Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight Saga or its characters. I don't own shit.
A/N: Hey, y'all. I'm back with anotha one. Pretty soon I'll be working full-time so I'm not sure when I'll be updating, but I'll certainly try since writing this story is so much fun. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last ones, and I really tried to not make it so short, but I didn't want to write ALL this AND introduce another arc, so I hope y'all understand.
Here's chapter 3 of Girl Gang. And this is unrelated (well, kinda, bc this fic is about music), but happy belated birthday to Ariana Grande, who, in fact, run pop.
3.
Prior to living with Bella, Leah used to think that she had boy problems. However, this girl was on a whole different level. She and Edward were the most on-and-off couple Leah had ever seen in real life. It was so bad that Bella moved back home with Charlie, Sue, Seth, and Leah by her birthday, in mid-September. It was unfortunate and kind of painful for Leah to watch, but it was also somewhat poetic. The sheer irony of finally not being a teenager anymore paired with moving back home on Bella's twentieth birthday was bewildering.
So Bella had boy problems, and she had grown easier to read. Bella wasn't that different from Leah, it turned out—they both turned to shutting themselves in their rooms and making music. Leah had noticed a vague acoustic guitar playing sometimes in the house, but she usually just ignored it. It was usually more noticeable when Bella was more upset, though.
Since she had come back home, the girl had been hurt.
From what it sounded like, Bella just sang really sad covers of pop songs. She had a warm, earthy, indie pop voice that usually sang in an octave lower than the original track, but when she sang higher in her range, she sounded like a baby bird—soft and sweet, as well as a little broken.
Leah felt kind of like a perv for being so interested in a hobby that was so personal in its very nature, but she couldn't help it. She was a music lover and Bella just so happened to make good music.
One night on her way to the kitchen from her own keyboard session, Leah found herself quietly perched in the hallway, just behind Bella's bedroom door. She was fascinated at the fact that Bella had managed to make a light, bubbly bop by Carly Rae Jepsen sound so… moody.
"If you're gonna go then go"
She said to me on the phone
"So tired of hearin' all your boy problems
If you're gonna stay then stay
He's not gonna change anyway
So tired of hearin' all your boy problems"
Bella suddenly stopped singing, and Leah scrambled to her bedroom, feeling like an embarrassed middle schooler. She was too embarrassed to go down to the kitchen like she was supposed to all this time.
"Jesus," Leah whispered as she shut her door quietly. She should've probably stuck to minding her business. After all, making music was personal. Leah should've understood that more than anybody. She turned back to her keyboard, picked up where she'd left off, and let Bella do her own thing in her own privacy.
The idea of Bella and her guitar remained a private one until her obligatory birthday dinner, the Friday after the 13th. The Swan-Clearwater household went out to The Lodge, and while it wasn't Bella's favorite place in the world to eat, she couldn't just say no.
Leah felt bad for Bella—she could feel the awkwardness radiating through the rounded booth.
"So you're twenty now," Sue began as the server came to the table with everybody's ice waters. "What are you gonna do?"
"What, like with my life?" Bella asked in response.
Sue nodded, smiling. "I hear you went to PenCol last year. Are you enrolled for fall quarter?"
"I totally missed the deadline for fall quarter," Bella told her curtly, reaching for her glass of water to take a sip. "I'm not going."
"Oh," Sue said, only moderately off-guard. "I thought you were into Psychology or Philosophy or one of those…"
"Anthropology," Bella corrected her. "But I'd have to transfer to a university to complete my bachelor's degree and then go to grad school after that, and I don't feel like being in school for that long."
"You did so well in high school, though, Bells," Charlie said. "You were salutatorian."
"High school is so different from college, Dad," she replied. "And besides, not everybody is meant for college."
"You are, though," he encouraged her. "Maybe you should just complete your associate's degree."
"Maybe," she said dismissively, and then Charlie dropped it.
The server came back to take their orders, and when she left, Seth piped up.
"I've been hearing you play your guitar and singing a lot," he said to Bella. "You're really good and I think you should keep at it. That's just my opinion, though."
