Chapter 38: Sophie's end is near 1

"Call me before you leave, Jessie," Luciana said as she picked up her books and made her way out of the lecture hall. On her way out, she met Alyssa and fell into her embrace. They quickly caught up on a few things, before Luciana continued her journey, giving Alyssa a hug again, and they exchanged their "take cares" also.
Luciana slowly made her way to Miss. Selene's office as she was in no hurry to see her. Lately, she rarely saw her mom as she mostly had her off while the girls were at college. To a large extent, Luciana liked that she didn't have to be around her mom as she was sure she will have noticed some symptoms she felt. But, it still did not stop her from missing that warmth she was supposed to get from her mother.
She was gradually getting frustrated of bottling the whole feelings she felt, she wanted to scream it out to the whole world. But on second thought, it was not a good idea.
The morning classes they had that day ended quite fast and there were none again for the day. The hallway was filled with people, as students sauntered to different locations. A lot of them moved to their different sports activities while a good number moved to the different college associations they belonged to.
Alyssa caught up with Jessie, and together they moved to the Drama association. Chelan college had an upcoming drama night, so every single hands in the drama unit was on deck. Jessie was not a part of the drama unit, she was just free that day, and since she was aware that Luciana wanted to pass her time with the counselor, she decided to accompany Alyssa.
Before she became friends with Alyssa, she would usually pass her time at the library or the sports area, as she felt it allowed her to be away from the world. It was on one of those occasions that she met Charles, and she did not regret any single part of it.
Arriving at the drama hall, Alyssa and Jessie met the coordinator fixing the place with the stage boys, the decorations unit doing their parts too, and some other characters changing into their costumes.
"Hey," Alyssa heard a voice call from behind her. The sound came from the left part of where she stood, and she turned her face to see Sophie standing right beside her, grinning widely.
"You know, I'm actually so excited that I will be acting the lead role," Sophie grinned.
"Sophie, I think you should leave that for the coordinator to decide.", Alyssa said dryly.
Smiling menacingly, "there's no need, I'm definitely going to..." Sophie was cut in her speech, by the voice of the drama coordinator calling them to order.
"Attention," the drama coordinator called out, jamming his hands together to get their attention, "settle in guys. We will be starting"
Alyssa rolled her eyes at Jessie, then dragged Jessie and moved closer to where the drama coordinator was.
Sophie's face wrinkled in anger and she walked away, inhaling deep breaths and assuring herself that she was going to get back at Alyssa, just real soon.
"Move to your dressing rooms and change now," the drama coordinator, Mr. Tom commanded and they all scrambled away to their places.
Jessie turned to leave with Alyssa before they were interrupted by Mr. Tom.
"Alyssa," Mr. Tom called out her name and signaled her to come over. Alyssa strolled over to him, not forgetting to inform Jessie to wait for her.
Jessie turned around the already decorated hall and looked for a spot to sit and pass time. Just as she was taking off her bags, her eyes caught Sophie moving towards the backstage sneakily. Jessie ignored Sophie's movement, as she was not interested in anything that concerned Alyssa, though she wondered what Sophie was going to do at the moment.
Mr. Tom talked with Alyssa for a long time, telling her about her facial expressions and the place she should improve. In his mind, he had already picked Alyssa as the lead character, and he needed her to do her best.
They went on and on talking, walking farther away from Jessie. Jessie picked up her phone and began to go through her and Charles's chats. They had talked less on social media since she met him, and more in real life. The distinct thing she observed about every little conversation she had with Charles was that,, "they were advancing progressively."
Thoughts of the previous night ran back to her mind, and she could not help but wish Charles had actually heard her profess the love she felt for him. And just as the thought of him hearing it came to her mind, a silly fear crept in, and she realized she actually was not ready to let him know, maybe it was better that way. "Or was her actions spelling out the words already?" Jessie thought internally.
*** *** ***
"Just pass the can over," Sophie whispered to Hazel, desperation all over her face.
Taking her face to Sophie, "you are sure you want to do this?" Hazel vocalized her thoughts, uncertainty boldly displaying in her voice.
"Well, I have no plans to think about this now, I just need her out,"Sophie raised her face to Hazel, speaking to her with all conviction and persistence she had gathered.
The dressing rooms had make-up boxes with name tags of each character attacked to it. Sophie surveyed the whole room, checking out everybody who was in there. It was obvious their attention was all on their dressing, as they didn't even acknowledge her presence there. She looked closely, till her eyes caught a box with a tag bearing Alyssa. Sophie tiptoed to the box and ran her eyes through the cosmetics packed in.
Her searching eyes caught a can holding the powder and she pulled it out grinning widely. She opened the can Hazel had passed to her and emptied the content inside the powder, shaking it vigorously, till it mixed up. Sophie kept it back and turned to leave the place, satisfied with herself for pulling everything through with less difficulty.
Not long after Sophie left Alyssa's box, making the place feel like she was never there, Cassandra stepped out from the stage curtain she used to hide, smirking graciously as she played with her phone.
"Sophie's end is close," Cassandra grinned widely, raising her hand to the air, and tilting her head, positioned for an imaginary toast.