A Bittersweet Love || The Music Freaks || Jailey

Chapter One

Hailey bent over her History worksheet, unable to focus. It was a hot summer Tuesday: five days away from the band competition. The whirring sound of the fan rumbled above her as the sun's rays pressed against her back from the open window. With the blistering heat, and stuffy classroom, she couldn't see how she could concentrate.

Suddenly, a paper airplane landed on her desk. Frowning, she unfolded it, and found herself face to face with the words Music Freak! messily scrawled on the paper.

She rolled her eyes, already knowing it was Drew, Henry, and Liam who had thrown it. Annoyed, she turned back, and scribbled monkeys! on the other side of the paper. She crumpled it into a ball and threw it backwards. 

A sound of someone stifling laughter made her turn in surprise. The paper ball had landed on Jake's desk instead.

Oh, Hailey, look what you did now.

How could she have forgotten that Jake sat next to those goons? 

It was bad that she and Jake were now... friends, but worse that Hailey liked Jake. And not just as a friend.

She expected him to be angry or annoyed, but instead his face portrayed only amusement. Feeling her gaze, he glanced up and winked at her.

Hailey felt as if her tongue had left her. She quickly returned back to her worksheet so that Jake couldn't see her blushing face. She felt she would've lost it if she had to stare into that teasingly handsome face for any longer.

***

"Oh no, I'm going to be late!" 

Hailey quickly slammed her locker door closed and ran down the hallway, but instead tripped. Her unzipped pencil case fell to the floor, scattering pens everywhere. Cursing, Hailey got to her knees and fumbled with her pens, when a hand brushed hers as it reached for a handful of pencils. She looked up in surprise to find Jake smiling at her.

"I - Jake!" she spluttered.

"Surprised to see me, princess?"

Jake chuckled before she could respond.

He helped her up, and as Hailey grasped his hand, she couldn't help thinking about the time Jake had grabbed her hand in the library. She could feel butterflies in her stomach every time she thought of it.

"Right. Thanks," she pushed the thought out of her mind and turned to go, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"I just remembered!" said Jake as she spun around. "I meant to ask you this last meeting, but uh, do you know which schools we'll be competing against in the band competition?"

"Oh, I don't know all of them, but I definitely know we'll be competing against Oakhill High. They've won every competition for five years. Their singer is really good," she added.

"That's... good to know," said Jake.

Hailey smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine. Your voice is fantastic, you'll sound great on stage!"

She sighed. 

Singing on a grand stage had always been one of her dreams, and now she would finally have it. But even better, if she and the others could win the competition, and perform at the Clozy Concert Hall... She could only imagine. Waiting behind a deep velvet curtain as a crowd of cheering fans waited on the other side...

"Hailey? Are you okay?"

Hailey snapped back to the present. "Oh! Uh, yeah! Just... zoned out, is all."

"Alright, well, I better get going. You'll be late to your class. See you!" he grinned and turned the corner towards the Chemistry classroom. 

She watched him leave, before turning the opposite direction, now picturing Jake singing along onstage beside her.