Forever and Always (a Josh Hutcherson fanfic)

CHAPTER 1
I cross the street to the farmers market. The cool Kentucky breeze cuts my cheeks and I pull my scarf up higher on my neck. I've come here every Saturday for the past 4 months, and every Saturday in the summers before this since I was 12,to perform to make a little extra cash for my family. I usually only work in the summer, but my family, we're not really in a good place right now, and I've been playing all Fall. Today I brought my guitar and a portable speaker and a mic with a mic stand. I head over to the backside of the park, between the produce and product booths. It's the perfect location. I plug in my mic and turn on the speaker. Then, after asking an old friend, who runs a booth for doll clothes, to watch my guitar and speaker, I head down the park to find my favorite coffee stand.
"Good morning, Noel" Ellie greats me. "The usual?" Ellie, who I would consider my closest friend, runs the coffee stand. "Yes" I reply with a smile. We chat quietly about our week while she makes my coffee. She tells me about her family and how her little brother lost a tooth. She tells me of her classes and how she aced her big statistics test. I let her do the talking. I'm the type of person who prefers to listen and stay quiet. "One grande extra-hot low fat pumpkin spice latte with whipped cream and cinnamon on top," she says. "Thanks. I better get going if I want to earn enough money today," I tell her before grabbing my latte and briskly walking back to my guitar. When I get back, I sit on the cold ground, sipping my coffee and reading through my sheet music, deciding what songs I want to sing. Once I've decided on a few, i set up the mic to my height a and open my guitar case to take out my old, over used guitar. I tune it quickly and then begin to play. "Written in these walls are the stories I can't explain." The notes flow easily as I sing my current favorite one direction tune. Soon enough I have an audience forming as they gather to hear me. I then perform second chance by shine down, an acoustic version of I knew you were trouble by taylor swift and when I was you man by Bruno Mars. As I end the song, I announce that I'll be taking a quick break and most drop money into my guitar case before departing to explore the rest of the market. During my break, I sip down the rest of my latte, choose my next few songs, and begin to warm my hands up. After a few minutes, a girl about my age comes and sits next to me. "Hi I'm Leah," she exclaims with a huge grin. "Hi," I respond shakily. "And who might you be?"she inquires."I'm Noel" I tell her nervously, unsure if I should be talking to this stranger. "Hello Noel. I heard you singing and you were amazing. I sing a bit myself and I could only hope you'd let me sing a duet with you?" She speaks quickly and admirably. "We might be able to work something out. What range do you usually sing in?" I ask her. I'm doubting why I'm even considering it. I never sing with others. At least not since my dad passed away. She just seems so sweet and fun, and I do need a few more friends... "I'm usually alto. But I can get higher notes as well. And just to let you know, if we sing I expect none of the income. I'll get the joy of singing with an amazing performer." "Yah ok. I usually am a soprano so we should do well together." I say to her. I haven't heard her yet and I'm telling her we'll do well? She better be good. "So uh what songs do you know. I know most of the popular ones, my favorite artist is taylor swift," she tells me. I laugh, "so is mine." "Perfect so you must know her old songs. My favorite one is Stay Beautiful." She says. I laugh again and say "so is mine." "Haha wow we have a lot in common. I wonder if this'll be like Parent trap where we end up being twins!" She exclaims. "Well my birthday is in December-" "and mines in May"she interrupts and I have to laugh, because as sweet as Leah is and how great it would be to become friends with her, I don't think the shock of finding out I have a twin sister would be good for me. "We better get started because some of the people here seem like they need something to listen to." She says and I nod in agreement. We set up the mic and I grab my guitar. It's a good thing I love taylor so much because her old songs were the first songs I learned to play so I know them inside and out. I count softly and begin to play. I sing up higher and more of the melody. And I have to admit, Leah has a pretty fabulous voice. When we finish, she suggests some more songs, and after an hour, we've sung about 20 taylor songs and a larger audience than usual is surrounding us. They drop money in my case and one woman even gives me a $20 bill. I thank everyone and a lot of them compliment our voices. After a few minutes, I notice a little girl pulling on her mothers sleeve. I watch as she talks to her mom and drags her over to us. "My daughter, Liz, thinks you are really talented and wants your autograph. I don't mean to bother you, but could you sign is for her?" The woman says, handing me a ball point pen and a crumpled piece a paper she must've found at the bottom of her purse. "Of course." I say, smiling at her. I sign it with my name and a little message. 'Liz, one day you will have dreams to do something amazing. Achieve them. Never let anyone stop you or push you down. And most importantly, stay beautiful. Love, Noel Prescot' I finish writing and hand the paper to Leah. She signs it and hands it to the little girl. The little girl gets the cutest grin on her face, jumps up and hugs us both, and then grabs her mom and begins to pull her towards the playground. "Thanks!" The mom tells me as they leave. "That was amazing," I say after everyone has left. "Yah you too! Your voice is gorgeous!"she tells me. "Thanks. Yours is pretty phenomenal as well." "We should do this again some time." She says. "Well I'm here every Saturday morning so fell free to come by any time." I say. "I want to see you again sometime, before then. Hmm I'm going to a party at my friend Jen's house tonight. Would you like to come with me?" She invites. "I'd love to. I'll just have to check with my mom. "Perfect here what's your number?" She asks, pulling out her sparkly iPhone. My cheeks flame red and and I flush from embarrassment. "I um don't have a cell phone," I stutter out. "Oh that's ok. I could just stop by your house?" She says. She seems ok with the fact that I have no phone, even though I'm 17. "Um yah sure. I just live down the street on cadence. 