Emma

Seats were filling up in the auditorium. Little did I realize how big of a turnout this would be for a little high school showcase. At best, I was picturing twenty to thirty people in the audience. Dressed in a yellow plaid jacket and skirt with pink boots, I found myself backstage sitting on a chair reading the script that I would be performing. Sweat was running down my body with a stomach that was slowly feeling sicker by the minute. As much as I wanted to practice, I couldn't do it.

"You're looking like Cher," stated Emily who found me backstage.

Throwing my script on the ground, I stood up and gave her a good long hard hug.

"Can't believe you actually showed up to this."

"You didn't think I wasn't going to actually show up just because I dropped out? Come on, I'm your best friend. Friends don't let friends face humiliation alone."

That statement had me laughing as I sat down again. Emily sat down with me and picked up the script. For the next few minutes, she had me say my lines without looking at the script. Unfortunately, as we practiced, I couldn't match Hailey's acting skills. Maybe it wasn't too late to quit and let the expert take over for me. But where was the expert?

...

After some time passed, the showcase was ready to start and Emily joined her way into the audience after telling me to picture the audience naked. One by one, students began to perform their monologues and I kept my eyes closed and took as many deep breaths as possible. I couldn't let fear screw this up. Just like that, it was my turn. I would be performing the last monologue before we moved on to the duologues.

"Little word of advice, have fun with your role, and don't take it too seriously." Hailey's advice entered my head before walking onto the stage. Crap, she was right. This was the role that I picked. Yes, I needed to have fun with it. I had to be Cher. I was Cher. If I was going to be Cher, I had to walk like Cher. No longer was I Emma. Walking on stage, I pretended to chew gum and placed my left hand on my hip with the other hand playing with the invisible gum. Of course, I'm pretty sure Cher wouldn't actually play with her gum. Finding my spot and spotting Emma in the crowd while picturing everyone naked, I was ready to perform.

"So, okay, like right now, for example, the Haitians need to come to America." Things were going pretty well.

As I spoke, my eyes did a great job at moving around and not staring in one direction. Always important when giving a speech. Doing this, there was great hope of finding Jeremy in the crowd. Where was he sitting? By some wild chance was he sitting with Hailey?

"But some people are all, what about the strains on our resources? But it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday right?"

For the first time ever, I felt like I was actually owning this role. I actually felt like Cher. In some cases, I forgot that I was Emma. When the monologue was coming to an end, Jeremy was nowhere to be seen in the audience. Once the monologue ended, everyone cheered for me, but all I could do was avoid tears falling down my cheeks that had too much makeup. My feet were tempted to run off and cry after what I had realized.

Jeremy had not shown up to the showcase. The boy didn't care. He didn't care. He didn't. Why didn't he care? Why wasn't he here? Yes, walking off that stage, Cher was dead. I was back to being the regular old Emma. The Emma who has feelings for a boy that doesn't share those feelings back all because of a stupid girl like Hailey. At least Emily showed up.

With the duologues in progress, I just sat with everyone and waited for it to be over in a numb state of being. After an eternity, the whole thing came to a conclusion. Everyone quickly cleared the building, but I somehow stayed behind and wept while lying on the stage.

"Dude, just leave me alone," were the only words I could muster up as I grieved over the death of Selena. "Unless you can bring her back, just leave me alone."

With a hand on my shoulder, Jeremy responded. "No, I guess I can't bring her back. I wish I could though. I wish I could." For some reason, a response was expected of me. But there was nothing. "You know, if I had a time machine, I would go with you and stop Selena from being killed. But we don't have a time machine."

Yes, I'm sure those were an attempt to help me feel better, but they didn't. All they did was worsen the numbness all over my body. But I suppose the boy, deserved credit for trying. What are friends for?

"But I do have a key." A key? Was it the key that I had originally given to him? Curiosity had me sitting up.

"But I gave you that key," I stated in great confusion. "Why are you giving it to me?"

"This is actually not the original key. I actually made a copy of it." Handing it to me, the boy continued speaking. "Remember how you told me that I could go wherever I want with the key? Well, with this key, you can also always go where you want. You can forget about all the crap going on in your life and just leave. You can forget everything and go on a whole new adventure. An adventure where you can forget about death, cancer, and the rest of all that crap. And I'll always be there to help you go on that adventure."

Where was Jeremy now? Where was he when I really needed him? I thought he would be at the showcase, but he wasn't. What good was that key? Why on Earth would I want to start something new? With all the crap in my life, there would just be more crap without Jeremy by my side.

"Trouble in paradise?" asked a familiar voice. It was none other than Butts the bus driver.