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Autumn brought the town fair. Colourful tents with bright lantern-like lights popped up across a large field selling delicious food and hosting exciting games. They even brought in a Ferris wheel, and many thought how the heck did they move it there? The fair brought in hundreds of townsfolk.
Milly and Stevie were to meet Viraj there. He would be with his new girlfriend, Ludovica or Luds. What kind of name was Luds? It sounded like Muds.
Stevie was a mess. Milly had gone over to her house after school and Stevie was in tears. She had loved him. Now they were at the town fair meeting Luds, and her sadness turned bitter.
Luds was just as beautiful as Rosa. She had long dark brown hair that curled at the edges, and tanned skin with freckles on her nose. She had a slow easy going vibe and sloth smile.
“I’m Luds… Nice to meet you,” she said, reaching out a hand to Milly and Stevie.
Milly felt like Luds wasn’t that bad. She was nothing like Rosa. She smiled a lot and asked a lot of questions to Milly.
Stevie was noticeably uncomfortable and smiled through her teeth. She gave short one word responses to every one of Luds’ questions.
“Are you okay?” Milly whispered to Stevie.
“Ecstatic,” she replied.
Viraj on the other hand was beaming. He was being extra-Viraj today, pulling out all the jokes. Luds was laughing at pretty much everything he said. And they were holding hands.
All the while he had been pretty much ignoring Stevie and Milly. They followed them around like they were Viraj and Luds’ children. It was painful to watch Stevie. If she could look ugly, this was the closest she could get.
Rosa and Zahra walked over with popcorn. Rosa had large pink bear under her arm.
“These games are ridiculously easy…” Rosa said, “V, I hope you're not doing anything weird with my sister? You do know I can kill you?”
“Hahaha… He is a perfect gentleman,” Luds said, grabbing the bear from her sister.
“Hey!” Rosa said, pulling back.
Zahra met Milly’s eyes and smiled, “How are you?”
Zahra wore a purple sequin top and blue wide bottom jeans.
“I-I’m good! Great actually!” Milly stuttered.
“That’s good… Maybe we can check out the ferris wheel together?” Zahra said.
“That’s great! We can all check it out!” Viraj interrupted, “Let’s go!”
“Perfect…” Stevie mumbled.
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Rosa, Luds, and Viraj were in one carriage, whilst Milly, Zahra, and Stevie were in another. They went up in the ferris wheel. You could see everything from up here. The lights below were mesmerising.
Milly was stuck in the middle between Stevie and Zahra. Stevie was grumpy, trying to look anywhere but the carriage above them where Viraj and Luds were laughing. Milly was freaking out as her arm touched Zahra’s.
“Can’t they give it a rest?” Stevie said.
“If you liked him you should have told him,” Zahra said, “They are happy… quit being lame.”
“I don’t like him!” Stevie said.
“Hey that was mean,” Milly said to Zahra.
“Sorry…” Zahra said, but it didn’t feel like a real apology.
Even though it was mean, Zahra was right. Stevie had missed her chance. Maybe she had been waiting for Viraj to ask her. Milly always thought they were the ones who would get together. After all, they were the parents of FilmSoc.
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After the ride, they were all back together at the bottom of the Ferris wheel.
“I want to go,” Stevie said to Milly.
“Yeah, we can go,” Milly said.
Milly interrupted the conversation to let them know they were heading home, but Viraj wasn’t having it.
“You’re no fun!” Viraj said, “I thought we were all going to hang out?”
“It doesn’t feel like we are all hanging out,” Stevie seethed.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Viraj said.
“It means that when you get a girlfriend, you just forget about your friends,” Stevie said.
“Hah? Are you jealous?” Viraj said meanly.
“Asshole!” Stevie said - she was ready to deck him.
Milly stepped in, “Woah! Woah! Stop it guys…”
This was not supposed to happen.
“Let’s go,” Rosa said, “It looks like someone can’t keep their cool…”
Viraj turned and followed Rosa and Luds.
“Hey V! We’re not friends anymore!” Stevie yelled as he walked away.
“Fine!” He yelled back.
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“I think I need to focus on other things than FilmSoc…” Viraj said.
Milly stopped him while he was hanging out with Rosa and the others at school.
“What do you mean?” Milly said, “You are going to be a director.”
“I don’t even know if I want to do that anymore,” he shrugged.
“Why are you being like this? What about Stevie?” Milly said.
“She’s the one with the problem,” he said.
What about Milly? Did Viraj even care about what he was doing to her? FilmSoc was dying and he was pulling the plug. Maybe Stevie was right about him forgetting his friends.
