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there is evil in this world, hatred
and betrayal, and i cannot
keep you from it

──● maleficent
MALEFICENT

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This was official Jady's least favorite day. At least this year anyway. Even if it'd only been a month into it. Today was her least favorite of all the days of this year because Indigo was here.

Invading her safe space, where she felt like herself, and felt like she could be herself without judgement. It was where her friends were, her second family, and now Indigo was here, like she wanted to take this small bit of peace from her too. The reason she was here was valid of course, no matter how much Jady might try to argue with it. She was part of the newspaper club, and particularly had been nominated as the photographer. So now, Indigo was here, taking pictures as they ran through their rehersal, and Jady was doing just about everything in her power to ignore the taunting sneer of her ex-best friend. 

At least the blocking had gone relatively smoothly. Even though they still had plenty of time, it was good to have a graceful start to the ballet of Romeo and Juliet. Emlyn was on the stage now, Ceol behind her with hands on her waist as they listened to the distinct direction of Miss Charis. Jady was doing her best to follow along on the movements, marking Juliet's blocking in her notebook as best as she could to practice later at home, or in the studio by herself. 

She wasn't going to lie. In the beginning it had been difficult, having to sit in the audience of the stage as the other's danced their hearts away, basking in the vocal praises of their instructor. It was had having an understudy part, but Emlyn was extrodinarily kind about it, and during the breaks often found her way over to Jady to talk about the dances, or about how after practice they were going to go get smoothies together. 

She was always invited.

Even though it had been hard - it was hard - she choose to not take it to heart. After all, she was only a sophomore in highschool, and getting the part as the understudy for the female lead was a feat in itself. Even if she wasn't able to dance on stage during the performance, she would know the steps by heart and soul, and that could be enough. It would be enough.

Jady had even had a conversation with her father about it. He'd told her that no matter what happened, he was proud that she was doing the thing she loved, and he was proud that she wasn't letting a lack of stage time get her down - hell, he'd said he was proud just because she was herself. Jady had decided then that it wasn't so bad, and no matter what, she was going to learn the steps front to back, even if she never needed them.

She seriously doubted she would. Emlyn was an amazing dancer. Graceful, delicate, and light. She glided across the floor so smoothly it was like she wasn't touching the wood at all. It was no wonder at all why she'd been awarded the role of Juliet, even if there had been a few inappropriate comments about how Juliet couldn't be black. There had been a girl, one of the one's who'd ranted about how gay P.D.A. was forcing some kind of agenda on them, who'd been whispering to some of the other chorus members about how it wasn't accurate to the old english version of the play. The argument had gone unnoticed, and it had been quickly dismissed as the ravings of a lunatic, but Jady knew it had bothered Emlyn.

Honestly, it bothered her too.

Emlyn was beautiful. She was a perfect Juliet. She'd told Em exactly that after one of the practices, when they were walking to their cars. Her friend had brightened almost immediately, reassuring Jady that it was nothing, and she'd barely even noticed the harmful words. Jady knew she was lying, but she let it drop, and routinely reminded Emlyn that was an amazing Juliet, and no one else had deserved the role.

Jady meant it every time.

Spotlights glimmered against the stage as music swelled once again, and she looked up to watch the marvelous production begin to unfold. Somewhere behind her, there was a soft click of a camera, and the prodding reminder that Indigo was back there somewhere sent ugly feelings down the back of Jady's spine. She could practically feel the burning glare on the back of her head, but she refused to look, to meet the gaze of someone who had insulted her family. Not just insulted them, but insulted them because of their sexuality. 

That fear deepened, and even if Jady wasn't sure what it was for, she forced her gaze down at her script below her, opening her pen once again to take notes of the expressions, the emotions, that Emlyn had written over her face, features twisting and spiraling with each precise, planned movement.

The music hit it's crescendo, the sounds echoing through the auditorium as Ceol released Emlyn into a series of pirouettes. She glided into them as usual, her movements cultivated and intricate. Her brows furrowed in slight concentration, squinting in the lights of the stage as they shifted over to her, and each spin sent her closer and closer to the edge of the stage.

Jady realized what was about to happen before it actually did.

Their stage was a drop off, although there was space between the orchestra pit in the front, and the egde of the stage, it was steep. The stairs were on either sides, or just past the wings, not directly in front, so there was nothing there to even stop Emlyn.