Bella began to blush, the redness spreading throughout her entire face. Just before she blushed was when Leah realized she had freckles. "Thanks, Seth," Bella said.
"And I know damn well you can sing and play, too," Sue said pointedly to Leah. "You two should start a band."
Leah snorted. "Right. A band of two girls, their instruments, and depression."
Bella was the only other person to laugh; Sue, Charlie, and Seth just gave them strange looks.
"Anyway," Charlie began slowly, "you two might as well start a band since neither of you are in school."
"I don't know about all that," Leah said, shaking her head. "I still have work and stuff."
"And I'm going back to the Newtons' shop soon," Bella added. "You know, being an adult and all that."
"It was just a suggestion," Charlie replied, and then he dropped it again.
The rest of dinner went as blandly as Leah had expected, except she couldn't help but indulge a little bit into the fantasy of being in a band. Getting paid to make music with people she didn't entirely hate? It was damn near unrealistic.
When everyone got home at around seven that night, Leah didn't feel inspired enough to return to her keyboard. She was still too fucking scared to post her covers on YouTube. So far she had recorded covers to "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera and "Born To Make You Make You Happy" by Britney Spears (because she was old school and really liked sad pop songs), but she couldn't bring herself to upload them.
Of course I can talk shit on Twitter without any type of remorse, she thought, but when it comes to something I actually care about, I can't even get the guts to share it. God, I'm the dumbest bitch alive.
So she turned to YouTube for inspiration. Maybe if she found some terrible covers, she wouldn't feel so bold for uploading her own.
Leah scrolled through the app, through various Britney Spears covers. So many people loved to talk shit about Britney, but they loved to cover her songs, too. It was incredible. She had listened to portions of at least four different covers of "Everytime" until she found another cover uploaded by a YouTube user with a familiar face.
"Everytime (Acoustic Guitar Cover)" - sadhoe109
She clicked on the video, which was uploaded only a week ago, and there was sadhoe109.
Or Bella.
This video had clearly been recorded in her bedroom here in Forks. Sunlight from a nearby window streamed across her face, highlighting her freckles and her chocolate brown eyes. She looked so natural holding her guitar. She was in her happy place, her comfort zone.
Bella smiled at the camera, which made Leah realize how little she truly saw her smile, and she lived with the girl.
"Hi, guys, it's sadhoe109, Bella, whatever you wanna call me," she said easily, her smile genuine. "I'm back with another cover. In case you didn't notice, I like old pop songs. Obviously. Today I'm gonna cover 'Everytime' by Britney Spears. It's one of my favorite songs ever, and I can't wait to share it with you guys."
The video cut to the next scene, and now Bella was strumming her guitar. Her cover was moody and lower than Britney's by an octave, naturally.
Notice me
Take my hand
Why are we
Strangers when
Our love is strong
Why carry on without me?
Everytime I try to fly, I fall
Without my wings, I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, it's haunting me
I guess I need you baby
Leah couldn't help but become invested. The way Bella played and sang was so natural—she had the entire singer-songwriter vibe going for her and it was beautiful. She wasn't a perfect singer, but she carried herself like she didn't give a fuck regarding what anyone thought. She sang for herself—she sang to her heartbreak.
So what the fuck am I so afraid for? Leah thought.
She couldn't believe she was learning something about music from Bella Swan, of all people, just when she thought nobody could tell her anything.
Leah's favorite part of the video was the bridge leading up to the final chorus, in which Bella made her way up an octave higher, her baby bird voice shining through and reliving every heartbreak that Britney felt 14 years ago, back in 2003.
I may have made it rain
Please forgive me
My weakness caused you pain
And this song is my sorry
Bella strummed along to her own arrangement, humming idly, and that was when it hit Leah. Everything at once.
At night I pray
That soon your face
Will fade away
Everytime I try to fly, I fall
Without my wings, I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
And everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, you're haunting me
I guess I need you baby
Leah didn't know why, but by the end, she had shed a single tear.
Shit.
She liked the video and subscribed to Bella's channel, not caring how weird it may have seemed. Then she copied and pasted the link to the video and texted Kim.
Oh my god, BITCH, Leah messaged.
