I don't own: "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry

or "My Life Would Suck Without You" by Kelly Clarkson :)

Secret Singing Talent?

Cynthia, Leon, Isa- 17

Holly, Jay, Bree- 17 ½

Haliah, Paige, Brendon- 18

Haliah froze hearing singing coming from her younger sister's room.

"A penny for my thoughts, oh no I'll sell them for a dollar

They're worth so much more after I'm a goner

And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'

Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'"

Haliah crept closer, carefully and silently pushing open her sister's door to see who was singing the familiar song she knew was 'If I die young' by a band she didn't listen that often too.

"If I die young bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in the river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh uh oh,"

She stared at her sister who was sitting at her desk, working on what looked like homework, tapping her foot to the beat of the song she was currently singing at a medium volume. Haliah had no idea that her athlete of a sister could sing, and sing that well, everyone knew Cynthia loved sports, but she constantly denied having any ability music related, saying she sounded like a dying cat. But with the way she was singing Haliah seriously doubted it, Cynthia sounded more like a choir singer than a dying cat, she was really good.

"The ballad of a dove

Go with peace and love

Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket

Save 'em for a time when you're really gonna need 'em oh

The sharp knife of a short life,

Well I've had just enough time

So put on your best boys, and I'll wear my pearls,"

Haliah gently closed the door as Cynthia finished and spoke in her normal voice, "Ugh! I got this same stupid problem wrong again!" Haliah giggled softly at the remark as she went to her room, no doubt her younger sister was working on math homework, her most hated subject. Sitting at her desk an idea popped into mind, last week she had hosted a fundraiser for the graduating high school students that were going to graduate alongside her and had promised she would get someone to sing for them. Asking her sister would be free and wouldn't cost a ridiculous amount of money, maybe, just maybe, she could get Cynthia to do it. The scheduled date was in a few weeks, plenty of time to convince her. Getting to work on her multitude of homework she thought of ways to convince her

The first thing she tried was the direct approach, "Cindy, I want you to sing at the fundraiser reward assembly."

"What!" Cynthia yelled in surprise, "I'm not singing for you Haliah!" She stumbled backward and tripped over the couch, falling flat on the floor.

Her sister pleaded, "Please! You're really good Cindy! We can't disappoint all those people who helped raise that money! They want to see someone sing and I want you to do it!"

"No! I'm not singing for you!" Cynthia insisted, "You can't change my mind!" She fled the room up to her room, disappointed in her inability to keep her talent under wraps

Cynthia froze, hoping she wasn't seeing what she was seeing. Quickly dropping her basketball bag and the ball itself she turned and ran blindly, weaving through the hallways and escaping out into the school courtyard with her eyes squeezed shut. The image of Isa and Leon kissing playing in her mind like it was on repeat. 'How could you Leon! How could you!' She heard Holly call her name but didn't react, choosing to instead flee towards the woods and jump into a tree before bringing her knees to her chest and starting to cry, feeling remarkably hurt and heartbroken.

Leon shoved Isa away, "Why'd you do that?! You know I like Cynthia!"

"What?" Isa asked innocently, "I didn't know, sorry."

"Whatever, just don't do it again," Leon muttered, going over to pick up his best friend's stuff.

"Okay," Isa smiled, fully intending to do it again.

Cynthia blinked a few times, making sure she wasn't hallucinating and that Leon and Isa were kissing once again for the tenth time that week.-she'd been keeping track- Her heart plummeted to her feet and she didn't let them see the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, "Oh. Maybe another time Leon, you... seem busy." She then turned on her heel and started speed walking away, making up her mind, she needed something to distract her and get rid of the hurt she was feeling. Pulling out her phone she took a deep breath and pressed call on one of her contacts. "Haliah?" she called her sister, blue eyes glistening with restrained and hurt tears, "I'll sing for you in the fundraiser."

"What made you change your mind?" Haliah asked her sister from where she was walking home with Paige and Brendon, excitement and concern coloring her tone.

