Chapter Fifteen
“Becca, wait!”
Rebecca ignored Justyn even though she was completely aware that he was following her. She had no intention of stopping or turning around. She fought the childish urge to burst into tears as she ran down the deserted hallway towards her locker. The last thing she wanted was for him to see her acting like a blubbering weakling. For some reason, that would be just too awful to bear.
“Becca, come on!”
This time it was Tom’s voice, almost echoing Justyn’s, and making the whole situation ten times worse. The fact that the two of them were apparently coming up behind her at the same time was enough to finally make her give in and turn around to face them, if only to make sure they weren’t going to kill each other. She already had Mr. Russ’s death on her conscience. She couldn’t handle the possibility of adding another body to the head count. But she was still furious with them both, and she knew her flashing brown eyes revealed it.
“What do you want?” Rebecca demanded.
Her voice was so sharp that they both turned to look at each other and exchanged nervous glances.
“Becca, you can’t quit the play!” Tom said bravely. “We need you!”
Justyn nodded his head in agreement. “Tom’s right.”
Justyn was agreeing with Tom? That was something that Rebecca never thought she would hear. What made the situation even more bizarre was that Tom and Justyn were presenting a united front. It really wasn’t fair. They were double teaming her. How was she supposed to hold her ground?
“It isn’t fair to everyone else in the cast who’s worked so hard” Justyn continued. “We need you, Becca.”
On some level, she knew they were right. The whole production would fall apart if she quit now. Weeks of memorizing lines and long rehearsals would have been for nothing. The price of the tickets that had already been sold would have to be refunded. But Rebecca wasn’t ready to back down. It would serve them right if she really did quit.
“Let Wendy take the role.” She huffed. “That will solve all my problems at once. It’ll get Wendy off my back, and I won’t have to deal with you two fighting over me like a . . . like a piece of meat.”
“Becca, I never meant to make you feel . . . .”
“No, wait.” Justyn interrupted Tom, which resulted in a glare and a barely contained string of curses. He apparently realized that fighting wasn’t going to solve anything, so he bit his tongue and didn’t say more. “Becca’s right.” Justyn continued. “Instead of acting like testosterone driven animals, why don’t we act like gentlemen? Let Becca make the choice between us.”
That was almost too much for Tom to take. “What makes you think she needs to make a choice?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Rebecca sighed in resignation and took her accustomed spot in between them. “I have made a choice. I don’t want anything to do with either of you. I’m not going to be the reason that you rip each other’s heads off. So, I’m done with both of you, and with the play.”
When she was reasonably sure that they weren’t going to start swinging, she moved to her locker and turned the combination.
“You can’t mean that!”
Tom’s voice sounded almost pathetically desperate, though whether it was over the play or their relationship, she had no way to tell. Justyn, on the other hand, was annoyingly confident when he spoke.
“She doesn’t mean it. Becca can’t walk away from the phantom, any more than Christine could.”
She wasn’t about to admit he was right. Even after all the accidents, the threats, the fighting, she was still drawn to the beauty of the music. Just as she was still drawn to him, despite the fact that she sometimes wondered if he was the one behind all the dangerous games. She was so frustrated with her own self-betrayal that she refused to look at them. She yanked open her locker violently and shoved her books into her bag. When he realized she had no intention of responding, Justyn turned to Tom, and actually stuck out his hand.
“I propose a truce.”
Tom scowled at the offered hand like it was a giant insect. “I propose you go back to whatever circus freak show you came from.”
Justyn didn’t lose his composure for a second. “If you really care about Becca, you’ll give her the chance to choose between us civilly. She’s obviously drawn to us both.”
Tom snorted. “You’re living in a dream world.”
“Am I?” Justyn raised an eyebrow and turned to Rebecca. “Becca, am I living in a dream world? If you tell me honestly that you aren’t interested, I’ll walk away and never look back.”
The thought of Justyn walking out of her life forever was enough to make her choke back a gasp of horror. That was the last thing she wanted. But of course she wasn’t going to admit that. She was too annoyed at his audacity to be overly civil, so she snorted and glared at him instead.