Kim texted back instantly. Who is this girl in the video?
Bella Swan, my lowkey stepsister.
Ohh this is the girl who beat me out for salutatorian.
Yes but that's besides the point. Watch it!
Kim didn't text back for about four minutes, the duration of the video.
Ooookay, she finally wrote. This was good. Really good.
I know omfg. I wasn't expecting her to be that good tbh.
I'm screaming at sadhoe109 tho.
Me too.
Lykke Li is shaking.
Leah cackled aloud. STOP, she wrote.
For real tho, Kim said. Despite her beating me out for salutatorian… I like her. Bring her by my studio tonight.
Tonight?! Why don't you invite her?
I don't live with her… duh.
Idk how to go about it without being creepy.
Come ON lee. Pleaseee?
Leah sighed. Okay. I'll talk to her. She's a lil awkward tho, idk if she'll want to
Make her want to. She's too good to pass up. I'm home whenever you wanna slide thru, just lmk when you're pulling up.
Okaaaay Kim.
Kim then sent her a series of heart emojis.
Leah threw her phone down on her bed. This was all a little crazy, but she wasn't too bothered by it.
Leah nervously knocked on Bella's bedroom door, and it opened it almost instantly. Leah peered behind her and saw an open laptop sitting on Bella's desk with YouTube pulled up. Leah guessed she was about to upload her sad hoe cover of "Boy Problems."
God, what a creative person.
Before Leah could say anything, Bella spoke first. "I saw you subscribed to my YouTube channel," she said. "And I know I'm not that good, but just…" She sighed, shutting her eyes only to reopen them almost instantly. "This is, like, my own little hobby and super personal and—"
"Chill," Leah said. "I get it. It's almost the same for me. And your cover of 'Everytime' is… incredible. I wish I had the guts to post myself singing."
"Oh," Bella said, and Leah could see her finally calm down. "Well, thanks."
"You're welcome. So I showed my friend your video."
"Oh my god," Bella murmured.
"No, no, listen," Leah said. "She has a recording studio in her apartment and she really wants you to come by."
"That sounds creepy, like when a photographer from Instagram says he wants to take pictures of you, except when you get there you're suddenly naked and he doesn't even have a camera."
Leah rolled her eyes. "I know," she said. "But my friend makes music, too—well, I guess we all do—and she has her studio hooked up. It's amazing."
Bella furrowed her brows. "When does she want me over?"
"Tonight. She's home whenever we wanna go over."
"Jeez, sounds desperate," Bella said. "I'm in, I guess."
"Damn, really?" Leah asked.
"I've never been to a recording studio before," Bella replied. "I mean, we live out here in the boonies."
"True."
"What's your friend's name?"
"Kim. Kim Conweller."
"That name is, like… super familiar."
"You beat her out for salutatorian," Leah reminded her. "Whatever that means."
"She still cares about that? Graduation was over a year ago."
"Yeah, I don't know."
"Alright, lemme just finish uploading something to YouTube and then I can pack up my stuff and we can go," Bella said.
"'Boy Problems'?" Leah asked.
"How do you know that song?"
"Everybody should know that song."
"I mean, how'd you know I was gonna upload a cover of that song?"
"The walls here aren't soundproof," Leah told her. "And after finding out about your channel, it was an easy guess."
"Oh," Bella said bleakly.
"Go finish uploading your talent to the masses, sad hoe," Leah instructed. "We've gotta dip."
Leah and Kim had made it to Kim's Port Angeles penthouse apartment within the next hour and a half. After texting Kim and buzzing in (Leah had always wanted to do that), the girls had entered the wealthier girls' place. Leah quickly decided that she would never get over it.
"God, this place seems even nicer," she breathed, staring up at the high ceilings.
Once Bella removed her shoes, she awkwardly eased out of her zipped hoodie while trying not to drop her backpack and guitar case. Kim took her hoodie to the coat closet. "You have an amazing home," she told Kim.
"Thanks, Bella," Kim replied. She was dressed casually, in a pink joggers and hoodie set.
"I'm surprised you remembered my name so easily," Bella said.
