by Sarah Dalton
The music started and it was the right track. Elena had been worried that Clarissa might intercept it. Clare had done a good job and supervised the music transfer. She began her dance and settled into it. There were a few laughs from the judges as she “came to life”. But then, everything began to go wrong. Elena still had her Plan-It contact lenses in. Someone had hacked them, and all she could see were insults:
You’re going down, cowface.
Did you think you’d win? Bitch?
I know what you did.
You helped the Blem.
You’re nothing.
You’re going to lose.
Go on… trip. Fall over. Show everyone what a loser you really are.
Elena’s feet faltered and she had to cover up a trip as though it was part of the act. Her smile was no longer elegant and warm. It had turned sour and she knew it. Things were slipping from her grasp. How did they know she helped Mina escape? This couldn’t be happening. She’d been so close. And now she was going to lose it all.
Chapter Six
Elena was losing the audience and from there it would be a slippery slope. She’d lose the judges, and then the people at home, and then the entire competition. She’d be stuck in Area 14 with Mrs Murgatroyd breathing down her neck. She’d be stuck indoors with her mum, getting Botox injections and pedicures. She closed her eyes, almost resigned to her failure, as the music from the nutcracker suite faded. At least then she couldn’t see the messages on her lenses. She turned to Jake who was watching her with a horrified mask. Even he knew she was failing.
But then she remembered Clare, and what she said about Elena being strong. There was a split second pause between the music. Could she remove her lenses in that time? She struck a dramatic pause and spun around so that her back was to the audience. Then, as fast as she could, she put her fingers to her eyes and popped out the lenses. She’d never need those poxy things again. There was no way she would ever be using that Plan-It ever again. She’d be getting a new one for sure.
The music changed to a hip-hop remix of Tchaikovsky. She opened her arms out wide and flung her head back. This was her final chance and she was going to throw herself into it. For the first time, ever, she got into the dance, she let herself go. She moved like she never had before, and when she looked out into the crowd, she saw them clapping along to the music. They spurred her on and she smiled as though she was care-free and happy. They picked up on her energy, and even the judges nodded along. As the music stopped the applause began. Chuck strode onto the stage.
“Wow! I didn’t think anything could top Clarissa, but my word what a performance! Am I right, people?”
There was a cheer and Elena bowed to the audience. She waved and blew kisses before jogging off the stage. Jake stared at her in the wings.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Someone tampered with my Plan-It. I couldn’t see anything for abusive messages.”
Jake almost looked human for a moment. “You… you were incredible out there.”
Elena felt a strange jolt run through her body. She didn’t know what to say. “Thanks.” It sounded so lame. Her cheeks warmed, and she knew she was going to blush again, so she hurried off the stage and into Clare’s arms.
She’d done it. She’d given everything she had. She’d overcome Clarissa’s sabotage and now she just had to wait for the final question. Out on stage she heard the sound of a judge’s buzzer and then a scream of frustration. Another girl was out. There were just seven left in the competition. Five would answer the final question.
*
Elena was stood in the centre of the line-up. It was a good position to be in. People’s eyes naturally moved to the centre of a stage. At the back of the auditorium the LED screens were showing mock pictures of Elena with the crown. But then they would be bumped off by pictures of Clarissa with the crown. People had even created a fight between the two of them, rolling on the floor, pulling chunks of hair from each other.
“Ladies and gentlemen, give a round of applause for your favourite five!” Chuck gestured towards the girls.
Elena blew a kiss to the audience and then smiled. She managed to squeeze a tiny tear out, just enough to make her eyes appear wet. They were all dressed in ball gowns. Clarissa wore a beautiful blue gown which floated to the floor in extravagant ruffles. It was gorgeous. But Elena felt like she’d over done it. The ruffles were too much around her curves. She wasn’t quite tall enough to pull it off. Clare and Elena had come up with a stunning dress. It was floor length and silky. It was a very plain red, but it was just the right shade of red to complement her skin tone. There were two lace shoulder sleeves and a dramatic neckline that showed just enough. The dress gathered at her waist and then fell to the floor. Silk and lace panels had been put in from her waist to the floor. It showed just a peek of her legs through the gown. It was exquisite. Clare was a genius.
“There’s just one more round, some might argue that it’s the hardest round of all – the final question.” Chuck lowered his eyes to the audience for dramatic effect. His shiny suit rippled as he moved. “I have here a bowl of cards. On each card is the name of a judge. Each contestant must come up to the bowl and choose their card. Then the judges will ask a final question. Finally, the winners will be chosen from the judges votes combined with the audience and phone votes.” He paused and looked down the camera. “Let’s get on with the show!”
Elena hardly noticed the three girls who were called before her and Clarissa. The buzzer sounded for no apparent reason and a girl departed the stage in tears. One stumbled over her answer but then started to praise the GEM and managed to get the audience support. Another tripped on her sequin dress on the way to the bowl and her breast emerged. The audience gasped and the girl ran away in shame. Then, it was Clarissa’s turn.