3357 is the house address." "Great it starts at 7 but I told Jen I'd get there early so I'll pick you up around 6. And don't forget to dress fancy. Wear your nicest dress." She tells me. "Dress nice?" I ask nervously. I don't really have any 'nice' clothes. My family can barely afford clothes from the goodwill. You see, there's 5 of us. My mother, me, my 9 year old brother, Nathan, and my 5 year old brother, Cameron, and his twin sister, Riley. I had my father, but about 5 years ago, he was shot and murdered. We aren't sure why. But ever since then, my mother has been so busy being a mom for the twins and me and Nathan that she hasn't had to time to get a good job. She's worked at restaurants and places but for a family of 5, it isn't enough. I work too, where I can get jobs, but it's still never enough. I guess I kinda took the father role by earning the money for our food and clothes. I don't even have enough money for makeup. And the only reason we have a House is because we inherited it from my grandparents when they passed away and it was fully payed off. "Will that be a problem." Leah inquires. "Um well uh I have to confess some thing. I not the type of girl with a lot of clothes. I don't have nice dresses or shoes. I don't even have any makeup. It's just so embarrassing to admit to anyone." By this I have tears flowing down my cheeks and Leah leans in to hug me. "It's ok," she whispers in my ear. "I'm sorry I don't even know you. I don't have to go to the party. I don't want to embarrass you in front of your friends." I sob In to her shoulder. It's weird I feel like she's my best friend and yet I just met her. "I have an idea," she exclaims pulling me away from her shoulder and facing me. "How about you come over now, we can stop by your house to make sure it's ok, then I can do your makeup and curl your hair, and you can borrow a dress from me?" Leah suggests. "Sounds like a deal. Thanks so much, for everything." I tell her with a smile, before hugging her. Tonight is sure to be the best night of my life. I've never been to a party, or had friends, but I've heard they are fun, and I can tell Leah and I are gonna become great friends. "Awesome. Well it's already 1:00 so we better get started." Leah tells me and I nod. She helps me put everything away and gather it up to walk to her car. We drive the few minutes to my house, and she helps me unload everything and walk to my house. As we approach the door, my mother opens it and greets us. I introduce Leah and to my mom and my mom to Leah. We walk inside and I introduce her to Nathan, Cameron, and Riley. They smile at her. "So how long have you guys been friends? And Noel why haven't you ever told me about Leah?" My mother slightly scolds. "No mom, we just met. Today at the park. We just kind of ended up singing together and started talking. Leah, invited me to a party tonight, and I was hoping I could go?"I ask shyly. "Hmm well you don't often get invited to parties now do you. I'm sure that would be alright. But what are you gonna wear?" "Mom, you're embarrassing me. I get invited to tons of parties," I assure Leah, hoping she can't see through my lie. I've never really had any friends to invite me to parties so I haven't really been to one. "And Leah said I could borrow something from her." I explain to my mom. "And she can stay at my house tonight after the party, if she wants." Leah tells my mom. "This is very sweet of you, Leah, have you clears with your parents?" My mother asks. " yah they said it would be fine. And my mom is good friends with the parents of the girls house we're going to so it's all good." She explains with a smile. "Well thankyou, for inviting Noel. Are you going now?" My mother questions. "If that's ok. We might just get a bag of stuff for Noel to use tonight." Leah says. "Ok well love you Noel," my mom tells me, kissing me on the cheek. "And you girls have fun, and be safe." She adds. "K love you bye." I say, before grabbing Leah's hand and heading to my room. I kind of got embarrassed bringing Leah to my room, to be honest. I share it with my brother Nathan and it's the tiniest! and messiest little thing. The twin's toys are on the floor, because they like to play in our room, and so is all Nathan's stuff. I have a small bin full of clothes, and half a closet full of other clothes, I have my bed and nightstand with a lamp, and some little knickknacks. My backup hangs from a chair and my little desk in the corner holds a few pieces of paper and a pack of pencils. A box next to my bed holds my keepsakes, and next to it another box full of my fathers things that i took when he passed away. Lastly, I have my instruments in the corner. My guitar, a keyboard, trumpet, clarinet, flute, saxophone, and xylophone, all inherited by my father. He taught me to play all of them When I was little. And they are my most prized possessions. Needless to say, other than toothbrush, hairbrush, and a few other bathroom items, this is all I have. Thus the embarrassment. "Oh my gosh I love the color of this room!" Leah exclaims. That must be the only thing she finds to compliment about it because honestly, it's kind of a faded green color, that's not the prettiest. "Thanks," I murmur sheepishly. "Ok so you just need to bag a bag for a sleepover because I have stuff for you for the dance." Leah tells me. "You know, to be frank, I've never been to a sleepover since I was young, and I'm not really sure what to bring." I explain to Leah. I bet she regrets inviting me over now. "Oh simple. Just pack some pjs and a toothbrush. And then A hairbrush, some clothes, and anything else you use to get ready in the morning." Leah tells me, smiling. "Ok" I nod and go around, grabbing the things she listed. "I'm all ready." I say and we head out the door to the car, on the way to get ready for my first party, and sleepover.