TO LIGHT MY FIRE

TWO

‘And you play ‘til it’s perfect,

You Play ‘till you ache,

You play ‘till the strings

Or your fingernails break,’

‘Cause you’ve got your full ride,

And your early admit,

So you’re done with this school,

And all of this shit,’

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 had performed, but the thunderous claps and bellowing from my best friend split through the silence like a gunshot.

‘That’s my girl, woop woop!’

Cassandra cupped her hand 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 don’t 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 favourite drama teacher since I came to St. Anne’s.

‘Although I don’t agree with all that Mrs Hathaway is saying,’ he looked at her. ‘However, this was a particularly vulgar song. Couldn’t you have said ‘stuff’ instead of ‘shit’?’

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 onto 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 smouldering 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,’ Cassandra 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,’ Cassandra 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 play fully to Cassandra. ‘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 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 at my family’s vacation house; Hawthorn. 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, Clark Gabriel, Known as Jaxx!’

I had to cover my ears because of the screeching that erupted from the teenage girls. Cassandra joined in their squealing. ‘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 anywhere else to be,’ Mrs Hathaway’s mean voice spoke.

Instantly, everyone dispersed and went their separate ways.

Cassandra and I were about to walk outside when redhead Barbie herself stopped in front of us. ‘Amelia,’ Cassandra 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 Cassandra.

‘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 to the choir stand.

‘Amelia, I thought you---,’ she cut me off.

‘Hated you? Yeah that’s still true, but someone there wants to meet you, and I don’t feel like getting yelled at again.’

Someone wants to meet us? Doesn’t sound like an invite to me?

‘As thrilling as being pimped out you sounds, we’re gonna have to say no---,’

‘Yes.’

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

‘What are you doing?’ Cassandra 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 forget how much Cassandra lusted over Clark Gabriel, AKA Jaxx. She would always explain explicitly her dirty dreams about her and Clark. Something on the lines of her licking his abs.

‘Don’t you see she’s bringing us to someone for God knows why? 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 Clark, I’ll let you do my hair.’

Cassandra 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 Cassandra.

‘The clock is ticking, vipers,’ Amelia interrupted.

Cassandra 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. Cassandra snagged the envelopes from Amelia’s pink fingers and held them to her chest.

‘We’ll be there.’