Chapter Two

So we rushed out the door to Mark's convertible Audi and got in. I looked over into the front seat and saw Mark wearing a tight black shirt and jeans. Ah, so Emma and James teamed up on us. Which made me so mad because James is not as hard on Mark as Emma was on me. But still, there must have been some type of coordination between the two because Mark was wearing the exact same beanie as me.

As we pulled out of the parking garage I asked him, "Mark, have you been changing in the garage bathroom?" I propped my feet up on the center console to show the boys how much Emma is putting me through. They didn't seem to get the picture.

Mark laughed, "How'd you know?"

"Your clothes match mine."

James patted my shoes, "HE is not wearing these fine boys." His smirk seemed to love every moment of my utter pain and suffering.

"That is the problem with it. He needs to feel my pain."

"Pain? What do you think wearing this super tight shirt is doing to me?" He whined.

I scoffed, this is a quarterback of our football team. Every fragment of his being is to be admired "I know, so sad that all the girls are going to be fawning over you all day, all the other girls will be calling me a slut." I stared at all of my visible skin, trying to cover it with Mark's Letterman I stole from under my seat.

"But the guys will be fawning over you," Emma interjected. I rolled my eyes turning over to the window. "I looked at the audition lines and those two outfits matched the lines for the main roles. Sorry if you think it makes you feel exposed."

"What? The lines are out? Why does the female lead role match these clothes? I need to see them, tell me about them."

"First of all, way too many questions, not enough time to process. Second of all, No. I know from experience. If you get it now, you will overwork it and you will not be able to focus on school." She noticed the letterman's jacket and started to try to wrangle it from me.

"Who made you our boss?" Mark asked. Emma slapped my arm in an attempt for me to let go of the jacket "What are you guys doing back there?"

"She stole your letterman's jacket!"

"I'm cold!"

"Let her keep it." Mark yelled, "You guys are distracting me and unless you want me to crash the car, I suggest that you stop fighting." There were 5 minutes of us staring at each other before any of us said anything. James looked over in the back seat.

"Oh. My. God. Did you see that America girl?" He asked in the highest pitch of voice I have ever heard. "She was wearing Mark Johnson's Letterman jacket. She totally slept with him." He continued. In a blubbering rage, I took off the letterman's jacket and threw it at James.

"Are you happy now?" Mark grabbed the letterman's jacket and threw it back into the backseat.

"Hey, focus on the road!" I yelled at him. I slipped the jacket back on and curled up in my seat right behind Mark. We all looked out the window and stared at the tall trees and the streets. I reached down into my bag and pulled out my camera. Aiming it out the window and at the Space Needle in the distance.

"You take too many pictures of that damn thing."

"It's beautiful" I shot back.

"Your sister's apartment is filled with your photos of the space needle from all different angles." James looked over his shoulder at me, "It's obsessive, I mean, 27 different angles. No wonder you don't have a boyfriend. Am I right Mark?"

"Look who's talking, I don't see a girl draped around your shoulders. Let's be honest, the only person in this car with a relationship is me." Mark replied as he pulled into the school parking lot.

"Relationship? Oh come on, Alicia has you wrapped around her pinky finger." Emma exclaimed, opening the car door, "I can't believe you would even call it that"

James patted his hand on Mark's shoulder and responded, "Yeah, it's more like she's your boss rather than your girlfriend. 'Mark, hold my bags,', 'Mark do my homework', 'Mark, Jump off a cliff for me dear'" I laughed. It was all true though, almost everyone could tell who wears the pants in that relationship. And it definitely wasn't Mark.

"While you guys are making fun of me and my girlfriend, I am going to make it to class in time." Simultaneously, we all took out our phones and checked the time. He was right, it was 20 minutes before class started and we weren't even inside the school yet. Mark was already halfway there, and I scurried along to catch up with him.

I walked into the school, my arm hooked with Emma's. As we march up the stairs and down the hallway to math, I watch the lockers. Some have ribbons on them and others are covered in gold. Some have girls crowded around them, giggling and gossiping, others have boys surrounding the one with the most recent score. I exchanged looks with Emma as we get to my locker. The biggest crowd was lingering around it. Snickers and giggles echoed from the crowd.

Emma squeezed my hand and whispered to me, "I'm gonna check it out. Stay here." She disappeared into the crowd.

Mark came running. "America!" I turned to look at his panicked face, "Did you see it?" Oh, God.

"No.." Breathe. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. "What's going on?" I looked around, The world is turning black. I pushed through the crowd. That's when I saw it.

The locker was littered with black marker reading, "Your voice makes my ears bleed" and "Freak" and "Slut". Fake blood is slathered on the sides.

Next thing I know, I hear James and Emma and Mark calling for me. I didn't want to open my eyes. Who would do that? The world seemed to drown in black. A voice emerges. "You are overreacting." She spoke, It was if I was listening to a recording of myself. "They're right you know, you're weak. Your voice sounds like a thousand crying bats, all of them awaiting a cruel and painful death." My head went on throbbing. "You. Are. Worthless."

"America" The black started to go away, everyone who was just in the car with me was hugging me tightly. When we all became friends in middle school, my mom embarrassingly sent every single one of them a pamphlet on how to deal with my panic and anxiety attacks. They were all speaking in soft voices to me, saying things like, "They are all wrong" and "Don't listen to those dumb asses" and "Kick 'em in the nuts" (James words not mine).

"Amy, are you sure that you want to go to class? We could call your dad-"

"No."

Mark gave me a weird look, "Why?"

"Because I slept at B's, so he is probably at the bottom of his 16th beer at the moment. He's been grabbing hold of every possibility to get drunk since Mother left us.

"Well, can't we call B?" Emma asked, pulling out her cell.

"No, she's at work and if she takes another sick day, her boss will fire her," I took a deep breath and continued, "I also can't leave because we have auditions today." I grabbed my backpack and linked my arm with Emma.

"Do you want to go to Photography?" I nodded, fixing my eyes on my feet, and we headed off. Waving goodbye to the boys as they headed off to their respective classes.

After school ended and Mrs. Hawking let me out of my last period class, I itched to see the paper that was my audition lines. I spent about ten minutes in the hallway before tracking down Emma, ready to tackle her if she didn't give me that blasted script. Luckily, when I found her, she was already with Mark and James, script in hand. I took the paper and scanned over the lines.

Then I saw it.

"Wait, we're supposed to kiss? Why didn't I get a heads up?" I looked over James and Emma's guilty faces before looking back down at the printed words in front of me.

"Amy, I knew that if I told you, you would back out. You guys are going to do great no matter what you have to do." She looked over to Marks deep red face, "And if you want, we can do whatever you need to hide this from Alicia, or we could stand by you if she doesn't approve."

Mark took in a deep breath that seemed to last for hours before speaking. "What's wrong Ames? You don't want to kiss someone as hot as me?"

"You think too much of yourself."

"Great! Let's Go!" James grabbed mine and Mark's arms and bolted towards the auditorium.