After a weekend of cancelled band practices, both For the Record and All Time Record, Monday was proving to be a very interesting day. I was mentally preparing myself for a fuckload of drama as I walked to school.
I thought of calling Alex for a ride, but by the time I remembered, it was too late. Plus, I needed the exercise anyways.
I half expected Alex to come up to me with this phony story about how I screamed and yelled at Taylor and was the bad person in all of this, but he greeted me with the usual hug. I noticed our group consisted of Alex, Kim, Jack and Haylee. Taylor wasn't here. Good.
"So, mom's thing that we are performing at is next Monday," He said after he let me go.
"What? Already? What's that date?" I asked.
"Dude, it's October 6th," Kim said.
"Oh shit, my birthday Wednesday," I said, sounding incredibly stupid.
"Is it really?" Jack asked.
I nodded, "Yup, October 8th."
"How are we celebrating it?" Alex asked, "And when?"
"Do we have to celebrate it?" I moaned, "Why not just bring me a cupcake with a candle on it, and call it a day?"
"Because that's no fun," Kim said, "You're having a party this weekend, at your house, Friday night."
"I regret telling you that Dad was going on a four day business trip on Thursday," I shook my head.
Everyone looked at me so hopefully, and I cracked, "Fine. We'll have the party, but on two conditions. One, I don't have to plan it and two, no freshman."
Kim laughed, "Leave all the details to me."
"Good," I nodded and the bell rang, "That bell is fucking annoying."
Everyone laughed and we went in our separate directions.
"So, is your mom's thing a casual thing or formal?" I asked Alex in Chem.
"Really formal," He answered, "Like party dresses and tuxes."
"Fuuuuuck," I drew out. "Looks like I'll be dress shopping too this week. It is like long flow-y dresses or short puffy party dresses?"
"Short and puffy," He nodded.
"So we're performing a song like ours at a formal thing?"
"Mom's friends are pretty good when it comes to music. They won't stand there and complain about how horrible we are, unless we really are horrible." He laughed.
"Well that's good at least," I said. We copied the notes that the teacher put up in silence.
"So, do you know where Taylor was this morning?" He asked randomly.
"Not a clue, why?" I asked.
He shrugged, "She's just always there, and then today she wasn't."
"Well, we did get into a fight on Friday, so I guess she's probably avoiding me," I said.
"Oh, really, about what?"
How do I explain this without telling him that she liked him?
"Apparently, I'm a spoiled bitch that gets everything she wants, and I hog that spot light," I explained, trying to avoid bringing him up.
"What made her say that?"
"I kinda provoked it in the car when I sarcastically asked if there was a problem when she was pissed at me, and then it just went from there until she kicked me out of her car and drove away. I haven't heard a word from her since."
"You didn't have a ride to school today?" He asked, not saying anything about the other stuff.
"No, I walked." I said, raising an eyebrow.
"You should've called me or something."
"I was actually going to, but by the time I remembered it was too late."
"Oh well, next time don't worry about the time, just called." He smiled.
When the bell rang I walked with Alex to the gym. I noticed that the walls were now decorated for the next band 'Black Angels'.
"The school doesn't seem to be too excited about the next band," He pointed out.
"You noticed that too?" I said, and we stopped in front of the gym.
"See ya at lunch," He said, wrapping an arm around my waist.
I walked away thinking about how we really did look and act like a couple, minus the making out, but at the same time, we were also close to going back to being best friends.
I wasted second period in the cafeteria alone, thinking about how this week seemed so busy with dress shopping and probably some extra practices before Monday when I remembered I also had another date with Brad.
I sighed, I'm so glad we didn't have any performances this week or I would have burst from stress.
I wrote out all the things I needed to do this week in third period.
When lunch rolled around, Taylor didn't bother to sit with us, or even enter the cafeteria.
"Did Taylor even show up today?" Kim asked.
I shrugged, "One of you text her, because I know she won't answer me."
"Right, you two got into a fight," Haylee said, "She was telling me about it but I didn't get many details, what happened?"
I recapped the fight in full detail for them, since they knew she liked Alex and all.
When I got to the last part about me saying Alex was always looking at me, Haylee failed miserably at hiding a smile, and Kim didn't even try to, she burst out laughing.
"This is why I love you, you are so blunt sometimes," She laughed.
"But that was pretty harsh," Haylee said, biting her lip to keep from laughing.
"I know it was, but whatever," I shrugged. Haylee pulled out her phone and texted Taylor.