She picked up her dress and smiled at Chuck like he was her long lost Prince. Then she delved into the bowl and picked one of the two remaining cards. Chuck took the card and read out the name.
“Well, Clarissa, your question will be asked by judge number three! That’s the commissioner of the GEM Beauty Pageant Committee Mr David Goodyear. Let’s hear it for David!”
Judge number three took his applause in and then waved his hands to settle the crowd. “Good evening, Chuck. Good evening everyone and I’d just like to say thank you for putting on such a show. Miss Area 14, sponsored by Blingin’ Botox, has been incredible.” He waited as another round of applause rippled through the audience. “My question for the young lady here is about justice and forgiveness. Area 14 has been through the mill a bit recently, with crimes committed by Blemished members of the town. Now, we all know that justice is important to the world. But what about forgiveness? What role does that have to play in situations like this?”
It was a tough question but not an unfair one. Elena thought of a few possible ways to come across as forgiving but conservative. Clarissa, however, who had never been one for spontaneous thought, had gone very pale. She was in shock. Elena realised that Clarissa had tried to rig the questions and received the shock of her life when she got a different question to what she expected.
“Thank you Commissioner Goodyear,” she said in a voice much quieter than her usual clear and commanding one. “And thank you to the organisers of this pageant. Wow, that is some question. Justice and forgiveness are two really, very essential parts of society. I mean, without justice you can’t… you can’t… well, you’d be afraid of the bad guys. And then, forgiveness, you… you have to forgive the bad guys.”
Elena wanted to snigger but the truth was she felt bad for Clarissa. This was humiliating.
“I believe that the Blemished need to pay for their crime. And I think that Blemished and GEM should not mix anymore. I mean, they shouldn’t be together at all. And I know for a fact, that Elena Darcey spends time with her Blemished nanny, I mean, they hug and everything, like she’s her real mum or something, and it’s sick and wrong.” Clarissa was rambling, and she
was also partially answering a different question as though her brain couldn’t focus on anything else. “We shouldn’t even employ them anymore. Or talk to them, because we can’t trust them. The last few months have shown that, right?” She trailed off. She was frozen in front of hundreds of people.
Chuck prised the microphone out of Clarissa’s stiff fingers and helped her back into position. It was like she was a robot who’d powered down. She was a shell of a person. Elena felt bad for her, but it was her turn for the final question and she needed to compose herself. After her cue she walked towards the bowl and removed the last card. Chuck announced that judge five, former model Melissa Lin, would ask her the question.
“Could you tell me about the greatest mistake you ever made in your life? How did you right this mistake?”
Elena paused and composed herself for a moment, as she did, her eyes drifted to Jake in the wings. He watched her with interest, but when their eyes met he scowled. Why did she keep looking at him? She turned back to the crowd. “I had a best friend. I thought she was good for me, and I thought we could rely on each other. We used to do things together at school, things that weren’t nice for other people. We were bullies.
“But one day, I woke up and I realised that I didn’t want to be a bully anymore. I just wanted to be me. My best friend turned on me after that, and I became the bullied one. My greatest mistake was letting my best friend lose her way like that. I wish I had been more forceful in keeping her on the right track.” Elena looked over at Clarissa. “I wish I’d helped her. But now it’s too late, and only she can change her life.
“I’m going to right this mistake by winning this competition and becoming a force for good. I want to go out into the world and let people know that you can change your life and you can make things better.” Elena handed the microphone back to Chuck and stepped back into the line. The crowd exploded in applause.
“And that concludes the final question round,” Chuck said, his voice barely audible above the crowd. “We’re going to this brief advert break and will be back with the winner’s announcement in less than three minutes!” He winked at the camera and then his shoulders slumped. “Can someone get me a scotch? This pageant is killing me.” He stomped off the stage, leaving the remaining contestants.
Clarissa turned to Elena. “You were talking about me. What you said in that question. It was me.”
Elena nodded. “I don’t know why you need to be like you are. I don’t know what it is – your mum is lovely. You seem to have a lovely home. But I wish I’d stuck around long enough to find out what happened. And then I wish I’d helped you.”
Tears rolled down Clarissa’s cheeks. “I don’t know. I don’t know why I bully. I just always wanted to win. I thought it was winning. I guess I was wrong. I’m just a big fat loser.”
“Hey.” Elena put a hand on her shoulder. “For a start – you’re not fat.” Clarissa laughed. “And you’re not a loser, either. No matter what happens when that drunk soap guy comes back, we’ve both won.”
She shook her head. “No way. You’re the winner. You always were.” The two girls hugged and then Chuck skipped back. They were about to go live.
Chapter Seven
Chuck took the microphone whilst skidding onto the stage, catching it in his right hand like a pro. Then he smiled and raised his hands at the audience, pumping up their applause.
“We’re live from Area 14 where the Blingin’ Botox Miss Area 14 competition is about to come to a close. In just a few moments we’ll be announcing the winner and presenting them with their crown. Who do you want to win?” Chuck cupped his ear.
