It was the day of the big dance competition and Shirley was sitting on the sidlines anxiously watching Bo and Gina perform. She was, yes, still angry, but she was curious about who would win. And if Nicole would show up. Bo and Gina were couple number 23 and they were easy to spot out of everyone there. Shirley now understood why dancers had to pick brightly colored dancing outfits. Yellow was the color of choice for Bo and Gina, and most of the others wore red.
As the song ended Shirley watched as Bo and Gina talked a little. The conversation ended with Bo laughing and grabbing a water bottle from his mother who was sitting at the other side of the room. Shirley glanced around a little bit more and saw the person she was dreading to see. It was Nicole. But this time Shirley noted, Nicole looked way to healthy for a recovering anorexic and something funny was going on.
Suddenly, "Zoot Suit Riot" blared out into the dance floor, and Bo took Gina's hand. The started doing a series of complicated things which Shirley guessed would be swing dancing. Shirley looked in Nicole's direction again, but she was gone. Feeling like something bad was going to happen, she rushed to where Nicole was and saw her moving through the crowd to a door that had "Lights" marked on it. She ran through some stairs, and realized she was in the Lighting balcony. She could see all the dancers below her, and saw Nicole with a knife in front of her.
"Nicole!" Shirley yelled. Nicole looked up.
"What do you want?" She growled.
"What are you doing?" Shirley asked, she watched as Nicole gripped a cable, she followed the cable with her eyes, and she saw that it was connected to a big strobe light. If Nicole cut it, it would crash to the floor, possible killing whoever was underneath it. She looked to the ground and saw that the people who were underneath it were none other than Bo and Gina.
Before Nicole could respond, something came to Shirley.
"Becki don't do it."
"Nicole" looked up.
"How did you know?" Becki asked.
"Nicole has anorexia. She was here once before. She looked horrible. Everytime I saw you I thought it was Nicole. But I noticed each time "Nicole" looked healthier. Your her twin, that Bo mentioned. You're Becki. But why would you do this? Cause all these accidents?" Shirley asked.
Tears stung Becki's eyes.
"Look at what dancing did to Nicole! She's nothing! Nothing at all! She's just skin and bones. People used to recognize us as twins, they'd comment as we walked down the street. They don't even do that anymore!!!!! All because of the dancing! It's all about looks! There's not one different looking dancer! They're all skinny! Look at what they made Nicole! Look!!!" Becki shrieked.
"No! You've got it wrong! Nicole told Bo that it was because of everyday pressures! Like school, at home. She felt like everyone wanted her to be perfect! Dancing was her release!!!" Shirley explained quickly, as Nicole began cutting the rope.
"Lies! Lies! All of it lies!" Becki yelled.
"Becki don't do it!" Shirley pleaded. The thought of a dead Bo was just too much, and Shirley realized that there was no talking Becki out of it. The knife cut deeper into the cable. So Shirley did the only thing she could do. She ran.
-End of Part 8-