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Chapter 3

September 16th, 2022

Hayden

I woke up at around 6am to go for a jog. I grabbed a water bottle and some earphones and headed out of the house. I started to run and immediately got distracted by the music that was playing. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor.

"You okay bud?"

I look up to see a boy who looked around my age.

"Yeah I'm fine. I guess I was distracted." I said.

He put out his hand. I grabbed it and got up.

"Thanks."

"No problem. I'm Brennan." He said.

"Hayden." I said.

"So why're you jogging so early?" He asked.

"No reason. Just a workout I guess."

"Oh cool. Well I'll catch you around." He said.

"Yeah see ya." I said jogging away.

Later that morning

"I'm going to rehearsals dad!" I said running out of the house.

I got in my car and went to the recording studio that I'm supposed to be at.

Once I got there, i hopped out of my car and walked in. I immediately saw Rush. He was sitting down on his phone.

"Hey Rush." I said waving.

He looked up from his phone and saw me.

"Hey." He said. "Um where's your mom?" I asked. "She's in there." He said pointing to a room to my left.

"Okay thanks." I said.

He nodded and looked back at his phone. I walked to the room and knocked.

"Come in!" I heard Nicole say from in the room.

I walked in and closed the door.

"Hey Hayden!" She said giving me a hug.

"Hi." I said with a smile.

"This is DJ." She said pointing to a man.
a/n random guy that I made up

"Nice to meet you." I said putting out my hand.

He shook it while greeting me.

"DJ works here at Success Records. He will help you when you record." Nicole explained.

I nodded.

"We are currently waiting for Annie, so you could wait out there and get some coffee." She said with a smile.

"Okay thanks." I said leaving.

I walked over to some kitchen area and made some coffee. I walked out and sat next to Rush.

He sighed and looked at me.

"How's everyone back in Maryland?" He asked.

"Good." I lied. The truth is, I don't know how the 'squad' is doing. Everyone went their own ways after Annie, Rush and Brooke left.

He gave me a confused look and then rolled his eyes.

"Rush did I do something to you?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the door opened. Annie walked in with a guy. Not any guy though, it was...Brennan?

Rush stood up and gave Annie a hug and Brennan a bro hug. Rush and Brennan started to have a conversation while Annie stood there staring at me.

"Hey Hayden." Annie said.

Brennan stopped talking and looked at me.

"Hayden?"

"Oh hey Brennan." I said.

"You two know each other?" Annie asked.

"We bumped into each other this morning." Brennan explained.

"Oh."

The door opened and Nicole poked her head out.

"It's time to start recording." She said smiling.

"Okay." I said getting up. I walked into the room and went into the recording studio.

Annie soon came and walked over to me.

"The song you will be singing is Little Do You Know." DJ said.

I froze and remembered how Annie and I first met, we sang that song on the bus. I looked over to Annie and she looked a little nervous too.

"Are you two okay with that?" DJ asked looking worried.

Before I could answer, Annie spoke up. "Yeah that's fine." She said.

"Okay. How about I play the song first and then we can record you guys." DJ offered.

"Okay." Annie and I said together.

DJ played the song and I instantly remembered all of the lyrics.

"Okay Annie are you ready?" He asked.

She nodded. The music played and she started to sing. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Soon it was my turn to sing and we both sang the rest of the song.

"That was great! How about we take 15 minute break." DJ said smiling.

"Sounds great." Annie and I walked out of the studio. Brennan was still here talking to Rush.

"Why're you still here?" Annie asked Brennan.

"Well I was wondering if you, Rush, and I could go get something to eat after this." He looked at me. "Oh and Hayden you can come too if you want." He said.

At the corner of my eye, I could see Rush rolling his eyes.

"Rush can I talk to you?" I asked. He sighed and got up. We walked into another room.

"What?"

"Why don't you like me?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. You seem very annoyed by me and I want to know the reason why."

"You broke Annie's heart Hayden. You broke my best friend's heart and you expect me to be okay with it? Annie was devastated after that fight I hope you know that." He said obviously even more annoyed by me then he was just now.

"You know what? I'm not even going to fight back because at the end of the day, you don't know what really happened." I said walking away.

When I came back in the front room, I saw Annie and Brennan laughing about something. I sighed and sat down.
••

Annie

I just got back home from lunch at mods pizza and I'm glad I went. Hayden was being really nice to me and I couldn't help but be nice to him too. Brennan and Rush were also really quiet for some reason but I just ignored it.

I got out my song book and started to sing while writing down lyrics.

"For what it's worth, i hope we could be more..." I sang.

No. I can't write about him.

I erased the lyrics and sighed.
••
1000 words!