Chapter 3 : Realizations ('ealisations)

Ladies and Gentlemen! Presenting the results of the Solo round of the Circle of Gold Dance competition! And- The winner is-

Miss Diana Drew!

She walked up the stage in a stupor – thunderous applause, blinding lights, smiling faces – everything looked a little out of focus. Someone handed her the trophy and turned her to face the camera - she smiled automatically.

Everyone cheered as she walked down the stage into the audience. "Congratulations! Congratulations!" shouted some of the audience. The Joneses and Mr Drew were excitedly shaking hands with the judges. The gold and crystal trophy in Diana's arms was in danger of being smothered by the throngs of well-wishers. Miss Martinez and Ethan rescued her and led her backstage.

"Got your way here too, huh?" Sally was stuffing her clothes into a bag.

Diana marched forward angrily, fully intending to get answers out of her. "Why, Sally? Why'd you do this to me?"

"Someone had to, sweetie." Sally didn't look up - she continued to pummel the dress into her bag.

"B-But I'm your best friend," stuttered Diana, completely flabbergasted.

"Best friend?" Sally finally looked up. "Best friend?" she sneered the words.

"With friends like you, who needs enemies? From the day we started school,you always stole everything from me. I was supposed to be Puck in the school play. I was supposed to be Ethan's dance partner. I was supposed to win the music contest. I was supposed to get that routine. But you!" She jabbed a finger at Diana. "You ruined everything!"

Diana was aghast. "What the hell are – "

"Sweet little Diana." Sally smiled contemptuously. "Teacher's pet! Delicate darling! Apple of everyone's ey-"

"That's enough!" Miss Martinez looked frightening as she glared at Sally and she shrank back a little. "Young lady, I'll be speaking to your parents. And as for dance lessons – "

"Don't bother." Sally tossed her cornsilk hair disdainfully. "I know that with her here" – she threw a scornful look toward Diana – "I'm never going to get a chance to prove myself. So, you can keep your favourite girl all to yourself." She closed her bag and hoisted it onto her shoulder. "I quit."

Miss Martinez opened her mouth but no words came out.

"I'm sure Daddy can find a dance instructor who doesn't fawn over stupid, stuck-up princesses." She held the curtain up and turned around once more. "Oh, and Diana, you will never be more than a pretty face. I am so glad I don't have to deal with your self-absorbed, whining, wimpy at-"

"SHUT UP!"

CRASH!

Sally didn't have time to look up. The heavy curtain rod fell with the crash of death. She would've been crushed flat if Ethan hadn't reacted in the nick of time. He caught her shoulder, pulling her out of the way as the heavy maroon curtain fell around them like a shroud. It was a close shave - too close. Mr Drew and the Joneses, having heard the crash, rushed up the stage and clapped their eyes on the strange scene. Sally and Ethan, buried under the heavy curtain fallen from the scaffolding above. Miss Martinez, the woman who could frighten hardened prisoners, terrified into stillness. Diana, fury etched on her face, standing with one arm raised towards the scaffold.

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Horror had set into Diana's heart once the anger had worn off. What have I done? And then a different fear. What will they do to me now?

Mr. Drew had been the first to recover. His training kicked in as he assessed the damage; he swiftly unearthed the children from under the curtain and administered first aid. He dropped Diana home and spoke with the owners of the hall, Sally's parents, the Joneses, Miss Martinez and everyone involved directly or indirectly in the incident. Diana knew what this was. He'd done it before.

Damage control.

"What did they say?" she asked warily when he came home that night. He fell, exhausted, into a chair and closed his eyes.

"Nothing. Everyone's all right." He kept his eyes shut, afraid that he wouldn't be able to lie as convincingly looking her in the eye.

"What's going to happen to me?" Her heart was thudding in her chest.

"What do you mean what's going to happen to you? Nothing's going to happen to you." Mr. Drew was still talking with his eyes closed.

"Am I being sent to an asylum?" she asked, horrified.

"No no, of course not." He was instantly by her side, hugging her. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Diana. It was just an accident. That's all it was. A freak accident."

Diana's father had spent a lot of effort over the years convincing everyone that all that happened around his daughter were nothing more than unfortunate accidents. So much that he'd almost started believing it himself. But Diana didn't. She knew that fortune didn't decide the fate of the people around her. She did.

Her father went away still mumbling about accidents.

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Now that her primal fear, the fear of being sent to an asylum was assuaged, Diana forced herself to look at what she'd done.

I would've killed her.

She cringed away from the thought.

What have I become?

She stayed in her room the entire evening, lounging on her bed near the window, refusing to talk to anyone. Alex kept her company.

"Do you think I'm evil?"

Alex lifted his head from her lap and cocked it to a side.

"Oh, how I wish you could talk Alex." She stroked the top of his head absently.

Anger-1,40,096 Diana-0.

As much as Sally's betrayal had hurt, it was what she said that truly shattered Diana. You think of no one but yourself! Sally had held up a mirror. And Diana could barely recognize the reflection in it.

Because all that she said was irrefutably and horribly true.

Freak! Freak! Freak!

She'd vowed that day to make them pay for her humiliation.

"Freak! Freak! Freak!" they'd chanted.

Diana had gotten back at all of her bullies but that taste of power was like a drug. Once she was a little popular, she'd only wanted more. The power to change someone's mind, to make them do exactly what she wanted - it was heroin coursing through her veins. She'd one day decided that she wanted to be queen bee and she'd made it happen - never mind the casualties.

She'd told Hugh he was stupid when he'd worked up the courage to ask her to tutor him in Math. She'd picked her friends without an audition when the teacher had asked her to recruit the choir group. She'd laughed viciously at the new girl who'd fallen at a jump in dance class. A thousand such instances whirled around inside her head - they felt almost like someone else's life. Like the horrid words had fallen out of someone else's mouth, the unkind actions done by someone other than her. And the worst of all ..................................... her best friend thought her the worst person on the planet.

And I would've killed her............

Mr. Patterson's words came back to her.

Diana, your problem is that you're good at everything - studies, dance, drama, art. Everything you touch turns to gold. He'd smiled sadly. You think you are superior to the other kids. You think you are a good leader because you always win. But you can never be one unless you've lost.

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School was brutal. It felt like someone had turned the clock back four years. The speculations were meaner than it had been then, courtesy of the expansion of the children's vocabulary.

...Sally says she's sure she did it. Wonder how....

....psycho should be left alone....

...and the curtain rod just fell. Like BAM!

...is a complete freak...

....not totally stable. Maybe she should be sent to a home...

....not safe to be around her. My mom told me not to talk to her....

Diana kept her head down and walked through the crowded school corridor. She'd avoided Ethan ever since the incident. She didn't think she could endure his fear and disgust on top of everything else. If Sally could get so bitter, what's to say that Ethan couldn't. I can't trust anyone anymore....... And no one would trust me.

Diana could clearly see the past she'd been subconsciously avoiding. Many of the faces that passed her at school were those she'd laughed at or ridiculed or even reduced to tears. She'd relied so much on her ability that kept everyone from hating her that she'd forgotten how to be liked without it.

She'd forgotten how to be good.

Weeks passed and she became more and more miserable. No one would talk to her anymore. No one would even look at her. People avoided her like the plague. She couldn't even bring herself to use her ability on people. She'd hidden under the veil of that deception long enough.