A/N-Thanks to projectfreq91, JacokNortovc, Hottie12345k,
FerventxXxMPGirl (two times!), hazeleyedhottie, dutchesscourtney,
Lily-Snape-568, Live.Love.Band, CookieLover92, Samurai Angel, Dpbuckeye for
reviewing! This chapter will be up before I go to Wildwood for drumline championships, and after that, the season's done. It's really flown. My writing time should increase slightly, but there's spring training for outdoor, band concerts and finals coming up. I'm not promising any miracles, just bare with me until the summer!!
And because I am a genius and accidentally leaked the chappie in the drabbles, I'm posting this now. Sorry about the messed up type, much of this chapter was written through e-mail.
Lyrics aren't mine, plot and characters are.
Chapter Twenty Eight-Break Out
Luck loves me not tonight; I'm running out...
This four leaf clover's all but useless now.
I've got four wheels that say I'm not alone tonight,
I'm always looking for a joy ride through the,
brightest part of this town.
Break out, break out,
as we escape through the windows,
head for the car, and never look back, singing-singing,
"Break out, break out,
Our time has come and we've got these big city dreams."
Break Out! Break Out!-All Time Low
The next day I picked up Adrianna at her house and we drove out to the
huge mall about a half hour away. While the local mall was great, I
figured she had been there hundreds of times. It was the one of the
only things to do in this small town. For the ride I asked her to
bring a CD or two of her favorite music so we could listen to it on the
highway. It was a Taking Back Sunday album-well worn by the looks of
the case. She knew every lyric by heart, and with a little
encouragement, was proudly singing them out loud.
Pulling into a spot, I reached into the back to grab my white and black
bag. "Alright, let's go." Adrianna clamored out of the car and
scrambled to get to my side. Though I wasn't much taller then her, she
looked at me like I was seven feet tall.
"So we're on this little field trip today to boost up your confidence.
You have been getting better, but you can never have too much
confidence!" I said, glancing at my young charge. She looked
confused.
"How can a trip to the mall do that?"
"You'll see." I said, winking at her. I spied a group of good looking
boys grouped at the bus stop. "Here-lesson one." I stood up as
straight as I could, ran my fingers through my hair and let a small
smile fall on my lips. I walked right past the boys and listened for
any comments.
"Hey, you see her?"
"Yeah she was pretty hot!" I laughed to myself. Adrianna looked
dumbstruck.
"Boys are simple creatures." I said, but then corrected myself when I
thought of Sean. "Well, most of them are anyway."
"Oh." She said.
"Don't worry, by the end of the day the boys will be saying that about
you." I smiled.
Adrianna and I walked into the mall and headed straight for the Macy's.
After picking up an outfit for her and trying on several ridiculous
dresses we walked around and stopped into some random stores,
occasionally picking up an item or two. At the food court we stopped
and got fries and some Starbucks. Adrianna was starting to loosen up
a bit. I now knew her favorite color was navy, she didn't like cats
and she was worried that no boys would like her.
"I thought that same thing my freshman year." I said, looking at the
girl across from me.
"You did?" The freshman's eyes were wide with shock.
"Yeah I did. I was always surrounded by them but they never showed any
interest in being anything more then a friend. So I figured if I
couldn't date them then I'd be the best friend they could. By then I
would have gotten over my crush and they'd be crushing on me!" I
laughed at the memory. "But don't worry about not having a boyfriend.
You're only a freshman, you're still young. I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was a sophomore. And then of course,
I've never had one for very long. Ah well, who needs boys?" I said,
sipping my frappachino.
"But what about James?" Adrianna asked. I nearly choked on my drink.
"Well," I said once my airway was clear, "that's a long story."
"We've got time." She said.
"You really want to know?"
"Yeah-I know the basics but not the details."
I sighed. "Well, we had been friends for years-it was before I met
Rachel and Missy in middle school. We go that far back. In seventh
grade I realized I sort of liked him. I was going to ask him to dance
with me at the Valentine's Dance but when I went over to him I saw he
was dancing with Abby. And you know, Abby and I aren't exactly the best
of friends. So when I saw that my best friend and my worst enemy were
dancing together it ripped my heart out. James started ignoring me and
hanging around Abby more. He never told me he was moving, just one day
I went over to his house to try and talk to him and he was gone. His
mom told me that they were moving and James had gone ahead to get
settled. She thought I knew-he had been telling her that when he was
on the phone with Abby he had been talking to me."
"Wow." Adrianna said. "Did you miss him?"
"At first, I did a lot, but then I realized that what he did to me was
wrong and I shouldn't be wasting all my time and energy on a stupid
boy." I said causally, really wanting to change the topic. "Let's get
out of here-we've got some more stores to hit!" I grabbed my drink and
threw out my trash. Adrianna followed me and we left the Starbucks and
that conversation behind.
At the end of the day, I tossed myself down on my bed with my bags. I
had gotten a new shirt which I was planning to wear tomorrow and some
music stuff. I put away my stuff and headed down to the computer to
check my email. There was some stuff from some colleges; most of which
I deleted. As a junior I had to start applying and auditioning soon,
get my SATs done and take all the standardized tests the state threw at
us. I would be taking my PSATs this October on one of the days off in
the month. My real SATs would be in March. My auditions to Berklee,
UArts and Julliard were all this upcoming spring. My audition material
was spread out on my desk-marked up and worn from all the practice. I
rubbed my eyes. Junior year was turning out to be one of the craziest
years of my life. My APs were going well and jazz band was coming
along. There was still drumline, Winter Ball and Prom this year.