“Oh, do I actually get to take part in this conversation about what I want? I thought the two of you would just decide for me.”
Her sarcasm was completely lost on Tom. “You don’t actually like this guy, do you Becca?”
“I don’t know. I mean . . . .” Rebecca let out a cry of frustration and actually banged her head against her locker. She decided that it wasn’t worth trying to deny it anymore. Not to Tom. Not to Justyn. And especially not to herself. “Yes. I can’t explain it . . . but I am drawn to him.”
Justyn didn’t say anything, but his expression was undeniably smug. Tom, on the other hand, looked so crestfallen that she wished she could take it back as soon as she had said it.
“What about me?”
“I like you, too, Tom. I like you both.” Rebecca sighed. “Which is why I need to just walk away. I don’t want to hurt anyone. And I don’t want you two to hurt each other because of me. It’s the best thing for everyone involved if I just quit the play and go back to being invisible.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary for you to quit the play, Becca. Tom, don’t you think that we can control ourselves long enough for Becca to make up her mind?” When Tom nodded grudgingly, Justyn turned back to Rebecca. “One date with each of us. Then you have to make your decision, once and for all. The loser bows out gracefully. No fighting. Tom, are you game?”
Tom was frowning, but he still agreed. “If that’s what Becca wants, I guess I’ll have to go along with it. But I get to go first.”
Justyn gave him a cocky smirk. “Technically, you’ve already had one date with her.”
“That doesn’t count. I was sick!”
“You mean you were drunk.”
“Aghhh!” Rebecca shrieked and slammed her locker door shut. The boys had taken one step closer to each other, their fists balled. “Obviously, this isn’t going to work. You can’t even make the agreement to stop fighting without fighting!”
“No, this will work. I secede,” Justyn told Tom. Rebecca was fairly certain he had no idea what ‘secede’ meant, judging by the dumbfounded look on his face. “I mean . . . you can go first. I’ve waited this long. What are a few more days?”
“You might wind up waiting forever.” Tom promised. “After I take Becca out, she won’t even remember your name.”
Justyn was unfazed. “That’s a chance I’m willing to take. So, how about it, Becca? Are you coming back in to rehearsal?”
Rebecca shook her head. She was far from convinced that an open competition was a good idea; she didn’t like the idea of being the trophy in that competition, either. Nevertheless, they were both behaving themselves, and looking at her so imploringly that it was hard to stay angry with them.
“Diva, we need you!” Justyn exclaimed.
Once again he was spouting lines from the play. He cleared his throat; waiting for Tom to pick up his cue, but he was oblivious until Justyn elbowed him in the ribs. Tom looked annoyed until his face lit up with understanding and he realized what Justyn was trying to do.
“Oh, umm.” Tom stuttered for a minute, trying to remember a line that wasn’t his own. “Your audience awaits!”
Before Rebecca could decide whether to walk away or start laughing, the mismatched pair broke into an unseemly duet.
“Beautiful diva step into the light.
The opera house awaits your appearance tonight.
Wave to the crowd; break their hearts with your song.
Sing for us diva, sing loud and sing strong.”
In the play, the managers sang the song to Carlotta to try to coerce her into performing after she had been upstaged. But they had all been through the scenes enough that they had the whole play memorized. The two of them, the black-haired Goth and the blue-eyed surfer, were polar opposites of one another, yet they managed to sing in perfect harmony. For the first time, and most likely the last time, they were fighting for a common goal—to get her to return to the play. Rebecca couldn’t help but smile at their performance. They noticed the change in her demeanor right away, and she could tell by both sets of gloating eyes that they knew they were winning; she was about to give in.
“What are you guys doing out here?” Carmen demanded from the auditorium doors. “Miss King is just about ready to have a heart attack. Becca, you aren’t really going to quit, are you?”
Rebecca was quiet for a minute. Justyn and Tom were both waiting, looking at her pathetically. Justyn looked a little more confident about what her answer was going to be, even before she knew for sure herself.
“No, I’m not quitting,” Rebecca told Carmen. “Come on. Let’s get back to practice.”