"Nothing, I'll write something for you and I'll sing it like you want me to," Cynthia's voice was clogged with her hurt.

"Stop doing that!" Leon growled, shoving Isa away once again, "Stop kissing me! That's reserved for someone besides you!"

"Sorry," Isa apologized meekly, not really sorry. She wanted to have Leon if kissing him made Cynthia uncomfortable and hurt then she'd do it for two reasons, one, because she enjoyed it, and two, because it would get Cynthia out of the race for Leon's attention.

Cynthia flinched violently when Leon tried to link their hands the next day when they were walking to school. She put both her hands into her coat pockets, rejecting his actions and refusing to get herself any deeper into the mess she was caught in.

"Cyn, what's wrong?" Leon asked her, hurt filling his tone. He didn't understand what was going on and why she flinched when he had touched her, they had been friends with benefits for a year now and he loved it more than anything. She never rejected the action of holding hands, usually she would lace her fingers with his and walk closer with him, sometimes putting her head on his shoulder.

"Nothing Leon." She replied quietly, "I'm not in the mood right now." She turned away from him and after spotting his sister Holly walking along the other side of the road murmured, "I'm going to walk with Holly. I'm going with Haliah and Paige after school, have a good day Leon, I won't be able to come to practice," and moved to go walk with his sister.

"What? Cyn, please tell me what's wrong!" Leon carefully grasped her upper arm and turned her towards him, hurt and confusion glimmering in his amber eyes. He was alarmed, being around him usually made her relax and be funny and laid back. If she wasn't in the mood something had to be bothering her.

"It's nothing, Leon."

"Oh really?" He leaned closer to her and Cynthia leaned back, not allowing him to close the distance even an inch. "You're never like this, every time I touch you-you flinch like I'm going to hit you, you aren't coming to practices anymore, and I know your grades are slipping, Holly told me they are." He searched her face for any clue of why she was acting this way. "I don't understand…"

"I'm not feeling too great okay? I'll be ok. I promise." Despite how much she seriously didn't want to do it right now, she leaned forward and closed the gap between them, her heart breaking even more at the usually warm and loving contact, now tainted and dirty. She broke it a second later and shrugged off his hand, taking a few steps back, blue eyes glimmering with many hidden emotions. "I haven't spent much time with Holly nor my sisters, and I really need to spend time with them."

"But you promised you'd tutor me in English today!" Leon told her and Cynthia didn't even twitch.

"It never happens Leon." She said flatly, "We're always interrupted and I leave being second best. When you actually want me to help you and not be a witness of your kissing, give me a call alright? I have other responsibilities besides being at your side twenty-four seven. Goodbye, Leon." With those hurtful and dismissive words she turned on her heel and ran over to Holly, who slowed down as she approached, not asking what was wrong, knowing she would tell her when she was good and ready.

"But!-" Leon cut himself off and watched her go, slowing to a stop, amber eyes clouding over with hurt and concern.

Staring blankly ahead of her Cynthia focused on mixing the beat for the song she would write, her fingers pressing the different small keys at a funny speed before stopping completely as a spark lit in her mind. Settling her fingers on the keys and closing her eyes she opened her mouth to breathe a slow breath before awkwardly singing potential lyrics to the chorus, "Cause we belong together now, yeah!" As she went on her voice grew confident, volume staying the same and her fingers pressed the DJ mixing pad's keys to the beat she wanted to go with the lyrics. "Forever united here somehow, yeah! You got a piece of me! and Honestly! My life, my life, would suck, would suck, without you!" And that's how it went for about an hour, playing with the lyrics and the beat until she was satisfied with it.

"Hey," Haliah made her sister jump and knock her mixing pad down to the carpeted floor. Cynthia looked at her wide eyed before she calmed down and picked up her mixing pad before getting to her feet and pushing things away from the front of her closet.

"Hey, did you need something?" Cynthia asked, moving further into the closet.

