Twins love

Backstage

" I really don't understand her at all. She was the one that was so excited about everything yet she is nowhere to be found, what are going to do now?. It would look like we completely chickened out of the competition if we didn't perform today.'' Disappointed Grace buried her head in her palms as she sat on the chair in front of the mirror.

Bella stood from a distance watching them and enjoying the torture, but she wasn't satisfied just yet. She wanted to rub more salt on their wounds, she felt like it was a necessity.

"What's wrong?" Bella walked over to the girls and asked slowly, pretending as if she cared.

"We cannot find Lakshmi, it is a predicament because we need her if not the girls won't be able to perform" innocent Mia quickly blurted out.

Bella scoffed at how innocent Mia really could be, she just smiled and looked at Juliet.

"I'm so sorry you are in such a dilemma. At least she could have told you that she would be ditching you girls rather than leaving you to face this kind of shame.

I suggest you quickly go and whisper to the organizers that you want to cancel , if not they will call you guys out and what will happen then if you are unable to perform?" Bella was trying her best to mock them in a false kind of care. It was really very painful for both Juliet and Grace.

"Then they will be disqualified," Mia answered.

"Huh?" Bella got a bit confused.

"You asked a question, I answered it, you are welcome" Mia pointed her index fingers upwards and bent it towards herself.

"Oh, it was a rhetorical question." Mia looked down in disappointment after she noticed the way Grace and Juliet stared at her.

"I guess I will leave you girls to handle your own problems. Bye Mia" Bella waved Mia bye.

"Bye" innocent Mia replied.

"Seriously Mia, can't you tell the difference between when you are supposed to talk and when you aren't" Grace's eyes were widened, although she wasn't too shocked about Mia's behavior. From the little time she had spent with her, she had gone to know about Mia's rare condition.

"Grace, you have to forget that. We need to think of how we can get a hold of Lakshmi or at least get out of this mess" Juliet drew Grace's attention.

"So we should go with Bella's idea?" grace suggested

"No, that is not an option, we have to go find her now before the competition starts. It might be that she is in some kind of trouble, Lakshmi wouldn't just leave us like this" juliet was trying to be realistic and hopeful.

It was too late, they had officially started the competition and the first performers were already on stage but the girls weren't ready to back down yet. They began their search for Lakshmi but for some reason they didn't check the janitor's closet.

Mia remembered her father's words and wondered if she could call on him now, would he answer?. She shrugged and felt like there was no harm in trying so she went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror as her father had instructed her to do previously.

"Dad" she called out but she didn't get a reply, she was going to give up but then she heard a voice.

"Yes Mia darling, what is it you want!" Her father spoke to her, she looked at the mirror and saw his reflection

"Dad.. Lakshmi" Mia didn't even finish her sentence when her dad interrupted her.

"You can't find Lakshmi right?" Her dad smiled and the way he smiled clearly told Mia that he knew where she was.

"Yes, can you please tell me where she is? She has worked so hard for this competition, I don't want her to lose before she even tries" Mia was trying to plead with her father.

"I know where she is Mia but unfortunately I cannot tell you where she is right now" her father immediately declined her request, Mia was more than sad.

" You will find her at the right time. Just keep your heart open and listen to it" her father advised her but she didn't clearly understand what he meant by keeping her heart open, was he expecting her to rip her chest open and bring out her heart? Mia always had funny thoughts and her dad could hear her thoughts loud and clear.

"That is not what I meant Mia but you will understand what I mean when the time is right. Take care of yourself, I have to go now and don't forget to listen to your heart" with those words his reflection completely vanished from the mirror. Mia quickly left the bathroom as she knew that staying in there any longer would be of no use to her.

"Who were you talking to?" Grace asked Mia who had bumped into her as she was coming out of the bathroom. Mia kept on looking at random things, she couldn't fix her eyes at a place, she couldn't lie as well, she doesn't know how to lie due to her condition.

"Did you find Lakshmi?" Juliet ran towards the ladies and they gave her a no as the answer. She leaned on the wall, she had lost all hope.

Not just her but Grace as well they didn't want to miss the entire competition, they felt like they at least had to go watch other performers if they were unable to perform themselves.

They had announced for Lakshmi's team named "unique" to come out and perform but since no one came out, they skipped them and other performers came on stage.

The competition was almost over, the last team to perform was "fire" Bella's team. They had performed so well that they scored 26 out of 30 which was the highest mark so far, it was obvious that they were going to win if they had enough support from the Audience as well.

Because the audience were to vote and their votes carried a total of 20 marks which was to be added to whatever the participants would score to get a total of 50 marks.

Although participants got to find out on the day of the competition, Bella had been aware of that fact since her dad was one of the organizers of the competition, he was a shareholder in the school and that's why she had been performing in front of her school mates throughout their practical weeks.

