Chapter I: Practice makes Perfect
"How should I strum on this song?" James asks
"C'mon. Just follow the beat and tune of the song." I said
"Could you teach me?" he pleaded
"How to dougie?" I laughed and then he laughed with me as well, I went near him, held his hand and leaded it to strum.
"Oh, now I got it!" he exclaimed
"Regionals is next month, so we gotta work out guts out to make it to the Nationals." I said to him
"Damn! Sorry, sorry. I'm late!" Courtney shouted.
"Nah, it's fine." I said to her then blushed in the thought that Courtney caught us.
"So, how's the song going?" courtney asked teasingly
"It's doing g-great." I began stammering
"The strumming was quite hard to understand at first, but I'm getting used to it." James told Courtney
"We..we should practice a lot." I added
"Yeah, okay.." Courtney said while she was smiling at me, a creepy smile, while on her way to the keyboards
"One, two, one, two, three, g--" I stopped when I was about to say "go" when this guy, I heard his name is Andrei, showed up near the door of the music room
"U-uhm.. C-can I..Can I join y-your band?" he was stammering, his voice broke and he was just looking down.
"Sure, everyone's welcome, and the more the merrier, right guys?" I said
"Right." Courtney and James answered in chorus
"Uhm, Can I play the drums?" Andrei asked
"Yeah, of course, we're in need of a drummer." Courtney said
Andrei started to play the drums and he was good, not only good, but he was amazing.
"Okay, you're in." James said while he was applauding
"Really?!" Andrei was shocked
"Thanks!" he added in excitement
"You really want to join us, huh?" I asked
"Yeah, I badly want it." he replied
I felt James held my hand tightly, possesively.
"What?" I asked
"Nothing." he said while he was holding my hand, he murmured something, but I didn't understand
"What did you say?" I asked
"N-nothing." I heard his voice broke
***
After a few weeks.. After practice it's Physics class. By the way, I forgot, I'm Kate Collins, 16 years old. my parents are Cristine and James Collins. It's awkward right, my bestfriend and my dad has the same name. Anyways, him, He's James Marcford, he's 16 too, he's my guy bestfriend but I'm secretly in love with him. And her, she's Courtney Jackson. She's 16 years old too, She's my girl bestfriend and we've been bestfriends since kindergarten so we grew up really close. And the new member of the band, Andrei Newton, he's our new drummer, He's also 16 years old, this kid is kind of mysterious, he has this long bangs and he's always wearing this hoodie. He always look sad and alone but I know someday he'll comeout of his shell and share something--someday.
"Hey, Kate. Uhm, Can I borrow your notes for a sec?" James asked
"Oh, yeah, sure. Here." I passed my notebook to him
"Thanks." He grabbed my notebook and read it
"Can I sit beside you?" Andrei showed up
"Sure, by the way, are you upset?" I asked him curiously while he sitted on the vacant chair to my left.
He said nothing.
"Uhm, I'll just ask some other time." I sighed
"Is something bothering you, ba--kate?" James asked me, he's sitted on my right side.
"Oh, nothing. Nevermind." then I grinned at him.
"Oh..okay." He smirked then focused on my notes.
"Ca-can I ask you something, kate?" James began to talk to me again.
"What is it?"
"Since we've been bestfriends since we were in your freshmen year, now we're seniors, I.. I just wanna ask if..if we..we.." He keeps on checking his bag as if he's finding something
"If we?"
"If we--"
"Good day, Class." Mrs. Chopkins entered the room
"Darn it." I heard him whisper, Mrs. Chopkins cut him off from what he was about to say. Maybe we could just talk about it tomorrow, or later at practice, yeah, later.
***
30 minutes after. We're still in the middle of our class discussion, I kept on checking my watch while Mrs. Chopkins was discussing about the laws of Physics.
"Hey Kate." Andrei murmured when he handed me a piece of paper.
"Let's go to the lobby after class." It is the one written on the paper
I smiled at him, and said..
"Sure."
"Thanks." he tried to smile
I am wondering what is the reason why he wants us to meet up, but yeah, I'll go with him.
"Kate, I.." James whispered
"You?" I gave attention to James
"Nothing."
"Okay.." I said
***
"Good bye, class. Prepare for a short quiz tomorrow about the laws of Physics." Mrs. Chopkins announced, it's 4pm and I gotta go with Andrei. Time flew so fast, I didn't even notice it.
"C'mon, let's go." Andrei told me then he smiled. It was the first time I saw him smile like that.
We went to the lobby and we started to talk, we sit on the floor and faced one another
"My mom, she..." He said while his smile changed into a gloomy frown
