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Mae →

"You know, its not completely necessary to depress the string in the highest positions. Just most of the way, and that'll do," my mother coached me, demonstrating on one of the two violins we had at home. I was using the other one, watching her and learning from her.

"Pressing the string closer to the fingerboard helps with vibrato, resonance, and clarity of the note you're trying to play."

"Yeah, that does help," I agreed.

"So, remind me when your recital is?"

My heart swelled. "You'll be there?"

"Of course," she promised. "I said I would, along with your play. Oh, I can't wait to see you act on the stage." she cupped my cheek briefly then winked. "I also can't wait to see you kiss that crush of yours."

"Oh that..." I chuckled. "I wish I had the courage to be honest with him."

"So why don't you?" She raised her eyebrows as I shook my head.

"I'm not a bold person, you know that. Plus he's dating someone."

She smirked. "So?"

I gasped, laughing loudly. "Mom!" I playfully hit her arm and she joined my laughter. "He isn't... He wouldn't cheat on Corbyn no matter how awful that boy is."

"Mayor's son right?"

I nodded. "Mhm."

"Yes, I've seen him a few times." she lifted her head and squinted into space. "He sort of reminds me of..."

"Of who?"

She blinked and shrugged, tracing the string of her violin. "No, nevermind." Mom reached for my hand and squeezed it. "It's late; you should get some sleep."

"Okay. Got another long day tomorrow. Good night, Mom. I love you."

"Love you much more."

I squinted, packing up my violin. "Could you tell me one thing?"

"Sure, what's that?"

I bit my lip in hesitation before standing up. "Do you still... have feelings for Dad? Like, I know about you and that one guy that you stayed with at the trailer. Who is he to you?"

Mom sighed, intertwining her fingers in her lap. "I understand why you're concerned. You want me to get back with your father."

"Well, yes I do. That's why you stayed, besides me and my sisters... right?"

"I... I love your dad. I really do."

"But you love the drugs more?"

"No, Jaden. I didn't say that." Her eyebrows pulled together. "But after everything? It isn't that easy to just slip back into our lives. I mean, he's happy to see me again. He's happy I'm okay. And I'm happy to be with all my little birds."

I nodded, accepting her answer. "And that guy? At the trailer?"

"Jett? He's... I don't know, after leaving, he provided a roof over my head. He took care of me."

"No he didn't," I disagreed then shrugged. "But if that's what you wanna call it... Good night, Mom."

🎻🎻🎻

I plopped into the seat across from Ms. C in the empty orchestra room early the next morning.

She shuffled the papers she was reading and smiled at me invitingly. "Jaden, pleasant surprise."

"Yes, well... what other teacher can I come to with anything on my mind?"

"Oh no," she furrowed her eyebrows in concern. "What happened?"

I shook my head, running my fingers backward through my natural loose curls. "As you know, I'm in the play."

"Ah yes, the first gay play that I will not be attending."

I gasped. "Ms. C, you have to! You can't possibly miss out on the disaster of a kiss scene that I'll be acting in."

She looked absently to the wall then nodded. "You're right; I can't miss that."

I laughed.

"Why do you think it's gonna be a disaster?"

I sighed. "I like him. So much, and I feel like that's gonna cause a lot of tension and--and then there's Corbyn. He's been dominating rehearsals. Can you believe that not even the directors, the teachers, can control him and his opinions. I feel like he has good intentions somewhere deep deep... deep down but he's a lot to handle. He wants to pick songs that are impossible to sing, according to him, and then he said that whoever fails to perform well will be replaced. He's quite literally in the process of making me fail just so he can take my position and act with his boyfriend like he wanted."

Ms. C nodded thoughtfully, listening intently to my problem. I appreciated that. She took a breath before responding. "You know, something that every person struggles with from time to time is communication. Corbyn, from what I've heard, is difficult to reason with. He wants his way and will not settle for anything less. I think that if you could at least try to speak to him with a raw realness, in a way that'll make him truly understand you, then that would be your best bet."

"He'll never listen to anything I have to say. So that's a dead end."

"No," she disagreed. "Everyone is capable of listening. You just have to figure what'll make him do just that."

I swallowed, averting my eyes so that I could ponder her words of wisdom. "Okay. Thanks, Ms. C. I'll stay here and practice."

