Out of Tune: The Original 2015 Draft

chapter 8

I see my life in terms of music

-Albert Einstein

"No," I stated firmly. "Absolutely not."

My mom pouted at me. "But why? It's adorable, and would look so cute on you."

"Mom, put it back," I said, my voice only slightly irritable.

Sighing loudly, my mother placed the terrible pink monstrosity back onto its rack and began sifting through the dresses once more. After our talk, my mom had insisted on coming with me to find a dress, so here we were, at the mall, on a Saturday, while the guys were rehearsing our set without me.

And, to top it off, my mom kept insisting that pink would look 'so cute on me.' There was only one little problem with all of the dresses she suggested. I hated pink and there was no way in hell that I would wear it to the first ever gig of Imagine Reality.

Not to mention, the guys would never let me live it down.

After several more botched dress attempts, my mom finally pulled something that was, surprisingly, acceptable. I stared at the number for a moment before a smile stretched its way across my face. The dress, a short black chiffon dress aligned with an assortment of sparkling golden sequins and a sweetheart neckline, was just what I needed for this first onstage moment.

I grinned at my mom. "That's it."

My mom smiled back at me and all but thrust the dress into my arms so that I could try it on. After assuring myself that it fit like a glove, which it did, we bought the dress and left the store to head out for lunch. But, before we stopped at the restaurant we had a reservation at, a cute little Italian place, we stopped at a costume store so that I could by a mask.

The one we, finally, decided on, was black and gold lace with decorative black feathers and a black and gold rose adorning one side of the mask. There was a black satin ribbon to attach the mask to my face so that it wouldn't fall off.

As my mom and I sat at lunch, I realized that I'd had a very fun, relaxing day with my mom. We hadn't really had a day like this in years, since before I went to live with my dad in New York. I felt slightly guilty, knowing that this had only happened because I had lied to her about having a date for the dance, but tried to shake away the dark thoughts. I would tell her about the band...eventually.

"So," my mom began, breaking into my thoughts. Her eyes were directed towards her menu, but her words were aimed at me. "Am I going to meet your date before the dance? You haven't really told me much about him. What's he like."

Oh, crap! "Umm, I, uh...he's really smart!" I blurted out unthinkingly, trying to mask the fact that I did not actually have a date.

My mom raised her eyebrows, silently edging me on to continue.

"And, uh, he has curly dark hair. And blue eyes, but he wears glasses so their kind of hard to see."

"Is he cute?" my mom pressed.

I nodded a couple of times. "Yeah, he's pretty cute."

My mom smiled, apparently believing my story. "Well, I hope you'll introduce us before you go to the dance. I'd like to meet the young man my daughter has her eyes on."

"I'll see what I can do," I muttered and then turned back to the menu, blushing as red as a tomato. It was only later, as we walked out of the restaurant that I realized one thing. The guy my mother would be expecting was Spencer.

Mentally, I berated myself for doing such a thing, especially since it meant that Spencer, if he agreed, would have to meet my severely messed up family and that was something I was not looking forward to.