Hello again! This is a new story I've been working on, the idea got into my head and wouldn't leave me alone, so here you all go :)
A few things before we start though, this fic is different from any of my other ones, there are a few things I have done that I actually really hate when other people do, but I think it adds to the story in this case.
First, there are song lyrics. I will give you the names to any songs I use in here. I've made them into a playlist too if anyone is interested. If you use spotify, the playlist link is here: www. spotify .com (forward slash) user (forward slash) 1210839669 (forward slash) playlist (forward slash) 54gs5lBrc8lASk7jkYx7TJ
Just replace the parenthesis with a /
Second new thing, there are a lot of direct quotes from episodes in the 4th season here, but not all the plot lines are taken from them, and some of the episodes are changed because of my OC. Also, the episodes are not gong to be all in order, I've moved some of them around, and I might pull a few episodes from earlier seasons and throw them in to season four, just for fun.
Third, there is a little bit of slightly graphic smut. I don't usually write smut, ever, so no promises that its good, but I think it adds to the story. I will warn you at the top of the chapter if it's R rated or not.
And fourth, The chapters I have written so far vary a lot in length. For example, chapter 7 is only about 3k words, while chapter 10 is 15k words. I have no excuse for this, other than I broke the chapters up by plot instead of word count like I usually do.
Now, as I post this first chapter, I have it written out through chapter 11, but if there is anything in particular you guys would like to see (songs, pairings, characters) let me know and I will see if I can work them in.
As always, thank you for reading! You guys are great.
Songs used in this chapter: Spell on Me by Adelen
Chapter One
"It looks like some new people are moving in next door." The sentence echoed through the silent room. Even though there were three people sitting at the table eating dinner, none of them spoke to each other. The only sound came from the periodic dings coming from various cell phones, and the soft clink of silverware on plates.
"Hm," the man at the table said, preoccupied with reading his emails. Suddenly his phone rang out a very generic ringtone and he stood from the table. "I need to take this."
"Jade, let's go meet our new neighbors," the woman said, setting her fork down on her empty plate.
"No," Jade said, taking another bite of her dinner and completely ignoring her mothers annoyed look.
"Fine," the woman said, getting up from her chair. "I'll go alone."
"Bye," Jade said, unconcerned. As soon as her parents had both left the room, Jade stood from the table too. There was no point in staying. Her father would be on the phone forever, and her mother would just come back complaining about something their new neighbors had said or done. Jade still wasn't sure why her mother insisted on family dinners twice a week, they never talked during them, and they usually ended in shouting matches. Usually about Jade's appearance or choice of school, sometimes about something her mother said or something her father had missed or forgotten.
Jade left the dishes on the table, knowing that the housekeeper was probably waiting around the corner to put them away when everyone was gone. She walked up the stairs to her room, ignoring the shouting coming from her father's study. It must have been a work phone call then.
Jade considered going out, but it was a Tuesday night and her friends were likely busy. Since she and Beck had broken up nearly eight months ago now, Jade's social outings had gotten scarce. If she had her own place, she wouldn't have minded, but now she had no excuse to get out of the house.
The doorbell rang when Jade reached the top of the steps, and she ignored it as usual, but then it rang twice more in quick succession. She scowled and turned back down the stairs to answer it.
She yanked the door open to see a girl about her age standing there, hands tucked into her very tight black skinny jeans. She was wearing a dark blue tank top and her wrists were covered with knotted cord bracelets. Her hair was a very dark reddish brown, and curly to the point that it stood a few inches off her head before falling down her back. Her ears were pierced multiple times, as was her nose, eyebrow, and lip.
"Uh, hey," the girl said when Jade didn't say anything. "Your mom is over at my house bothering my sister and the second your mom mentioned having a daughter my age my sister literally shoved me out the door."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Jade asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Nothing," the girl said, shrugging a little. "I wouldn't have bothered coming over but I didn't have time to grab my shoes so I can't just go on a walk or anything."
