Plain Jane

Jealousy can make you do crazy things...

Jane was a struggling artist. An aspiring musician. Well, part of a duo. Her and her childhood friend Vanessa. Together they made up Lady Amazon. They were tall. They came up with the name pretty much on the fly one night before they went on stage. They were drunk. But they were stuck with it for now.
Jane and Vanessa met when they were 12 years old in dance class. Ballet. They have been together ever since. Jane always envied Vanessa's beauty. They were both tall, but Vanessa was tall in an elegant model like way. Jane was tall in a WNBA way. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It was just that because of their closeness and shared above average height they were always compared. And Jane became known as the ugly one. “Plain Jane” as she was deemed by her peers, and some of the less sensitive adults. She began to hate her name. Vanessa sounded so beautiful. Jane was just so...plain. Jane resented that the only other name she could claim, Lady Amazon, also included Vanessa.
As they both say in front of a mirror putting on their make up, Jane's eyes drifted to Vanessa's face. She had beautiful olive toned skin, and light green eyes. Her hair was light brown but it reflected light like a halo of gold. She began painting her full lips with a deep red. Jane gave up on that herself. She had pretty much no lips to speak of. Her pale skin and light lashes all but disappeared on stage under the lights. She began lining her big blue eyes with black liner. That was one thing Jane did like. Her eyes were very blue, just like her dad. He died when she was 15. But, every time she looked at her eyes, she thought of him.
“Ready?” Vanessa asked Jane, as she admired herself in the mirror.
“Almost.” Replied Jane as she slipped on her black boots.
“Hurry, I want to see Matt before we start. I want him to see me like this.”
Jane's stomach dropped. She had had a crush on Matt for the past year. Seeing them flirt made her sick. She told Vanessa how she felt, but Vanessa just laughed.
Jane gathered the rest of their things and they made their way to the parking garage of their apartment. They were splitting the rent, but Jane has been paying it all herself lately.
“Wait a second, why are you wearing that?” Vanessa referenced Jane's jacket. It was a rose gold sequined bomber jacket. “ I just bought it. I wanted to wear it tonight.” Jane answered, confused by the irritation in Vanessa's voice.
“ I thought we talked about this. Rose gold, and white golf, and really all things gold were going to be my thing.”
“Yeah, but…”
“No, seriously Jane take it off. We have to stick to a certain image. We have to have a thing we can be easily identified by. I'm the hot one, and you're Plain Jane. Plain Jane doesn't wear rose gold and sequence.”
Jane's blood boiled, but she bit her tongue. She quietly and obediently removed the jacket to reveal a plain black t s**t.
“Thank you. You know I love you right? It's just, we are finally getting noticed. I don't want to mess with our image right now. I feel like something big is about to happen tonight.”
“ I get it Vanessa. I know. I love you too.”
Jane said the words like she was on autopilot. She really didn't feel anything anymore.
As they began to drive to the venue for the night, Vanessa began signing one of their songs. Her voice was pitchy. Like nails on a chalk board. Jane grinded her teeth to keep from yelling at her to shut up. After all Vanessa was right. They were finally getting noticed. They were in correspondence with some guy from a record label. He let them know be had his eye on them. They may be on the verge of being “ discovered”. Ever since then Vanessa had been acting more like a diva than ever. Thoroughly in love with herself. It was sickening. But Jane knew she only had to put up with it long enough to get the attention she needed so someone could finally recognize her voice.
Jane was the talented one. Her voice was “amazing”, as people would say. She mixed the music too. She was the backbone of this act. Vanessa was the sparkle that drew in the eye. Jane was what made the crowds stay.And she knew, once that was found out, she would have the solo career she was dreaming if.
“Jane take a right! You almost missed it!” Vanessa barked, pulling her back to reality.
They gathered their equipment and began the set up backstage.
“Matt! Matt!” Vanessa waved flirtatiously across the room. Matt waved back excitedly. Jane rolled her eyes.
“Vanessa, please. We need to get ready. I need you to focus. Look.” Jane gestured over to the record label guy over at the bar. He gave a wave of recognition as they stared.
“We need to kill this! We need to blow him away!” Jane looked into Vanessa's eyes, almost to will her to not mess this up.
“Don't worry, I will. I always do.” Vanessa tapped Jane's head as she walked away. Jane tried to shake off the subtle jab and focus. The crowd was growing and so was the energy. And the adrenaline. Jane loved it. They were on in two minutes.