"Yeah, I know someone who has a guitar and a drum set, would you like me to ask them if I can borrow them?"

"No," Cynthia's voice was muffled as she walked further into the walk-in closet, "I have all the stuff I need."

"What? How?" Haliah curiously walked over to her sister's closet and her jaw dropped. With a lot of her stuff over at Holly's where she lived during the week and some weekends, Cynthia had a ton of room in the closet, meaning she had outfitted the back to be what looked like a music room with a randomly placed hanging basketball hoop near a trashcan with a lot of crumpled up paper inside.

"Welcome to my music plaza," Cynthia speaks dramatically, casually brushing off the foam padding on the walls.

"How long… have you been singing Cindy?" She asked in awe, the decently sized but cramped room was amazing to her standards. The walls were padded with thin sound absorbing different shades of blue foam, a silver, and blue drum set was tucked snugly into the back left, corner, an amp was tucked into the opposite corner with a light blue electric guitar resting in a guitar stand, looking shiny and brand new. There were a few other instruments, the bass guitar of the same color, and a gray and the white electric keyboard was near it all. There was a small flat screen that Haliah vaguely recognized on one wall with a thin table underneath it, a small wireless microphone headset lying on it with an ELMO next to it.

"Since I was six." Cynthia admitted with a light blush, "Only mom and dad know I like to sing, they're the ones who helped me put this together."

"I recognize some of this stuff…"

"Some of it's Miles'." Cynthia told her, blue eyes calm, "I wanted to keep a few things in a reminder of him. He loved my music and I cobbled up lullabies when we were little, I used to sing them to him and myself when I couldn't sleep. I created this with the promise I would keep making music for Miles. Every year I write something for him and put a copy into a stuffed animal that would sing it if you pressed one of the paws. After I put the toy on his grave I usually record an audio recording and post it on youtube."

"Wait, that's you?!" Haliah's blue eyes widened in surprise, with her sudden hunch that Cynthia was the famous YouTuber called MysterySinger who uploaded recordings of her own original songs and requests to sing other bands songs, she never revealed who she was and preferred to have a cover of the song in question instead of actually seeing her face. There were a few Q and A videos but Haliah never made the connection. MysterySinger was also one of Haliah's favorite YouTubers, definitely her top favorite in the music department.

Cynthia nodded sadly, "Yeah, I'm MysterySinger, you're favorite YouTuber." A smile pulled at the corners of her lips, "You have no idea how frustrated I was when you say you want to meet her when really she's been here the entire time, just underneath your nose."

"Prove it." Haliah challenged, eager to really see if it really was her sister.

"Okay, what do you want to hear?" Cynthia was calm and confident, knowing full well that she was the YouTuber.

"How about teenage Dream by MysterySinger."

"One of my originals? Alright then." Cynthia scooped up the mic headset and took a seat behind her electric keyboard, as she fiddled with the synthesizing settings on it, she spoke to Haliah, "There's a chair next to that table if you want to sit down." Haliah took the offered seat and waited for her sister who cleared her throat before turning on the mic and setting her fingers down on the keys and started playing, the keys synthesized and matching the audio recording perfectly, "You think I'm pretty, without any makeup on, you think I'm funny, when I tell the punchline wrong, I know you get me, so I'll let my walls come down, down." Cynthia sang in the high pitch, playing and singing with her eyes closed.

"Before you met me, I alright, but things were kinda heavy, you brought me to life, now every February, you'll be my valentine, valentine.

Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love.

We can dance until we die, you and I, we'll be young forever!" Cynthia's volume rose as she reached the chorus.

"You make me, feel like I'm living a teenage dream, the way you turn me on, I can't, sleep, Let's runaway and don't ever look back, don't ever look back! My, heart, stops when you look at me, Just, one, touch, now baby I believe, this, is real, so take a chance and don't ever look back, don't ever look back!"

Haliah watched her sister in surprise and partial awe, she was definitely MysterySinger, she played and sung it exactly like her.