"Not my problem," Jade said, making to shut the door. Most people would have said something about her behavior, but this girl just shrugged as the door was closed in her face and walked down the porch steps, careful to avoid stray pebbles.
Alexandra, or Alex as she preferred to be called, took her time walking back to her house even though the ground was so hot on her feet that it was almost burning. She wasn't used to the sun here, or the heat, and she only had a few outfits that would suit the hot weather.
Before moving there, she hadn't given much thought to Hollywood. All she knew was that it was close to the ocean. Somehow she had never taken a moment to think that L.A. was technically in the desert, which meant that even now, in late May, it was as hot as midsummer back in Seattle where they had lived for the last three years. At least it wasn't as humid here so far.
"I'm back!" Alex called through the front door as she walked inside. None of the rooms were unpacked yet. They had only just begun moving in that morning and while her sister had hired a moving company to get everything inside, none of it was where it should be.
"Oh, didn't you and Jade get along?" The overly polite woman asked, coming into what would eventually be the living room behind Alex's sister, Grace. She was holding a glass of lemonade and Alex took a second to wonder how long it had taken Grace to hunt that out. Grace's hair was almost identical to Alex's, though it was a little lighter red, a little less curly, and she wore it just above her shoulders in length while Alex's fell to the middle of her back.
"Oh yeah totally," Alex said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "She's very charming."
"Anyway, I'd better let you get back to unpacking," she said, turning back to Grace. "I just wanted to come meet our new neighbors."
"It was nice meeting you Mrs. West," Grace said. She was always overly polite with people she had just met, and it bothered Alex. It was like giving them a fake impression of yourself for no reason. Alex would rather have people like her for her, not for some image she showed them. Maybe that was why she had such trouble making friends in new places.
"She was telling me a lot about her daughter, it sounds like you are two peas in a pod," Grace said when the woman had left.
"Yeah," she said, shrugging noncommittally. Alex did not understand her sister's obsession with making new friends. She was perfectly content alone in her bedroom with her guitar or keyboard.
"She goes to some fancy performing arts school," Grace continued as Alex grabbed Mrs. West's discarded lemonade cup and sipped from it.
"Oh?" Alex said, slightly more interested. Moving to Hollywood had been a spur of the moment decision made by her sister, so Alex hadn't even had time to choose a school for her senior year yet, not that she was really concerned with doing so. At eighteen she had already made more than enough money to live off of for the rest of her life. Or she might have if her sister didn't insist on spending said money on a giant house in Hollywood and new cars, and a 'proper wardrobe' as Grace had deemed Alex's new clothing, mostly purchased online and not yet delivered.
Alex, at the age of thirteen, had begun putting her own covers of popular songs up on youtube. Within months she'd had over a million subscribers. When she was fifteen she had started posting her original songs as well, and the next thing she knew, she'd gotten a dozen calls from music producers and agents.
The crazy pop music industry wasn't really her thing, she had explained to the agent her mother had chosen for her, she preferred just her voice and a guitar or piano, but she wouldn't mind selling her songs. The year before she had released fifteen of her own, self produced songs onto iTunes, and had gotten a sudden flow of income she hadn't expected.
As she had started school a year late, when she was six instead of five, she had turned eighteen halfway through her junior year of high school. At the time she had lived with her parents and sister in Seattle, where they had moved when Alex's musical career began taking off. At the beginning of April, Grace had convinced her to move to Hollywood, so they had dipped into Alex's music revenue and moved away from their parents.
Grace and Alex had been pretty much on their own for years before moving though. Their father was a lawyer, continuously working long hours, and their mother was a writer who liked to lock herself in her study for days at a time. Alex had only been fourteen when Grace had graduated from high school and she had forgone college to stay home and make sure Alex was fed and went to school every day, and Alex was immensely grateful to her, which was why she didn't mind spending her money on things that Grace wanted.
"I don't remember what it's called," Grace said shrugging. "Have you chosen a school yet?"