Elena felt like they were shouting her name but there were so many people shouting at different times that she wasn’t sure. The LED screens showed pictures of Clarissa in tears, her blue dress in tatters by her feet. The third girl, a skinny girl with sunken cheeks, gripped hold of her fingers. She stared right ahead and her breath came out of her like a steam train. Elena was transfixed by the rise and fall of her chest. She wanted to wave her hands in front of the girl’s face, see if she registered anything.
“Well the wait is almost over.” A guy with a clipboard handed Chuck a folded envelope off screen. “I have here the results of the Blingin’ Botox Miss Area 14 competition.”
Clarissa took Elena’s hand and squeezed it. Elena stared down at their hands entwined and almost teared up. Why had it taken a beauty pageant and stupid sabotage plans for them to be friends again? Why now, when one of them would be leaving for London?
“And the winner is…” there was a drum roll and Chuck peeled open the envelope. The moment where he looked at the name seemed to take forever. Elena’s heart pounded against her ribs. She just wanted it to be all over, and she didn’t care if she won anymore. “Elena Darcey!”
There was rapturous applause. Clarissa pulled Elena into a tight hug. The third girl fainted and the security guard dragged her away. Clarissa let her go and Elena wobbled up to the chair they’d set out as a throne. Chuck put a sash around her body that read “Miss Area 14” and someone else thrust a bouquet of flowers into her hands. Her face was everywhere, all around the LED screens of the auditorium and on the banners held up by the crowd. She almost collapsed into the chair, her eyes and mouth wide open in shock. A crown was placed on her head and finally she remembered to smile.
“How do you feel?” Chucked asked as he thrust the microphone in her face.
“Numb,” Elena answered.
*
“The train leaves in fifteen minutes,” Jake said as she stepped down from the stage. He pressed his earbud and listened to the instructions in his head.
“But… I don’t have clothes. My parents aren’t here to so goodbye.” Elena’s legs felt wobbly and the crown weighed down on her head.
He turned to her. “Your parents aren’t here? That’s…”
“Sucky? Yeah I know. Do you know where Clare is? My nanny?”
“I… um… you mean the Blemished woman?”
Elena rolled her eyes. “Yes, the Blemished woman.”
They walked away from the stage. People congratulated Elena wherever she went. Enforcers had to hold back some of the other contestants and their family members who dove at her with ferocity. Jake led them down a quiet corridor.
“You really like your nanny, don’t you?” he said out of the blue.
“What’s wrong with that?” Elena knew she had to tread carefully. Not everyone was so sympathetic towards the Blemished. “I mean… well, she raised me, you know.”
They stopped outside a door that said “winner” in the centre of a star. He actually smiled. “It’s just a little surprising, that’s all.”
“Get used to it. I’m full of surprises,” Elena replied without hesitation.
Jake’s mouth opened and shut before he composed himself. “Well, anyway, I’ll let you get changed. I guess your parents can visit you in London. We have to film you getting on the shuttle for the network. They’re filming the documentary.”
“What documentary?”
“The documentary of your life in London. You’ve got your own reality TV show now.” He grimaced. “You’d best change. There are some clothes hung up in the dressing room to your right.”
“And Clare?”
“I’ll get her.” He turned to leave but as Elena’s hand moved towards the door handle he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. “Congratulations.”
Elena nodded and stepped into the winner’s dressing room. There were red roses, long stemmed and perfect, arranged in a glass vase and placed on the dressed table. Someone had collected her things and they were folded into a neat square next to the vase. She began to unpin her hair, and as she did, she realised that her fingers were shaking. This was what it felt like to be a winner. It felt empty and unsettling. Her hair tumbled down and she found a seat to steady herself. The door opened and Clare shuffled through with tears in her eyes. She held onto the sleeves of her shapeless tunic, as though for
extra comfort. Elena stood up and pulled her into a hug.
“Oh, Elena, my beautiful girl.” Clare took Elena’s face in her hands and stared at her. “You won. You’re free. You get as far away from this place as you can, do you hear? You live your life and you don’t even look back.”
“But you––”
“But me nothing. It’s too late for me.” Clare laughed. “I’ve been doomed for a long time and now I know my mind is unravelling. I’ve seen it happen to my friends. I know the signs. Soon I’ll be superfluous to requirements. No good to society.”
Elena started to cry. “Don’t say that, Clare.”
Clare let go of Elena. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be saying this. It’s not fair. God knows you get enough guilt from your parents.” She moved Elena to the chair by the dressing table and took a brush to her hair.
“Do you think they’ll even notice I’m gone?” Elena asked in a quiet voice.
“Of course they will! Elena, whatever they say and however they act you are the most important person in their lives, and if they don’t appreciate it right now, they will in a few weeks.”
“Or they’ll just buy another kid.”
Clare frowned. “If they do it won’t be fair to the child.”
“Or you.” Elena grasped her nanny’s hand and looked at her in the mirror. “You’re my real mother. You looked after me. I’ll never forget you. And I swear I’ll always look out for Blemished people. I don’t care how many people hate you guys, I never will.”