"We drove to Cali, and got drunk on the beach, got a motel and, built a fort out of sheets, I finally found you, my missing puzzle piece, I'm complete! Let's go all the way tonight, no regrets, just love, we can dance until we die, you and I, we'll be young forever!" Cynthia held the last note for a few moments.

"That's enough, I believe you, Cindy!" Haliah exclaimed, interrupting her and her sister opened her eyes and stopped both singing and playing. "That was amazing!" She squealed, emerald green eyes glimmering happily.

Cynthia smiled, "I'm glad you believe me." She got up and moved over to the drum set, picking up the drumsticks, "But I really need to get the instrumental for this song done if I'm going to get it done in time," her smile weakens, "Gotta get to work now Hals, I'm glad you like this place."

Haliah smiled as her sister before obediently leaving while Cynthia closed her eyes, a few tears dripping down onto her jeans as she played the song in her head, cross sticking for a few seconds before crashing the symbol and starting the song, keeping the vocals to herself and playing the drum part of the song, all the while remembering why she choose this in particular beat and set of lyrics.

Haliah snuck into her sister's room and watched her sister tap the ends of her drumsticks together, blue eyes closed. Haliah's green eyes widened further as her sister opened her mouth and actually started singing the lyrics that Haliah hadn't heard at all just yet and started the drums, her voice a little hard to hear over the sound of the percussion instrument. "Guess this means you're sorry, you're standing at my door, guess this means you take back all you said before, like how much you wanted, anyone but me, said you'd never come back, but here you are again.." drumming on the closed high-hat for a few moments she then crashed two different cymbals and started what sounded like the chorus. Haliah caught the shimmering of tear tracks on her sister's cheeks as she sung, obviously pouring her heart into the music. Haliah went back to her room, more worried about her sister than ever.

After a week of adding the finishing touches to the song, skipping every sport practice she had, basketball, swimming, soccer, and baseball, her heart being turned into a pile of broken shards, and dealing with seeing Leon and Isa kissing for the first half of the week after school, it was finally time for Cynthia to reveal her secret and sing for Haliah's fundraiser. Cynthia scribbled out a few things on a piece of paper before tucking it into her pocket.

"Cynthia, Haliah" Firen came and told her, green eyes gleaming cheerfully, "It's time to start." The two sisters made eye contact, saying they were both ready.

Haliah went up onto the stage first, "Hey everyone!" She smiled, speaking through a mic. "I got someone to sing for us!" The school cheered, "I tracked down MysterySinger, the famous YouTuber and got her to come sing to us!" The students roared, everyone excited. "Everyone! Meet the MysterySinger! , my sister Cynthia Lawson!"

Cynthia ran and jumped onto the stage with a backflip, landing perfectly and straightening up, "You think I'm pretty without my make-up on, you think I'm funny when I tell the punchline wrong," She sang before speaking normally, "Hello Warriors High!" She had a wireless mic, blue eyes gleaming happily.

"The MysterySinger is Cindy?!" Holly asked in shocked surprise.

"Yay! Cindy!" Bree cheered, believing it right away.

"What?" Leon stared at his best friend, shocked to the core.

"She has graciously agreed to sing to us, letting us get a first-hand viewing of her latest song, My Life Would Suck Without You! Written just for us!" Haliah grinned at the loud cheering and continued, "Without a further of a do, MysterySinger!" She took a step back and disappeared off the stage.

"Hey, guys!" Cynthia smiled, "I bet most of you are shocked right? Yeah well, I can say I'm definitely the Mystery Singer, nobody else can match that voice crack in the recording of Teenage Dream, definitely embarrassing. Anyway, thank you Haliah for letting me come sing to you all! I do hope you all pitch in to help these guys get to college! Let's get to the music, shall we? Here we go, I wrote this song this week and it's called, My Life Would Suck Without You!"