"Oh yeah, I'm just trying to decide between a few now," Alex said, lying though her teeth. She hadn't even done a single internet search for schools. It didn't really matter to her, public high school was just fine, though a performing arts school would probably let her have more time for her music.
"Great," Grace said, shifting a box to make a seat. "If you need any help picking, let me know."
"Nah it's fine," Alex said, shrugging as she finished off the lemonade. "I'm going to start on the living room."
"Don't try to move anything too heavy by yourself," Grace called, heading back into the kitchen with Alex's empty cup.
"Yeah, yeah," Alex murmured turning to the large room. The flat screen TV was leaning against one wall, and the couches had been pushed up against another wall, all the boxes of decorations piled in the middle.
Alex decided her first job would be to assemble the various book shelves and cabinets that Grace had ordered over the internet right after they had purchased the house.
The next day Alex had gone out for some groceries since they only had a few canned foods in the pantry, and she arrived home in time to hear shouting from next door. She glanced over as she climbed out of the car, not wanting to intrude. The girl she had met the day before was in front of the open door, what had Mrs. West called her? Jamie? A man that Alex assumed was Mr. West was shouting at her as she pulled on shoes. The girl was yelling back, but Alex couldn't hear what was said as she made one trip into her own house with as many bags as she could carry. When she went out again for the rest of the bags, the girl was walking past the end of her driveway.
"Hey!" Alex called, waving a hand over her head.
"What?" The girl snapped.
"What's your name?" Alex shouted back, grabbing the last of her bags and pushing her car door shut with her hip.
"Why?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Because then I know what to shout at you besides 'Hey' next time I see you," Alex called back, giving her a large fake smile. The other girl rolled her eyes, then walked towards the car so they didn't have to keep yelling.
"I'm Jade," Jade said, coming to a stop several feet from Alex.
"Alex," Alex replied, then nodded towards the open door. "Come in."
"Why?" Jade asked, raising one pierced eyebrow.
"Why not?" Alex countered, turning on her heel, her very curly hair bouncing at the motion.
"Fine," Jade said, following her into the house. Most of the furniture in the living room was now in position, and the TV had been mounted, but the boxes that held their collection of movies and books were still in front of the empty bookshelves. "Nice," Jade said sarcastically, following Alex into the kitchen. Grace had done a much better job in here than Alex had in the living room. All the boxes were unpacked and the dishes were put away in their cupboards. Alex set the bags down and began putting things into the fridge or pantry.
"Want a soda?" Alex asked, gesturing to the still cold pack she had gotten at the store.
"Sure," Jade said, plopping down into one of the dining chairs around their table.
"Get one then," Alex said, chuckling as she turned back to her groceries. She heard Jade moving behind her, then the ripping of the cardboard soda box.
"Where did you get that shirt?" Alex asked when the groceries were put away. Jade was wearing a dark purple and black patterned tank top that clung to her well, showing off her flat stomach.
"Spencers," Jade said shortly. Alex would have to look up where that was later. Or now. She was sick of unpacking.
"Want to go?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've had just about enough of unpacking and I need some clothes that don't give me heat stroke."
"What, now?" Jade asked, surprised.
"Well, yeah, unless you have something better to do," Alex said, shrugging.
"You want to go shopping with me?" Jade clarified. Alex chuckled.
"Yes, I like the style you have going on and I don't know where anything in Hollywood is," Alex explained. "I'll drive."
"Yeah, why not," Jade said, getting to her feet.
Alex ran upstairs to grab a larger purse, then made sure the doors were locked since Grace had gone off somewhere.
"Nice car," Jade commented as she climbed into the passengers side.
"Thanks," Alex said, grinning. She loved her car. It was a silver Porsche, but unlike the tiny sports car model, it had four doors and a quite spacious back seat. At first Alex hadn't really cared what kind of car she got, so long as she had something to drive, but Grace had spent so long researching cars and test driving them in Seattle that Alex had become excited and decided to spend more than was necessary. "So where's this store?"
