Sing For Me

Chapter Fifteen: Quiet Chaos

For what felt like the hundred-thousandth time since we moved into our apartment six months ago, I woke up to a high-pitched squeal that resonated through the paper-thin walls of our apartment.

I lift my head and sniff the air. Not smelling any smoke, I continue to lie in bed, stubbornly clinging to the marginal hope that my only weekly sleep-in day would not be interrupted any further.

Another squeal – one that sounds forebodingly like my name – signals that it probably won't be long until I find out exactly what is at the root of such shrill, early morning evil.

Groaning, I consider what possible events could cause so much excitement this early on a Sunday morning. But – completely forgetting about the events of last night – my sleep-deprived morning brain comes up blank.

"Meg! Oh, Meg! Guess what?! Look what's on the internet!" Abs flings the door to my room open and half-runs, half-falls inside.

I sigh. "Let me guess. Is it a memorial post for an innocent gorilla? Because I'm totally not in the mood right now, Abs." I roll over, and Abbey takes the opportunity to jump straight on top of me with a full-bodied wrestler move that I'm sure resembles a ferret trying to pin down an elephant more than I care to admit.

"Urghff! Abs. Please. I can't breathe." I mumble, ignoring the phone she is flashing in front of me and snuggling further down the bed until my head is buried beneath the duvet. "You know the Sunday rules! I'm not alive until after one pm."

"Okay, sure..." Abs sighs, rolling her eyes, "but today has to be an exception. You're really, really gonna want to see this, Meg." Abs tries to peel the covers back enough so that she can recover my lost face – no doubt to stick her phone in front of it again.

"Come on, Meg. Aren't you just dying to know what all of this is about?!" She asks. "Because I swear, I almost died dead when I woke up this morning and remembered. I was like no, this totally has to be a dream, but then I checked The Goss and it was RIGHT THERE ON THE FRONT PAGE!"

My stomach does this weird flip as I furrow my eyebrows together, trying to remember what on Earth Abbey was going on about.

I groan in frustration. It comes out more like a roar, though – the kind that you might expect from a bear who has been woken mid-hibernation.

"Megan Robertson! Don't you dare tell me that you've completely forgotten that last night you wooed one of the most eligible bachelors in the entire world!" Abbey strops, ruining the effect my full name has on me by bursting into a cacophony of overwhelmingly excited giggles straight after.

It took a moment for me to register. A moment before it all comes flooding back in a flash, and my stomach flips over itself so hard I feel like I've just jumped out of a plane without a parachute.

The concert.

The hot seat.

The on-call room.

That kiss...

And although my heart is beating at a mile a minute, I ignore it and pull the blankets around me closer, until my duvet's as tight and as restrictive as a second skin.

"Go away!" I order.

"OoOOooohh," Chimes Abs, "Does Meggie need some private time? Don't worry, The Goss says that's perfectly normal. Babel has that effect on a lot of girls, Meggiekins. In fact, they say that Babel-induced lovesickness might actually be one of the leading causes of teenage depression."