She was getting dangerously close to the edge, and Jady knew she was going to fall. It took her only a moment to scramble from the seating where she was, ignoring a bleating call from Indigo for "ruining her shot" - Jady thought she deserved it anyway - as she darted towards the front of the stage. Emlyn was going to fall, and she was going to get hurt, and even if in the back of her mind, Jady knew that this could turn out just as bad for her, she refused to stand by and just watch it happen.

An injury, especially such an aggressive one, could ruin someone's career in dance, and she wouldn't let that happen for Em.

The other's on stage realized what was happening only moments before it did, and Ceol reached for Emlyn's arm at the same moment Adwin called her name, but it was too late. Emlyn's foot planted halfway off the stage, and she went tumbling down.

Jady hadn't been fast enough to catch her.

But she'd been fast enough to dive to break her fall.

Sickening pain shot up her leg as pressure landed squarely on her back, Emlyn's yelp at the fall echoing out of the chamber of the auditorium as stars spun in Jady's head. She could hear some of the voices, and she felt the weight leap off of her, hands going on her side as Emlyn's voice, scared and soft, spoke.

"Jay?"

Jady didn't have the energy to speak, but she rolled over, feeling tears prick her eyes as the pain swelled at her ankle. "Hey Ems." Her voice came out much more breathless than she meant it too, and silence riddled the top of the stage as they came to a still. It was only another beat of silence before Ceol was sprinting to the side of the stage, darting down the stairs and heading right back for her, Miss Charis hurrying over from the other side.

Emlyn was still holding onto her arm, taking her hand and clasping it on her own. Cottagecore eyes wide, darting over Jady in unbelief. "How could you- why would you do that?" She didn't sound mad, not really, just shocked for the most part. 

Miss Charis looked over her, her own eyes soft "Oh my dear- Jady, darling, I'll call an ambulance alright?"

"No." Jady shook her head, stars bursting into her vision as she pushed up on her elbows, avoiding looking at the source of her agony. "No- It's not, It doesn't feel broken, it's fine." The words were more for herself than anyone else, but she could see the obvious concern on her friend's faces. 

"Jaybird, I hate to say it, but that doesn't exactly look fine to me." Adwin peaked over the stage, sitting over it and hanging his legs over the side, staring at her ankle.

Miss Charis seemed determined, her gaze unrelenting. "You've been hurt, and it certainly doesn't look alright. I'm going to tell the school to call for an ambulance. Adwin, you stay right here next to her."

Adwin looked up, then nodded before glancing back down at Jady. Dread was beginning to pool in her stomach, her vision blurring as the realization that she might have just ended her dreams came crashing down over her. She didn't regret it still, she would have done it again, because a broken ankle wasn't anything to what could have happened if Emlyn had taken the full spill over the edge of the stage.

Miss Charis nodded once more, then hurried out of the auditorium doors, throwing them open as she rushed to the office to notify the school that an ambulance would be arriving. 

Venom-laced words, thick with poison, shot out of the darkness. "Are you stupid?" 

That sick feeling deepened as her heart dropped into her stomach. Indigo.

Emlyn's head snapped up as Jady's ex-best friend stepped into the lighting. Her hair was dyed ginger, curled over her shoulders, half of it up in one of those cheerleader-like hairstyles in those movies from the 2000's. It had to have been forever damaged from dye by now. She stopped not far from where Jady was laying, her hand on her hip, gum popping irritatingly loud as she looked over Jady. Up and down. "Well?" Her voice was too loud for being so close. "Are you?"

Jady had barely opened her mouth before Adwin spoke. "Sorry, but who the fuck are you?" He did sound mad, or at least more than a little pissed. She'd only heard him use that same scolding, condescending tone on some of the members of the chorus when they talked down to the crew. 

Indigo's distant, judgemental eyes shifted from Jady up to Adwin, and a sneer worked it's way up her face. "I wasn't talking to you, so it doesn't matter, now does it?" 

"It does if you're gonna speak to her like that."

"So suddenly you're the boss of who Jaybird can and cannot speak with?" Indigo rolled her eyes, looking back down at Jady, "Wow, you have such un-manipulative friends now." The words stung, not just because Indi was making fun of Addi's nickname for her, but also because she was calling them bad people - bad friends, when nothing could have been farther from the truth.