Grace and Juliet lowered their heads in disappointment, they had lost already.

During the competition

The judges were already calculating the scores and counting the votes.

"Mia, Mia" Mia heard a voice in her head. She looked around and couldn't find the source of the voice. It was clearly Lakshmi's voice.

"Mia get me out of this closet please I can't be stuck in here any longer. I might suffocate" the voice kept on paying in her head before it stopped suddenly.

"Closet? What closet could she be talking about?" Mia was thinking.

"And it's time for us to call the final results" the judges announced before there was a complete power outage.

Mia was getting really uneasy, she had to leave the hall immediately.

As she walked down the hallway and around the school premises, she heard someone banging on the door of the janitor's closet. She was frightened.

"Who is in there?" She knocked on the door.

"Mia, Mia is that you? Please get me out of here" Lakshmi kept on hitting the door with the palm of her hands from inside.

"Lakshmi, you are in there?" Mia tried to open the door but someone had locked the door and taken the key away. She had to break the lock of the door.

"Lakshmi, please move back. I don't want you to get hurt" Mia instructed Lakshmi as she was trying to break down the door. She succeeded and was able to get Lakshmi out.

"Lakshmi, why were you in the closet?" Mia was asking her but Lakshmi was in a haste.

" Forget about that Mia, I have to get ready now" Lakshmi left Mia and just then the lights turned back on.

Lakshmi quickly put on her costume, her hair was already made and her makeup didn't take much time.

"And the winner is.." one of the judges was announcing when Lakshmi came out on stage.

"You cannot announce a winner yet we haven't even performed" Lakshmi was breathing quite heavily, trying to catch her breath.

Murmurs could be heard in the background.

"I'm sorry dear but we can't, the competition is over" one of the female judges said to Lakshmi.

"What team is she?" A male judge spoke.

"Where did you even come from and didn't you hear when we announced your team.?" Another female judge said, shaking her head in disagreement.

"Please leave the stage so we can announce the winner" the first judge to speak out told Lakshmi who was disappointed and was about to leave. Bella was finding it very difficult to hold back your happiness.

"You cannot do that because according to the rules and regulations of this competition, every participant present must perform before a winner is declared unless the competition is declared void" Mia who was also on stage brought out the form that they filled to enter the competition. She came down from the stage and showed the judges what the clause stated.

"And in addition, any late participant would be given 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes as a punishment" Mia stated as well.

Lakshmi, Grace and Juliet were silently praying within them that the judges were wrong and Mia was right.

The judges whispered amongst themselves before the female judge who sat in the middle finally spoke into the small microphone in front of her.

"You have just 10 minutes to perform" she leaned back on her chair and Lakshmi smiled at Mia. The stage lights immediately went dim and Lakshmi was in the spotlight, she started to perform and it was then after that Grace and Juliet joined her on stage to dance as according to the dance rehearsals initially.

The dance told a story and showed a lot of talent, the judges were amazed, even the crowd thought it was the best dance performance so far.

"I think they are going to win," one girl in the crowd, standing next to an angry Bella, said.

Bella wasn't going to accept defeat so easily, she went backstage while the girls were still dancing, Mia had been monitoring her. Bella cut her beaded necklace and threw it on stage, from behind the curtains without anyone's notice, causing the three girls to fall on the floor.

Everyone gasped, their dance was going well and it was ruined and Bella was satisfied. She went to stand with her friends who were smiling inwardly at Lakshmi's downfall.

Mia felt their pain, she didn't want them to be embarrassed so she just wore lakshmi's skirt from her other costume and covered herself with a veil then she went on stage with a broom to sweep off the beads, before helping all three girls on their feet.

She managed to convince the audience that it was all part of the performance, with a veil covering her face, Mia joined the girls to dance.

She knew all the dance steps and no one could even tell that she wasn't even meant to perform on stage. The girls took a bow after their performance and then they got a standing ovation from the audience.

Bella was so upset that she walked away from her friends. The judges were also amazed and also gave them a standing ovation. Bella's face finally lit up when one of the judges looked at their form and asked everyone to stop.

"You cheated," he shouted to the audience. Everyone including the other judges were confused.

"Why?, How?" The female judge asked.

"In their form it is clearly stated as 3 participants where did the fourth person come from" the judge was explaining to the audience. The whole competition was complicated. Mia who filled the form came down from the stage to take the form from him.

"Not really sir, it says three or four" Mia pointed out the "/4" that the man's finger was covering.

He noticed his mistake and clarified it at once, the performance was over and it was time to give scores.

All the three judges scored their performance 10/10 making a total of 30 marks from the judges, they just needed an extra 20 from the audience's vote to complete 50 marks.

The way the female judge shook her head once the vote calculations were brought to her scared the three girls except for Mia who seemed to be in a world of her own.