The intro music started and Cynthia took a deep breath and listened for her cue, blue eyes finding Leon and feeling a sharp sting in her heart as she started singing,

"Guess this means you're sorry,

You're standing at my door

Guess this means you take back

all you said before.

Like how much you wanted
Anyone but me," 'Such as liking Isa and Hannah.'
Said you'd never come back
But here you are again."

She made eye contact with Leon before lifting her eyes towards the ceiling as the chorus started, singing with her shattered heart rather than her mind.

"'Cause we belong together now, yeah," She walked to one side as she sang,
"Forever united here somehow, yeah." She gestured around the room before looking confused, "You got a piece of me," She pointed to herself
"And honestly
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you!" She held the last note out for a moment, signaling the chorus was over. 'Now I can only hope this gets through Leon's hard head, I'm sorry Leon.' She thought as she threw herself into the second verse.
"Maybe I was stupid
For telling you goodbye," She didn't move besides locking eyes with Leon, blue eyes glittering with an apology only he could see, 'I'm really sorry for being stupid,'
"Maybe I was wrong
For tryin' to pick a fight," 'and It's so tempting to deliver a good punch to Isa's nose,'
"I know that I've got issues
But you're pretty messed up too," 'but despite how screwed up our relationship is,
"Either way I found out I'm nothing without you," 'I love you.'
"'Cause we belong together now, yeah
Forever united here somehow, yeah
You got a piece of me
And honestly
My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you,"
"Being with you is so dysfunctional," 'Our relationship is so confusing,"
"I really shouldn't miss you," 'and I really shouldn't keep trying,'

"But I can't let you go," 'But I can't let you go.'

"Oh, yeah," As the music played Cynthia tried to show him what she was trying to say, 'I can't let you go, but I can't try any harder or go any further, you have to meet me halfway Leon. Please, please meet me there.'

"'Cause we belong together now, (yeah yeah)" Cynthia squeezed her eyes shut for the last repeat of the chorus, feeling like her heart was stabbing at her chest.

"Forever united here somehow, yeah

You got a piece of me

And honestly

My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you," Cynthia opened her eyes and pointed directly at Leon, who's amber eyes widened at the singling out,
"'Cause we belong together now, yeah

Forever united here somehow, yeah

You got a piece of me

And honestly

My life (my life) would suck (would suck) without you!"

She ended the song, 'My life would suck without you, Leon.' While everyone cheered loudly and she took a few deep breaths, smiling, "Have a great weekend everyone!" The bell rang and the students started flooding out while she disappeared backstage and grabbed her water bottle, starting to rapidly drink it to get rid of the scratchiness of her throat. Leon slipped backstage and got behind her, quietly waiting till she finished before spinning her around and kissing her soundly. Cynthia's blue eyes widen before they slid closed and she temporarily relaxed into the contact, before stiffening and pushing him back, "Did you need something besides kissing me?"

"Yes actually." He leaned closer to her, his arms still looped around her waist, keeping her close to him, "My life would suck without you Cynthia," He breathed softly, amber eyes soft and gentle.

"What about Isa?" She asked in a soft whisper, blue eyes searching to find sincerity in his face.

"Isa? I fixed that on Monday." Leon told her, "I had no idea why she kept kissing me, I'm sorry." His amber eyes were gentle and glinted with love, "I love you too Cyn."

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear that," Cynthia breathed, blue eyes starting to sparkle.

"I've always loved you, it just took a while to get through my thick skull." He smiled gently, leaning closer and Cynthia titled her head up as a way to show her acceptance.

Character Emails (all are gmail accounts)

Caylee and any other side character – youngcrazyteenageauthor

Cynthia – athleticsapphiresinger

Leon – athleticgoldenboy

Bree – cheerfulcuriosity

Jay – perfectgrumpytone

Holly – emeraldintelligencequeen

Fini – gingerandwhiteteenager

WHSS Art

Deviantart: tigercryrocks | Instagram: tigercry

WHSS Audiobooks

*Coming Soon*