Swell (Complete)

Chapter Three (Part One)

"Wrote down a thousand songs,
Wish I could say the things I wanna say out loud."

....

The next day felt more normal than Adora had expected. There was no year 12 Psychology class that day, so she only saw the Taylors boys in the corridors and during the breaks. Tom was definitely the more adjustable Taylor, as Marti had described.
Will mostly kept to himself, Tom and Marti frequently trying to pull him out of some shell he seemed to be consumed by.
The last class of the day was the music class. Aside from the symphony school band, it was a small class mixed of year 11 and 12 students. Most of the students belonged to the school band, and the music teacher spent most of her time helping them rehearse for tours and performances they did for band excursions. They had won prizes against other school symphonies, even city schools. Adora was occasionally asked to join them for vocals, but it always felt so intimidating to join such a well-known band; and the Wheeler Falls High School Symphony was well known.
There were currently four members in her band. They had grown up together and she and Brett had even taken guitar lessons together; although Brett could riff like she could breathe in comparison to her own guitar skills.
Adora glanced at Will as Tom sat on the bench beside him chatting animatedly at lunch. Adora was excited and nervous to have one of the Taylors joining the band. She was curious to know how skilled Will was on the guitar, Brett was going to enjoy having another male guitarist.
Their drummer was a male, but he and Rae were always managing to go off on little musical adventures together.
Beats and violin. Rae and Kurt were definitely the most skilled musicians Adora knew; the music teacher had tried and tried to get them to join the symphony, but Rae already had enough on her plate, let alone adding tours and extra rehearsals to her life and Kurt had no interest at all in moving across without her.
"Hey, I'm going to go over and chat to Will and Tom." Adora spoke up and picked her rubbish off the lunch table. A few nods and smiles from her friends and the conversation went on without her as she stood and collected her bag. On her way across the courtyard she put her rubbish in the bin and adjusted her backpack straps over her shoulders.
"Well, hey there!" Tom looked up with a big grin and she found herself once again caught in surprise by their faces.
Seriously, how were the Taylors so beautiful?
"Hey." She was grateful that Will kept his facial whiskers; it was essential for her to tell them apart. "How's day two going?"
"I was just telling Will that he'd need to be my double so that I could date all the lovely ladies of Wheeler Falls." Tom joked.
Adora raised her eyebrows and looked from him to Will, who forced a smile as he shook his head. She looked back to Tom and nodded slowly. "Well, he looks totally convinced." Her tone was so flat and deadpan that Tom gaped at her for a few moments before he burst out laughing.
"Wow, you have a great sense of humour, Adora, I can tell."
She shrugged and turned her attention back to Will. "I thought I'd come and see if you needed help finding the music room for next session."
Will looked towards the school building and she watched his eyes move from one end to the other. "I think I should be able to find it alright." He answered. "I've got my guitar in the car, should I bring it?"
Adora frowned for a few moments. "Maybe not to start with, there's spare guitars in the rooms and well, I'm not sure what we'll give you to learn for the band, or if Mrs. Jones will try and convince you to go the way of the symphony."
Will nodded slowly. "Alright."
"I can wait at the door if you like?" Adora smiled.
"I'll be fine, I've still got the school map in my bag."
"Alright, I'll see you then. Bye Tom, good luck with the girls." She winked at the apparent womaniser and started to walk back to the school building.
"Hey, Adora, wait up." She was a few steps away when she heard the call and looked over her shoulder to see Tom standing up to leave his brother. She stopped and waited.
"Where are you heading?" Tom asked as she started to walk again, the tall figure towered over her and she felt almost intimidated by the height.
It wasn't like being small was unusual for her, Brett, Iain and Dodge were tall, but she had grown up with them; the Taylors felt different.
"I was going to go to the library. Been there yet?" She asked, looking up at his perfectly clear skin.
"Well, actually, I went there yesterday to check out the psychology books, Will and I are still waiting for ours to arrive." Tom explained.
"Oh, well, that works." Adora tried to remember if she saw Will or Tom having a textbook in her psychology class the day before. "Did you two decide if you needed some catch up help? I prepared my older notes last night, if you did."
"Actually, Will probably has it all stored in his memory, I on the other hand, suck at retention, so would definitely love to have some tutoring." Tom's hands moved as he spoke, waving around his head as he spoke of memory and retention. Adora smiled as they entered the school building and she turned them towards the library. In her classes with Marti she had listened to the new girl participate in conversations and answer some of the teacher's questions.
The Taylors in no way seemed to lack intelligence.
Another incredible addition to the attractive package.
"I have some other questions to ask you though, Adora." Tom held open the library door for her and she faltered over the gesture.
"Thanks." She felt her cheeks warming as she walked past him and stepped into the library. "Let's find a seat and you can ask away. I'll do my best to answer you." She liked the library at lunch time, it wasn't busy, most of the students liked being outside. The library could be stuffy in winter with the heater on and sometimes it was stifling enough to be there just for a class.

