Inside | Shane Harte

15 | Choosing a song

School's over and I'm on my way to the dorms. The sun is shining outside, forcing me to peer through the eyelids. But unfortunately, it doesn't help much since they still tear up.

When I'm almost by the entrance, I see some young kids playing in a park on the other side of the road. They look so peaceful and innocent, just running around and chasing each other. They don't have any demands to please nor the need to instantly decide what to do about things.

Okay, that just turned way too much to my own problems. But I can't help but feel bad about lying to both my mother and friends about going to acoustic. It's not like me at all...

When I reach the entrance I enter the building, walk up the stairs and powerwalk among the hallway until I finally reach my room. I'm just about to unlock the door when I notice that it's already unlocked.

"Hi Kayla! Welcome to our crib" Crystal greets me when I open the door, with a television voice as if she was imitating the TV-show MTV Cribs.

"Heyy" I smile and turn to Trevor who's already sitting on my bed.

"Your bed is AMAZING. So soft and-"

"SO, this is Bridget" Crystal interrupts Trevor in his silly bed talk, gesturing towards a girl sitting on her bed. But after a few seconds, I immediately recognize her. It's the girl who walked into me the other day and behaved like a bitch a about it. Sorry not sorry.

"Hey, Kayla is it right?" she asks and puts the all too obvious fake smile she could possibly make on her face. I narrow my eyes at her.

"Yeah"

"So, shall we begin?" Trevor asks me.

"Sure" I smile and sit down on my bed beside Trevor. He grabs his phone and start browsing through the tracks, on the hunt for the right duet song.

"So why are you still here?" I ask while turning to Bridget even though it was meant to both her and Crystal. They both are just about to answer when the door flies up.

In the doorway I find no one but Shane standing casually. He walks in with a calm look on his face but when he notices me and Trevor sitting on my bed, his jaw tenses.

"Heyy, guys"

"Hi" Crystal says and Bridget smiles.

"Anyways, what song do you wanna sing?" Trevor asks me, making Shane turn around to face us.

"You're singing together?"

"Yeah, we're performing a duet on the Fall Concert" Trevor answers with a slightly proud smile. Shane's eyes narrow.

"... Great"

"What, you wanted to sing with her orrrrr?" Crystal giggles and winks at him. His jaw tenses, indicating that he's not happy, I've learned.

"Hell no, I would never want to sing with her" he snaps and storms out of the room.

"What's his problem?" I ask them and everybody shrugs. They really are used to his extreme mood swings, something that's kind of sad really. Someone should knock some manners into that boy's head.

"I was thinking that if we make a mashup between 'Heaven' and 'More than words', since those songs would make a perfect match. You have listened to them before, right?" Trevor asks and I can only imagine how confused my face looks.

"No... I've never heard of neither of them before"

Everyone gasps and burst out into hysterical laughter, followed by a friendly slap from both Trevor and Crystal.

"What? Why is that so incredibly funny?" I laugh.

"Oh, it's just that everyone knows about those songs, except you" Trevor grins and I shake my head. "But, here. Listen to them"

He hands me his phone and I listen to the songs. They have a similar sound, so I think that they are going to fit amazingly together.

"They are perfect" I smile when I've listened to both of them.

"Great, I'll play around a little bit with them and we'll see what I come up with" he says and I hand him back his phone.

"Yeah" I smile. "Be right back, I just need to use the bathroom"

He nods and I rise up from the bed. When I open the door, my eyes search through the hallway for any creepy dudes. To my relief, it's empty. I walk out and straight to the bathroom when a voice interrupts me.

"Why Trevor?"

I turn around to face Shane leaning against the wall with a small smirk plastered on his face. How he managed to get there without a sound, even though I checked the hallway for any weird people before walking out, is a mystery.

"What do you mean? I can sing with whoever I want" I say and cross my arms. He smiles.

"Yeah, but why would you choose him? He's not the best singer we have here"

"Yeah? And who is?"

"Me"

I burst out laughing. How dare he treat me like shit and disparage me, to later question my choice of duet partner? And on top of that, he claims to be the best singer here... I really hope he is joking right now.

"Oookay, bye now" I turn around, shaking my head.

"Wait! Kayla, wait!" he shouts after me and I just keep walking. I'm tired of being his punching bag.