...an hour later...
“That was AMAZING!!!” Vanessa squealed backstage. “I know I know!!!” Jane was on a high after the crowds reception. Her vocals really carried them, and the crowd was really into it.
“You looked great!” Jane turned around to see Matt. Her chest dropped, was he actually saying that to her?
“Thanks. You look great too.” Vanessa answered seductively from behind. Matt pushed right past her and kissed Vanessa. Jane's heart actually hurt. She waited awkwardly to speak to Vanessa, but they kept kissing. Then began making out. Jane took that as her cue to go.
“Hey, that was excellent. Really great. Great energy.” It was the guy from the record label.
“Wow, thank you so much. Its really awesome to hear you say that. We've been working really hard.” Jane was so happy he liked it. She knew this was it. Someone finally noticed her.
“Yeah yeah, it was great. Where's the other girl? Where's the other Lady Amazon?” He asked with a smile.
“Oh, I don't know. I think she's talking to someone.” Jane replied. Why did he want to see her?
“I really wanted to talk to her. I mentioned her to my partner and he's very interested. She's beautiful. Sex sells you know.” He said, looking past Jane.
“Oh, well you can talk to me. We work together so…”
“Yeah, but we're interested in her. Only her. Do you get what I'm saying.” He said, less patient now.
“ No, were an act. And...and I'm the one with the voice I... I come up with the music. You can't just want her I mean...she just basically stands there and looks pretty.”
“Exactly, now you get it.” He pushed past Jane, hitting her shoulder with his as he met up with Vanessa.
Jane just stood there in shock. Watching the ecstatic reaction on Vanessa's flawless face as she realized her dreams were about to come true. Matt had his arm around her. As she shook hands with the record label man, and took his business card, she turned and flung her arms around Matt's neck. Jane just stood there in shock. She was devastated. That knife in her chest twisted, and was pushed deeper. She suddenly had flashbacks of all the times she had to work so much harder than Vanessa to come up with nothing in return. She just stood there, ears ringing. Watching Vanessa live her dreams. The knife ripped it's way down to her navel as tears came to her eyes. She felt like dying.
The car ride home was a silent one. Vanessa just gazed off with a peaceful smile on her face. Contented. Jane's anger grew. But, she kept it concealed. Silent. As always.
When they made their way back up to their apartment, Jane felt like she was in a daze. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She didn't recognize the girl looking at her. She looked different. Like she had been through something. Like she could see the rage and frustration boiling beneath the surface. She began to shake.
Vanessa grabbed a cigarette and went on the balcony for a smoke. Jane just watched her. Vanessa took of her jacket and placed it on the chair beside her to feel the beautiful summer night breeze. She leaned on the edge as she admired the sunset. Jane slid open the glass door and stood behind her. Wondering what it would be like to be her. So perfect.
“It's too bad he didn't like you Jane. You have such a nice voice.” Vanessa said as she puffed on her cigarette.
The words went through Jane, and they fueledd her rage. All those years. The rejection. The comparisons to perfect Vanessa. Beautiful Vanessa. She was lazy and nasty. She didn't care about people. But no one cared. She was beautiful. Matt was blinded by that too. A shiny red apple with a rotted core. The rage grew till it was no longer containable, and it escaped Jane in a voice so hateful she herself barely recognized it.
“YOU B***H!!!” She roared as she ran towards Vanessa's back and pushed her off the edge of their 19th floor balcony. Jane looked down, but she only saw red. She turned quickly, shocked by what she had just done. What did she do? She heard a terrible thud. Then the horrific shrill scream of a terrified woman . And more screams followed. She just stood there. Strangely and suddenly peaceful. From far away, Jane heard the shrill sound of sirens echoing in the distance. She began to walk back inside when she was distracted by something shiny. She looked to her left and saw it. The setting sun has illuminated it beautifully. She slipped the rose gold jacket on. One sleeve at a time. She pulled it tight around herself as she breathed in the night air. “I'm the pretty one now.”

Reviews

[Ana]

Oh my GOD that ending. I was really into this actually, but I imagined that the end would be Jane telling Vanessa off, not her pushing her off the balcony! Anyway the writing was really good, and I enjoyed reading it.

[DTucker]

Did not see that ending coming. I could definitely picture these two main characters!

[JoeM]

What a perfect ending to a STORY. You are a good story teller, good imagination. Keep it up.