Blue guitars and denim jackets

Paint the sky

An image pops up on her phone, it's Finn and Kat - they're laughing about something together, sitting in a field full of daisies.
Haley chuckles to herself and closes instagram, along with her phone.

On a wooden stool in the centre of a bare, cream room, Haley places her guitar on her lap. The class doesn't start for another 20 minutes but Haley loves to have the time to herself. Sometimes she plays, sometimes she writes, sometimes she just sits and thinks.

Today she will play.

Freckled hands find their place on the instrument which warms her black clad thighs (something she has recently become partial to).

Small, gentle notes blossom from the blue guitar, slowly they grow into a tune and Haley slips away into a dreamlike state of bliss.
The cream walls are no longer cream walls, memories are plastered to them, the ones this song was based around. They play in front of her through the video recorder Finn had brought along that day on the beach.

*
"Look! Look at this recorder. Haley, I'm gonna bye it."
Haley glanced at the old thing in the window of the charity shop, "what's so special about it? It's old and probably doesn't work."
"Exactly, it's vintage!" Finn grinned "I'm going in, wait for me out here okay?"
Haley's eyes rolled, but she giggled anyway at the silly attitude of her friend and leaned against the shop window.

A minute or so passed before Haley became fidgety to get down to the beach, just as she turned to persuade Finn to leave, a hand grabbed hers and started running in the direction of the peer.
Haley's heart fluttered a little.

*
Haley's heart fills with a happiness she hasn't felt in a long time -except it probably seems longer than it actually was- and the images/memories morph into later points in the day.

*
The sea was choppy, and the wind strong, but the sun was trying its hardest to emerge through the clouds.
"This was a crappy day to come to a beach." Finn sighed, playing around with the new (well, old-new) cam-recorder and nibbling absentmindedly at some cocktail sausages which Haley had laid out so precisely on the blanket of food an hour ago.
" It's not that bad, just a little chilly." Haley bounced up from her spot next to Finn, "Come on, let's do something to warm up a bit."
Finn just looked at her. "And what would you suggest we do?"
"Well....." Haley thought hard for something to do, it was all well and good bringing food, but if you didn't have a way to actually pass the time then- "Let's dance!!" Haley gasped as the thought came to her, a childish burst of energy over coming her. "Come on come on come onnnnn." Chilling wind whipped at her face as she pulled Finn up.
"You want me, to dance? No way. Not happening."Finn almost had to shout over the ever growing waves and quickening wind.
Haley nodded. Finn's resolve disappeared.
And they danced. Well, dance may be to nice a word, more like, jerked around wildly to slightly emo songs that they couldn't actually hear that well through the wind.
When the rain started, they kept dancing until they were soaked utterly and completely, then ran to take shelter in a local cafe. Watching vibrant pinks and purples paint the sky as the sun gave up and went down.

*
The memory fades, back are the cream walls and the hollow feeling inside Haley. She slouches over the guitar, thinking of nothing, feeling of nothing, for who knows how long. She would have stayed that way too, except-

"Ah Haley," Mr Taylor walks in, "you're a little early, aren't you?" she is given no time to respond before he speaks again "Not that it really matters, I'd rather you early than late!"
There's a fake cheerfulness to his voice which most teachers carry with them, Haley has found. It makes his crisp suit and gelled ginger hair seem over the top to her, he's trying to hard to be nice and it's giving Haley the creeps.

He takes a seat at the piano in the corner and she can only croak in acknowledgement as children spill into the room.