someone cleared their throat. "Ladies, don't you have any where else to be," Mrs. Hathaway's mean voice spoke. Instantly, everyone dispersed and went their separate ways.

Camila and I were about to walk outside when redhead Barbie herself stopped in front of us. "Amelia," Camila muttered and attempted not to roll her eyes.

"Girlies, I hope you heard about my plans for this weekend," she smiled with her perfect teeth.

"Was kind of hard not to," I uttered and smirked at Camila.

"Yeah, well, you two are the first of 'the chosen ones'," she held out two rose gold envelopes with our names written in white pretty cursive. I almost burst into laughter.

Amelia has hated us for years. This has to be a trap. The only time that we were actually civil was when her church visited mine. Even then, she didn't waste the chance to trip me on my way the choir stand.

"Amelia, I thought you-," she cut me off. "Hated you? Yeah that's still true, but you guys are hot and that's what I need at this concert if I have any chance on getting backstage to get comfortable with Ryder Jaxx."

She's done worse.

"As thrilling as being used by you sounds, we're gonna have to say no-," 

"Yes."

Camila and I turned to one another and started scream at each other with our eyes. "Will you give us a second?" Camila suggested and we moved a couple of feet away from Amelia.

"What are you doing?" Camila exclaimed while crossing her arms.

"I could ask you the same thing," I mocked her stance. "It sounds like you want me to miss the opportunity of meeting my future baby daddy."

I forgot how much Camila lusted over Ryder Jaxx. She would always explain explicitly her dirty dreams about her and Ryder. Something on the lines of her licking his abs.

"Don't you see she's using us? It's Amelia for crying out loud!" I lowered my voice when I saw that Amelia peeked her head at us.

"Don't you think I know that! But if I get to see Ryder, I'll let you do my hair."

Cami lets no one touch her hair. The last time someone did, they burned half of it off and it took three years for it to grow back.

"Really, don't play with me about this," I told Cami. "The clock is ticking, vipers," Amelia interrupted.

Cami raised her eyebrows urging me to answer. I went against my better judgement.

"Fine, but I get to choose the style," I pointed a finger at her and we walked back to where Amelia was. Cami snagged the envelopes from Amelia's pink fingers and held them to her chest.

"We'll be there."