Review please! That's how I'll know if I should keep going with this story.

As much as I wish I owned the Jonas boys, I don't.


"Her song was amazing," Nick continued. "I knew she was going to sing. And I guessed she would play. But write the song? Well, none of us were really expecting that. But it was really, really good."

Sophie nodded. She was laying in bed, sick. She'd been unable to attend the school's variety show, even though her best friend was performing, so Nick had called right after her to re-cap the entire show. She felt horrible for missing it and not being there to support Ellie. But at the same time, Sophie felt a little relieved that she hadn't gone. She always felt like a failure in comparison to her friend. After all, Ellie was good at, well, everything. And Sophie wasn't really good at anything.

"That's great, Nick," she said. Her voice was soft but Nick paid no mind to it, guessing it was just because she was sick.

"Anyway, Joe taped it. And Kevin offered to bring her to our uncle's studio so that she can record the song. Ellie's going to teach it to us so that I can play drums and Kevin can play guitar and maybe Joe can help her with vocals."

"Wow." Her voice lacked it's usual happy tone.

"Yeah, anyway, I should probably go. We're all going out for ice cream to celebrate Ellie's win. Want me to bring you some later?"

Sophie felt tears spring to her eyes. Not only was her friend really good, but she'd actually won. It didn't help that Nick just kept going on and on about how great she was. He was supposed to be her boyfriend. "No," she choked out. "I probably shouldn't have ice cream. Sick, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Nick said, his voice sounding as if he was a little pre-occupied. "Well I'll come by tomorrow morning, alright? I'll bring you some soup or something."

"Sounds good."

"See you then. Love you."

She forced a smile out of habit, even though he couldn't see her. "Love you too."

They hung up at the same time and Sophie felt relieved. She pushed her face into her pillow, trying to muffle the sound of her sobs. After a couple minutes, she began to slowly calm down. Inside, she was still burning but her tears had subsided. Sophie felt as though her heart couldn't take anymore. She felt worthless. All her friends had these amazing talents, whereas she was just the one who watched from the sideline. Always cheering and supporting but never actually being a part of the performance.

She sat up, resting her back against the wall. The few tears that still flowed down her cheeks were silent and her sobs were brief and rare. She didn't want to cry anymore. She just wanted something to help take the pain away. A small glimmer of light caught her eye from across the room, like some sort of beacon. She stood up, a bit dizzy from the medicine she'd taken earlier, and walked towards her desk. On it was a letter opener, shaped like a knife. She'd gotten it when she'd visited Toledo, Spain years before. It was reflecting the light from her lamp. Sophie picked it up and sat back on her bed, holding it gingerly.

Her mind raced. Maybe this could help her ease the pain that had filler her heart for so long now. She scraped the cold metal against her skin gently, not even hard enough to leave a scratch. A small smile formed on her face. As she thought, Sophie's brown eyes seemed to light up. Slowly, she pressed the opener against her arm with much more force than before. This time, when she dragged it against her flesh, a thin line of blood appeared. She inhaled sharply, slightly surprised by the pain. But when she exhaled, she felt so much better. It was like she was just letting go of everything bottled up. She felt relieved. Sophie moved the miniature sword higher on her arm and made another cut, gasping but exhaling slowly once again. She smiled. She'd finally found an outlet.


In the morning, Nick let himself into the house and up to Sophie's room. Her parents were usually out and didn't mind if he just walked in. Sophie was still asleep and he smiled a bit, nudging her gently. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

She groaned and rolled over, pushing him gently. He gave a small laugh and she sat up, rubbing her eyes and scooting over so that he could sit on the bed with her. "Where's my soup?" she asked groggily.

Nick's eyes widened and he smacked his forehead. "Crap! I totally forgot. I was too pre-occupied with forcing Kevin to make the DVD so that we could watch Ellie's performance."

"Oh." She forced a smile, yet again, trying to seem excited. She'd really just been hoping that the two of them could hang out, without him bringing up one of her talented friends. Especially not Ellie. Nick didn't notice the small hint of disappointment that tainted her words. He happily stood up, DVD in hand, and turned on the television that sat on the shelves across from her bed. Sophie sighed to herself.

Nick sat back down next to her and hit play on the remote. The film was shaky but Nick seemed pleased with it. He smiled as the emcee came on and announced that the next act would be Ellie Collins, singing an original song. He clapped, as if he was actually there in the audience. She came on and performed. Nick sat mesmerized. Sophie hardly payed attention. She'd heard Ellie perform more than enough times. Even when she wasn't on a stage, Ellie took every opportunity to show off her skills. Sophie knew that Ellie never meant to seem conceited or mean, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy every time.

When the song ended and Ellie took her bow, Nick stopped the DVD."Wasn't that amazing! It was one of the best songs I've ever heard. Plus she has such a fantastic voice. My brothers and I were thinking about asking Ellie to join our band. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Sophie nodded. "Yeah, that'd be wicked."

Nick nodded, obviously ecstatic about this plan.

"Could you wait here for a sec?" Sophie asked, standing up. "I'm going to go brush my teeth and what not real quick. I feel gross." He nodded and she walked into the bathroom.

She splashed water on her face and took a second to compose herself. Then she quickly ran her brush through her ratty hair and brushed her teeth. She glanced quickly at the marks left on her wrist from the night before. They were pretty faded and Nick would never notice them. She nodded in satisfaction before exiting the bathroom.

When she saw Nick again, though, she realized she'd forgotten something. Sure, he'd never notice the cuts on her arm. But the blood on her sheets? Yeah, he'd noticed that.

"What's this?" he asked, confused.

"Oh!" Sophie walked back around and sat next to him before continuing. She was trying to buy some time to come up with an explanation. "Last night my cat came in and jumped on my bed like usual. But I didn't want him near me, since I was really sick, so I picked him up and he clawed me pretty bad." She shrugged. "No big deal."

He didn't look as though he completely believed her but just shrugged it off as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the text he had received. "Who is it?" Sophie asked.

"Kevin," Nick said as he stuffed the phone back into his pocket. "He and Joe and Ellie are at my house. They want to meet and talk about stuff. Should be fun." Sophie held her breath, hoping he'd invite her along despite her lack of musical ability. "So I should probably go," he finished.

Her hopes fell. "Have fun."

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. She watched him go, waiting to leave the room until he was completely out of the house. Once he was gone, she left the room and headed back to the bathroom. She rummaged through the cabinet under the sink until she found an old razor and examined it. It was sharper than the letter opener. A faint smile cracked on her face as she pressed it to her skin and felt the pain wash away.