"Come on, we had so many classes together senior year," Kim pointed out. "AP Gov, AP Calc, AP Biology, AP Lit…"
"Okay, we get it, you guys are both smart," Leah said, rolling her eyes.
"And neither of us are in college," Bella said to Kim cheerily.
"Exactly," Kim replied. "Leah clued me in on your name, anyway, though."
"I see."
"Let me give you a tour of the place," Kim suggested.
"What have you been up to tonight, Kim?" Leah asked as she showed them through the living room, kitchen, and hallway, leading down to the studio.
"Well, since it's my day off," she replied, "I've mostly just been practicing my dances for work and playing around for a little bit in the studio."
"It wouldn't surprise me if you had a pole in one of these rooms," Leah said, which prompted Kim to open one of the doors on the left side of the hallway, exposing a smaller room with a shimmering metal pole running from the floor to the ceiling.
"Oh, you're a stri—exotic dancer?" Bella asked Kim, her voice small.
"You can say 'stripper,' it's not a dirty word," Kim told her, shutting the door. "And yes."
Wow, Bella mouthed.
They finally made it to the studio, and Bella was as amazed as Leah had been. She set down her backpack and guitar case and made her way to the soundboards. Leah took a seat next to Kim.
"Leah was right," Bella said. "You really did hook this up, Kim."
"Thank you," Kim replied, smiling. She sat in her spinning chair in front of the main computer and logged in. She opened up a program that Leah couldn't catch the name of, and she pulled up a list of files. "By the way, Leah," she said, "I finally got the time to mix our cover of 'Broken Clocks' and I wanted you to hear it."
"Oh, cool," Leah replied. "Lemme hear it."
"SZA's 'Broken Clocks'?" Bella asked, leaning against the wall.
Both Leah and Kim nodded, both thinking fondly on that night just a few weeks ago, and then Kim played the track.
Leah's voice (accompanied with Kim's harmonies at some parts) filled the air through the elaborate speaker setup of the studio, and the recording was actually super polished, with Leah's piano and some extra beats and bass added in to make it sound more similar to the original track.
Leah couldn't believe it—she actually sounded… well, good.
She sounded like an artist.
The three girls listened in silence, just taking it all in. Once it was all over, Leah felt so happy that she could almost die.
"You mixed that so well," she told Kim. "Oh my god."
"Thanks," Kim replied, "but you did the actual work. You're a great vocalist."
"Yeah, you sounded really good on that, Leah," Bella added.
"It's your turn," Kim told Bella with a grin on her face.
Bella's body language suddenly grew uncomfortable; it was like she was shrinking back into her shell. "I already recording and uploaded the next cover I wanted to do," she replied to Kim.
"'Boy Problems'?" Kim asked. "Yeah, I saw before you guys came here. It was good."
"Thanks."
"Just because you're done doesn't mean there's no room for improvement, though," Kim pointed out, clicking around on her computer. "Besides, you brought your guitar."
"I mean, I guess," Bella said.
"What are you scared for?" Leah asked. "You clearly have the talent."
'It's just…" Bella pondered on that for a moment, looking down to the floor at her guitar case with a conflicted expression. "How am I gonna compete with that?"
"With what, Leah's cover?" Kim asked.
"Yeah."
"It's literally not a competition, Bella," Leah told her, smug on the inside.
"But," Kim said, turning away from the computer, "you absolutely don't have to record anything if you're not comfortable."
"I just didn't think I'd get to be in an actual recording studio," Bella replied bluntly.
"Trust me, this isn't an actual studio." Kim shook her head. "The real ones are way more advanced than this."
"Still, though."
"Whatever you say, I guess. Do you guys wanna hear a demo I've been working on?"
"Hell yeah," Leah said. "Put it on."
Kim turned back to the computer and pulled up an audio draft on a computer program. She clicked play, and a track began to play. There were no lyrics, oddly enough, and it started out slowly, with ominous synths. Once the assumed chorus hit, there was a booming bassline that the three girls couldn't help but nod their heads to. It was, essentially, an electropop song with trap influences—just without any lyrics. The track was a little over a minute long—it just got past the first chorus.