To: Taylor
From: Haylee
Hey, are you at school today or?
To: Haylee
From: Taylor
No. I stayed home, too angry to be at school.
"Apparently she's too mad to be here," Haylee announced.
"Wow, I didn't know I pissed her off that much," I said.
"She'll get over it eventually," Kim stated.
"We need to go dress shopping sometime this week," I told them, "For that performance thing for Alex's mom. It's a formal/party dress type of thing."
"We have until Monday," Haylee said, "We should probably do it after the party."
"I don't want to go shopping hung over or last minute," Kim said, "We'll do it Wednesday."
"Sounds good," I nodded and stood up as lunch ended.
The rest of the day was uneventful, much to my surprise. Taylor blew off band practice, but thankfully, I knew all her parts so we did fine without her.
"If she blows it off tomorrow, I'll drag her hear by the hair," Kim said before leaving.
I laughed, knowing that Kim would probably do it to. I was thankful for a quiet night that was drama-less. I had the feeling that my life was about to get a lot more hectic.
My gut instinct was proven right when Taylor decided to show up to school on Tuesday.
"Where were you for band practice yesterday?" I confronted her at lunch with Kim and Haylee. She had been avoiding all of us all day, and trying to track her down with fucking hard.
She shrugged, "I was busy."
"I don't give a shit, we had band practice, you were supposed to be there," I stated.
"Dude, I have a life you know, my life doesn't revolve around the band like yours does," She said calmly.
I opened my mouth to answer when Kim cut me off, "Because it's fucking important to us, all three of us, and if you're the only one who isn't going to take this seriously anymore, you are easily replaceable."
I was shocked that Kim actually said that. I was definitely thinking about saying it too, though.
"Oh whatever," Was all she said.
"You don't get it do you?" I said, "You can't start slack off now because you're fucking mad at me. We aren't going to let you fuck this up for us, so make the choice here and now. Either you're in this all the way, or not at all."
We all stared at her and watched her composure slowly slip away. Her anger showed and she jumped up, "I'm so sick of all of you and your goddamn band shit. Do you actually think we're going to win this competition? Or ever get signed? Reality check bitches, we aren't. I'm not spending the rest of my life in your fucking garage writing shit songs hoping that someone is deaf enough to sign us."
She stormed out of the cafeteria after that.
"Whoa, bitch alert," Kim said.
"That was completely unnecessary," Haylee rolled her eyes.
"Looks like we need a new guitarist," I said.
"We could ask Jack to take her place," Kim offered.
"We can't, it's against the rules. If we get into the next round, Jack can't perform with us because he's already signed up with All Time Low and if Sara or Anne finds out, they'll disqualify all of us, and I don't think any of them would be too happy."
"So what are we going to do?" Haylee asked.
"I know all the parts, I just have to learn the solos for the songs we are performing if we make in further," I shrugged.
"But that's a lot more work for you," Kim said.
"Oh well, if it comes down to it and we make it to the next round and Taylor has decided she's really done, then there isn't much of a choice until the competition is over."
Kim and Haylee nodded in agreement. Great. Even more work for me.
Alex drove me home after my lessons, which I spent most of learning guitar solos for the songs we were doing for the competition. It was a quiet drive, but not awkward, thankfully. Just as he pulled up to my house, Bran texted me
To: Kayleigh
From: Brad
I'll pick you up at 7 (:
I replied with okay and went inside. It was 6 now, which only gave me an hour to get ready. I didn't bother showering since I did this morning. I changed into light skinnies and a yellow shirt with LOL (= on it.
(.com/used/set?id=22364710)
I grabbed a black bag from my closet and shoved my essentials in it. I heard a horn honk outside and grabbed a pair of VANs from my closet, slipped them on and left.
"Hey, you look great," He complimented me once I got into the car.
"Thanks," I smiled, "Where to this time?"
He drove to Boston Pizza near the other side of the city. Why he went there I didn't know, since there was one only ten minutes away from my house.
We sat down and I ordered a chicken quesadilla with a Caesar salad, and Brad order steak and pasta.
We sat and made idle conversation that wasn't too thrilling. I almost did a happy dance when I saw the waitress bringing our food. Brad openly flirted with her every time she came to see how our food was.
I was getting irritated with his douche baggie-ness by the time we left. We got into his car and he started driving. In the wrong direction.
"My house is that way," I said, pointing the complete opposite way we were going.
