by Tara Ellis
Joyce danced in the night’s sky, so elegant, so majestic. She was above thousands and being recorded for millions. Little did she know, she was soon to replace a withering teen queen.
Artemis watched his new money maker on the computer screens in front of him. He turned around saying “Regina you captured some beautiful footage.”
“I just directed the camera,” said Regina. “She would have been stunning no matter what angle, no matter who filmed her.”
“The world will see this… they will see her dancing along the stars… she will be bigger than the stars… because here… she outshines them.”
Britney along with a few security guards walked in to the technician cabin. Britney spoke first “Artemis there was an incident last night.” He showed concern.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Scarlett was attacked.”
“What happened is she all right?”
“She’s fine, she is fine. But…”
Regina interrupted “Well we have it on video.” She held up A disk into her hand.
“Yeah play that for him Regina,” said Britney. Regina obliged.
“Um what am I going to see, did you already see this?” Artemis turned to Britney.
“I only saw the aftermath.”
The security guard stepped forward to his boss saying “This wasn’t our men’s fault we assumed at first this was a part of the act.”
“Let him just watch the video,” shouted Britney.
The footage on the screen, there on stage emerged his step-daughter, his little monster. She was performing and everything looked okay to Artemis. “Woo, wha what’s going to happen?”
“Just keep watching,” said Regina. Shortly after they saw the masked individual comes up from behind Scarlet. She was sprayed and the whole screen went white. As the fog cleared there was Scarlet screaming and covered in pie.
It started out as tickling in his mind that caused a smirk on the face, which triggered a smile from Britney, that lead to Artemis to burst out in laughter. Everyone joined him. Britney threw her head back in amusement. Regina held her stomach and her wide open mouth trying to contain herself. And the security guards just let it all out.
“Roll that back I have to see this again,” said Artemis. Regina obliged. The screen rewound to the start of the attack. Everyone was poking fun at Scarlet’s situation except for Britney. As she got a better look on the perpetrator she realized that she helped create her. She recognized the mask and the figure, it was the Jester. She kept this knowledge to herself.
Artemis said with a wide smile “The world will see this as well.”
It was a breezy summer morning; the train was in pursuit for California. Joyce was in the kitchen looking for some breakfast. She looked on top of the fridge seeing Kellogg boxes. “I’m tired of cereal,” she muttered. She opened the freezer door she saw a bunch of microwavable meals. “None of this looks healthy.” She opened the fridge; her eyes scaled every shelf until reaching the bottom. The last shelf had an abundance of pie; pies of the best flavors. Right then Joyce figured what the hell I deserve a piece. She grabbed the tin closest to her, cut into it, pulling out a large piece for herself.
“Yummy,” said from a voice off to the side.
“I’m having cherry pie for breakfast, would you like a piece Selena?”
“Oh why not?”
Mimi grabbed a plate and Joyce put a slice on it for her. Mimi poked her pie with a fork and put that sweet decadence in her mouth. “Your performance was crazy last night; if I had a dick it would have been hard.”
Joyce’s eye lids expanded wide open. “Wow, I guess that was a compliment.”
“I’m joking,” Mimi giggled out.
“I’m glad… you were scaring me for a moment there.” Joyce took a bite of her pie. “Any way speaking of compliments, did you hear what happened to Scarlet?”
“No, what?” said Mimi in a smug tone.
“She was attacked on stage during her performance.”
“Wow, really?” Mimi was forcing out a look of shock.
“Someone ran on stage threw cake in her face and beat her with a fire hydrant.”
“Oh that’s horrible. This pie is very good.”
“Yeah I know, right.”
Mimi took another bite and asked “Is there milk?”
“Yeah.”
Mimi went for the shelf asking Joyce “Do you want a glass too?” Mimi was pouring the milk in the glasses when she asked “Did you see this or did you hear about it?”
“Random people were telling me about it. They said this happened right before my performance.”