Next was Stevie. She turned her nose up at the mention of Viraj.
“You two seriously need to make up,” Milly said.
“No way! He is a backstabbing jerk!” Stevie said, “If he hangs with the enemy, he becomes the enemy.”
“You know they are not the enemy anymore,” Milly said.
“Can’t you remember what Zahra and Rosa did to you,” Stevie said, “And now you are content with forgiving them and being all buddy-buddy?”
“Zahra’s different… She changed,” Milly said,
“No Milly… She called me lame yesterday. She hasn’t changed. And the sooner you realise that, the better,” Stevie said, turning to go to class.
Jojo came up to Milly as Stevie left.
“I brought my hamster in for biology today. I can bring him to FilmSoc in the afternoon,” Jojo said.
“Jojo… FilmSoc is over,” Milly said.
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FilmSoc was over. The club room was empty. Milly waited for someone, anyone, to show up. She imagined Viraj gabbing about Film Noir whilst Stevie and Milly had a contest throwing paper airplanes at him. Three were now one.
Milly messaged Angela. She would know what to do.
“Yeah! Come to the theatre,” she replied.
The theatre was atmospheric and ominous. It was dark except for the stage which was lit by spotlights. It was empty. Angela was probably running late.
Milly walked up onto the stage and tousled the thick red curtains. She looked over the audience like she had done a month ago. Zahra watching her had been the catalyst. Fred had called her “Mountain Queen”. Imagine yourself standing above the world, with the wind blowing through your hair, you could spread your wings and fly - be the Mountain Queen.
Milly began to hum her favourite song. She had a song inside of her and she needed to let it out. She sang the lyrics from her heart.
Blue comet,
Piercing through my heart,
Breaking into two,
You left and now we are broken,
Fractured comet - dancing alone,
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You pulled me up,
Now I am just out,
Today I am picking up the pieces of yesterday,
Trying to make them fit,
But they crumble in my hands.
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Suddenly the piano started playing, Angela smiled, “Go on! Go on!”
Milly gave a sad smile and continued to sing with the piano accompaniment.
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Nothingness grips my heart,
I was sailing through the storm with you,
Three became two,
Now I fear two becoming one,
The storm is not over - it has just begun,
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Am I a smudge in the world?
You want to rub me out,
Like I never existed,
Like I never cried,
Like I never hurt!
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He called me a Mountain Queen,
But I only see the Mountain I have to climb,
This battle seems to mine alone,
He called me a Mountain Queen,
What am I really a Queen of?
I want to be free and fly like you.
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Milly stood there in the light. Angela ran up onto the stage and hugged her. She felt like she had sung from her soul.
“Wonderful Miss! We found our lead!” Angela said.
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Milly was at the ice cream parlour with Mom - they were sharing a double chocolate brownie sunday.
Mom was a tall thin woman with brown skin and short black curls. She gently squeezed Milly’s hand.
“What’s wrong baby?” Mom said.
“My friends are fighting, and our after-school club is ruined,” Milly sighed.
“Wow! My question actually worked!” Mom said, “You never tell me these things. Do you have a boyfriend, or girlfriend, too?”
“Mom…” Milly said, “I just have a friend problem. Now that our club is over, I am going to be alone again.”
“Baby, I have seen a change in you this past month,” Mom smiled, “I have never seen you excited for school.”
“It was all because of Viraj and Stevie,” Milly said.
“When friends fight, sometimes they need time to heal, and trust me, when they are ready, it won’t be hard to get them together,” Mom said.
“You really think so?” Milly said.
“I know so,” Mom smiled, squeezing her hand, “And as for being alone, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Zahra came up to their table. What was she doing here? Milly looked over and saw her family.
“Hi Milly. Hi Milly’s mom,” Zahra said.
Zahra was pink and had her hands stuffed in her pockets.
“Can I borrow Milly for a minute,” Zahra asked.
“Sure thing,” Mom smiled.
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Milly blushed. What did Zahra want from Milly? They stood outside the parlour. The sky was bright blue and the sun was out. There was a bit of sharp wind. Zahra was wearing this cute white bucket hat. Milly was basically wearing her home clothes and had a dribble of chocolate ice cream on her top.
“I am just going to take my shot…” Zahra said, “I like you Milly Clarke.”
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What?!
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★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ ★★★ Word from the Writer
A big thank you for reading Mountain Queen Season 1. It has been a real pleasure writing this story. I plan on revisiting this story in a few months to write a Season 2 continuing Milly’s story as she traverses her relationship with Zahra and being in the school musical. So stay tuned! Mal.
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