Julie walked out of the studio and reflected on how much time she spent in there. She wasn’t watching where she was going and ran into something hard. Very hard.
“Hey, watch where you’re going.” Julie said jokingly. Julie looked up to see who she had run into. JC.
“I think you broke my nose.”
“Sorry for running into you Miss Porter. Now get out of my way.” Julie stepped aside and JC quickly walked by. Julie continued down the hall toward the vending machine, when Justin walked up to her.
“Why was JC so rude to me?” Julie demanded, her hands on her hips. Justin shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the floor.
“I can’t tell you why.” he said softly. Julie sighed in frustration.
“He was really nice to me yesterday and now he’s a total jerk. Give me a reason.”
“Let’s just say you dredged up some memories.” Justin grabbed his food and walked away. Johnny walked up to her.
“Go to the dance studio.”
“Do I ever get to go home?” Julie asked tiredly.
“You still have some dance moves to learn and we leave tomorrow. Now go.” Julie trudged down to the dance studio. After three hours of practicing, she could finally go home. When she got home, she laid down on her bed and was out within minutes.
**************************
(Tuesday March 31 5:10 a.m.)
Julie sat down at the table and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Five other tired faces looked down at their bowls and grunted their greetings when she sat down. They were all tired from late rehearsals and things were tense because of the never-ending war between her and JC. Johnny walked in fresh and awake.
“Good morning performers. Wake up and join the land of the living.” The six tired performers gave Johnny identical looks of annoyance and anger. The six of them finished their breakfast and headed toward their respective studios.
*****************************
When they finally got a lunch break, Julie took her lunch into an empty room. Only the room wasn’t empty. JC was there reading a newspaper and eating his lunch.
“This room is open to visitors Miss Porter, so please leave.” JC never once looked up from his newspaper.
“Excuse me? You don’t own this room nor do you have the right to tell me to leave.” Julie spat out. JC got up to face her.
“And I want to know why you seem to hate me so much.” JC looked at her.
“You don’t have the right to know.”
“It involves me but I don’t have the right to know. That makes lot of sense. I deserve to know.”
“Why?
“I’m trying to be your friend. I’m going to be on tour with you guys for the next six months starting tomorrow or rather today because we’re leaving tonight. You can’t hate me when you’re going to be seeing me 24/7 JC.” Julie felt a tear slip down her cheek.
“I’m not ready to tell you.”
“Well let me tell you something. I am a very good judge of character with the exception of one time. I believe, correct me if I’m wrong, that you’re afraid to get close to me because you’ve been hurt and you don’t want to fall in love with me.” JC looked at her in shock.
“You’re not correcting me so I’m assuming I’m right.”
“You wouldn’t understand.” JC turned and looked at the wall.
“You haven’t seen the things I’ve seen or been through the things I’ve been through. You have no idea what pain is JC.” Julie turned and walked out of the room.
*************************
(Thursday April 2, Second day of Tour)
Julie couldn’t believe the rush she got when she performed on stage. She had always loved to be the center of attention. Julie realized he was alone on the bus. Ahh, peace and-. Julie’s thought were interrupted when the bus door slammed open and JC walked in. He looked around, saw Julie, and turned to leave.
“Can you be civil to me at least one time?” JC stopped and turned around.
“Good day Miss Porter and I don’t want to talk to you because it’s too painful.”
“You have no idea what pain is JC. You have no idea.”
“Pain is having parents who couldn’t care less about you and treat you like dirt. Who would’ve kicked you out of the house if it wouldn’t have messed up their image. Pain is thinking you finally found that special person and he ends up abusing you and trying to control your life. Pain is having no one believe that you have enough talent to achieve your dreams. Now you tell me about pain.” Julie sat down on a couch and started to cry. JC turned and walked out, leaving Julie all alone.
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