Page 20 of Greased

I know deep within my soul that I was born to do this. That while I may have moments of nervousness and moments where I will inevitably doubt myself, I know I can do this. That I will make a change. One for the better.

I take a deep breath and try to push the feeling away. I give Shelly a smile as she looks between Rhodes and I.

“Now Rhodes, while I absolutely adore you my boy, I’m going to steal your sister here and take her to introduce all the ladies out the back. Dakes mentioned they would be in soon.”

Rhodes gives me a cautionary look. It’s obvious he isn’t too keen on leaving me alone. I give a small nod of my head to reassure him that I will be fine. He looks at me a little bit longer and eventually backs down not wanting to argue. He pulls me into a hug and whispers into my ear.

“I’ll be over in one of the booths. I’m here if you need me.”

He gives me an extra little squeeze.

“Go on, I’ll be okay,” I say as I watch him walk away after a slight hesitation in his step.

“The six of them were all so lost when we thought you were dead, my girl.”

Shelly says as I turn to her. I notice not for the first time that she seems to have a nickname for me. It makes me wonder if it was what she used to call me… before everything.

“You were all thick as thieves. You did everything together. If there was one of you, the others wouldn’t be too far behind,” she sighs as we begin walking through the club. “The news hit us all hard. But your poor brother and my boy were destroyed. Over the years your brother learnt how to cope. But it's been a bit harder for my boy. I normally wouldn’t tell others all his business but because it's you and I know how much he still loves you; I know I can trust you in this.”

I give her a small nod. A strange sadness filling me over this person I cannot remember but clearly, I mean the world too.

“Dakes suffers from severe anxiety and depression. Even after all this time he still wakes up with horrific nightmares. He was right there with you when everything went down.”

A few tears start to roll down her face. I struggle to hold mine back, swallowing a lump in my throat. Now isn't the time to cry.

A strange urgency to find this Dakes and make things right for him again overcomes me though. I’ve always been a bit of an empath but it's like I’m suddenly in overdrive. The thought of someone I used to care about hurting brings an ache to my chest that I can’t ignore.

Shelly snaps out of the sombre thoughts and quickly wipes away her tears. “Enough of that, my girl. We can all cry later. Right now, I need to introduce you to the other girls. We also need to organise your induction. Unfortunately, there’s no way around it. The rules are there for a reason. But don’t worry, we will have you all trained up and dressed in whatever you feel most comfortable in.”

My gut drops a little bit.

Fuck.

I almost forgot. Induction. The strip dance.

Rest in peace, Scarlett.

Shelly leads us out the back into a dressing room. A few girls come in from their stage sets while others walk out for theirs. She leads me through to a hallway lined with closed doors. A big door with an exit sign is at the end of the hallway. We come to the second door down and a sign sayingPink Roomhangs down in the centre, near where Shelly knocks.

A female voice yells out to come in. Shelly turns the doorknob, smiling as she pulls me into the room.

I take in my new surroundings. They weren't kidding when they said it was a pink room. A couple of makeup mirrors line the back wall. Couches sit in the middle of the room with a beautiful white coffee table separating them. A kitchenette sits off to the side of the room, well stocked by the looks of things. There are four girls each in different stages of getting readyaround the room.

A short girl with black hair and pixie cut is bent over at the mirrors applying a crimson shade of red to her lips. She looks like one of those pin-up girls just with a goth edge. It suits her.

There is another girl beside her sitting in her underwear looking at herself as she pins up her mousy brown hair on top of her head. She has a softer edge to her compared to the other chick. Kind of like a yin and yang. Two halves of a whole.

I glance over to the couches to where a chick is stuffing her face with the food in front of her. I hold back a chuckle as she looks up at us, smiling even though chocolate sits on her lip. I cannot relate to another human more than I do right now. She’s in a pair of high waisted dark acid washed jeans and a bralette. Her hair sits in a short bob around her cheeks.

The last girl is in a black skater dress. Pink curled hair falls over her shoulders. Her face instantly lights up as she sees us.

“Shelly!” she squeals as she runs up and embraces her tightly.

“Hello, my darling. I’ve got a very important person to introduce you to. This is Scarlett.”

The girl with the pink hair sucks in a deep breath and her head snaps in my direction. Her eyes are blown wide in disbelief.

The three other girls all pause what they are doing as they too snap their heads towards me. A mixture of emotions appear on their faces.

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