20 || A tragedy

I'm determined not to let my feelings change anything between Carter and I. Ivy is totally against it but she doesn't push the issue which I'm grateful for.

However Ivy refuses to keep it from the girls.

"I don't understand why you can't do this one thing for me," I plead with her on Monday. "You know how Nikole and Chanel are. They may accidentally blurt it out or something!"

Ivy gives me a level look. "Aubrey I respected your descison not to tell Carter. But I can't keep this from the girls. You know I hate secrets. Please respect my decision."

"But it's not your secret to tell!" I exclaim frustrated. Ugh I should've never told her.

"They won't tell," she reassures me. "Trust me."

We meet Chanel and Nikole in the quad before school. Thankfully the guys are nowhere to be found.

"Where are your boy toys?" I ask.

Chanel shrugs. "Doing whatever boys do."

"Well I have news," Ivy announces. They immediately drop their stuff and look at Ivy like dogs waiting for scraps. I sigh.

"Aubrey has finally admitted she has feelings for Carter!"

"OMG!" Chanel screams. She covers her mouth.

I want to bang my head against the concrete.

"Finally!" Nikole grins like the Chesire cat. "I've been coming up with ship names for you guys. I can't choose between Carbrey or Auter."

"Definitely Carbrey," Chanel nods. 

"Both sound equally horrible," I say. "And please don't make a big deal out of this."

"Aubrey has decided not to tell Carter she likes him," Ivy frowns as she says this.

"I totally understand Aub," Chanel says sincerely. "Rejection stings."

"Thank you," I smile gratefully at her.

"I personally think you should tell him," Nikole adds in. "But I see your point of view and it's your choice."

"You guys have to promise not to tell anyone else," I look at them seriously. "This stays between the four of us."

We all look at each other solemnly and interlock our four pinkies together.

"We now pledge the oath of secrecy," Ivy, Chanel, and Nikole chant together.

This is another one of our little rituals we perform when an important secret needs to be kept. If anyone breaks the oath serious repercussions follow. Luckily it's never happened before.

I just hope it doesn't happen now. 

💗💗💗

"What is a tragedy?" Mrs. Faye writes on the board. She turns to us. "Anyone?"

"A tragedy is when the school runs out of ketchup!" A male voice called out. The class erupted in laughter.

"Yes James, that is quite tragic," she smiles thinly at him. "But unfortunately that's not the definition I'm looking for."

A tragedy is when you have an unrequited crush. 

I stared at the back of Carter's head. He was slumped over his desk sleeping.

"A tragedy," Mrs. Faye sweeps out her arms dramatically. "A tragedy is a drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. It can be a genre made up of such works. Or the art or theory of writing or producing these works."

She stares at us. The class is silent.

"Who knows a poem or piece of literature that was a tragedy?"

A girl raises her hand and Mrs. Faye points at her.

"You in the green sweater."

"Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy."

"Ah yes," she sighs. "The tragic story of two star crossed lovers."

"More like two idiots," someone mutters.

"One can view it many ways," Mrs. Faye says pointedly. "I'm actually glad Romeo and Juliet was brought up. Shakespeare wrote many tragedies but none as famous as this one. Which is why I've decided instead of reading the play we're actually going to perform it!"

"What!" The class immediately filled with loud chatter.

"Settle down, settle down. We're going to be teaming up with the drama department to put the play on. This will be your final grade before Thanksgiving break and it will be worth seventy five percent so everyone will participate or you will fail this semester."

I groaned along with the class.

"Are we actually going to have an opening night?" A girl asks.

"Of course!" Mrs. Faye says excitedly. "It will be the night before break. Auditions are next week!"

"How are we supposed to put on a play in two weeks!" Someone called out.

"With hard work and dedication."

Great. I'd just audition for one of the smaller roles or better yet see if I could get a job backstage. Performing was not my forte. Plus I didn't have time to memorize lines, not with cheerleading eating up most of my spare time. We had another game next week and a rally that Friday. Not to mention my classes were piling up the homework.

The bell rang and I grabbed my bag as students streamed out talking about the upcoming play.

"I hope Carter tries out for Romeo," a girl said not so quietly to her friend. "If I get Juliet that means I'll get to kiss him!"

I 'accidently' bumped into her on my way out causing her to drop her books.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized.

Not.

"It's ok," I glared at the back of her head as she bent down to pick up her books.

At lunch I told my friends about the play. As I suspected the girls tried to get me to try out for Juliet.

"No way," I said for the hundredth time. "It's too much work memorizing all those lines. Plus I don't think Juliet had pink hair."

"But it would be so romantic!" Chanel batted her eyelashes. "Especially if Carter was Romeo."

"Trust me, he won't try out for Romeo. He was sleeping during class, he didn't even hear about the play."

"A girl can dream," Chanel mutters.

"I'm thinking about auditioning for Juliet's nanny. Doesn't she have like two lines?"

"I'm pretty sure it's more than that," Ivy replied.

The boys decided at that moment to make an appearance. Trevor had an arm slung around Carter's shoulder.

"My boy here is about to become a star."

"Are you talking about the play?" Nikole asked.

"What else? We'll be working backstage." Trevor pointed to Ryan.

"What are you trying out for?" Ivy asked Carter.

"Seeing as I slept through class and only heard about it a minute ago I'm not sure yet."

"Maybe you should try out for Tybalt," I smiled sweetly at him. "I'm sure you'd make an excellent villain."

"It's too bad we're not putting on Hansel and Gretal. I'm sure you'd make an excellent witch."

"Oh snap!" Ryan said.

"Shut up Ryan."

Hello my lovelies!

Next chapter we get some AubreyxCarter moments! Are y'all excited for that?

QOTD: what is a tragedy to you?

A tragedy is when you open your fridge and there no food 😭😭😭

Vote and comment!

Stay pink🎀