I hate love. It's so stupid, and pointless and...
"Tia!"
You're kidding me, right?
"Tia!"
No, I'm not okay. Don't talk to me.
"Seriously, Tia. If you want to live, answer me!"
"WHAT?" I screamed from my bed.
"Tia, you need to go to rehearsal. Mona's been calling your cell phone for like, the past ten minutes. I answered it the last time and she says if you don't get down there in 5 minutes, she's coming to get you."
Oh shit. That's never good. "Fine."
Still grumbling, I got out of bed and put on my rehearsal clothes. I wasn't too thrilled about having to spend an hour and a half with Wes. Not only that but I was guessing Mona wasn't going to go easy on me. She could be pretty harsh to kids who didn't respect her, and I was guessing my being late was going to seem like an act of disrespect to her.
It took me 7 minutes to get down to the theater. When I finally arrived in the practice room, Mona wasn't at all furious like I had anticipated. Instead, she had set up three chairs, two of which were occupied. She motioned for me to sit in the empty one next to Wes.
Uh oh. This CAN'T be good.
"Tia, Wes told me what happened. He said he thought it would be best if you guys tried talking about it." Mona said when I took a seat.
I glared at Wes, trying to make him feel how angry I was at him. "No, Mona. I think it would be a terrible idea to talk about it. He knows exactly what's up with me, and if he doesn't, well, then I don't see how he got into college."
Mona gave me an I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look, and I shot a look of defiance right back at her.
"I'm serious, Mona. Everything I said, I meant. Did he tell you exactly what I said?"
"Yes, Tia actually he did. And everything about Lydia too."
"I don't like her. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing. I'm just saying you acted off of nearly no basis whatsoever, and it was very rash."
"So?"
"So, what I'm saying is, you need to cool down, Tia."
COOL DOWN? This... BOY sitting next to me is the stupidest, thick-headed IDIOT to ever walk the planet! "Cool down? What are you trying to tell me, Mona? That I'm rash? That I can't control my emotions? What does that have to do with dance, exactly?"
"It has a lot to do with dance. If you can't describe how you feel, you dance the way you feel. I want this dance to be full of passion and romance. You can't do that when you basically hate the person you're dancing with."
I huffed. "Fine. What do we talk about then?"
Mona nodded at Wes. "Well," he said. "First off, let's get this Lydia thing cleared up. I was only trying to be her friend, Tia."
"She has plenty of friends."
"Don't interrupt me please. Anyways, she was having trouble with math, so I offered to help. I'm a nice guy, and she asked nicely."
"So why'd you give her my spot in the first place?"
"I asked you not to interrupt! Sheesh. I gave her your spot because I figured you would be graceful about it and just let her have it instead of getting all defensive..."
"Oh wait just a second Wes! I would have been okay with it if she hadn't sat there all class period flirting with you instead of listening to the lecture! I bet you didn't even notice her flirting, did you?"
"Flirting? Tia that's ridiculous. She wasn't flirting, she was asking for my HELP."
"Yeah, all the while flipping her perfect hair all around and batting her eyelashes at you while moving her chair closer to you! How can you not see that?"
"Sounds to me like she was flirting, Wes." Mona chipped in.
We both looked at her like she was crazy. "What? I was only saying that Tia's right. She was flirting."
I smirked at him. "I told you. I bet you she didn't even need your help and that she was only trying to get to you."
"So she could what? Become my girlfriend? Maybe I wouldn't mind that!" Wes shouted angrily.
I sat in silence for a second, stunned by what he said. "Are you serious?" I finally said, my voice nearly a whisper. "You want her to be your girlfriend? I... Don't.... You....." I stopped, feeling myself choking up.
"I didn't say that Tia. I said..."
"I know what you SAID Wes. But don't you remember what I said?" I looked at him for a second, pleading with him silently, willing him to remember.
"What you said when?"
I looked down, brokenhearted. "Never mind. I guess it wasn't that important after all. Mona, I think we're done here." I stood up and began walking away.
Wes ran after me. "Tia, if you mean what you said during our argument yesterday, I remember. I just didn't want to talk about it in front of Mona." He put a hand on my shoulder.
I shrugged it off. "Yeah, Wes. I was talking about that. But if you can't talk about it in front of Mona, maybe I was wrong about us being anything."
"I just thought it should be a little more personal when were just figuring out everything."
"Yeah, well we're all figured out. There's nothing between us. I'll dance with you, but nothing more. Lydia can have my seat for good. I don't care." And with that, I walked out.
I went to our spot again, hoping he would come. I still had the hope that if he liked me as much as I liked him, he wouldn't just let me walk out of his life like that. And I hoped that if he did, he would know that I would come here.
So I waited and I thought about what had gone wrong. I knew Lydia had been the start of it all, but it was my overprotective jealousy that had really set off the argument. Maybe Mona was right and I was rash and I needed to cool down. Or maybe she wasn't, and I needed to put out the match that had started the fire. Lydia.
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