This Conspiracy

Chapter 2

I invited Hayley to come see our band practice at Taylor's house after a few weeks of talking and getting to know her. She said she would ask her dad, but she was pretty sure her parents had scheduled a meeting with some lable in Nashville.

"Do you even enjoy singing? You always seem bummed when about having to meet with labels and stuff, it is what you want to do right?" I asked her.

"I love singing! It's my passion! It's just, my parents, they sometimes push it so hard. Like, if I want to hang out with friends, I can't. I always have some vocal or piano lesson or some super important person to meet, meeting to go to. I told them I wanted to be in a rock band, so I could be with my friends all the time while I work, but they said all the real money is in the country solo acts and since I have the talent to that I shouldn't pass it up." Hayley frowned.

I gave her a big hug and told her she should do whatever she wants. She hugged me back and I just knew 'this must be love.'

After a few months Hayley was able to convince her father to let her come to our band practice. I was so excited I nearly did a back-flip, not easy for me to pull off. She had become my closest friend and I cherished anytime we could spend together but truthfully I just wanted to impress her with my drumming skills.

Taylor's house was across the road from mine so I met Hayley in front of her house and we walked the very short distance to Taylor's house.

After knocking at the door we were greeted by Mrs. York, she let us in and gave us both warm hugs. I led Hayley down to T's basement where we practiced and I introduced her to all the guys.

Once the guys found out she was a singer they jumped all over her with questions. "How long have you been singing?" "Are you any good?" "What style do you sing?" Can you write?" "Will you join our band?"

Hayley looked torn and I knew she wanted so bad to say yes and join our band but she knew her parents wouldn't like it.

"Guys! She didn't come here to join the band, just to watch okay! Leave her alone already!" I said

They completely ignored me, "Can we hear you sing? Oh! I've got it! How about you help us out writing this song we have. You write lyrics and sing it for us. If we like it, you can join!" Taylor said.

"Guys! She doesn't want to_" I began but Hayley interrupted me.

"Okay! I can do that!" she smiled excited, "It's fine Zac; you said I should do whatever I want to do, and this is what I want. I can deal with my parents later."

I walked back to my drum set and the other guys picked up their instruments and we played through the song for Hayley to hear it. She began writing a verse and it came easily. When she got to the chorus she got a bit stuck on what to write. We played through it a couple times before Josh said,

"How about this," He played the chorus and sang, "Explain to me this conspiracy against me!"

Everyone got all excited and Hayley wrote the line down and finished the chorus and the rest of the song easily. After playing through it a few times Jason had to leave to go to his part time job and Taylor got bored and went upstairs to eat lunch. I still sat behind my drums, but stopped playing. I watched Josh and Hayley work on the song. They made minor adjustments in the lyrics singing lines back and forth to each other. Smiling and nodding together when they replaced a line with a better one and high-fiving when they were done. Josh put his guitar down and I watched them talk to each other for almost an hour, ignoring me behind my drum set. Finally Taylor came back down to the basement and sat down.

"Oh! T! You need to hear the changes me and Hayles made!" Josh said when he saw Taylor. I flushed red with anger and jealousy. I had known her first; I should have given her a nick name, not Josh!

They played through the song and Taylor applauded.

"So, we can assume she is in the band then?" he asked.

"Yeah, absolutely!" Josh nodded.

Hayley yelped with excitement and flew onto Josh to give him a huge hug.

"Wow, you two are really hitting it off." Taylor laughed.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up angrily and stomped up the stairs. I felt all three of them staring at me in confusion.

When I was outside Taylor's house I felt tears trying to escape my eyes but I blinked them away and choked them back where they came from, I took one deep breath.

Hayley came running out behind me. She asked what was wrong, why I stormed out like that. I didn't want to tell her how jealous I was of how her and Josh were acting. I shook my head and said,

"What are you going to tell your parents? They said you couldn't join a band. Josh didn't consider that. He doesn't care if you get in trouble." I felt anger again.

"Josh doesn't know my parents don't want me in a band, I didn't tell him. And to tell you the truth, I don't even care if I get in trouble! You were the one who said I should do what I want and now you are acting like a big baby cause I might get I trouble." Hayley was starting to get frustrated.

"I care about you. You're my best friend, well you and T." I said.

Hayley let out a deep breath, "You're my best friend too Zac and I appreciate that you care about me, but you can't go around making my decisions for me! My parents do that enough, I don't need you doing it too!" she turned around briskly and walked back inside. I stood there for a moment soaking in my own stupidity then turned around and walked home.