The Melody of a Protagonist

Chapter 13- Mystery girl...

                                                       Chapter 13.

Jemma and Dave slowly made their way back along the street toward Wild Oaks. Dave's hand lingered lustfully close to Jemma's; though, she did not notice.

When they arrived at the door Dash swiftly hurried over and greeted them, holding one coffee in each hand. Dash presented Jemma with her latte wrapped in a bright blue napkin with a small illustration of a snare drum inscribed in the frothy, foam topping. Jemma smiled, touched by her gesture.

"You're such a sweetheart, Dash!" Jemma wrapped her arms around the small girl as she handed the other coffee to Dave.

"You very welcome" Dash beamed brightly.

Jemma marveled at Dash's impressive attention to detail as made her way over to the well worn tan and black drum kit sitting in the upper middle quadrant of the stage. Jemma adjusted the seat with one hand, careful not to spill her coffee as she collected the drumsticks Zac had prior laid out for her earlier that morning.

Jemma sat down, sipped her latte casually as she glancing around the room. The atmosphere seemed to have return to its normal, jovial state. Many customers were engaged in quiet chatter or were contently browsing the local newspaper. She smiled to herself, thankful not to have caused too much damage.

Jemma stopped surveying the room when her eyes caught Lily's gaze; smiling apologetically over at her from stage right.

Jemma smile dropped to a frown. She turned her head away stubbornly, still in a huffy, pouty mood. Her glance was drawn suddenly to a boy at the front counter whom, for some reason, seemed to catch her eye.

He had dyed black hair that sat a little oddly on him. Possibly because his sandy blonde eyebrows suggested he was naturally quite fair? He was talking to Tony, the owner of the café and was dressed in full school uniform.

Jemma recognized him as someone she'd seen before... maybe a friend of Charlie’s?

He was standing with a girl with light brown hair and large green eyes that were usually clearly visual despite the vast stretch of distance between the stage and the counter.

The girl was staring oddly at Jemma. Jemma raised her eyebrows. Did she know this girl? No, she didn't think so... how long had she been looking at her?

"Jemma" Zac's voice called.

Jemma wasn't listening.

"Jemma" he repeated, a slight pang of irritation in his voice. Jemma still didn't respond, focused on the girl.

Zac took a drumstick from Jemma's left hand and hit the crash cymbal hard.

A loud, sharp crashing noise filled the busy room.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

The whole café turned toward the source of the unexpected loud noise for the second time that day. Well, all except for Hanna, who quickly looked down at her feet, feeling a little embarrassed and guilty.

Michael handed her a take away cup of coffee without turning around to look at her as he continued his conversation with the man behind the counter.

Hanna shifted her weight as she swayed uncomfortably in the unfamiliar surroundings.

A petite girl in an apricot apron appeared from the tidy, lemon colored kitchen. She smiled at Hanna, knowingly. Hanna tilted her head a little confused. Then it struck her, she was the same girl she'd seen coming out of the counselors office, the one with the scruffy black hair who'd smiled at her. Hanna wished that she had smiled back, now finally recognizing the girl; but she'd already hurried off, back into the kitchen.