Fortunately, Adwin didn't seem dettered, because he looked up and down at Indigo. "That's pathetic. And not at all what I said, don't pretend you know anything about my relationships with my friends." His voice was flat, but Indigo ignored him, looking right back down to Jady.

"Oh yeah, I'm the pathetic one." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not the one who overdramatically dived to catch the female lead." Indigo rolled her eyes this time, "Trying to make yourself the center of attention I see, as usual Jady." She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Shame too, I really thought you grew up."

Sick shame flooded her chest, pricking her eyes with tears all over again. Her throat burned with the prolouge of water works, and oxygen clawed at her chest, anxious for her not to sob aloud. Indigo had already made her cry before, and here she was, doing it all over again.

"Seriously, what were you thinking??" Indigo snapped, and instictually Jady felt herself tense. On her arm, Emlyn's hand's tightened, and she looked down as well, but her voice was much softer.

"Jady, why would you do that for me?" The sweetness that laced her words eased something in Jady's chest, and her own eyes found her friends. There was a beat of thick silence, too long and too quiet, and words burned a brand into her mouth. She couldn't just say she had a crush - not only that, but Emlyn was her friend, she deserved to be on that stage. 

There was a snort then, and Jady's vision again snapped to Indigo, who was now grinning at her. Anotehr snicker escaped her mouth, and she slapped a hand over it. "Oh no, this, this is too good- oh my god, you like her."

Jady opened her mouth, desperate to say something, but laughter echoed over the empty alleys of the seats in the audience. Adwin's eyes had widened, and Jady could feel the slow, blazing gazes of everyone in that auditorium turn towards her.

"You have a crush on her." Indigo's grin was fatal, decay and disease splattered within her speech. "No wonder you got so defensive about me calling your sister a lesbian - you're one of them."

Oh.

Oh it hurts.

Everything crashed into her chest at once, and agonizing pain dragged up through her leg like a wildfire as the words bounced through her thoughts. 

You're one of them.

Indigo's laugh, borderline giddy sounded out again, and it pushed the first choked sob from Jady's chest.

And then it felt too good to stop.

She shoved away from her friends, crawling a little ways away before curling into herself. Desperate for silence, for air, for that horrible, manical laughter to stop. Desperate for protection from whatever was happening to her right now, and so, so desperate for the burning sensation in her ankle to just go away. Desperate for whatever lie she'd been living back, desperate for her privacy and peace and quiet. Desperate to be away from whatever this stupid fucking place was.

Desperate for her family.

She felt arms around her after a moment, but they weren't Adwin's, or Ceol's, or even Emlyn's. And then there was a voice, holding her to his chest. One she immediately recongnized.

Elliot.

Never in her life had she been more grateful to go to the same highschool as her brother. Akiho and Elijah were somewhere on Campus too, but Elijah was always the closest, and he stayed after school for the gardening club. Elijah would have baseball, and Akiho typically went home or to the rink with Neve. 

Elliot was here, and he was holding her, and Jady couldn't help the aching cry that escaped her. His voice was soft, as he oriented himself to pick her up in his arms, one arm under her knees, and the other under her shoulders to support her. Pain soared up her leg, but Jady didn't open her eyes, couldn't bring herself to do so. 

"Jady - woah, hey, it's okay- I'm gonna get you out of here now okay? The ambulance is on it's way-" He stopped talking, his movements stilling from wherever he was going.

"Do you even know your sister is a lesbian?" 

Jady wanted to scream at her, but the only thing that came out was another horrfying sob. Elliot's voice fell, low, and almost threatening. "Get the fuck out of my way before I make you."

"Before you make me?"

"I swear to God." His voice was lethal now, absolutely deadly. "I'm not afraid of beating the shit out of you Indigo. I'm quite comfortable with the idea actually." He shoved past her, still speaking. "And by the way, I don't give a shit what my sister identifies as, as long as she's comfortable with herself." He didn't stop walking, and the sirens flooded Jady's ears, as did a commontion of some kind outside.

It wasn't long at all before blinding darkness swept her away. 

✦

✦ OPHELIA ✦

- apologies if this
chapter triggered 
you!

- i hope it was still okay <3

What are your character's (and your) opinions on jadlyn [ jady + emlyn ]

──● answers