V.O.I.C.E

.Chapter Thirty Seven.

Chapter   Thirty Seven                           Evalyn

I was at the top of the stairs, following behind Carter when I turned around to go back to the living room. I’m not sure why but all of a sudden my feet were taking me in that direction, back down the stairs. I paused at the doorway to the living room and could hear mumbling.

I peeked in the door and saw something that would haunt me for life. My mother crying on Colin’s shoulder, just like she had cried when my dad died. Only this time she wasn’t upset over the death of her husband, it was because of me. I had known if I dated Carter I would hurt her someday, but I had been selfish. Quietly, I tiptoed out of the room and up the stairs to my bedroom and flopped on my bed.

I sat up when my phone started vibrating on my desk. Sitting up I walked over to it and looked at the caller ID, seeing who it was I answered, “Hello.”

“Hey, where on earth did you go? Both you and Carter disappeared after talking to the crowd for a bit. There was a lady there wanting to talk to you,” she said, but I had stopped listening, tears streaming down my face again.

“My parents know,” I whispered into the receiver, cutting Vic off from whatever she had been saying.

“Evalyn, what’s the matter?” she asked, immediately concerned.

“Can you come pick me up please?” I said, I didn’t want to have this talk over the phone, I wanted to see my best friends face and have her hug me like everything would be all right.

“I’ll be right there,” she said without hesitation and then hung up the phone saying she would be there in a few minutes because she was still at the school.

I quickly packed my bag with the clothes that I would need for the next day, not bothering to bring a pair of PJ’s with me as I could just borrow an extra pair of Vic’s.  I shoved my hairbrush and phone charger into my bag and ran to the bathroom to get my toothbrush. I waited for Vic’s text telling me she was in the driveway to go downstairs.

I silently crept down the stairs to the front door, waiting for my mum or Colin to jump out and demand that I stay home. Grabbing a piece of paper, I wrote them a note to let them know where I was going and placing it on the table. I grabbed my shoes and shoved them on. I let out the breath I didn’t even know I had been holding when I closed and locked the front door behind me.

I ran across the yard and jumped in the front seat after tossing my bag into the bag. Vic glanced over at me and I knew she could see my puffy red eyes but she didn’t question me, not yet, she would wait until we were in her room with a pile of junk food.

And so we just sat silently while Vic drove the few blocks to her house. I stared out the window, not really paying any attention to the scene outside. I wasn’t pulled out of my own thoughts until the car came to a sudden halt and I noticed we were at Vic’s house already.

I slowly got out of my seat and headed to the front door, following behind Vic. She unlocked the door and walked in explaining that her parents weren’t home from the school yet. They had run into an old friend of theirs and she had snuck out because she knew they would be talking for hours.

Our first stop after taking out shoes off was the kitchen, where Vic grabbed all the chips and chocolate bars she could carry while I grabbed two spoons and two tubs of ice cream. We went upstairs to Vic’s bedroom. The purple walls calmed me.

I took a seat at the foot of the bed, grabbing a pillow to put over my lap and then grabbed the fudge chocolate chip ice cream, my favorite for when I was sad.  I took a few spoonfuls before I looked up at Vic. She was watching me carefully, waiting for me to explain to her why I had broken down on the phone.

I sighed and took another bite as I started to explain to her what had happened that night.  I started with the kiss and how Isabella had lead my mum and Colin right to us, I told about the awkward car ride home and how Colin had yelled but my mother hadn’t said a thing.

“That was the worst part, if she had of yelled at me or screamed it would have been easier, but she just stood there and looked so sad, Vic. That’s not what I wanted, I want my mother to be happy. She deserves to be happy but I destroyed that,” I ended up crying and Vic scooted closer to me and pulled my head to her shoulder so I could cry as she ran her fingers through my hair. I stopped crying after a few minutes and looked up at Vic. “I don’t know what to do,” I said.

“Right now, you are going to shove your face full of chips and ice cream before it melts and we are going to watch the worst romance movies ever made and you are going to forget all about tonight,” she said with a nod.

I don’t remember when I ended up falling asleep but when I woke up the next morning, I was on the couch and Vic was sprawled out on the floor with a blanket rolled around her. I smiled at the junk food wrappers that surrounded us. There were three empty bags of chips, ice cream tubs that looked like they had been licked clean, and chocolate bar wrappers of almost every kind. I wasn’t even sure where Vic had found all this junk food in her house.

I rolled over, patting the couch around my head looking for my phone to see what time it was. Judging by the light coming in the front window it was almost mid-day. My fingers finally found it and I pulled it out from under the pillow I had been sleeping on.  I clicked a button and the screen light up. I saw that it was only ten thirty and rolled my eyes. I hated waking up early when I could sleep in.

Then I noticed there was a voice message on my phone. I was tempted to ignoring it thinking that it might just be Colin or my mum wanting to yell at me some more, but maybe it was Carter. Slowly, I dialed the number that let me here my messages.

“Hello I’m calling for Evalyn. My name is Lily Heathon. I am an agent from Opera Harmony Company. If you could please call me back I would like to discuss with you the possibly of meeting in person to talk about opportunity to audition for the female lead in our Montreal based opera-” I didn’t hear the rest of what she said, my mind going blank at the words; female lead.

I checked the time the message was left, only an hour again. I listened to the message again to get the number and dialed it. On the third ring the phone was picked up. “Good morning. Lily Heathon’s assistant speaking. How may I help you?” A cheerful voice answered the phone.

I hesitated for a second before saying, “Hello my name is Evalyn. I’m returning Mrs. Heathon’s call from earlier this morning-”