Phantom by Laura DeLuca Page A

Wendy wouldn’t have listened to her.
     
    “It wasn’t Becca,” Debbie told her. “She got notes just like that one. They must be from the same person.”
     
    “Of course you’re going to defend her! She’s the only person pathetic enough to actually be friends with an oversized nerd like you!”
     
    Debbie’s head snapped back like she’d been slapped. She looked like she was about to burst into tears. As Rebecca watched her friend choke back a sob, she realized that she had finally had enough. It was one thing when Wendy was picking on her, but it was crossing the line when she attacked her friends. That was something even a quiet little mouse like Rebecca wasn’t going to stand for.
     
    “Wendy, why don’t you just back off . . .” Tom began. Rebecca cut him off in mid-sentence.
     
    “Wait, Tom. I can speak for myself.” Rebecca crossed her arms over her chest and took a few steps closer to Wendy, facing her down with more courage than she knew she was capable of. “I’ve put up with your crap for long enough, Wendy. The jibes. The looks. The nasty comments. Well, I’ve had it. It stops now . I got the role of Christine. I have the better voice. And you have been upstaged. Get over it and get on with your life. Being a bitch isn’t going to change things.”
     
    Wendy looked like she might just have a conniption. Her face turned at least twelve different shades of red, and Rebecca was sure she could actually see the purple veins throbbing in her forehead. For the first time in the four years Rebecca had known her, Wendy Wright was struck speechless. But it was only a temporary condition. Again, Rebecca reminded herself that good things never last long.
     
    Wendy snatched the piece of loose-leaf paper out of Tom’s hands, crumpled it up, and tossed it at Rebecca, aiming for her face. She missed, and it bounced harmlessly off her chest before falling onto the floor.
     
    “This isn’t over, Becca. If you want a war, you’re going to get one.”
     
    “Bring it on, honey.” Carmen insisted. Rebecca was tempted to slap her.
     
    Wendy huffed, turned on her heel and stomped across the stage. Justyn snickered at her as she passed by him and it was more than she was willing to tolerate.
     
    “What are you looking at, freak?”
     
    “Ugliness incarnate,” Justyn replied.
     
    He was suddenly straight-faced and very serious. Wendy gave him one last dirty look before joining a few of her friends from the chorus. She didn’t notice that Justyn continued to glare at her as she waited for rehearsal to begin. But Rebecca noticed, and it made her nervous.
     
    “Wow, girl, I can’t believe the way you just stood up to Wendy!” Carmen exclaimed. “When did you go and get a backbone?”
     
    “Everyone has a breaking point,” Debbie said. “Even Becca.”
     
    “That’s pretty much it,” Rebecca told them. Now that it was over, she was kind of shocked herself. “I guess I went a little crazy for a second there.”
     
    “You should go crazy more often.” Tom teased. “You’re kind of hot when you’re mad.”
     
    Rebecca knew she was back to her old self when she felt her face flush with embarrassment. But she held her ground once rehearsal started and refused to let the daunting stares and nasty remarks of Wendy and her friends bother her. Miss King had no reason to doubt her casting that day. Rebecca performed flawlessly beside both Justyn and Tom. When it was time for Wendy’s main scene, she wondered if she would do half as well, and in uncharacteristically bad sportsmanship, almost hoped that she wouldn’t.
     
    Rebecca watched from the sidelines, waiting patiently for the next scene in which she would have to join Wendy on the stage. It wasn’t a scene she was particularly looking forward to, but it appeared she would have at least a few moments of reprieve. Scene shifting was taking a little longer now that most of the props had arrived. The transition between the phantom’s