Tethered

Chapter 9:

"Cut it! Cut it! It was awful child. A dragon doesn't grin like a fan girl looking at Aurora. He smirks maliciously wanting to rip her head of her body," Mrs. Veronicas instructed whipping her hands in the air. I coughed a giggle at poor Lucy who frowned at Mrs. Veronicas' words.

How could she expect Lucy not to grin like a clown looking at a guy called Rome twirling around like a Ms. goody-two-shoes princess? Either Mrs. Veronicas was oblivious about the effect Rome had over other students or was just ignoring it.

"Give it another shot. You can do it child, just focus. Get into the character, get into your character," Mrs. Veronicas sat down on her director's seat as they redid the whole scene with a grumbling Rome.

Nathaniel stood up from his wooden chair for a thrown, telling, "I ought to know what that little vermin so called princess Aurora is doing. Draco! Go and find out what is happening in the kingdom and of course her."

Lucy bowed her head saying, "yes, mistress."

Then she flapped her hands like a flying dragon, actually more like a tiny little bird and walked up to the place where Rome stood outside a hut like structure and was talking to his fairy godmother in a high pitched voice as if he'd inhaled helium, "godmother, tomorrow is my sixteenth birthday--"

"Cut it, cut it! Rome, dear, talk in a lower pitch. You are not an opera singer with a piercing voice aiming to shatter the glass... Or ears... You sound like a whistle blown by a night guard!" Mrs. Veronicas shook her head. Wow! That was harsh and would have hit him good. I could see Rome's jaws clench before he gave curt nod. Well, he deserved it. A lot!

"Come on, restart your lines," Mrs. Veronicas ordered making them retake their places. He cleared his throat a little and continued his part in a girl's voice or rather more like a donkey choking on some dry hay. This caused me to giggle and him to glare daggers at me.

"No, no no no, Rome. Your voice sounds like a rooster shrieking its last cries. Try your regular voice. And please never try to imitate a girl's voice ever in your whole life," Mrs. Veronicas looked at him as if she was looking at a girl who just had a miscarriage making Rome to grumble more profanities under his breath. But either way, Mrs. Veronicas had her way and Rome had to redo the scene.

It was way too hilarious to see a handsome guy acting like a girl. Sometimes his voice sounded like a screech of door and sometimes his expressions made me want to roll laughing. But I must admit, the ruining of his day made mine better.

"No, no, no, no! Rome, you are doing it all wrong again! It's not that difficult as you make it look. Come on child, I am not asking you to conquer the world. I'm telling you just to ENACT..." Mrs. Veronicas sighed loudly letting her frustration show.

"I think, I'll either end up changing the actor or the whole script," she muttered under her breath running her fingers over the temples of her forehead. Turning to look at Rome's expression, I saw something like a smirk cross his poker face lightning fast that had made me think that I had imagined it. As if feeling the burn of my eyes, Rome turned to lock his gaze with mine, challenging me to say something. I averted my gaze as embarrassment took over me.

A few days had passed and Rome was the person who didn't let the drama to progress any further. He was so arrogant that he sometimes wouldn't even care to grace us with his presence. But whenever he enacted, he would make the whole class roar with laughter and strangely I found that very adorable.

*************

Even more days had passed and we were still stuck in the scene where prince fights the huge dragon or in this case a tiny dragon. And it sucked to admit that the fight that I and the dragon shared looked more like a comedy scene than an action one. It was an utter mess at the beginning but slowly due to Mrs. Veronicas continuous nagging and criticism, we were now merely "fine" with the scene. Today, the drama was going to be completed as the last scene was going to be enacted where the prince wakes the sleeping beauty up from 'his' death like sleep.

This was the scene where I was given liberty to kiss Rome's cheek and crush his ego to ground by letting him know what Elizabeth Marshalls was really made of. The gossiping and the whispering was all around the school already. Wherever I looked, I saw green monsters wishing to be in my shoes. Well, still nothing had changed between him and me. He still ignored me during class hours.

Dismissing the thoughts, I went through my lines again and again. I was getting very anxious. If I got this part right then it would mean I wouldn't have to waste my time redoing the scenes and instead could go home, have a hot shower and sleep peacefully. Exhaling loudly, I could feel the stress set in.

