Heyo! This is my (former) entry for the Scratch Writing Camp March 2018 Writing Contest. Enjoy!

I opened the door to the rehearsal studio. It was bright and cheery inside, with the music and choreography rooms to your left, the costume and set-building rooms to your right, and in front of you was the lobby, where kids hung out when they weren't rehearsing, and if you went down a tiny hallway, you would get into a room where you practiced acting out the scenes. I loved this place, and I loved the show we were doing. It was Beauty and the Beast, and I had nabbed the role of Babette, the Flirtatious Feather Duster. I wanted that part so bad, and secretly, I hoped my crush, Gabriel Lake, had gotten the role of Lumiere. And he did. I almost died when the cast list came out. For joy because I had gotten the part I wanted, and for nervousness because I had to hang out with my crush more.
There were people everywhere, stretching, talking, reading, and eating some snacks. I spotted my best friend, Amelia, and rushed over to greet her. But then…
Oh.
No.
I wanted to die right there. She was sitting right next to Gabriel. But I had no choice except to say “Hi” to her. I waved my hand excitedly to Amelia, and she jumped up and hugged me. I hugged back, and then we plopped down on the floor. I accidentally sat so that Gabriel was in the middle. I waved at him, trying not to fart rainbows and glitter, or die on the spot. Or accidentally kiss him.
Shove that thought down!!! I yelled at myself inside of my head. Then Amelia started talking.
“Omigosh, I'm so happy I got Belle!” She said. Gabriel started talking about how excited he was to be Lumiere. I tried not to say why I was happy that I got Babette. I fiddled with my friendship bracelets. I just said “I'm really happy about getting Babette, she's my favorite!”
Even though I had only watched the movie once.
–
After a couple weeks of rehearsals, we finally had to rehearse the ending scene, after the Beast turned back into human. After Cogsworth and Lumiere were talking, I had to enter with a loud, "Ooh la la!“
I heard my cue, and raised my arm up in the air, smiling wide, moving my hips left and right as I walked. I tried not to blush, die, or throw up rainbows.
”Babette!" Gabriel Lumiere said. “You look so much better!”
I giggled because that was in the script, but because I actually had to, in real life, giggle.
“Oh Lumiere,” I said, twirling around and catching Lumiere's hand. “I like you better this way too,”
“Oookay,” The Director, Mrs. Owl said. “So, Babette, Lumiere, I have an idea.”
What were we gonna do? Kiss? Dance? What? What?
“So, Lumiere, when you say ‘You look so much better,’ you're going to catch Babette. Babette, you're going to fall into his arms. You know what I mean?”
“What, like a trust fall?” I asked.
“You know like, how in the movies, the guy romantically catches the girl?” Mrs. Owl asked.
“No…” I said. Along with Gabriel. Omigosh, we were both confused. Together.
So Mrs. Owl demonstrated with the Stage Manager, who was watching the rehearsal, who also so happened to be her husband. She fell backwards, and Mr. Owl caught her by the back, so Mrs. Owl was facing towards him. There was a lot of twisting around on Mr. Owl's part.
“Got it?” Mrs. Owl asked.
“Yup,” Gabriel and I said.
It didn't take me long to realize that I loved that scene.
–
One day, we had an all-day rehearsal from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, so we had a lunch break in the middle. I sat with Amelia, and Gabriel sat with us. Then somehow, the two of them started talking. Really fast, about a subject I was disinterested in. I focused on the sub I had gotten from subway. I looked up at Gabriel and saw the tiniest bit of color in his cheeks.
I tried not to overreact, but I could feel my heart dropping, my brain freaking out inside me, and tears almost forming in my eyes.
I got up and moved to a big, comfy chair where nobody else was sitting, and sat there. And brooded.
Gabriel didn't like me back.
He liked Amelia.
–
When I got home, I tore the pages out of my diary saying how much I like Gabriel. I scribbled over the drawings I made of him. I ripped up the plan I had written down on a piece of paper about how I was going to tell him I liked him. I sat down on my bed and tried not to cry. After five minutes of staring up at the ceiling, I decided to go ask my older sister, Chantelle, who I confided in. She never told my secrets, and she was like, what, nine years older than me and was engaged to her middle school crush. I needed her advice. I knocked on her door.
“Come in,” She said. She was typing something on her laptop.
“Can I bother you for a long time?” I asked. She slapped her laptop shut.
“Lemme guess,” she said. “Crush advice.”
I tried not to cry. I breathed in and out. In and out. “He likes somebody else!” I finally said. Chantelle patted me on the back.
“Baby, it'll be fine,” She said. She started telling me about how Robert (her fiancee) liked another girl for the longest time, up until their senior year of High School, but then he started liking her, and then when they both became sophomores in college, he proposed at her birthday party (I helped plan the proposal).
That barely left me any comfort. I nodded and went back to my room.
–
The next few weeks were really awkward. Well, for me. I noticed Amelia and Gabriel shamelessly flirting with each other, which made me feel worse. When we got to Tech Week, they sat together backstage. They even shared Goldfish. I fumed, because she was stealing my crush and wouldn't let me have her cupcake flavored Goldfish.
I knew the situation was hopeless, but I kept it to myself. Every night after rehearsal, I cried on my bed, because my crush liked somebody else. My best friend. Which only made it worse. And Amelia had a crush on him in the first place. So I doubted it could get worse.
But it did.
Amelia had invited me over for a sleepover one night after Dress Rehearsal. We geeked out about how hard it was to take makeup off and how our costumes were killing us all the way to her house. Once we got there, we put on our pajamas and made popcorn and watched movies in her bedroom. Suddenly, she paused in the middle of the movie.
“Gabriel kissed me today,” she said.
I wanted to scream and die right there. I plastered on a fake smile and pretended it was all okay, congratulating her and whatnot. Inside I was crushed.
–
Opening night came. I didn't want to perform. Amelia and Gabriel ignored me the entire day, because they were too busy talking to each other, with Amelia spontaneously giggling. I didn't want to talk to them anyways. The scene came where I had to fall into Gabriel's arms. It just wasn't right, because I knew. But he didn't know that I knew. So I pretended not to know.
–
I was sad the entire weekend, because the show was about to end, and because Gabriel and Amelia were know an official couple. After the final curtain, everybody screamed with joy, saying “We did it!” Yayy!" And I saw Gabriel and Amelia kiss.
I stared.
As soon as Gabriel saw, his eyes went wide with horror. I glared at him. I stomped backstage, ripped off my mic (carefully) and took off my costume and makeup. I grabbed my bags and stuff and tried to find mom so we could go back home.
I would get over it.
The rejection, the pain, the sadness, the loneliness.
I would accept it.
I tried to remain friends with both of them, which I did. I still talked and laughed with them, but Gabriel was still awkward around me. I assumed he had guessed. I stopped crushing on him, because if he couldn't love me back, I couldn't love him.
I didn't just find another guy to crush on, and I didn't know if anybody would crush on me.
In the end, I doubted if it mattered.
I didn't need to have a boyfriend.
I needed a friend.
And I needed two of them.

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asqwde wrote:

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