"Venice Mall," Jade said, fiddling around with the radio for a moment until she found a station she wanted to listen to. "Get on the freeway going south."
"Kay," Alex said. She knew where that was at least.
The mall was just barely over twenty minutes away, but Alex thought it was well worth the drive, and Jade turned out to be a really good shopping companion. She didn't bullshit around or lie about what looked good and what didn't, and since Alex's own style was nearly the same as Jade's, just a little more grungy, she had good suggestions.
"Is that a real tattoo?" Alex asked as they left yet another store. She had spotted the star on Jade's arm hours ago, but hadn't wanted to ask about it. Now that they had spent a couple hours together, Alex felt a little more comfortable around the other girl.
"Sure is," Jade said, turning her arm for Alex to get a better look.
"Nice," Alex said. "I wanted to get one when I turned eighteen, but I got these instead," she said, pointing to her eyebrow and lip. "And then I went back in January and got this," she said, sticking her tongue out to show the light blue glass ball there.
"Well when you want to go, I know a guy," Jade said, shrugging. "A friend of mine's older brother has a friend."
"Yeah," Alex said, nodding. "I don't know what I want to get yet though. I'll let you know when I do though."
"Sure," Jade said as they got to the parking lot. Alex had purchased quite a few more things than Jade had, but her agent had called her that morning all excited because she had finally gotten a response about Alex's latest song that she was trying to sell so she wasn't worried about the spending.
"Thanks for going shopping with me," Alex said when they were back in her car. "I didn't want to spend another day unpacking."
"Hey, you're a lot less annoying to go with than my friends from school so anytime you want to go just let me know," Jade said, changing the station again.
"Oh that's right," Alex said, remembering. "My sister said you go to a performing arts school. What's it called?"
"Hollywood Arts," Jade said, sitting back in her seat. "But you have to pass an audition to get it."
"Oh no problem," Alex said, grinning. "When are auditions? I haven't decided on a school yet and my sister is going to start getting pushy about it soon."
"I think auditions are sometime in July," Jade said, shrugging. "It'll be on the school's website though."
"Okay," Alex said, nodding.
"So what do you do?" Jade asked after a few minutes.
"Do?" Alex asked, confused. She had been thinking about where her guitar could have been put. She hadn't seen it in her room the night before, or the living room.
"Yeah," Jade said. "Singing, acting, film?"
"Oh, I sing," Alex said. "And write songs."
"Are you any good?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I like to think so," Alex said, shrugging as she got onto the freeway."What do you want to do?"
"Films," Jade said immediately. "Horror movies. But I sing too."
"Nice," Alex said, smiling. "So Hollywood arts, is it mostly performance centered or usual high school based?"
"I've never gone to a normal high school," Jade said shrugging. "I think it's mostly arts based though."
"Hm," Alex said, making a mental note to look it up later. They were silent for a while, letting the radio keep them occupied, but then Jade started singing along to one of the songs, and Alex just had to join in.
They were still jamming out to the music when Alex pulled into her driveway.
"You do sing really well," Jade said when the car was turned off.
"So do you," Alex said, grinning. Jade had a slightly unique voice. It wasn't raspy, but it sort of reminded Alex of those old jazz singers. Her fingers were itching with an idea for a new song as she carried her things inside. Grace was home and clearly had been for some time. The living room boxes were all unpacked and things were in their places now. Alex felt a little bad for ditching, but she was sure Grace would be happy that she had been out socializing.
"I'd better be getting home," Jade said when they were standing in the entry way.
"Sure," Alex said, smiling at the other girl. "Come over any time you want. The door's usually unlocked when someone's home, you can just come in."
"Uh, okay," Jade said, raising an eyebrow.
"I hate the doorbell," Alex explained. "It's so much easier to tell people they can just come in whenever."
"Right," Jade said, shaking her head a little. "Bye then."
"See you," Alex said, then turned to bring her things upstairs.
"Hey," Grace said, nearly running into Alex at the top of the stairs. "I thought I heard you. Where have you been?"