"Well, look who's here? The prude!" I turned around to encounter a smirking Sheena and Emma who was giggling at the former's senseless mockery.

"Prude would be your mother, who would have had thought a million of times before conceiving you," I spat venomously. Sheena made a mocking 'o' with her lips, "well at least she did give birth to me, but I'm sure you wouldn't have any offspring. Well, you wouldn't have even kiss a guy, prude," she retorted making me grit my teeth.

"Oh, I kiss guys but I guess you are blind to see." Take that b***h.

"As far I've known, you have no dating history. When have you kissed a guy again?" She smirked.

"You want proof? I'll demonstrate it live for you. Call any guy and I'll kiss him," I challenged.

"Any guy?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Any guy," I confirmed confidently.

"Then kiss Rome, on his lips," she specified.

"What!?!" I exclaimed quite shocked.

"Got you there, prude. You can't even kiss a guy like Rome. Whom else can you kiss? Your Mr. Teddy bear residing with your doll set?" She taunted me.

"You want me to kiss Rome, right? Okay, I'll kiss him and you'll see who's the prude," I hissed clenching my fists in anger. I would have punched her in her face but here I had to show her my confidence and that I'm not a prude instead of my physical strength. Marching to the stage when Noah called me, I turned back to look at the laughing figures of Sheena and Emma. I'll show those bitches who's a prude. Just because I wasn't dating, she didn't have any rights to put a bumper sticker on my forehead telling that I'm a prude.

"Elizabeth, get in," Noah whispered and I nodded. The scene where the prince finds the sleeping beauty was set up. Rome was laying like a dead on the bed, perhaps more like a beautifully carved stone statute. My heart pounded like anything at his sight.

Okay Lizzy, relax! It was just a kiss, it was not like you were having s*x. It was very common all around the world so what was such a big deal about it? With my mind feeling strong while my knees were turning jelly, threatening to buckle under me, I walked on unsteady steps. Somehow I managed to walk forward. Looking up I found Sheena smirking and I knew exactly what was going in her evil head. She might have thought that I would chicken out and would never do anything like that before a crowd. Well, think again b***h, I was going to prove that I ain't a prude.

I reached the bed and sat beside him, just by looking at Rome who laid like an angel in slumber, my mind side tracked.

Gosh! How could someone be so handsome and smell so good? I could bet that it was his masculine perfume and not his body odour. Yeah, who would smell so delicious? And if I kissed him now, how would he react? Would he flush or would he smirk, knowing a girl like me kissed him? Would he mind? Why would he mind? Guys were always glad to taste a girl's mouth. Would he kiss me back? How would he taste?

My mind was very busy contemplating the result of my next action and it always seemed to come back to the same thought, how good was he going to taste? And I knew it very well that there was only one way to find out, quickly, in a jerk, I captured his lips.

Holy s**t! His lips were so soft and good! They tasted like marshmallow, mint, musk and like dark chocolate.

My eyes had shut close on their own accord and I could hear gasps erupt all around the room. I could even feel him stiffen under my lips but I continued to kiss him waiting for him to kiss me back but it never came. All of a sudden I was being pushed away roughly that made me fall off to the ground. My elbow hurt and to my surprise no one rushed to my help. I looked up to find Rome marching out of the stage as pushed away the chairs out off his way angrily. My face flushed red feeling every pair of eyes present in the room on me. Mrs. Veronicas gaped at me as the notepad from her hand slipped and fell down. Emma was sniggering as Sheena smiled triumphantly and waved her cell phone in her hand while everyone else was staring at me dumbstruck.

That was when I realized what had happened.

What had I done? How could I be so foolish? Sheena and Emma had set me up and I fell for it so easily! They had planned it all along and now they had made a video of mine like what I had made of Sheena's!

I pushed myself on my feet as embarrassment took over me. I had another emotion accompany embarrassment that I didn't want to acknowledge.

Whether you acknowledge it or not it would not disappear. Your shame would not dissolve. My conscience made an ugly remark but it was true, it was shame that was coursing through my veins. Automatically, bending my head down ashamed, I quickly left the auditorium.

What had I done! How could I be so careless? I should have understood that something was wrong, right when they persuaded me like that. Now, Rome hated me even more! I had to make amends. I had to talk to Rome before things got worse.