Confessions of a Teenage Broadway Star

15 » ❝Masquerade❞

"Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you!
- Masquerade, The Phantom of the Opera

CONFESSION NUMBER FIFTEEN: Of all the things Scarlett had expected to see when walking into her first high school dance (for things, read: twerking, odd dresses and the possibility of illegal activities) she definitely did not expect to bear witness to this.

        And in hindsight, maybe she should've taken into account the fact that this is a music council dance, therefore the majority of attendees would be theatre majors, band-kids and vocalists.

        It definitely would explain why everyone's dancing to The Phantom Of The Opera.

        "Oh my God. They're doing the masquerade," Alex says, his jaw dropping. "This is the masquerade dance - Scarlett, they're doing the-"

        Scarlett rolls her eyes at her cousin, who is currently prancing around like a puppy dog at the - admittedly impressive and amusing - Phantom flash-mob. "Shut up and dance, loser!" she laughs, shoving April towards him and running off with her friends to dance with the others, who have all obviously watched the number enough times to know the steps - Scarlett's suddenly feeling like less of a geek knowing that she's not the only one who has watched the musical about a million times.

        "Masquerade! Paper faces on parade!" Everyone on the dance floor sings, and Scarlett's suddenly wondering why on earth she's never been to one of these dances before. "Masquerade! Hide your face so the world will never find you!"

        Everyone around them at the dance does the moves in perfect sync, singing out the notes and dancing along with their friends. As Scarlett dances, her eyes catch on April and Alex, who are still standing by the doors, looking sufficiently awkward as they proceed to not speak to each other as everyone else dances.

        And on one hand, Scarlett could be the supportive and helpful friend she wants so badly to be, and go over and help them break the ice.

        On the other hand, Scarlett could have faith in them and not stick her nose into their business like she always does.

        But then again, Scarlett's probably better at being nosy than she is faithful.

        She runs over to Alex and grabs his arm quickly, yanking him away so fast he almost topples over in the process. Scarlett practically drags him over to a semi-empty corner - with much whining on his part not to ruin his jacket - and fixes a sufficiently irritated glare right on her cousin. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy on the sleeves - you might have picked out this suit, but I'm still the one who's paying for it-" he whines, but shuts up when he notices Scarlett's frustrated look.

        "Well, that tux money is going to go to waste if you don't actually intend on speaking to the girl you bought the stupid thing for," Scarlett points out.

        She's known her cousin for her entire life - literally - and she's developed a system to tell when he's lying. Alex looks sufficiently bashful at the moment - and he's doing a pretty bad job of trying to conceal it. "I-I was going to talk to her, I just-" he begins, "I-just-didn't-know-what-to-say," he admits quickly.

        Scarlett smiles, taking her cousin's shoulders and facing him in the direction of April, who's still standing by the doors, looking evidently bored. "Look, just-" Scarlett takes in a deep breath, "talk to her about dance. Talk about the auditions, or what roles she wants to play, or what kind of books she likes to read," she advises. "Just don't saying anything stupid, and you'll be fine!"