Summer Hathaway was in love.
She had never been in love before, not really. It was actually quite nice. The fluttery feeling she got in her stomach every time she saw him was like a natural high. For the first time in her life, she knew the meaning of the word 'Giddy'. School, one of the only places she could see him, had become like a thrilling safari, documenting his every word and gesture.
And band practice? It was heaven on earth.
Soft hair, twisted and gelled into spikes, soft eyes, the impossibly dark color of chocolate. Never-ending smiles washing over baby-fine tanned skin and long fingers that never stopped tapping out his erratic rhythms. If being able to see him like this every day wasn't Nirvana, Summer didn't know what was. Watching him was like listening to a symphony. Beautiful components put together to create a god-like whole.
That was what she was doing now. It was the beginning of band practice, and everyone was setting up their instruments, tightening strings, adjusting amps and checking volume. While they waited for Dewey, Summer was supposed to be working on a gig schedule.
The key words being supposed to. Every time no one was watching her, she looked up from her notebook and watched him, her greedy eyes taking in all that she could. Summer had always been a very observant person and she figured that it was time she put it to good use.
"Zach?" As he spoke, the object of her affections looked up. Summer averted her gaze, blushing slightly at almost getting caught goggling at one of her friends.
"What?" Zach asked. He was perched on the window sill, frowning as he tried to tune his sixth string. His electric tuner was on the fritz, so he had to make sue with matching the tone to that of Lawrence's keyboard and he kept missing the exact note.
"You're tuning to the wrong note, dude," Freddy said, abandoning his drums to walk over to the window.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, glancing up from his guitar. "This is the right note!" Zach glanced over at the keyboard. Lawrence was indeed pressing the E below middle C, the note he wanted.
"NO, you're not," Freddy said warningly, crouching down so that he was at Zach's level.
Zach stared at him. Oh. He wanted to talk. That was unlike Freddy. Most of the time, if he wanted to say something, he would just say it outright. Subtlety wasn't one of his strong points.
Zach began to play a riff from Silver chair's "Emotion Sickness", loud enough for whatever Freddy needed to say to be masked from the other people in the room.
Freddy pretended to watch Zach's fingers. "Summer is still staring at me," he said flatly, tapping his fingers on his knees in time to the song.
Zach glanced over at Summer. She noticed him and immediately went back to her writing, but there was no doubt about it. She had been gazing at Freddy.
"Zach, I have a girlfriend. This needs to stop," Freddy muttered, watching Zach switch to a complicated chord progression.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Zach said softly, muting the E- minor chord with deft fingers.
"I want you to help me make it clear to her that I don't like her," Freddy said.
"And you want ME to help?" Zach asked, his stomach sinking. He did not like the sound of this. "Why?"
"Because I know you don't like her either." Freddy murmured, absentmindedly tugging at the cuff of his sweatshirt. "And I know that you won't mind hurting her feelings."
"How do you know that?"
"Because she hurt yours," Freddy reminded him.
Ouch. He couldn't believe Freddy had brought that up. Even though it had happened over a year ago, he still couldn't forgive Summer for what she had done.
"Will you do it?" Freddy asked, fighting the urge to look over his shoulder and glare at her.
Zach knew he could get in trouble for this. Dewey might even throw him out of the band. This was definitely playing dirty.
But just as he was about to turn Freddy down, Zach remembered the utter mortification. The entire class, staring at him and giggling, laughing, pointing. It was her fault, all of it.
Thoughts spun faster and faster around his head, his resentment and anger for the petite girl roaring through him like an avalanche. And you can't stop an avalanche. Once you've created one, anyone in its path is pretty much screwed.
And Freddy had just shoved Summer into his path.
"I'll do it."
/MY REVENGE/ /MY DEVIL'S CAGE/ /YOUR SOUL IS TRAPPED/ /WITHIN MY RANGE/
She had never been in love before, not really. It was actually quite nice. The fluttery feeling she got in her stomach every time she saw him was like a natural high. For the first time in her life, she knew the meaning of the word 'Giddy'. School, one of the only places she could see him, had become like a thrilling safari, documenting his every word and gesture.
And band practice? It was heaven on earth.
Soft hair, twisted and gelled into spikes, soft eyes, the impossibly dark color of chocolate. Never-ending smiles washing over baby-fine tanned skin and long fingers that never stopped tapping out his erratic rhythms. If being able to see him like this every day wasn't Nirvana, Summer didn't know what was. Watching him was like listening to a symphony. Beautiful components put together to create a god-like whole.
That was what she was doing now. It was the beginning of band practice, and everyone was setting up their instruments, tightening strings, adjusting amps and checking volume. While they waited for Dewey, Summer was supposed to be working on a gig schedule.
The key words being supposed to. Every time no one was watching her, she looked up from her notebook and watched him, her greedy eyes taking in all that she could. Summer had always been a very observant person and she figured that it was time she put it to good use.
"Zach?" As he spoke, the object of her affections looked up. Summer averted her gaze, blushing slightly at almost getting caught goggling at one of her friends.
"What?" Zach asked. He was perched on the window sill, frowning as he tried to tune his sixth string. His electric tuner was on the fritz, so he had to make sue with matching the tone to that of Lawrence's keyboard and he kept missing the exact note.
"You're tuning to the wrong note, dude," Freddy said, abandoning his drums to walk over to the window.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, glancing up from his guitar. "This is the right note!" Zach glanced over at the keyboard. Lawrence was indeed pressing the E below middle C, the note he wanted.
"NO, you're not," Freddy said warningly, crouching down so that he was at Zach's level.
Zach stared at him. Oh. He wanted to talk. That was unlike Freddy. Most of the time, if he wanted to say something, he would just say it outright. Subtlety wasn't one of his strong points.
Zach began to play a riff from Silver chair's "Emotion Sickness", loud enough for whatever Freddy needed to say to be masked from the other people in the room.
Freddy pretended to watch Zach's fingers. "Summer is still staring at me," he said flatly, tapping his fingers on his knees in time to the song.
Zach glanced over at Summer. She noticed him and immediately went back to her writing, but there was no doubt about it. She had been gazing at Freddy.
"Zach, I have a girlfriend. This needs to stop," Freddy muttered, watching Zach switch to a complicated chord progression.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Zach said softly, muting the E- minor chord with deft fingers.
"I want you to help me make it clear to her that I don't like her," Freddy said.
"And you want ME to help?" Zach asked, his stomach sinking. He did not like the sound of this. "Why?"
"Because I know you don't like her either." Freddy murmured, absentmindedly tugging at the cuff of his sweatshirt. "And I know that you won't mind hurting her feelings."
"How do you know that?"
"Because she hurt yours," Freddy reminded him.
Ouch. He couldn't believe Freddy had brought that up. Even though it had happened over a year ago, he still couldn't forgive Summer for what she had done.
"Will you do it?" Freddy asked, fighting the urge to look over his shoulder and glare at her.
Zach knew he could get in trouble for this. Dewey might even throw him out of the band. This was definitely playing dirty.
But just as he was about to turn Freddy down, Zach remembered the utter mortification. The entire class, staring at him and giggling, laughing, pointing. It was her fault, all of it.
Thoughts spun faster and faster around his head, his resentment and anger for the petite girl roaring through him like an avalanche. And you can't stop an avalanche. Once you've created one, anyone in its path is pretty much screwed.
And Freddy had just shoved Summer into his path.
"I'll do it."
/MY REVENGE/ /MY DEVIL'S CAGE/ /YOUR SOUL IS TRAPPED/ /WITHIN MY RANGE/