“And they said she was hit with cake and beaten with a fire hydrant?” Mimi passed a full glass to Joyce.
“Something like that, I guess.”
“Because I remember her being sprayed with the fire hydrant and then getting hit with a pie.”
“What?” Joyce was first confused and then the realization slapped her in the face. “Oh my god!” She hopped out of her seat.
“What?”
“How?! You?!”
“It wasn’t really that hard.”
“You’re crazy!”
“Yeah, I know,” like it was already obvious.
Joyce stood there as Mimi gave her all the details on how she executed her plan. She listened to everything as pie kept coming in her mouth. “Is there any chance,” started Joyce. “That someone would have known that it was you?”
Mimi’s face fluxed like she was trying to find the answer in her head. “I actually wore a different outfit and mask,” she said. “So no one could assume it was me. Except…
“Except!?” retorted Joyce.
From behind a voice said “Except me.” It was Britney, she was smiling. But from the look on the girls face they couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or not. “That was one hell of a stunt you pulled Miss Santana. I don’t know if I want to shake your hand or slap you with mine.” Mimi and Joyce still had the look on their face. “On one side you betrayed my trust right after I went to bat for you. On the other… you got us some great footage. Artemis is going to air your little number.”
“Seriously?” asked Mimi.
“You made him laugh tears. In fact everyone in the tech cabin not only found it funny, they cheered.” Mimi smiled. “But there are a few problems though.” Her smile was gone. “We all told Scarlet that it was most likely a crazy fan. But honestly we were suggesting amongst ourselves if one of the staff had pulled it off. I, for reasons that I don’t even know, tried to cover for you again, attempting to pull them away from that idea. It didn’t matter to them though, either way the staff wants to figure out who it was.” A tense since of caution arouse in Mimi. “If you keep pulling stunts like this I will not cover for you. So what are you going to do Selena?” Britney noticed what they were eating, she wondered if it was the same brand that hit Scarlet’s face.
“I will keep working,” said Mimi.
“Then I will keep you as my little secret.” That pie was calling, and her stomach became jealous of Mimi’s. “Cut me a slice would you?”
At the start of nightfall Joyce and Andre were embracing one another in her bed. She asked him “How come you didn’t warn me that this circus is absolutely fucking crazy.” They both smirked with each other under the sheets.
“It’s a circus, what did you expect?” said Andre. Joyce chuckled a little louder.
“I had no idea. I was just happy I found a job in my field. I thought I was going to be someone in the background. I had no idea I was getting a stage all to myself. It’s cool to be famous and stuff but.” Andre slipped into a giggle. “It’s crazy when it’s just thrown at you. If it would have came at me gradually, fine. I was just thrown out in front of the w
orld and told do your best.”
“And you did,” he said. “So now the world fell in love with you.”
Joyce smiled at him and asked “did you?”
“I’m getting there,” he whispered. “And you?”
“I’m getting there,” she whispered back. “If you play all the cards right, I could fall for you.” She swiped a loose blonde lock out of his face, gently putting it back to where it belonged. He leaned his head over hers; their lips were an inch apart. He held that position, savoring the moment, savoring her breath that grazed his lips. He went in for it; her lips had everything he wanted.
Andre heard her voice speaking, even though his tongue was in her mouth. He looked towards the TV and there was his High Flyer. “They’re talking about you again.”
On the TV there were images of Joyce and Andre embracing one another. Chelsea Handler then appeared with her league of extraordinary gossips to weigh in on the photos. They were speculating that a romance was blooming between the young circus stars. Noting how cute they look together. Chelsea commented on how Andre finally has someone to juggle his balls for once.
Next morning the whole train car saw how Joyce and Andre acted like they were the only two people in the world. To them they were the only two people that mattered, A raven and a dove soaring high. He was white, she was black, they were so sweet together like chocolate milk. Scarlet wasn’t in the mood for sweets so she avoided them with full prejudice. Mimi noticed their intimacy as well, so she let them be.
Stress
