Rishi walked in, looking over his shoulder at the group. "They smell like armpits and rubbing alcohol." Then, catching her expression, he said, "You okay?"
Dimple nodded. "I want to go out where we can watch their performance."
"Yeah, sure."
They walked out together to the wings. Ashish was there too. The stage was dark, but the four of them had already gone out to take their places.
The spotlights came on, and the guys in the crowd began cheering Celia and Isabelle, both of whom were at center stage, their arms around each other, gyrating to "Sexy Heat." There were some hoots from the women in the crowd too, especially when Evan and Hari began their bit, slapping the girl's butts and mouthing the lyrics.
"This is awful," Rishi said. Dimple noticed that, like her, he was having trouble looking away from the unfolding train wreck.
She glanced at Ashish, who looked pale. The corners of his mouth were tight, and a muscle jumped in his jaw when Evan pretended to yank on Celia's hair.
"Maybe you shouldn't watch this," Rishi said, looking at his little brother in concern.
"No," Ashish said, taking a deep breath. "I want to see."
Celia and Isabelle were getting closer and closer onstage, and Dimple knew the part where they were supposed to dance close together must be coming up. But when Isabelle put her arms around Celia's neck and pulled her close-to the thunderous applause of most of the guys in the audience-Celia stepped back.
Dimple's heart stuttered. A look of confusion passed over Isabelle's face. She stopped and blinked, as if she were wondering how she'd ended up on that stage. Evan jogged forward and whispered something to her and Celia, his face tight and furious. Hari crossed his arms. The crowd fell silent, watching.
And then-Celia pushed Evan.
He barely moved, but she stumbled with the effort. Ashish moved forward, like he wanted to run onstage. Then Celia was yelling, "Screw you!" and running offstage, right toward them.
The song stopped. After an intense moment of silence, the audience began to boo.
Celia came bursting through the wings just as Dimple moved out of the way. When she saw Dimple, she began to cry harder. Without thinking, Dimple wrapped her arms around Celia and pulled her close. Even though Celia was wearing six inch heels, she managed to fold herself down and put her face in the hollow of Dimple's neck.
Dimple patted her back. "It's okay," she said. "You did the right thing. I'm proud of you."
The Aberzombies burst through then. Hari hollered, "You totally screwed it up, Celia!"
Isabelle said, quietly, "Don't yell at her."
"Back off!" Dimple said, glaring at Hari.
"Or what?" Evan crossed his arms and stepped forward so he loomed over Dimple and Celia. "How about you stay out of this?"
Rishi put himself between Evan and Dimple. "How about you step back?"
Evan glared at Rishi, and then Hari said, "Is there a problem?"
Suddenly, Ashish was by Rishi's side. Dimple pulled Celia farther back, away from the crowd. Isabelle followed them.
Celia said, her voice tiny, "They're not going to fight are they?" just as Evan said, "It's not my fault the bitch couldn't follow through."
And then Ashish punched him.
CHAPTER 51
It was chaos for a few minutes as Hari lunged at Rishi, and Evan and Ashish went at it. Dimple looked around, her throat tight, her heart racing. She waved to Max, who was walking toward them, his eyes widening at the sight. He and a couple of the bigger Insomnia Con students pulled the guys apart. "Break it up!" he yelled. "Right now!"
When the four guys separated, Dimple noted with horror that Rishi's nose was bleeding. Celia whimpered when she saw Ashish's lip was cut, the front of his T-shirt splattered with blood.
"I can't believe this," Isabelle said from beside them where she'd been standing. She turned toward Celia, her cheeks red. "You were right to stop. I didn't want to do this either, but they . . ." She swallowed, the blush in her cheeks deepening.
Dimple looked from Isabelle to Celia. It had always been clear that Isabelle wasn't completely on board with Evan and Hari. But this open admission was more than Dimple had expected.
Celia swiped at her eyes and nodded. "It's okay. I almost went along with it too. I guess sometimes it's just hard to find that line and stick to it, even when something feels totally wrong to you."
Isabelle let out a breath. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Celia." Then, turning to Dimple, she said, "I'm sorry . . . for everything." And then she walked off to the dressing room without looking back at any of them.