"No problem." She smiled at me.

~Corbyn~

"Hello lovebirds," I greeted, walking up to Tiana and Mae, with my sister by my side.

The two girls were standing by the wall, quite closely might I add, probably talking about something completely irrelevant. I placed my hand on my hip when I finally approached them and I saw my sister smirk, picking up a lock of Mae's blond hair and running her fingers down the length of it.

"Hm. Silky," she complimented in a sweet voice.

Mae whipped her head to the side, facing us and folding her arms with a clear lack of amusement.

"What do you guys want?" Tiana mumbled.

"To cause trouble, my exotic butterfly," Ivy honestly replied, keeping her voice light and whimsical as usual. Yes, she loved to pull the sickly sweet honesty card.

"Yes, that much was obvious."

"I see you completely ignored what I told you after rehearsals yesterday," I observed as Tiana glared at me.

"Oh give it a rest, Corbyn. I'm not a part of your posse anymore."

"Yes, but Mae is."

"Excuse me?" Mae frowned. "This is about me?"

"No, not at all," I lied, smiling at her. "Speaking of you though, the spot of captain will be yours by next week."

Mae's eyes widened in alert and Tiana scoffed.

"But you told me--"

"I told you nothing," I interrupted her before moving my gaze to the wide-eyed blonde. "Walk with me for a moment, Mae. This is a conversation for the two of us." I linked arms with her and tugged her away from the wall.

"Wait, what did you mean spot as captain by next week? Brooklyn wouldn't give it up that easily. She'll freaking hate me."

"Oh please; she already hates your guts. Besides, you want revenge for kicking you off in the first place, don't you?"

Mae's eyebrows pulled together. "But that was your fault."

"At first. Then I told her the truth, that you never wanted her position and that I'd made the whole thing up. Did she ever come to apologize and talk to the cheer coach to put you back on the team?"

"Well..." She swallowed. "No..."

"Exactly. She didn't care. So you shouldn't either."

"Brooklyn's your friend, Corbyn. Best friend. Why would you do that to her?"

"Okay, why does everyone think that I have friends? Jesus Christ, Mae. Just accept what I'm giving you and trust that I will handle Brooklyn Winters."

"I know your 'gift' comes with a cost."

"Of course it does." I smiled at her and stopped walking so we could face each other. "It might not come easy to you. But if you want that spot, if you want to be the first one that all those prestigious college scouts talk to and consider, then this will be a simple price to pay."

"Spit it out." She stared at me intently, unable to resist my offer. "Because I sure intend to get into my dream school."

"How well do you know Jaden Briggs."

She shifted her weight, looking at me in confusion. "He's my best friend. What does this have to do with him?"

"I need to know one thing about him that nobody else knows. I want one of his secrets. Will you give it to me?"

Her large blue eyes searched mine and I lifted my eyebrows. "You can take your time of course, but you only have until the weekend. Tick tock, Mae Struss."

🎶🎶🎶

I sat in between Brooklyn and my sister during lunch, at our usual table filled with the popular students of the school. And like many stereotypical high schools, the 'populars' consisted of jocks and cheerleaders. Thanks to me, I made drama a big deal so there were a handful of theater kids who sat among us.

"Did you break up with Kris again?" Gisela asked me. I looked up from the papers that I was analyzing to squint at her.

"No, why would I?"

She shrugged, sticking a forkful of lettuce into her mouth. "I dunno, he's sitting at the opposite end of the table."

"He's with his friends, that's all."

"And why's your inner circle getting smaller by the day?" Ivy wondered, chewing on a Hershey's chocolate bar.

"Olivia was a clueless idiot and Tiana is clearly not friend material." I snatched her bar of chocolate from her hand and tossing it onto the table. "Jesus Christ, Ivy."

"What? I love chocolate!"

"What're you working on?" Brooklyn inquired, resting her chin against my arm.

"I have to choose a couple of songs for the play."

"Speaking of that, are you really planning to find difficult songs?" Gisela queried with a wary expression. I huffed then rolled my eyes.

"Is everyone scared of singing? Goodness, you're a theater kid. Act like one."

"That's easy for you to say, Corb. You can actually sing. Besides, Jaden's doing a wonderful job especially considering this is his first play. Cut him some slack; we all know why you're doing this."