"I went shopping with Jade," Alex said, lifting her bags. "Sorry for leaving all the unpacking for you."
"No problem," Grace said. "I left all your music stuff in that room." She pointed to the empty bedroom across the hall from Alex's. "I'm going for a run. Want to come?"
"No," Alex said. "I'm going to put these things away. I'll go with you in the morning though."
"Okay," Grace said. "Oh hey, I got a job today."
"Already?" Alex asked, surprised. Grace had worked as a receptionist at a doctors office in Seattle, but she had hated it.
"Yeah, at a hair salon downtown," Grace said, grinning.
"Don't you need experience for that?" Alex asked, dropping her bags inside her bedroom door.
"Yeah well," Grace said, shrugging a little. "I might have lied a bit on my resume."
"So what are you going to do when you mess up someone's hair?" Alex asked, chuckling.
"I won't mess up," Grace said. "I've been cutting my own hair for years, and yours and moms."
"Why don't you go to school?" Alex asked. "For hair cutting?"
"I've already registered for classes," Grace said, grinning. "Not for beauty school though. For English."
"Ah," Alex said, nodding. Grace had always been the nerd of the family, she was never without a new book. English would be a good thing for her to study.
"I'll put my schedule up on the fridge when I know it," Grace said, heading down the stairs. "I'm glad you are making friends!" She called from the door.
"Yeah, yeah," Alex said, dropping her purse on top of her bags. When she was sure Grace was gone, she went into the bedroom across the hall and hunted down her guitar and songbook.
"What are you writing?" Grace asked, knocking on what Alex had turned into a music room. She had set up all her recording equipment, keyboard, and other various instruments, and had been working on perfecting her newest song for the last couple days. It had been nearly a week since her shopping trip with Jade, and she had only seen the other girl a couple times since then, at a distance.
"A song for Jade," Alex said, changing a penciled in note on her sheet paper.
"The girl next door?" Grace asked, her eyebrow raised. "Do you have something to tell me?"
"No," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "It's a song for her to sing. Her voice is kinda… not raspy or scratchy, but it sort of reminded me of those old jazz singers from the 30's for some reason."
"You wrote a jazz song?" Grace asked, coming in to sit on the piano bench. "It's not your usual style."
"It's not a jazz song," Alex said. "It's actually kinda dance-y. Listen."
She set her pencil and music to the side and picked up her guitar. She strummed a couple times before beginning the song. She played all the way through what she had, finding only one place that she wanted to change a few notes.
"That was really good," Grace said when she had finished. "Are you going to send it to Olivia?"
"No," Alex said. Olivia was her agent, and she was very picky about what kinds of music she sent out to record labels and popular artists managers. Alex trusted her opinion after the woman had explained that if she sent out too much music that wasn't liked by the people she sent it to, they would eventually stop looking at what she sent. It made sense to Alex so she didn't get offended when Olivia told her that a song wasn't good enough to be sent out. Sometimes Alex just sang those songs herself, if she liked them enough. Then she would put them on iTunes for other people to buy, or sometimes just up on youtube for her followers to listen to.
"Have you picked a school yet?" Grace asked, getting to her feet.
"I'm going to audition for Hollywood Arts," Alex said, plucking out another tune on her guitar. "Their early auditions are in two weeks, the normal ones are July 18th."
"And if you don't get in?" Grace asked, and Alex looked up at her with a wide smile.
"I'll get in," Alex said. In reality, she had picked a back up school just in case, but she didn't want to tell Grace that.
"That's the spirit," Grace said. "Do you want dinner?"
"No thanks," Alex said, putting her guitar on it's stand. "I'm going to record the music for this song, then go ask Jade if she will do the vocals."
"Then what will you do with it?" Grace asked.
"I'm not sure," Alex said. "Maybe I will send it to Olivia. It depends how I like it when it's done."
"Okay," Grace said. "Good luck."
"Thanks," Alex said, chuckling. When the door was closed she began the process of recording each instrument for the song, then layering them together.