"That was cute," Leah said. "Sounded like The Weeknd's old stuff, but still cute."
Before Kim could say anything, Bella interjected, "Did you produce that all yourself?"
Kim just nodded at her solemnly. Her face wasn't entirely pleased with her demo.
"Here?" Bella asked.
"Yes, I produced it myself, here," Kim clarified.
"So what are you gonna do with it?" Leah asked. "Sell it? Put your own lyrics?"
"I've hit such a bad writer's block," Kim admitted, "so I don't even know. I've got some hooks for it in my head, but they're not that good." She sighed, clearly frustrated. "I usually have a vision for what I want a song to be when I start crafting it, and this demo took me forever, but I still don't have anything good."
"Not gonna lie, I was humming my own lyrics to a song I was working on a long time ago," Bella told Kim. "So if you need a last resort for a hook, you could try that. You don't have to, though. I only wrote half of the song."
"You write, too?" Kim asked, her eyebrows raised.
"On the low-low," Bella replied, shrugging her shoulders.
Kim smirked devilishly. "Alright, sad hoe, show me what you've got."
Fuck, I wish I was creative, Leah thought.
Bella began to take her guitar out of its case, along with a journal from her backpack. She flipped to the middle of ink-splattered notebook and pulled up a page. She set the laptop down on the desk next to the computer and began to quickly tune up her guitar.
"'Guys My Age'?" Leah read over Bella's shoulder. The title was scribbled at the top of the page.
"That's just a working title," Bella said. "I started writing this when I was, like, seventeen and just broke up with my ex for the first time." She finished tuning the instrument and turned to Kim. "Your demo is a little bit faster than my tempo, but I can keep up. Could you play it?"
"Yeah. You'll need a mic, too, though." Kim set up a nearby microphone and positioned it so Bella could sit comfortably with her guitar and sing at the same time.
Kim ran the track at a lower volume than usual, and Bella peered over at her notebook as she strummed along to the demo and sang her own lyrics.
Haven't seen my ex since we broke up
Probably 'cause he didn't wanna grow up
Now I'm out here wearing something low-cut
'Bout to get attention from a grown-up
Nervous and self-critical, Bella winced at her lyrics but kept going.
'Cause you hold me like a woman
In a way I've never felt before
And it makes me wanna hold on
And it makes me wanna be all yours
Guys my age don't know how to treat me
Don't know how to treat me, don't know how to treat me
Guys my age don't know how to touch me
Don't know how to love me good
Guys my age don't know how to keep me
Don't know how to keep me, don't know how to keep me
Guys my age don't know how to touch me
Don't know how to love me good
The demo ended, and Bella brought herself away from the microphone. She let out a breath of relief. "That's all I got."
"Damn," Kim said. "Have you dated a thirty-four-year-old or something?"
Bella smiled. "No, but I've considered it. I don't know what seventeen-year-old me was thinking, but that's that."
"How old are you?"
"Just turned twenty this past week."
Kim was beaming. "Aww, I love Virgos. I'm a Taurus."
Bella just smiled harder.
"Do y'all need some alone time?" Leah asked. "'Cause I can leave."
"Okay, Leah," Kim said, rolling her eyes. "Well, what did you think?"
"I think that song has 'daddy issues' written all over it," Leah said bluntly. "I love it."
Bella and Kim laughed, causing Leah to laugh, too.
"I don't know how I feel about the guitar over the synth, though," Kim said, once they all quieted down.
"What do you mean?" Bella asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"They just clash, that's all."
"Maybe you could try it with just the guitar, then. I mean, a real instrument wouldn't sound that bad under all that extra production."
"Okay, Taylor Swift," Leah said, cracking up.
"No, really," Bella went on. "There's so much going on in the demo. If you stripped the verses down by having a real instrument and maybe a little bass, then the pre-chorus and the chorus would hit that much harder. But I'm not a producer, so my opinion just might be invalid."
"No, no, you're valid," Kim countered. "A synthesizer is a real instrument, though."
Bella's voice was blunt. "Not really."
"Whatever. We can try it out."