"And there is a change in the results as you may have all guessed. So for today's dance competition, in third place we have the stallion group, please a round of applause for them. They had a total of 40 marks.

Still at the dance competition

In second place we have the fire group, give it up for the fire group because they really set the stage on fire today they came in second place with a total of 42 marks, then for the moment you all have been waiting for the winners are.... The unique group, a round of applause for them because they really stood by their name, they were the only ones that managed to tell a story with their dance.

Every group performed excellently well but the unique group was the most outstanding and for their outstanding performance they had a total of 50 out of 50 marks. Please come on stage the unique group" the judges instructed as the group who scored the 3rd and 2nd position were already on stage.

Bella just couldn't believe that her group came second even after all she did to make sure Lakshmi's group failed.

Mia and her friends immediately went on stage to take their trophy, they smiled as a picture of them was taken with their trophy.

The groups that came first, second and third respectively were to all take a picture together. Lakshmi stood close to Bella and whispered.

"You better smile, you came second to me, that is your place" Lakshmi smiled as she talked through her teeth, her lips barely moving.

"Despite all your hard work you still came out as a failure, how nice" Lakshmi added.

"You will pay for what you did to me, just wait" Lakshmi pulled Bella closer to her as they took the picture.

The competition was over and everyone went home, no one even asked Lakshmi why she came on stage late, not until the next day of school after the weekend, Monday, when a footage showed Bella locking Lakshmi up in the janitor's closet, everyone except for Bella got the video.

So she was surprised when she noticed the way everyone in school was staring at her whenever she walked past them.

"Bella you are in big trouble" one of Bella's friends approached her with her cellphone.

"What do you mean by that?" Bella rolled her eyes as if her friend wasn't making any sense.

"You haven't watched the video have you?" Her friend raised an eyebrow and Bella nodded her head as a no. Her friend brought out her phone and showed Bella the video, it was then that Bella remembered that their school actually had CCTV cameras but who could have sent the video to the whole school.

"How many people have seen this?" She asked her friend.

"Everyone in school," her friend said slowly. As Bella walked to the hallway she was so ashamed of herself but then Lakshmi blocked her path.

"How do you like your surprise?" Lakshmi rested her folded arms on her chest.

"Lakshmi there was really no need for you to do that" Bella had already begun to cry.

"Sorry dear but I didn't do anything. Mia here did, I wish you luck as you continue to live the rest of your high school days in shame. As they say in French Au revoir" she waved her bye and walked past her.

Bella was summoned to the principal's office and questioned, the authorities saw no need in dragging the case out, it was obvious Bella was guilty. With her father's influence she managed to get only a suspension and not an expulsion.

"Oh daddy" Bella buried her face in her palms, she was crying uncontrollable. Even her father who always pampered her punished her as well, she was just too ashamed of her actions.

"You are grounded and won't be allowed with your phone for the next one month" he escorted her to the car before they drove away.

At Mia's school the next day

"Mia you are simply amazing, I mean I knew you were smart but I'm shocked" Bella kept on praising Mia.

She just couldn't stop singing her praises, Mia was the one who managed to get the school's security footage and send the video to everyone.

"But how did you find out Mia?" Bella was also very curious.

"I overheard you talking to her while we were taking the picture on stage. That made me curious so I checked the school's security footage. I wasn't so happy with her that's why I did what I did, I hope it wasn't too harsh" Mia was feeling a pinch of regret.

"No Mia, what you did was absolutely right, she deserved what she got and if you had informed me about your plan earlier then I surely would have supported you in every way I could. "Thank you so much" Lakshmi hugged Mia very tightly and for the first time Mia actually hugged her back.

"I think I am beginning to like hugs" Mia gave a faint smile before the teacher entered the class so they could begin their lessons.

Lakshmi's POV

At Lakshmi's house

I was still trying to organize my books the way Mia had taught me when I got a surprise visit from someone I least expected.

"Lakshmi" my father called out to me, I looked away from my closet and faced him.

"Won't you come and hug me, my darling?" My dad spread his hands, expecting me to jump into them and as usual I ran to go hug him.

"How have you been? Your nanny told me you won a dance contest. I am so proud of you" my dad touched the tip of my nose.

"Yes" I had a faint reply and went to continue with what I was doing initially.

"Okay if you need anything, just tell me, I will be in the library working" my dad closed my room door as he left the room.

I sat on my bed disappointed as usual, when will I finally get to have those kind parents that would be there to support their kids in every step they take?. When will my father or mother ever be there when I have a cold? My mum is an air hostess and my dad a pilot, both own very huge travel companies and airports across the world. Truly, my family had been blessed with everything money could offer except for one thing which was lacking and that was my happiness.

My parents barely had days off and whenever they did, they would just come back home to continue their work in our house library. They would spend all day there and whenever they came out they would be too tired to even notice me.