It was nearly eight when she finally finished the instruments, it sounded better than she had hoped when it was all together. All it needed now was the vocals. She grabbed her laptop and made her way outside, not bothering with shoes. The sun had set an hour ago and the ground was cool enough now that it wouldn't burn her feet and she was too excited about the song.
"Jade!" She yelled, spotting the girl in her driveway. Jade turned, surprised, and Alex immediately felt a little embarrassed. She hadn't seen that Jade was with some other people her age.
"Alex," she said in greeting, waiting for Alex to be within easy hearing distance. Alex took a moment to glance over the others. There was a short girl with bright red hair and a black boy with his hair in dozens of braids, both of whom were looking at her curiously.
"Sorry to interrupt," Alex said, giving the others a wave. "I wrote a song and I want you to do the vocals."
"Why?" Jade said, crossing her arms.
"Because after I heard you sing last week I realized that your voice sort of reminds me of those old jazz singers from the 30's and I couldn't get the idea out of my head," Alex said all in one breath.
"Ah yes, Jade West, the classiest jazz singer in all of New Orleans," the boy said in a very fake sounding southern accent, chuckling. Jade glared at him and he turned his laugh into a cough.
"It's not a jazz song," Alex said with a sigh. "I was just thinking of jazz songs when I wrote it."
"Well, lets hear it curly," the boy said, coming around the car.
"Real creative there," Alex said, rolling her eyes at the nickname.
"Well we haven't been introduced yet so I don't know what else to call you," he said smoothly, and Alex had to laugh.
"Are you flirting with me?" She asked, and he immediately took a step back. "I'm Alex. I live next door."
"That's Andre and that's Cat," Jade said, pointing to each individually. "And they were just leaving."
"I wanna hear the jazz song that's not jazz," Cat piped up, stepping around the car to follow Andre.
"Not in my driveway," Jade said, glancing up at her house.
"We can go to mine," Alex said impatiently. "Just come on."
"Alright," Jade said with a sigh. "Are they coming?"
"If they want," Alex said, turning. They looked at each other, then shrugged and followed Jade.
"I didn't know you had any friends besides us," Cat said to Jade as they walked across the yard.
"Of course I do," Jade snapped at her.
"I just moved here from Seattle," Alex said to them as the walked into the house. "We aren't finished unpacking yet so don't mind the boxes." She led them straight up into her music room.
"This is some quality equipment," Andre said, looking around. He sat down at the piano and played out a tune, then picked up her guitar to look at it closer.
"Sure, feel free to touch everything," Alex said sarcastically, setting her computer up on the desk.
"Oh yay," Cat said, smiling. "I love touching things."
"Is she for real?" Alex asked Jade, glancing over at the short girl who was softly petting a stack of folders.
"Yeah," Jade said, shrugging. "Just ignore her."
"Right," Alex said, opening her music program and hitting play, then turning the volume up. All three of them listened to the music, nodding along with it.
"You wrote that?" Andre asked when the song was finished.
"Yeah, I just said that," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "Well Jade? Will you of the vocals?"
"Why?" She asked again. "What's the song for?"
"For fun," Alex said, shrugging. Jade frowned for a moment, then shrugged.
"Yeah, I'll do the vocals," she said after a moment, and Alex grinned.
"Great," She said. "Come over tomorrow."
"Fine," Jade said, uncrossing her arms. "Let's go, idiots."
"That's not very nice," Cat said, frowning at Jade, but she followed the taller girl from the room anyway.
When the others had left, Alex went into her own room to get ready for bed.
The next morning Alex was pulled out of sleep by the doorbell. She stomped down the stairs to pull open the door.
"What?" She snapped immediately, then noticed it was Jade at the door. "What part of 'I hate the doorbell so just come in' did you not get?"
"Calm your jets," Jade said, rolling her eyes. "I didn't know if you were awake yet."
"Yeah because ringing the doorbell six times in a row doesn't wake everyone in the house up anyway," Alex said, turning to let Jade into the house. "Why are you here so early?"