The ringing of the phone awoke me from my thoughts.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sydney."
"Hey Sean how'd it go?" I asked.
"Oh you know, it was awkward at first and then we started talking and
it was alright." He said vaugely.
"Really?" I asked, not buying into that being all.
"Yep."
"And you're sure that nothing else happened that was worth mentioning?"
"Oh, well...I'm hanging out with him Wendsnesday after school if that's
anything to be excited about..." Even over the phone, I could hear the
smile in my friend's voice.
"That's great!" I yelled. "What are you guys going to do."
"I don't know, probably play video games I guess." I rolled my eyes.
"That's so romantic." I said sarcastically. Sean laughed.
"Yeah I know. So how was your girls' day with Adri?" He knew about my
plans to make my freshman friend be more confident.
"Oh, it was pretty good. She got a really cute outfit that she looks
really good in so I'm happy that she's starting to come out of her
shell." I said, happily. "She got this beautiful purple shirt that
fits but doesn't make her look slutty and a cute black skirt that's
spinny and knee-length and-"
"Sydney?" He interrupted.
"Yeah?"
"I may be gay but you're branching into really girly stuff and I'm
still a boy who likes football and food and video games and defiantly
not shopping."
"Oh." I said. "Sorry about going all girl on you."
"That's okay." He laughed. "Anyway it was a lot of fun."
"Well that's good." I said. "Well I'll see you tomorrow in jazz band
okay?"
"Yep see ya."
"Bye." I hung up. I made sure I had all my stuff for school and worked on some homework before falling asleep.
Over the following week, more drill for the ballad was learned and the
opener and second song were cleaned. In jazz band we worked on some
songs that could become competition songs. Wind ensemble was as easy
as ever-the winter concert music for wind ensemble was never that hard.
There wasn't a show this Saturday so the band spent the day in
practice cleaning drill and adding the music to the ballad drill.
Practice was long and hot, and it was a relief to climb into my car and
the end of practice and head over to Julie's for a post practice cool
down water ice.
Pulling into the lot, I recognized many cars and figured that many of
the upperclassmen showed up for a sweet treat after a long sweaty day
at practice. I grabbed some money from my backpack and walked in and
sat down at a table with Hayden and Missy.
"James and Rachel decided to get their own table out back." Missy
explained. I nodded. It seemed that they had been spending a lot of
time together lately, and frankly, I missed my friend.
"So Hayden what do you think indoor's going to be like this season?" I
asked when we went up to order.
"Hm I don't know. I'm playing snare defiantly, and I think Missy wants
to also." I noticed the smiled in his eyes when he said Missy's name. I couldn't believe that I
hadn't seen it before. Hayden was one of my closest guy friends-and
there was no one better for him than Missy, now that I thought about
it.
"Really?" I said, smiling as I received my cherry water ice.
"Yeah." Hayden glanced over his shoulder at Missy who was reading a
book and sipping an ice tea.
"Is there any other reason why you want Missy on the snare line?" I
asked.
"No...?"
"Hayden Jensen, you are a terrible liar." I whispered.
"Okay...so maybe I like her!" He hissed. Missy looked up from her
book and waved. Hayden immediately straightened up and waved back. I
stifled a laugh behind my hand. Just a little pushing and they'd be
together by Wildwood at the latest.
"I give my permission." I said as we stopped to grab spoons.
"Well that's good. I'm glad you do." He said sarcastically. I
punched him lightly in the shoulder. We sat back down at the table and Missy put her book away.
"Thanks!" Missy said as Hayden handed her her ice cream. I watched my
two friends closely and kicked myself for not noticing their chemistry
sooner.
I smiled and waved as Missy climbed into Hayden's car. They were cute
together, and I could tell that they both enjoyed each other's company.
"Hey Sydney!" I heard a yell. I turned around. James and Rachel
were walking towards me, hand in hand. Stopping myself from rolling my
eyes, I waved at them. Rachel broke away from her boyfriend and ran
towards me and gave me a hug. James stood there awkwardly, looking from
me to his girlfriend.
"What's going on?" She asked me. Rachel was completely oblivious to
the awkward vibes that were radiating around me and her boyfriend.
"Uh, not much..." I said. I was trying to make my escape less
noticeable but it wasn't working. Rachel was talking about a date she and James went on, before this priceless gem slipped out-
"We need to hook you up with someone so we can double date!" She cried. I tried not to roll my eyes.
"For that to happen Nat, someone would actually have to like me. And I'm not talking about the freshies in my section-they're just enamored with their first view of an upperclassman."
"But they like you!"
"I'm not dating a freshman!" I hissed loudly. James sent me an odd look, which I returned with a glare. I rubbed my forehead, exasperated. "I'm pretty tired, Nat, I'm going to head out before I fall asleep at the wheel. I don't think my parents or insurance would appreciate that much."
"Oh…okay…I guess I'll see you around." She said before headed back to James. I knew I had just made her upset, but honestly, it was getting annoying. I don't know why I didn't like this new relationship but it was quite frequently getting on my nerves. I never had a problem with Rachel's past relationships. I placed the blame on James, as normal. I didn't like the fact that he was dating my best friend and would probably break her heart for some girl who wasn't worth it at all.
After driving home, I closed the blinds and unhooked the phone and fell asleep.
A/N-The review box is calling your name...
