The Hidden Life of Amanda Harp

"You just risked everything to play a fucking card game?"

"Good morning sunshine! The earth says hello!" Mom sings, opening all of my blinds.

Moaning, I roll over in bed.

"Get out, Mama!" I moan.

"Not gonna happen Amanda. You'll be late to school. If I don't hear the shower in five minutes I'm going to come back with ice water."

She kisses my bedhead and walks out the door.

I rub my eyes and resist the urge to close them again, but I know better.

I throw the covers off of me and start to strip, leaving a trail of clothes on my way to the bathroom.

I start the shower and when the water is hot enough, I step in.

I wash my hair and body with my shampoo and body wash, both of them scented with apples. I shave everywhere and get out.

I wrap myself in a fluffy white towel that was warmed with a towel warmer because it's Feburary and chilly outside.

I live in Beverly Hills, California, so it's not really cold, but I always keep the air conditioner in the sixties.

I'm from Georgia and it snows there so I'm used to the cold.

Well I was used to it. I haven't lived there since I was nine.

I push aside the mirror in my room and enter my two story closet.

I go upstairs to my clothes. I get a black and white striped skintight long sleeve shirt. I get a black skirt that goes a few inches above the knee. I tuck the shirt in and put on a tan belt and a black knitted scarf. I go downstairs and ponder shoes for a few minutes before deciding on heels.

I grab my black leather school bag and go to the bathroom. I work on my makeup for an hour and my hair, and then I go downstairs, stopping short when I see Michael (Mike for short), Conner, and Colter sitting at the breakfast table with my parents and Andrew, my older brother.

"Why are you guys here?" I ask, grabbing a plate and filling it with eggs and bacon and sausage and fruit.

"Wow Mandy, we feel so wanted!" Conner teases.

We're a band. Mike is the leader in a way. He's the wise one, and also the oldest one, being twenty. Then there's Conner, who is the jokster and he's the one that comes up with the crazy shit we do on tour and off. He's nineteen. Then Colter, he's the quiet one. He's very smart and artistic. He helps to write most of the songs, and he is eighteen. Then there's me. I'm a mix of all three of them, but I'm also the peacemaker. When a fight starts, I'm the logical one, and I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in April.

"I told you to stop calling me that." I say, irritated.

"Relax." He says. "We're here to go over the concert tonight."

I bite my lip.

All of them eye me, and Andrew sighs.

"You forgot." He says.

"Yeah..." I trail off, eating quickly.

"Well we'll go over the songs on the way to school." Mike says chirpily. I raise my eyebrows.

"You guys can't take me to school." I say.

"Why not? We'll take the shit bus. Nobody will know."

"The windows have shit for tint. Everyone at the school is obsessed with Falling Stars. I can't risk it, especially not with-"

"Jared and Abby." Colter sighs. "We know."

Jared and Abby are my best friends since fourth grade.