Amethyst grabbed her favourite deep red lipstick.
She pressed her lips together when she finished applying it.

"Your time's up, Meredith."

_____________________

"YOU AND ME TO-GETHER, WE CAN MAKE IT BETTER! GONNA-", sang Camryn, Darius, Kennedy and Eli.

"-Ok, ok!", interjected Miss Laine. "That's brilliant, guys!
It's just... it's not the same without the whole band.
We'll wait for Amethyst to arrive."

"She's never been this late before", said Weronika.

"I'm sure something important came up", said Meredith.

"More important than rehearsals?", questioned Stanley.

Meredith shrugged.
"I think I remember her saying she had to buy a new dress from Violet's at the mall."

"During rehearsals?", questioned Maxon.

Eli shook his head.
"No, I don't believe that she would do that."

"All stand!", exclaimed Amethyst.

"Amethyst?", questioned Miss Laine.

"We are standing", replied a confused Weronika.

"I'm sorry for the very 'Darius' entrance, but I've got something
I need to say", said Amethyst.

Miss Laine gestured to the space in front of her.
"By all means, go ahead."

"Meredith's a fake", she snarled.

Meredith's eyes widened.
"Wh-what?"

"Oh, not this again!", exclaimed Darius.

"Amethyst, honey-", started Miss Laine.

"-I'm not saying this to start drama.
I didn't want to mention it at all.
But she's planning to ruin the show and I can't let her do that!
Not when everyone's worked so hard."

A part of Eli believed Amethyst, but he had always known Meredith to be a nice person.

"Amie, a lot's happened to you", said Weronika.
"We're not saying you're trying to start drama.
But you and Mer never really got on."

Amethyst frowned.
With every second that passed, Amethyst lost hope that they'd believe her.

"What about the dress?", asked Leonie, though her suspicions seemed to be aimed more at Meredith than Amethyst.

Panic appeared in Meredith's eyes. "Uh, I-I..."

"What dress?", asked Amethyst.

"Meredith said you were out buying a new dress from Violet's", said Kennedy.

"Violet's closed down last week for renovations", said Amethyst.
"I told Ronnie about it."

"Oh yeah!
That's true", said Weronika.

"Wait, wait!", said Miss Laine, holding her hands up.
"What's going on?"

"I-I can explain!
Here's what-"

"Dayton?
I did it.
Amethyst's a mess."

"Good.
Do you think that's enough to mess up the play?
They got past everything else you did."

"Trust me.
That girl's a ticking time bomb.
She'll blow up in everyone's faces and the show will be a mess."

"Then we'll have our revenge."

"Exactly!
I promise I'll make them regret not letting you join."

"I love you, babe."

"I love you more."

Meredith froze when she heard her conversation with Dayton playing.

Amethyst smirked.
"Maybe don't have your call volume so loud next time."

Darius looked at Meredith, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Why... why were you saying all that?"

Meredith opened her mouth, but all that came out were the remnants of words that refused to help her.

Instead, Meredith turned to Amethyst. "Where'd you get that?"

"I recorded it the minute I heard your voice.
I was going to expose you then and there but... I needed to make sure it was the right decision", replied Amethyst.

"You mean... you heard about your song?"

Weronika snapped her head towards Meredith's direction.
"Sorry, what?
Please tell me you weren't the one who deleted Amie's song."

Amethyst watched as Meredith squirmed.
Like a sick animal being put
down, Amethyst decided to put Meredith out of her misery.

"Yes.
She deleted it", she said.
"I'd wager to say she was also responsible for getting Leonie and I in trouble, although, I'll admit, I shouldn't have reacted in the way I did.
I'd also bet good money on Meredith intentionally recording Stanley's coming out video."

Stanley looked at Meredith, his eyebrows almost touching the bridge of his nose to show confusion and betrayal.

Kennedy gasped.
"You convinced me that I shouldn't try and fix my friendship with Leonie!"

"Wait... you put doubts in my head about Weronika.
I thought you were looking out for me.
Were you... were you only using me?", questioned a saddened Isaac.

Meredith looked around at all the hurt and angry faces staring at her. She sighed, seemingly resigning to her fate.

"Well?
Do you have anything to say for yourself?", asked Miss Laine.

"Do you have any idea how hard it's been to hear you all say I'm a great singer?
Like you're somehow trying to make me feel included?", she asked, before scoffing.

Eli frowned, his face heating up as she spoke.

"I know I'm a blóódy great singer! And so is Dayton!
He worked so hard and all he wanted was to be a star in the show!
But you just couldn't appreciate his talent, Miss Laine.
I swore I'd do whatever I had to to ruin this show", admitted Meredith.

A tense silence filled the air.
Miss Laine closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
After taking three deep breaths, she unclenched them and walked closer to Meredith.

"Dayton didn't get a role because he didn't sing with emotion.
Dayton didn't get a role because his acting lacked depth.
Dayton didn't get a role because he danced to show himself off, not to connect to the music in any way", explained Miss Laine.

Meredith scowled.
"Listen-"

"-No, you listen!", shouted Miss Laine. "Above all, he treated the other students like they were dirt.
That boy has talent, but that's not enough.
That's why he doesn't have a role."

Meredith wrapped her arms around her body when she felt everyone's eyes on her.
She raised her head up.
"Yeah?
Well, whatever!
I'm done with this stupid show!
Good luck without me!"

Meredith stormed out of the room.

Amethyst touched Leonie's arm.
"Hey.
I know this must be hard for you.
You know, because you trust people a lot."

Leonie sighed.

"I know you were suspicious of her from the way you questioned her."

"I just wish I could've done something."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. You can't win them all."

Leonie clenched her jaw, before shaking her head.
"No.
I intend to win this one."

_________________________

Leonie marched out on to the courtyard. She scanned the area of students leaving. She glared at Meredith.

"Meredith, wait!"

Meredith turned around to face her.

"I just wanted to say thanks."

Meredith's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"For what?"

"For making Amethyst and I fight.
We never would've realised how much better we are together otherwise."

Amethyst smiled.
"Yeah!
And, if you never told Isaac that Weronika didn't like him for being Jewish, they never would've connected over their experience of prejudice."

Weronika and Isaac nodded in agreement.

"And my friendship with Leonie wouldn't be as strong if it wasn't for you", said Kennedy.

Leonie nodded.
"In fact, I'd go as far as saying Meredith is the reason the show will be so great!"

"Yeah!", cheered Maxon and Stanley.

"We were all raised to have manners. I think we should all thank Meredith for her outstanding contributions!", exclaimed Leonie.

One by one, the group members started clapping and thanking Meredith.

"You rock, Mer-Bear!", shouted Darius.

"Go Meredith, Go Meredith, Go Meredith-hey!
Go Meredith, Go Meredith, Go Meredith, aye!"

Darius and Stanley started a conga line, and it became so popular that a few random students joined.

Amethyst approached Meredith and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You really are the best, girl."

Meredith shrugged Amethyst's hand of her and rolled her eyes.
"You're all... you're all weirdos!
You deserve each other."

Amethyst smirked as Meredith walked away.
She gasped when she felt arms wrap around her.
She looked to the side and saw a grinning Leonie.

"Come on, join the dance party!"

The rest of the club members were still reeling from Meredith's betrayal. To so many of them, she had been like a real friend.

But it brought them some comfort to know that they all shared the same pain, and that they could turn their pain into magic.

___________________________

Hi.

Meredith's been exposed! What are your thoughts on how the group handled it?

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

kurookensimp

-cherrysvalanxe

CaptainHermioneSwan

The_Slytherclaw

gillioddities

DoodleYeet

starryeyedturtle