Tom looked around the library and smiled. "Can we go over there, by the window?" He pointed to one of the study cubicles and she shrugged.
"Sure."
She put her bag on the floor and shoved it under the table.
"So, the first question is do you have a boyfriend?"
Adora looked at Tom with wide eyes. Was he serious? "Um, no." She stuttered her answer and felt her heart racing under her lungs. Why was he asking this?
He smiled at her.
Was he trying to calm her down? Could he see she was nervous? Why did he want to know if she had a boyfriend?
"So, you're not seeing anyone at the moment?" His smile didn't even break as he asked another question.
"I thought this was about psych..." Was all she could say; she felt a wave of restless energy beginning to wash over her. She felt a forced smile on her lips, though she thought it might look more like a sneer.
He wasn't leading up to asking her out was he? They barely knew each other! He barely knew her name! He hadn't even lived in Wheeler Falls for a week!
She clasped her hands in her lap to try and stop the energy from releasing in nervous shakes.
"Well, no. I wanted to see if you'd like to go on a date?" Tom's confidence seemed to falter, as if it had never occurred to him that she might say no.
"Well... Um..." Would she? "We don't even know much about each other..." Her words were coming out much faster than she hoped, as if there was no breath between them.
He looked down at the floor and nodded. "Well, that's true, but if I took you out, you could show me your favourite parts of town and we could get to know each other."
"But, before when we were all outside," her hand rose and Adora pointed out the window, the shakes trembling her fingers. Why was she shaking? Because Tom was a stranger? Because he was a beautiful stranger? Because he was a beautiful guy asking her on a date?
"I talk myself up a lot." Tom looked back up to her and his hand closed over her pointing, shaking finger. Adora could feel the warmth stilling her trembling. "But, I'm not really that much of a sleaze ball. So, um, how about it? Would you like to show me around for a date?"
He moved his head to meet her eyes, his warm hand lowering hers back onto her lap.
He was being serious. "Would you like to get to know me?"
"Yes." How could she say no?
"Awesome!" His smile grew and she tried to return the smile, but still felt the nervous sneer on her face. He looked at her and took his hand from hers. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you nervous."
It was like he had never even noticed how anxious she had gotten when she realised he wasn't talking about psychology questions.
"It was just a surprise." She felt herself begging for the end of lunch bell to ring so she could leave now.
"Yea, I guess. So, when are you free?"
"Um, well, my Mum has this thing on the weekend and I have to help, but my character is the victim, so I die Friday night and Mum normally stops needing me mid-Saturday... so Saturday night? Or Sunday, but I need to be home for dinner on Sunday for the reveal..." She didn't even think about whether he was following her words.
When she looked to his face she saw the confusion in his furrowed brow. Would the Taylors even get wrinkles?
She felt her cheeks warming. "My Mum runs an accommodation place, and we're doing a murder mystery this weekend..." She explained, looking down and putting a hand to one of her warm cheeks.
Please ring the end of lunch bell, please!
"Well, it sounds like Saturday. Can I pick you up?"
"Um, well, I can ride into town, save you the trip..."
"It's no trouble, besides, I've heard good things about Edgar's Escape." The broad smile on Tom's face did not stop the surprise from showing on her face.
"How do you..."
The bell finally rang, cutting off her question. Tom winked at her "I have my ways. I'll confirm a time with you later. Have a good class." He adjusted his shoulder strap across his chest and waved as he walked away.
Adora let go of a long breath through her mouth and shook her head. She felt as if she had just run a track lap with Iain, and she'd just been sitting.
She picked her bag up from under the desk and started to make her way to the music room, her mind still trying to process what had happened.