Shattered Stars

Chapter 3

Drew's second day of school was much better. He could find every class and his locker by himself so Jackie didn't have to escort him everywhere, even though she waited by his locker and walked him to class anyways.

In the classes he didn't have with Jackie he sat next to Ethan or Eric or Alex or Emily. Other classes without any of them a random girl would sit next to him and try to talk him up. He, politely, showed no interest in them.

Since it was the second day of school none of the teachers were as forgiving as they were yesterday, so they were actually doing work in class and were already drowning in homework. Drew, however, liked it – the feeling of being a normal teenager again and hating having so much homework.

The most interesting topic on everyone's lips has been all about that Miranda who died and her best friend Megan. Everyone had different ideas of how she passed away. Here's a list of the top 3 conspiracies:

1. Miranda was driving drunk and drove into another car, killing her and the passenger in the other car

2. Miranda was sneaking out with her summer fling and they fought so he drove the car over a bridge, killing both of them. And,

3. She wasn't actually in a car accident she actually committed suicide.

Question is which one, if any, is true?

Everyone was anticipating Megan's arrival back at school, no one knows when she'll be back but they're very interested to see how she'd doing.

This same topic was what was discussed at the lunch table. Drew was interested to hear more about the people that everyone seems to care about. His interest peaked when they started discussing their talents, namely Megan's "magical voice".

"How good is she at singing?" Drew asked curiously.

"Dude, she sounds like an angel," Alex said.

"Yeah like angel meets Adele plus Rihanna," Eric added.

"Plus Beyoncé," Ethan stated.

"Plus Nina Simone," Jackie added further.

"Plus Lana Del Ray," Emily added last.

"And all of that is effortless. She's the most talented person this town has ever seen, and the crazy thing is that she doesn't know it. She sells herself short; she's too humble about it. If I had a voice like that I would stop talking and just sing everything," Jackie's last sentence made the group laugh a little.

"Some people are just born with it right?" Alex smiled.

"That's incredible," Drew, being a singer himself, said astonished. "I hope I get to hear her perform, is she a part of the music club?"

"A part of it?" Emily laughed, "She singlehandedly built the entire music club from scratch."

"What do you mean?" Drew was curious.

"There wasn't a music club a couple years ago, so Megan – being the mayor's daughter and having politics in her blood – started a petition for the school to start one as a registered extracurricular." Eric took a bite of his sandwich.

"Then, after getting everyone in the high schools signature, she had her parents to get all their colleagues to make donations for buying instruments. She also donated all of her savings and made her father donate double of what she did. Mayor Hastings himself said that if ever her music doesn't work out she should pursue law because she makes one convincing argument." Emily added.

Hastings, he noted. Megan Hastings.

"And that's how the music club started. She's the president of the club, she doesn't let anyone who doesn't take music serious into the club – and trust me a lot of people have tried to just to make their college applications look better" Jackie said.

"Isn't there like a teacher in charge?" Drew inquired.

"There is a teacher but he's definitely not in charge," Ethan laughed.

"Are you guys a part of the club?" Drew's eyebrow rose.

"Oh yeah of course! I'm on the drums!" Ethan made devil signs with his hands.

"Electric guitar!" Eric dramatically pretended to be playing the guitar.

"Acoustic guitar and vocals," Emily raised her hand.

"Keyboard and vocals," Jackie smiled.

"Cello," Alex smiled as well.

"That's really awesome," Drew was amazed.

"You should join," Eric suggested.

"Yeah, on your way to class go pass the music class and sign up!" Jackie put a hand on his shoulder in an encouraging way.

And he did, sign up. The music teacher, Mr Robinson, was delighted to have a 'superstar' sign up for his class.

The classes after lunch seemed to drag. Drew was exhausted and just wanted to get home already. When the final bell rang he was relieved.

Outside, his mom was in the car waiting for him with Nora smirking at him from the passenger seat. He took the seat behind her and greeted them. He could walk home if he wanted to, but with the sun boiling hot he preferred not to.

The drive down Long Street was busy, what with all the school-goers trying to get home, with traffic. Nora was going on about some girl who had a pink something – Drew wasn't paying attention as he rested his head on the window and watched everything outside closely.

Then, as they turned right onto the street where their house is located, someone caught his eye. He recognised her from the back. The girl who lived across his house. But instead she had on black jeans and sneakers, rather than the dress and flats he saw her wearing on Tuesday. And her hair was tied up into a high ponytail instead of flowing down her back. The car was moving too fast for him to get a good look at her but when they passed her he looked backed. He couldn't make out her face but he could see her pull off her jersey from around her waist and drape it over her forearm.

2 minutes later they pulled into their driveway. He followed his mom and sister in and put his bag down next to the front door. Then, he went out onto the porch and waited for her. He decided he was going to introduce himself, maybe even make friends with her. He wondered why he hadn't seen her at school today or yesterday – he had been on the lookout for her.

A couple minutes later he saw her reach their block, he took this as his signal to get of the porch and walk to the edge of the sidewalk. She hadn't noticed him since her eyes were focused on the ground. Then, when she passed the house next to hers and started toward her driveway, he spoke.

"Excuse me," he said and stepped onto the street.

She stopped and turned around.

Her face took Drew aback for a moment. Her eyes were a light brown, almost hazel and yellow. But the part that's supposed to be white was a reddish pink. Like she had been crying. She looked straight into his eyes unfazed.

"Uh are you okay?" he stepped closer to her; they were about five feet apart. She reaches his above shoulders with her height.

"I'm fine. Can I help you?" her voice was silky smooth.

"I uh, my family and I moved into the house across the street. I'm Drew. Drew Cooper," he put his hand out. If she knew who he is she didn't show. Instead she looked down at his hand and then back up at him.

Then, without shaking his hand, she said "Welcome to the neighbourhood." Her voice held no hospitability or her face a smile. She turned around and began the walk up to her house, but Drew's voice stopped her again.

"I didn't catch your name?" it sounded like a question.

She turned slightly and in a monotonous tone said, "Megan."

She turned back, began walking towards her house and said loud enough for him to hear:

"Megan Hastings."