Nine

“I just don’t see why you’re being so nice to her. You used to hate her” Sophie whispered to Leah, backstage.
“l didn’t hate her, Sophie. I just want to be her friend okay? There’s nothing more to it so just drop it” Leah whispered back, irritation in her voice.
“Whatever, Leah. Just don’t expect me to believe you” Sophie whispered, walking off to flirt with the boy who pulled the ropes onstage. Leah cursed under her breath in frustration. She couldn’t believe her best friend was doubting her. It was true that she’d made a few mean comments about Kay-Lee here and there, but things were different now. She really did want to be friends with Kay-Lee. Kay-Lee needed a friend that was a girl anyway. Sometimes you just need girl time and Leah wanted to be there for her, she really did.
“What was that about?” Josh asked from behind her. Leah spun around in fury and whispered fiercely at him “Like it’s any of your business. You shouldn’t have been eavesdropping”.
“I didn’t even hear anything, sheesh!” Josh said, holding his hands up.
“Somehow, I find that hard to believe” Leah said, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Baby, calm down” Josh said, pushing her against the wall and kissing her neck.
Leah pushed him away, and Josh let her.
“Don’t ever touch me again” Leah said coldly.
“Leah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“Josh started to say, but Leah cut him off.
“Yes you did. You’re just like all the other guys, all you want is to get in my pants” Leah said, turning away.
“No, it wasn’t like that, I really like you Leah” Josh said with sadness in his voice.
“Just leave me alone” Leah said, tears forming in her eyes.
Just then, Adam and Kay-Lee came backstage and sensed the tension in the air.
“Is everything all right back here?” Adam asked.
“Fine” Josh muttered before walking away.
Kay-Lee saw Leah with her head down, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Kay-Lee walked over to her and asked her quietly what had happened. Adam had gone after Josh, to hear his side of the story.
“He just started kissing me. He let me push him away and then he started saying all this stuff about how he really likes me, and I just don’t know what to think, or what to do” Leah said, breaking down into another round of tears. Kay-Lee had her arms around Leah, and let her cry into her shoulder. They were sitting behind the curtains and Kay-Lee was at a loss of what to say.
“I’m really sorry about what happened, but he only kissed you once, and then backed off when you told him to?” Kay-Lee said to Leah, who had now stopped crying and was blowing her nose.
“Yea, that’s what happened” Leah said, sniffing.
“Leah, even though Josh can be a jerk sometimes, I think he meant what he said” Kay-Lee said softly, grabbing a loose strand of Leah’s black hair and tucking it behind her ear.
“You think? But he has been a real jerk to you, and tried stuff with you...” Leah trailed off.
“That was nothing, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it” Kay-Lee said, looking at Leah’s face now.
“I don’t know what to do Kay-Lee” Leah said, looking into her eyes.
“Talk to him. I know Adam is with him now, and if you don’t feel comfortable being with him by yourself, I’m sure Adam will stick close by” Kay-Lee said.
“Thank you Kay-Lee. I mean it. For everything, you didn’t have to be nice to me. I really hope we can be friends” Leah said, a little smile on her face.
“I’m sure we can work something out, now let’s get you cleaned up so you can talk to Josh”
“Okay” Leah said as Kay-Lee helped her up and took her to the bathroom to clean up.
It turned out that Josh really did mean what he had said. Adam had been watching as Josh and Leah talked, in case anything happened. They talked through everything and Leah hugged Josh at the end of it. After they had talked they came over to where Adam was, with Kay-Lee.
“Hey Kay-Lee I’m really sorry about last week when I...you know...anyway, I really am sorry” Josh said. Adam took a protective stance in front of Kay-Lee.
“What happened last week? What did you do to her!?” Adam demanded. Kay-Lee touched his shoulder and Adam turned to look at her.
“It was nothing Adam, okay? Just calm down” Kay-Lee said, her hand on Adam’s cheek.
“Kay-Lee, if anything happened to you...”
“Shhh...It’s okay” Kay-Lee calmed him, looking into his eyes. She dropped her hand and looked at Josh then.
“I forgive you. And I’m also sorry that I slammed the locker door into your face” she said with a smile.
Josh laughed unsteadily “I deserved it”.
“Come on people! Dance lessons, NOW!!!” the director shouted from the direction of the stage. Adam, Kay-Lee, Josh and Leah all walked out to the stage to join the rest of the cast.
“Right. We only have one week and 4 days until show night, so you need to nail this dance number today. It’s in the final scene of the script where Ashley and Jake are at the school dance together. You all know what I’m talking about?” the director addressed everyone on stage. There were a lot of mumbled responses. Mostly people saying “yes...” as everyone formed a line to start learning the choreography.
“Right, now everyone, you’re at the school dance. Adam and Kay-Lee, centre stage please!” the director ordered, and everyone moved into their positions.
The choreographer went through all the steps slowly, and everyone was having a great time. Two hours later, everyone had nailed the dance, and they were all ready to go through it with the music.
“Action!” the director shouted and the music began to play. The choreographer was in front of the stage doing the steps as well in case anyone forgot. They got to the end of the dance, where Adam and Kay-Lee said their lines.
“I’m so glad I found you” Adam said to Kay-Lee, holding her hands and looking into her eyes.
“I was always here, waiting” Kay-Lee said, as Adam pulled her into a hug and the curtains dropped.
Everyone on stage cheered and clapped wildly as the curtains came back up. The director and the choreographer were beaming in delight.
“Excellent! That’s the final scene down-pat! Excellent work people! That’s the only dance number in the play so the worst is over with for now. For the rest of the week I want you all back here at the same time for the two hour sessions. If you can’t make it to the after school practices, we’ll get an understudy to fill in. Go home now people! Excellent work” the director praised them all, and the group split up, gathering their things to go home.