"Wow, Gisela. For a second there it almost sounded like you were defending him."

She pursed her lips. "I am. He's pretty cool when you get to know him."

"Oh my lord. Can I go one day without hearing about that boy?" I lifted my eyebrows. "And how well have you gotten to 'know' him anyway?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "He's sweet and very passionate about music."

"The violin, was it?"

"Yeah."

I smiled. "And he loves music more than theater?"

"He eats, sleeps and breathes the violin. Everyone knows that."

"Interesting." I looked at Ivy and she grinned at me then winked.

"I smell a hunt," she sang, reaching over me to steal a french fry from Brooklyn's tray.

I gazed toward the other end of the table, immediately catching Kris's stare. He seemed concerned, but the tiniest smile settled over his face. It meant something. Maybe a 'could we please talk' or an 'are we ok?' kind of smile.

I didn't have the courage to fake a smile back, so I averted my eyes and packed up all my papers, standing up to leave the cafeteria.

I knew he'd follow me out, and that he did.

"You can't ignore me forever," came his voice.

"I can try," I mumbled, feeling his hand against my back before I stopped in my tracks.

"Corbyn, seriously. What're we doing?"

"You tell me." I turned to face him. "You went behind my back to talk to my parents, Kris."

"Because I'm worried about you."

"Why?" I urged, raising my arms in frustration. "There is nothing wrong with me!"

"Is it your mom? Your dad? Is someone hurting you?"

"Oh... My god." I facepalmed and laughed to myself. "I'm talking to a wall. Kristopher Hamilton, I'm actually begging you." I clasped my hands together. "Drop it. I'm okay. You think I'm lashing out because I'm going through something awful. You wanna believe I'm hiding underneath a stupid mask- Well, I'm not. Okay? Some people are just fucking evil and I guess I fall under that category. Happy? Great."

He bit his lip and slowly ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay." I watched him nod then shrug. "Okay. You want me to just accept that?"

"I don't think you have much of a choice. Look..." I sighed, stepping closer. I checked to see if there were any prying eyes or ears around us. I lowered my voice. "School isn't safe for me, alright? Nowhere is."

Kris blinked in confusion. "Wait, what does that mean?"

"Just... Not here. Come over later."

"Yeah, of course."

I leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you in rehearsals."

~Jaden~

"You don't love her? Your betrothed?" I acted during rehearsals that afternoon in the auditorium stage.

Kris furrowed his eyebrows. "I think we all know the tales of royal marriages, Jaxxon. 'Tis never for love, only duty."

"I believe that is... unfortunate."

"It is." He walked past me, gazing into space. "You commoners covet wealth, riches and power."

I turned to face him as he did the same before continuing his lines. "But I'd trade my gold for true love. I'd trade my title, my name, my kingdom to know happiness."

"You could have both."

He grunted. "None have ever been so lucky. None at all."

"Alright, let's stop there," Mr. Price called out as we gave him our attention. "That was actually very great. I like that you guys took my direction well, so just make sure that you both turn to face each other at the same time. That was good. Lock eyes and draw closer when you, Jaden, say 'you could have both.' That way, it'll give the audience the impression there's a deeper meaning behind that statement, which there is."

"Okay," I understood with a swift nod.

"Alright. And that's it for today. Tomorrow, we'll be incorporating our props and figuring out the lighting. We'll start the second act next week along with learning the songs."

"I've picked out a few songs to vote from," Corbyn announced from his seat. "And I also think we should discuss the dates for the play."

"Right, we'll take care of that in the meeting in fifteen minutes. Okay, everyone, that's a wrap! Today was great, now get your butts home safely."

I flipped to the first page of my script, smiling over at Kris. "We killed it, didn't we?" I chuckled.

"You were amazing."

I blushed then opened my mouth to carry on our conversation but he spoke up first. "I'm following Corbyn home so I have to go to that play meeting. But um, I'll see you? Saturday?"

I swallowed. "Right. Yeah. I guess I'll send you my address?"

"Perfect. See you, Jaden."

"Bye, Kris." He walked off the stage and I felt disappointed that we couldn't talk more.