"It's after nine," Jade said, smirking. "It's not exactly early."
"Whatever," Alex said, pushing her hair out of her face. "Give me five minutes."
"Sure," Jade said, shrugging. Alex ran back up the stairs and changed into the first things she found, shorts and a black t-shirt. Her hair was unmanageable, so she tied it back into a very large bun.
"Come on up," she called down the stairs.
The two girls spent most of the morning recording the lyrics Alex had written. The final result was fantastic.
"I think it turned out really well," Alex said, playing with her lip ring as she spoke.
"Yeah, me too," Jade said. They were both just lounging now, the windows propped open and water bottles littering the desk.
"Alex!" Grace called up the stairs. "Olivia's on the phone!"
"Ug," Alex said, getting to her feet. "Why didn't she just call my cell phone?"
"She said she tried but it's off," Grace said from the bottom of the stairs. Jade followed her down, probably hoping the lower level of the house was cooler. Grace had already called someone about their AC not working, but it had been three days since then and the company kept saying someone would be out that day, then calling back later to cancel. It wasn't too hot out of the sun, but it was still uncomfortable.
"Whats up?" Alex asked as she took the phone from her sister. She listened for a moment, then looked up at Grace with wide eyes, her mouth falling open in surprise. "No way!"
"What?" Grace asked eagerly.
"Beyonce's producer just bought Plastic Lies," Alex told her, referring to one of the songs she had written the year before.
"Oh my god!" Grace yelled, jumping in excitement.
"For how much?" Alex said into the phone, her voice raising in excitement. "Twenty thousand!"
"No way!" Grace screamed. Alex grinned. "This is huge Alex!"
"Olivia said that the producer asked to hear some of the others too," Alex said, joining Grace in her excited hopping. "I'll send over everything I have," Alex said into the phone. "Send her everything, even the old ones."
She hung up the phone moments later, handing it back to Grace.
"Oh my god," Alex repeated, taking a deep breath in. "I have so much to do!"
"Do you need anything?" Grace asked as Alex turned to the stairs.
"AC!" Alex shouted back. "Jade!" She said, having forgotten the other girl was still there. "Do you mind if I send that song to my agent?"
"You have an agent?" Jade asked, one brow raised as she watched the excited sisters.
"Yeah, Olivia," Alex said, shrugging. "I send her the things I write and she sends them to singers. Only small groups have bought them so far but holy crap! Beyonce!"
"You want to send the song I just sang to Beyonce?" Jade asked, both brows raised now. "Hell yes do it."
"I'll make sure Olivia has your name too, don't worry," Alex said, running back up the stairs. "This is great!"
"So other bands have bought your music before?" Jade asked as Alex scanned through her computer files, attaching everything she wanted to an email for Olivia.
"Yeah," Alex said, distracted. "I have a playlist of all the songs I've written that were produced by others. Want to hear it?"
"Sure," Jade said, shrugging. Alex clicked it open and hit play, then returned to her email.
"You know, I've heard almost this exact playlist before," Jade commented almost half an hour later. "I can't remember where."
"I have it published on my SplashFace account," Alex said, shrugging. "Anyone can play it."
"You really wrote all of these?" Jade asked. Alex was waiting for her email to send. She had attached so much to it that it was taking forever to upload.
"Yeah," Alex said, shrugging. "I've been writing since I was thirteen. My best friend from grade school moved away in eighth grade and I was mad and didn't want to make more friends, so I got into music instead."
"These are really good," Jade said, nodding along to the music.
"Thanks," Alex said, smiling. She was sure that the other girl didn't give compliments very often. "Wait, you aren't just saying that because I have an agent are you?"
"No, why would you think that?" Jade asked, frowning at her.
"A lot of people at my old school," Alex said as explanation. "Once they found out that I have an in with the industry, they all of a sudden wanted to be my friend."
"Ah," Jade said, nodding in understanding. "Fake people."
"Exactly," Alex said, nodding. "That's why I dress abrasively and act stand-offish, in my sisters words. Then people don't bother me."
