You Smile Brighter Than You Should (Kellic) Boyxboy

Chapter 19

Vic and I sit in the recording booth as I madly scribble put the finishing touches on the lyrics for our song. Vic had come to me with the idea for our song the day after our date and I thought it was beautiful. We had written the lyrics together and Vic had mastered all the guitar parts. It honestly sounds amazing but I'm still nervous. We have to present this in front of the entire class and I get enough shit for being me.

"You ready?" Vic asks and I nod taking a deep breath. I've got no choice but to be ready

"You're going to do fine, Kells. I've heard you sing before and it's amazing." Vic says giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

I nod giving him a grateful smile. What freaks me out most is that we actually haven't rehearsed this at all because I've been too anxious to sing in front of Vic. Which I realize now is ridiculous because he's going to hear it along with the entire class.

Vic grabs his guitar and I grab my lyric book before he pulls me out of the room. We go sit at the back of the classroom waiting for the time when people start presenting. The next ten minutes just consist of Vic rubbing my shoulder in attempt to calm me down.

Mr. Way gets out of his chair and stands in front of the mini-stage that had been set up. It has a drum kit, a piano, a microphone and a few amps set up.

"Okay, times up. Who wants to perform first?" He smiles and no one moves or says anything.

"You know, if we go first then people are most likely going to forget our performance, unless it's really good." Vic points out and I sigh knowing he's right.

"Okay, you're right." I mumble and Vic kisses my cheek before putting his hand up.

"Kellin and I will go first." Vic says and Mr. Way grins.

"Nice, come up boys." He says and I take a deep breath before standing up with Vic. I leave my book on the table, pretty confident that I know the lyrics off by heart.

We start walking up to the stage, my heart thumping in my chest as I feel eyes on me. I instinctively pull my hoodie over the beanie that I'm wearing.

"I can do this." I whisper to myself.

Mr. Way situates himself behind the piano and gives me a gentle reassuring smile. I just give him a small nod as I walk up to the microphone. I take it off its stand and sit down on a stool. Vic connects his guitar before sitting on a stool next to me.

"Introduce the song." Mr. Way whispers and I give Vic a pleading look.

He understands what I need so he grabs the mic out of my hand and holds it up to his mouth.

"This song is called Million Dollar Houses. Kellin's going to be singing, I'm going to playing guitar and Mr. Way's going to be helping us out on piano." Vic says seeming confident. I wish I had his confidence.

He hands the microphone back to me as I hear someone cough out 'faggots'. I ignore the comment and take a deep breath before giving Vic a nod. He starts playing his guitar and I take one last reassuring breath before I start singing.

"So what if I was just a painter

painting houses on the rich blue coast?

Would you ever try to leave me,

for somebody who deserves you most?"

----

When the song finishes, the entire class is silent and I'm shaking. I got lost in the music for a while and now I'm back to reality; and I'm terrified. Vic's looking at me with a shocked look on his face before someone down the back of the class starts clapping then the rest of the class joins in with whistling and cheering. The weight falls off my shoulder and a grin breaks out onto Vic's face. He puts his guitar down and pushes my hood off before pressing his lips to mine and the cheering gets louder. He tangles his fingers through the ends of my hair tugging at them slightly as I kiss him back. The cheering and clapping dies down before we pull away. I look at Mr. Way who's grinning at me. Vic then takes my hand and his guitar and we go back down to our seats.

Vic pulls me onto his lap and I giggle, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"You did it, Kells. You were amazing. If you don't do something with that voice when you leave school, I'm going to steal your vocal chords." He gushes excitedly and I blush.

"I wasn't that great." I mumble and he covers my mouth with his hand.

"Shush. You were fucking amazing." He says stubbornly uncovering my mouth.

I smile my gaze drifting down to the table and then I realize something; my lyric book is gone. My heart starts beating fast. Oh god, I hope no one has it. My lyrics are so embarrassing.

My eyes quickly dart around the room until it lands on my book that's sitting open in someone's hands. He has shoulder length light-brown hair and he's wearing a beanie. He's sitting around a group of people reading some lyrics from the book and pointing to something in the book. They're probably making fun of my shitty lyrics.

"Hey, that's mine. Give it back." I snap and Vic looks towards them as they look up at me.

"Oh yeah sure." The guy says smiling handing me back the book.

"What makes you think it's okay to touch someone else's stuff without their permission?" Vic growls and the guy ignores him turning back to me.

"I'm sorry. Your performance was amazing and I just wanted to see what else you've written. Your lyrics are amazing by the way." He explains and I nod not quite knowing what to say. "I'm Jessie."

He extends his hand and I awkwardly shake it.

"Kellin." I mumble.

"Figured. This is Justin, Jack and Gabe." He says introducing the people around him. "We were just thinking that you'd be the perfect front man for our band."

"What?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, your voice is killer and your lyrics are so well-written." He explains and I still can barely grasp what he's saying. "So, you wanna join?"

Someone else starts performing their song but I'm not interested. I'm too busy thinking about this offer. They seem like nice enough guys but am I really ready to share my lyrics and sing in front of more people?

"I don't know." I mumble. "Give me a second."

He nods and I turn to Vic, wanting his opinion.

"What do you think?" I ask him confused.

"I think you should do it." He smiles kissing my forehead.

"Really, but what if‒" He cuts me off by kissing my lips.

"Don't worry about the 'what ifs'. Try it, have fun. If you decide that it's not for you, then just quit." He says and I smile at him.

"You're right. Thank you." I murmur and he kissing my temple before I turn back to Jessie, who's waiting for an answer.

"Um, yeah. I'll give it a go." I nod.

"Great choice." He smirks before turning back to his friends and I turn back to Vic.

"I love you." I whisper and he pecks my lips.

"I love you too."

Someone places something on the table and I look towards them realizing that it's Mr. Way. He places a piece of paper on the table next to the one he just put there. I realize that they're our grades and there's a big bright A+ on both sheets. A grin breaks out onto my face as Vic kisses my temple.

"Great job, you two." Mr. Way says. "If you're not careful Kellin then we might have to create a whole other class just to keep at your level."

I laugh and he winks at Vic before walking off.

"What was with the wink?" Vic mumbles to me.

"He just really likes you." I shrug.

"Why?" Vic chuckles.

"Because you like me."

"I'm confused." Vic admits and I laugh pecking his lips.

"I'll explain later." I say and he nods shaking his head with a sly smile on his lips.

"You're really something special Kellin Quinn."

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