As I made my way down as well, I saw Tiana having a conversation with Mae near the exit. I grabbed all of my belongings and strode toward them. "Guys, hey!"

"Jaden, now isn't a good time," Tiana whispered, sending me a forced smile. I frowned, glancing over to Mae, but she wouldn't even meet my eye.

"Is everything okay?" I calmly queried. I suddenly felt shut out. First Kris, now them. Even Kari had been hanging out with that crush of hers all day today.

"Yes," Mae quickly answered, looking down at her high heeled shoes.

I played with the hem of my shirt, backing away from them without a word to let them have their privacy. I left the auditorium and made my way all the way out of the building.

My dad would be here any minute to pick me up as he'd been doing ever since I started staying after school to rehearse. I sat down on a bench outside to wait for him, resting my chin in my palm.

A couple minutes later, someone sat down next to me. The scent of cigarettes wafted to my nose and I knew who it was instantly. I looked at Nico, and he had the fattest smirk on his face.

"Figured you were lonely." He took off his leather jacket and folded it across his lap, leaving himself with a white muscle shirt.

"Since when did you care anyway?"

"Whoa, someone's in a bad mood."

"Isn't everyone?"

He cocked his head to one side, agreeing with me. "True. Fuck, you all need to get laid. Or blow a load, literally anything works."

"I haven't even kissed someone, much less had sex."

"For fuck's sake, Kris hasn't kissed you yet?"

I shrugged. "Why would he? He obviously still likes Corbyn."

"Jesus fucking Christ-alright. Come here." He patted the space next to him on the bench.

I scowled. "Why?"

"Just do it, Jaden."

I kept my eyes wide in alert as I shifted close to him. "I feel like being this close to you means I'm about to die or something. Like I can almost feel the Reaper breathing down my neck."

"Nah, that's just me." He tossed an arm around my shoulder, tugging me even nearer.

"What're you doing, Nico, seriously?"

"Kissing you. Obviously."

I searched his eyes for the punchline to that joke, but there wasn't any. "But... We don't even like each other."

"Jaden, my sweet boy. First kisses don't matter. The last one does."

I squinted. "Where have I heard that?"

"I don't fucking know." He leaned into me, and I didn't even stop him. I didn't even know if I should have.

In fact, I welcomed it. He surprised me. I expected something rough and rushed. It was the opposite; quite delicate and tasteful. I sighed into the kiss as he gave my bottom lip the most gentle suck, leaving me stunned.

"Happy now?" He whispered, separating from me.

I took a few seconds to let my heartbeat settle, then I moved away from him. "Nico..."

"Now you can stop complaining." He smiled, pinching my flushed cheek. "You've been kissed. Welcome to sixteen."

I was silent. What could I say? I wanted to be mad that he just stole something that I'd been looking forward to since last year, but I gave it to him. I didn't even feel any different. Maybe I should've saved it for my crush, but who knew where his heart truly lied?

Who cared. It was done. That door was closed.

I saw my father's car pull to the curb and I stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Hang in there, Jaden."

I entered the passenger's seat of my dad's car and he gave me an immediate hug. "You alright?" He asked, driving off as I put my seatbelt on.

"Yeah, I'm fine." My eyebrows pulled together when I noticed how sad he seemed. His shoulders were slumped and his hair was tousled. Something wasn't right,

"Today really is a bad day for everyone, huh?"

He cleared his throat. "What do you mean, love?"

"What's going on?"

He shook his head, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "Let's get you home, okay? I need you to watch over your sisters for a little bit."

"You're going somewhere?"

He only nodded, so I stopped asking questions. Besides, by the time we did get home, I found my answer right on my bed.

On top of my cover laid the charm bracelet that I'd made for mother to wear last year. Every time I visited her at that trailer home, it was always on her wrist.

I dropped my backpack, approaching my bed to pick up the bracelet. I blinked, suppressing my tears as I stared at the charms.

The first letters of the names of her three children, a small violin, its bow, and a music note.

She left again, and the only explanation I received was a stupid charm bracelet made by a hopeful 15-year old version of myself. My body hiccuped from a sob as I made my way downstairs, and through the back door so that I could chuck the bracelet as far away as I could possibly throw it.

She went back to the drugs. We should've known better.

🎗🎗🎗🎗🎗

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