My Heart was Always in the Valley

All in my head [Seb's POV]

*** Summer 21, Present Year ***

Band practice with Sam and Abigail was generally uneventful. Sam would spend hours trying different chords and coming up with song lyrics. He would get stuck when he couldn't find anything to rhyme with a lyric he really wanted to use. Today, he was having trouble rhyming something with "Penny". Abigail sat on Sam's bed, doom scrolling on her phone as usual, occasionally making a sigh.

"Guys, I really need help with this song. Penny's birthday is coming up and I really want to finish this for her." Abigail looked up at the frustrated blond and rolled her eyes.

"Neither of us write lyrics, remember? Just get her a present from my dad's store or Joja" Sebastian chuckled at Abigail's response. She wasn't wrong. Between the three of them, coming up with medleys was never an issue but they hardly put words in their songs.

"Well, just list off stuff you like about Penny. That'll help."

Abigail started, "Penny is . . . a teacher?"

"Penny lives with Pam." Sebastian added.

"You guys are no help." Sam pouted. Sebastian knew that Penny meant a lot to Sam but it was his stupid idea to write her a song for her birthday.

"Do you have anymore of those maple bars? I'm hungry." Abigail hugged her stomach as she lay down on the bed.

"Nah, I finished them yesterday. My mom had to hide them from me so that I didn't eat them all in one night. I think she told Nora not to bring anymore." Abigail perked up at Nora's name and glanced at Sebastian.

"How does she have time to do all this stuff?" Abigail huffed, sitting up slightly.

Sebastian and Sam shrug. "Maybe she's just nice. I don't know. She doesn't really talk about her life before she came here. I remember her a little bit when we moved from Zuzu." Sam said, lightly plucking at his guitar strings.

"Yeah, I was still kind of little. She spent a lot of time with you right, Seb?"

"Sometimes, she didn't hang out with me that much either." Sebastian said, looking up from the keyboard. He wasn't in the best mood today, the last thing he needed was a thousand questions from Abigail. It was better to just go with the conversation.

"Liar, I used to see you guys going to the beach. I wish my parents found someone to hang out with me. They just wanted me to sit at home." She sat all the way up now and crossed her arms. "I've seen her talking to Harvey. My mom said he asked her out already but she wouldn't tell me how she knew."

Sam struck a wrong chord and all of them winced. "No way . . . unless she's got a thing for mustaches."

"Why not? He's not that bad." Trying to hide her amusement, Abigail put her phone down and pretended to pick at her nails.

Sam scratched his head and continued to pluck strings on his guitar. "Eh, I don't see it."

"You're just saying that because you think she's hot." She eyed both Sam and Sebastian. Sebastian could tell that Abigail was out to get someone in trouble.

"I mean, you do too! You kept talking about her body after you let her borrow your dress for the Flower Dance." Sam's face was bright pink.

"I was just complementing how good she looks. But now that you mention it, maybe I should ask her out." Sam rolls his eyes, the pink flush darkening on his face. Abigail laughed and refocused her eyes on Sebastian.

"Seb, you're being awfully quiet. What do you think about Nora?" Sebastian felt Abigail's eyes burn a hole into his skull. He could tell that she wanted him to say something but he wasn't going to take the bait.