The next couple of hours were spent remixing the track, which the girls decided to name "Guys My Age." They took away the synth, added the guitar, took out the guitar, added in the piano, took out the piano, put the guitar back in, decided they would need to make it an electric guitar later on, and wrote and recorded the rest of the song. Leah didn't feel qualified enough to comment on the production, but writing the song was actually fun. Of course, the lyrics weren't the most intellectually stimulating, but it was catchy and had a hook that wouldn't stay out of her head for the rest of the night.
She could do this shit forever.
It was one in the morning by the time they had finished mixing and recording the track. Leah had done most of the heavy vocal work. While Bella and Kim had the range to get up to the higher octave at the pre-chorus (which Kim had insisted on being higher in order to contradict the lower deliveries of the verses and chorus), they didn't have the power that Leah did. Leah had also contributed a strong vocal run before the final chorus that elevated the song even further.
So at one in the morning, the girls retreated to the kitchen area, where Kim made hot drinks and toasted bagels to celebrate their hard work.
"That was fun," Leah said, stirring in cream and sugar to her coffee.
"Super fun," Bella agreed as she dipped a tea bag into her cup of hot water.
Kim made her way to the dining table with a plate of bagels, a tub of cream cheese, utensils, and her own cup of black coffee. "I just feel like something is missing," she admitted.
"Don't you ever relax?" Leah asked her, grabbing a bagel. "We've literally been working for five hours."
"Yeah," Bella added. "Producing and recording a song in one night is crazy."
"I've done more," Kim replied. "But, I mean, if we're gonna be a thing, I think we're missing a certain type of voice."
Leah and Bella looked at each other dubiously. "I didn't know we were a thing," Bella said.
"My voice is sweet and high," Kim told Bella. "Your voice is…" She faltered.
"Weak," Bella finished.
"Shut up," Leah interjected.
"I was gonna say indie, but not an annoying indie like almost all the girls on the radio right now."
Bella just pursed her lips.
"And Leah," Kim continued. "You've got the powerhouse vocals."
"Meaning…" Leah prompted.
"Bitch, you can belt."
Leah shrugged. "I mean, yeah. So what are we missing?"
"I think we'd be the perfect group with a deeper voice added in the mix."
"I'm already an octave lower than both of you just by breathing," Bella pointed out.
"No, I mean, like, alto deep."
"You're such an idealist, Kim," Leah said in between bites of her bagel. "Just when I thought we made something great, you told us we ain't shit."
"I did not say that," Kim retorted. "I know we're pretty solid, trust me. I'm just thinking aloud." She sipped from her cup of coffee, her eyes staring somewhere far off.
"We kind of just created a banger," Bella said fondly. "Not everybody can say that."
"I mean, there are plenty of daddy issues bangers," Leah countered, "but we've definitely added on to the catalogue, unofficially."
"The original lyrics were really compelling," Kim said. "You must've been going through something deep, Bella."
"I mean, I was seventeen," Bella reminded them. "At that point I'd been with my ex for, like, two years and we just broke up for the first time. We ending up getting back together and breaking up and getting back together a bunch of times after that, but that shit hurt at the moment. I really wanted to go out and fuck a thirty-four-year-old out of spite, but I knew I was too scared to actually do that, so I just started writing that song instead."
"Was it your first song?" Kim asked.
Bella shook her head. "Nah. It's the first one I've ever been even slightly proud of, though. And it remains relevant, which is a plus. Guys my age still don't fucking know how to treat me, and that's why we're broken up now."
"Jesus, if that hasn't been my whole mood," Leah grumbled.
"Are you still with that guy?" Kim asked her.
Leah shrugged her shoulders. She hadn't thought of Paul in a while, she realized. "We talk here and there," she said. "But it's nothing crazy. He's out being a dumbass or whatever he usually does."
"Relatable," Bella added.
"Shit, I guess I've gotta go fuck a thirty-four-year-old," Leah said, and then they all laughed.
Just months ago, Leah couldn't have imagined herself laughing and making music with Bella and Kim, of all people. And while this night was entirely unexpected, she didn't mind. It was human. It was real.
A/N: I'll update when I can.
Take care,
HS
