Striking A Chord (Out of Tune Prequel)

4: Striking A Chord

Hey, lucky me, managed to find some wifi in the restaurant I'm at in Toronto to do this upload!

Again, Out of Tune is available for pre-order now from booksellers and as an ebook. The external link goes to my blog page for Out of Tune where you can find all the pre-order links!

Anyway - hope you like this chapter! Let me know what you think :)
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Chapter Four

We hang around on the front lawn until Josh arrives with Austin, Sam and Neil. Sam and Neil are non-identical twins; Neil's on the football team with Josh, but Sam prefers computers to sport. I don't know Austin that well.

'Hey, babe.' Josh kisses me briefly. I love how easy and natural that is - kissing him. I'm smiling when he pulls away. He glances at Allie. 'Hi, Allie.'

'Hey,' she mumbles.

'Where are the girls?' I ask my boyfriend. (I just love being able to say that. My boyfriend.)

'They're inside already. They got here like, twenty minutes ago. Come on.' He takes my hand and leads me inside, the boys trailing behind us. I can hear Sam asking Allie if she's done her English essay yet. I guess they must take that class together. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. At least Allie will be able to talk to Sam too.

Inside, it smells like pizza and sweat and beer. The music is so loud that people have to raise their voices for the person next to them to hear, and when I glance into the lounge I see stacks of empty Papa John's pizza boxes, and some crusts littering the coffee table.

We head straight for the kitchen, and I see Naomi standing near the beer keg, flipping her hair over her shoulder and placing her hand on some guy's bicep. Her three-inch heels and non-push-up-bra-enhanced cleavage make her look older than fifteen, and I feel a pang of jealousy.

Josh goes straight for the keg, fills two cups with beer, and hands me one before saying hi to Naomi.

She spares him a glance. 'Hey, Josh.' Then she sees me, and grins. 'Ashley! You made it!'

'Uh . . . yeah, yeah I did.'

'I thought maybe you weren't gonna come.'

'Why not?'

She shrugs. 'I don't know, it just seemed like you weren't too excited about coming when Josh asked you about it.'

I look down at the beer in my hand, and swirl it around. 'I was just a little nervous, I guess.' I thought I'd managed to hide it.

'Don't be!' She smiles, and her eyes flit behind me. The guy she was talking to clears his throat, and she puts her hand back on his bicep to let him know she's not forgotten all about him. 'You're Allie, right? Ashley's friend.'

I turn sideways so I can see them both 'Yeah. Hi.' .I don't miss Allie's grimace, and I don't think Naomi does either.

'I'm Naomi.'

'I know.'

'Oh, okay. Well, um, it's nice to meet you. You know, properly. I know we have Spanish together but I don't think we've actually talked.'

'No, we haven't.'

I know Allie's being awkward and uncomfortable, but Naomi doesn't know her like I do - she'll think Allie's bluntness is her being rude. I can see her perfect smile freezing into place, stiff and put-out.

Naomi gives me a look - eyebrows slightly raised, lips pursed, and forehead a little puckered. Then she turns away from Allie and back to Biceps, to carry on flirting with him.