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"-I'm pretty sure that you're breaking a rule," Bailee informed Noelle dubiously, but kept shoving the borrowed hairpins in the music room's lock. "And that's not the only thing being broken in the process."
Involving Bailee Agnes and Bonnie Parker had been a mistake on Noelle's side, but she'd was full of them lately. Who'd trusts their semi-bipolar, blonde, percussion-banging best friend to break into the rich white kid school band room so they can get back their guitar?
Well, that would be her.
"I'm pretty sure we're wasting time from practice," Noelle said, feeling like she was talking to a grumpy toddler, or maybe June. There wasn't much of a difference. Bailee let loose a string of colorful curse words and Noelle begun doubting Bailee's abilities as master lock pick. "Bailee, are you sure-" She started to sa-
The door popped open.
Bailee looked puzzled. "So I had to do was curse?" She wondered.
Noelle couldn't resist.
"Maybe all you had to do was stay."
(All You Had To Do Was Stay, Taylor Swift, 1989. God, when was the Taylor's Version gonna come out?)
Her dad's dogs would have approved of the side eye Bailee gave her. The blonde tossed her hair and brushed her hands on her pants, trying to look casual, which was a failure from the minute she began. Bailee Agnes was never casual, she was tense like a spring and watched the world like a cat watching its prey. "Well, Noelle-"
"Guys!" Bonnie's panicky voice called. The shorter girl poked her head round the corner, eyes wide. "Hurry up! It-"
"Who goes there?!" A voice shouted. Male, tenor. Around eighteen. Definitely the future Valedictorian of this year's graduating class.
Bailee and Noelle exchanged looks.
"We go?"
"Definitely go." Bailee said grimly. "Nothing's worth it. C'mon." And then she bolted.
"Come back here, you rule-breaking, music-loving littl-" The rest of Joseph Evans' speech was drowned out by the bell, which unfortunately didn't also cover up the rest of the curses that spouted out of Joseph Evans' lips. "I'm going to have to report you for that!" He hollered. "You come back here!"
"Report us for what?" Bailee shouted back, and then turned back to Noelle, smacking her arm. Hard. "You said we weren't breaking any rules!" She hissed venomously.
"We're not." Noelle said, aghast. "We're band members. You're in band. We're all in band. We should be allo-"
"Just run," Bailee groaned, and glancing heavenwards, a glum look on her face. "Pick the lock, Noelle said," The blonde fumed. "Pick the lock, it's going to be fine. We won't get shouted at by the world's most annoying boy ever."
"Hey! I told you to sto- Whoa!"
There was a crash and a high-pitched scream. Bailee and Noelle didn't turn around, speeding off in the opposite direction. Bailee was better at running than Noelle, which was kind of annoying. About fifty seconds later, Noelle was wheezing and her legs ached. Bailee didn't notice that Noelle was lagging behind until another five yards. She stopped hesitantly. "Through the nose, out the mouth," Bailee advised.
"Through the nose, out the mouth," Noelle repeated between breaths, her head spinning. "Got it, Trackstar Bailee Agnes."
"Come on, Joye. We don't have all the time in the world."
Noelle groaned, but complied, slowly picking up pace again. There was a 'ping' coming from Bailee's phone. Noelle figured that it was a perfectly tuned F, seventh octave on the piano. Bailee fished it out, and glanced behind her. No Evans in sight. She stopped again. "It's Bonnie," Bailee reported. "She took care of Joseph."