"And they do what you want because they are scared of you," Jade said, grinning. "You and I understand each other. I think we can be friends."
"Great," Alex said, nodding.
"How did your auditions go?" Grace asked as Alex walked in the door. It had been two weeks since the whole Beyonce excitement, and Olivia hadn't heard back from them yet.
"Great," Alex said. "I got in."
"Good," Jade called walking out of the kitchen with a soda. Jade had been over almost every day since they had recorded that song, and she had finally started just coming in whenever she wanted after Grace had shouted at her about the doorbell too.
"Good why?" Alex asked playfully. "Good because I'm clearly your best friend now and you couldn't live without me?"
"Ha," Jade said, snorting. "Good because you would have been miserable without me."
"So true," Alex said, laughing. They had begun teasing each other about not being able to live without the other a week ago when Grace had called Alex 'Jade' when she had straightened her hair. "You are just me after all."
"Obviously," Jade said, smiling. She had really loosened up around Alex in the few weeks that they had been friends.
"I have an idea for my locker too," Alex said. Jade had explained that each student had to personalize their locker and they had bounced ideas around for a few minutes.
"What is it?" Jade asked, following Alex up to her room.
"Sheet music," Alex said, grinning back at her. "I'm going to paper my locker in it so I can write down whatever is in my head, then at the end of each month I'll replace it and make a song out of what I have written down."
"Hm," Jade said.
"You don't like it?" Alex asked, dropping her bag at the end of her bed.
"I've heard better," Jade said, shrugging.
"Well I'm doing it anyway," Alex said, kicking off her shoes as Jade took what had become her usual seat in Alex's room, an old glider that was padded with dark green material and had a seat wide enough to comfortably sit with legs crossed. Alex had gotten rid of the rocking foot rest that had come with it, preferring just the chair.
"That's the point of the lockers," Jade said, chuckling. "Just do what you want and don't let anyone tell you it's wrong."
"I do that anyway," Alex said, flopping back onto her bed. "So what are we doing with the rest of today?"
"I don't know," Jade said, shrugging. "Want to go out for sushi? I know a good place."
"Is your weird flirty friend going to be there?" Alex asked, staring up at the ceiling. Andre had randomly shown up at the mall when they had gone last week, and again at the school today when Alex had been leaving her audition. He had been overly flirty both times.
"No," Jade said, rolling her eyes. "Andre is an idiot."
"Oh I see," Alex said, rolling over onto her stomach to stare at Jade, her blue eyes wide and serious. "You like him then."
"Ew, no," Jade said, grimacing. "How could you possibly get that from what I said?"
"You usually call people wazz-bags when they are dumb," Alex said, shrugging. "Idiot is almost a term of endearment from you."
"You're an idiot," Jade said, kicking the side of Alex's bed near her face.
"Thanks," Alex said, grinning. "Love you too."
"I don't like Andre," Jade repeated, rolling her eyes.
"So who do you like?" Alex asked, resting her cheek against her comforter.
"No one," Jade said, twisting one of her curls into a better shape. "I was dating this guy a while ago, but we broke up."
"Ooooo," Alex said resting her chin in her hands as she propped herself up on her elbows and blinked furiously, mocking girls in movies who did the same thing. "Why'd you break up?"
"We just grew apart," Jade said, shrugging. "We fought all the time. I'm over him."
"Well then we can find you a new guy," Alex said, grinning. "I love match making."
"Don't strain yourself," Jade said, rolling her eyes. "All the guys at school are afraid of me. I like it that way."
"That sounds like a challenge," Alex said, rubbing her hands together.
"It's not," Jade said, shaking her head.
"Challenge accepted," Alex said, getting to her feet. "Come on, lets get sushi."
"You aren't going to let this drop are you?" Jade asked with a sigh.
"Don't worry, I'll wait until school starts," Alex said, prancing down the stairs. "Maybe."
Jade groaned as she followed Alex out to her car.
