Camp Wisahickon

Chapter Twenty Three

Plz vote if you love Amelia so much and miss Carter :((((

PS: I did not edit this chapter so BEWARE

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The car ride was dead silent, the radio not even turned on to provide background noise. My eyes watched the skyscrapers pass and cars move in and out of lanes at an alarming speed. There were people littering the sidewalks, walking out of restaurants, and hailing cabs. The only noise in the car was that which leaked through the streets and seas of people.

The city was nothing like growing up in Maine, where it was quiet and the tallest building was the lighthouse. Here there was so much noise: constant honking, people talking on cell phones, homeless men begging for change on the side of the road. I watched through the safety of my mothers car with what should've been in awe, but instead with dull eyes.

"I did not miss the city," My mother mutters from the drivers seat, her eyes darting in every which way, her hands tightly around the steering wheel. "These drivers are insane."

This was yet another attempt at starting conversation that was greeted with silence. I didn't want to talk, even though she was playing nice for some reason. Maybe she realized how much I was hurting, that my heartbreak was transparent to her, and didn't want to criticize me and make it worse. But even with her attempt at kindness, I was wallowing in the depths of heartache.

She pulls in front of a large building, a beautiful brick masterpiece with a sign engraved in the glass above the entryway: The Juilliard School. We had driven seven something hours to arrive in the thick of the city, to finally get here, the school that had just been a figment of my imagination during years of practice, but was now a reality. I was finally going to audition, something that just a few days ago I swore to my mother I would never do.

I wince and reel back as my mind begins to wander to my last day at camp. I didn't get to say goodbye to Teddy or the twins or the girls in my cabin, because I was in such a haste to get the hell out of there. To be in the same vicinity as him after what he said to me would only break me down even more, drive me mad. I couldn't stay and watch Katie pounce on Carter while I licked my wounds and told myself I didn't care.

The reality was, I cared. I cared too much, even, that now my heart is a sad, tattered excuse for a soul and I was even more lost about what I wanted in life than I was before.

"Amelia," My mom's voice calls gently, and I feel her put her hand on my arm.

I shrug her hand off and turn to face her, pulling myself away from my thoughts that dripped toxicity. "Yeah?"

"Did you hear me?" She asks, but there's no malice in her voice, only mild concern. "I said we should go sign in."

I look up at the building again and nod, then get out of the car for the first time in hours, stretching my legs until I'm comfortable. I grab my sheet music despite the fact I know the composition by heart now and then follow her into the elegant looking building, the one that has been taunting me for years. We go inside, where there's a flurry of activity all around us, and make our way to the reception desk.

I don't listen as my mother signs us in, but rather take the opportunity to look around. There were students roaming around the area, some carrying cases with instruments enclosed, some with athletic clothes on that seemed to be dancers, some carrying thick stacks of paper that resembled scripts. 

My eyes zeroed in on a familiar brown haired boy carrying a guitar case, and my heart fluttered as I stared at Carter, before the boy turned around to show me it was definitely not Carter, and my heart fell in my chest. It felt like the breath had been knocked out of me, and I stared at the strange boy as he retreated into a room, and then my hardened gaze was fixed on the empty door.