Anywhere But Here

Chapter Twenty-nine, Dawn's POV,

It's noon now and we are eating lunch on the white couches in the meeting room. Apparently, we are moving to the penthouse today, then practicing for a while, then going to become rock stars. It's only the five of us, no Ora, and we are eating a healthy lunch of fruits and PB and J sandwiches. Every day I learn something new about each one of my band members and today I find out about their favorite kinds of music. Callie and Miles love heavy metal/Screamo while Connor likes classical. Chase doesn't care what kind of music he listens too as long as it keeps his parents off his mind. That is like what I do with music and my career to keep my mind off of Zyra.

"I can't even begin to imagine what the songs you wrote sound like, Ora was very clear I would be a singer and drummer but I can't imagine me singing and playing to songs you wrote," I say because it's been on my mind of a while.

Miles laughs and stuffs another strawberry into his mouth while Callie looks at him with disgust. She then turns to me with a smile on her face while Connor and Chase keep silent and stare at me. I have no idea what they are staring at and if they are trying to win me over, they aren't doing a good job.

"My songs called Why? It's about my internal struggles with my parents when they put me here" She says lightly and grabs a grape from the plate, "I just really hated them when they sent me here, but now it's not so bad at all, I mean we are going to live in a penthouse!"

Then I hear click-clacking of Ora's high heeled shoes in the hallway.

"Oh my gosh! Everyone look at our album cover!" She says enthusiastically and sits down next to me on the couch, "Look at this, do you love it or what?"

She shows it to everyone and we all can agree on its beauty. It's simple but perfect is how Miles described it. It says the rebels in gray ink surrounded by dark patterns. We all decide that it's perfect for our album cover, but now we have to pack up and leave. I can't believe that my dream is close to coming true! These two days have been the best two days of my life being here with these people, and once we move to the penthouse, we can start to play our music.

I go to Callie's room with her to grab my bag and when I get to her room, it looks empty. I can't believe how fast she packed all her posters away! She is on her bed with her guitar case and has her actual suitcase next to her. She has a piece of paper in her hands and when I walk over to pick up my bag, she gives the paper to me. I look at it and see her song title on the top and the lyrics with notes for a drummer printed clearly in ink. I look at her questioningly, she couldn't have had enough time to write this while I was grabbing my suitcases.

She responds as if she had just read my mind, "I learned how percussion notes sounded and wrote one for drum kit about a year or two ago, I didn't really think I would need it because nobody played drum kit here but here you are"

I smile at her and slip it into my bag, "Thanks, I can't wait to read it on our way to the penthouse!" I say.

She grins at me and then pulls her suitcase and guitar case off the bed. Together we begin to walk towards the meeting room with our stuff. Ora had said she was getting us a limo for the way over to the penthouse and I was nervous. I have never ever really been on anything bigger than a school bus before. Chase and Connor are already there with their stuff and are whispering to each other. I ignore them and sit down on the couches, ready to be a superstar.

The penthouse in on the third floor of a huge building I have never heard of before. All of us are excited to see what it holds. When we step off of the elevator, I see a glorious sight. There is a small living room with white couches and even more white in a small kitchen to the east of that. There is a huge round table in between the two rooms and it has a little flower vase on it. I step inside of the penthouse and onto a fuzzy soft blue carpet. The thing that strikes me as odd is the size of the place, I thought penthouses were bigger than this, and that's when I notice it. Right next to the couches is a big slide that ends on the top of the couch. I move out of the way for the others to see, they are clearly impressed about the slide, but less so about the size. Ora steps into the penthouse and looks at it in confusion.

"My father said it would be a lot bigger than this!" She says pitifully, and strolls into the room with her stuff, "Kids go find the staircase so you can go upstairs and find your rooms, my room is down here I think, in the room next to the television"

We put all of our stuff down on the couch and go searching for the stair case. We find a windy staircase right behind the couch and next to the slide, it blends in so well with the wall we just couldn't see it. When we go upstairs and we find one bathroom, an entirely empty room except for some music stands, and two bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bunk bed, a couch, two dressers, a closet, and a mirror. We would have to decide which room to have three in it and the boys agreed to all sleep in a room together. That meant me and Callie have the other room to ourselves. The boys got the room closer to the bathroom and we got the room closer to the slide. We walk into the room tentatively.

"I guess this is where we live now" Callie says, "You want top or bottom bunk?"

"I'll take top bunk" I say, "Also Callie, I read your music, it's amazing and I can't wait to sing and play it"

She smiles at me and heads out the door.

"Come on Dawn, let's go get our stuff the couch, we can test out the slide" Callie says tauntingly, "I bet I can beat you there!"

"Oh really?" I say as I race down the hall past her and onto the slide.

I slip down to ground level onto the couch with ease. I get my stuff, put it away, and Ora orders us chinese food for dinner. We laugh, we joke, we talk, and I couldn't feel happier except for one thing. Zyra isn't here.