"I know," He nodded, "I just want to go for a drive."
"At 8:30 at night?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
An hour later we were still driving, and I didn't recognize this part of the city as well.
"Where are we?" I asked calmly while on the inside I was freaking out.
"I don't know," He shrugged and pulled over on a dark street.
"What are you doing?" I asked. He locked the doors and looked at me.
The next thing I knew he was kissing me again, just like the first time I went out with him.
I pushed him away, "What the fuck? What was that for?"
"You are just full of questions aren't you? You said you don't kiss on first dates, and this was the second." He sneered, "I know how to shut you up."
He kissed me again, this time with more force. I tried to push him back again, but he had himself braced and was a lot stronger than I was.
He slid his filthy hands all over my body and tried pulling up my shirt.
"Brad—stop. Brad, please." I begged as he got my shirt over my head, "Don't."
My struggling was basically useless; he had me pinned across the front seats with all his body weight on me. I was panicking and scared.
I kicked and squirmed, trying to break free. He lifted his hand and slapped me across the face, leaving my ear ringing and my check stinging. I fought back tears of fear.
"Stop moving, bitch," He said and kissed me again. I gagged when he tongue went into my mouth. He tasted like onions and cigarettes.
"Why are you doing this?" I whimpered.
"Because, do you know how long I've wait for this moment? The moment that you were finally mine," He said. "I waited so patiently while you and Gaskarth starting dating, but he just had you for too long, so I had to get rid of him somehow. He is such a gullible idiot and played right into my plan. Getting rid of him was so easy." He let out a laugh, "And now you're mine."
"I'm not yours," I said, squirming out of his grasp for a second, but he put more weight on me.
"Sure as hell looks like it," He grinned. He stuck his tongue in my mouth again and this time I bit it. He yelled and sprung back. Another slap to the face stopped me from moving.
"Do not fucking do that again," He said in a low, terrifying voice. He sat on my waist while he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it in the back seat. I looked around, trying to find an escape. I noticed that my foot was right above the button for the locks. A slow plan slowly formed in my head and he lead down and kissed my neck. I repressed a shudder and thought my plan through. I had once chance to time this all perfect or I'll become a rape victim.
He made his way from my collarbone to my neck, his shoulder right near my mouth. I pulled my head up and sunk my teeth into his skin. He shot up again, and I hit the button at the same time I drove my knee into his crotch. He lifted his body from mine when he jumped in pain, giving me enough time to pull myself out from under him, open the door and summer sault out. He recovered quickly and reached for my wrist when I went for my bag. I yanked back with his hand around my arm and slammed the door on his forearm. He let go instantly, and cried out in pain.
"You fucking bitch!" He screamed after me as I made a run for it. Half way down the block I realized I was running around in my bra. I ran to the end of the block and turned the corner, stopping half way down the block. I panicked again. I didn't know what to do, until the obvious answer slapped me in the face. I pulled out my phone and dialed Alex's number.
"Hello?" He answered his voice thick with sleep.
"A-a-lex?" I stuttered.
"Kayleigh?" He said, sounding more awake, "What's wrong, why are you crying?"
I wiped my face and realized tears were falling in a steady pace down my cheeks. They were too numb from Brad slapping me to feel it.
"Can you come get me," I sniffed, my voice cracking, "I'm stranded and shirtless."
"Do you know where you are?" He asked. I heard him shuffling around and keys jingling.
"No," I said, starting to cry harder. I walked towards the end of the block and read the sign, "I'm on the corner of 32nd and 56th street."
"I know where that is, I'll be there as soon as I can," He said and then hung up. I would've felt a lot better if he had stayed on the line, but it was probably safe if he just concentrated on driving. I peered down the street I had run down to get away from Brad. My heart leapt when I saw his car wasn't there anymore. I don't know what would've been worse – if he had still been there, or the fact he was gone. Hopefully he didn't come to look for me. I wasn't the in the most conspicuous place ever and I couldn't hide because Alex was coming. I stood on the corner, letting a few more tears fall down and shivered. The cool October air plus no shirt made a very cold Kayleigh.
A few minutes later the familiar and comforting sound of Alex's engine came from down the street. He pulled up in front of me and I immediately climbed into his car and threw my arms around him.
"Oh my god, Kayleigh, you're freezing, and where is your shirt?" He asked, unzipping his sweater and putting it on me.
I opened my mouth to tell him about what had just happened but all that came out was a sob and I started crying again.