Adopted By Larzaylea

chapter eighteen

Vanessa's point of view

"The blood in my veins is made up of mistakes," I sang, trying to imagine standing in front of a full, or nearly full, auditorium as I sang.

"Let's forget who we are and dive into the dark," I continued, closing my eyes as I sang, to get more control over the high note.

"As we burst into color, returning to life," I sang, my eyes squeezing shut to prolong the note and then go octaves down in the end.

How does Calum do this all the time?

I took a seep breath and then grabbed my water bottle, taking a drink from it. "You're doing well." Luke said and I looked at him.

"I'm trying." I said and nodded. "It's kind of hard to keep pulling high notes you know." I told him.

"I know." He said and he laughed. "When is the concert again?"

"Later on next month, towards the end." I said and he nodded. "Turns out we have a dress code that day, black skirts, white button ups with our school logo, and a black bow tie, the girls' uniform that is." I said and he nodded.

"Uniform sucks." He said and I agreed. "Do you think Miranda will find a way to stand out then?"

"Ripped sleeves and maybe a leather skirt." I told him and he nodded. "She's Miranda, she hates looking like everyone else."

"Is she okay? Like, after what happened, you know?" He asked and I nodded.

"Her brother lives on the other side of town and they haven't been around she said. It must be going fine." I told him and he nodded. "How's your studio stuff? Going good too?"

"Almost finished with some new songs, and no you can't get a sneak peek at it." He told me and I laughed. "It's coming soon though, promise."

"I'll probably cry." I said and he laughed. "Are you and Calum cool?" I asked and he shrugged.

"I guess." He said and I nodded. "He's just a little less open to me now, which isn't that nice but I guess I deserve it, I was a dick."

"Can I give you some advice?" I asked and he nodded. "Actions speak louder than words." I told him and he laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind." He told me and I nodded. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Everyone asks me that, just ask the question." I said and laughed as he nodded, apologizing.

"Are you okay with being in a live stream to like tell the world why you're always around us?" He asked me and my grip on the water bottle tightened.

"Like... Like telling them you adopted me?"

"Yeah, exactly." He said and I tapped my fingers against the bottle. "Is that okay? It'd be better than live television, am I right?"

"Yeah..." I said and then sighed. "Yeah, that's fine. I don't mind." I said and he nodded.

"Good because we said we had big news and we didn't want to lie and say Calum finally grew a chest hair." He said and I laughed with him. "I'm not kidding, that was our backup plan."

"No one would believe that, he never has his shirt on and everyone would notice that you all lied." I said and he shrugged.

"So you're okay with that?" He asked and I nodded. "Great, now I have to confront rumors about me and Arzaylea... God they're going to hate me." He told me and rubbed his face.

"No they won't." I said and grabbed his arm. "Fans won't hate you for being happy." I told him and he muttered something. "What?"

"Nothing um, it was nothing. Don't think about it." He told me and I nodded. "You're being too kind to me considering I've been a dick lately."