By the end of her first week, Venus already knew the names of people she had no intention of ever speaking to. That was just how high school worked—rumors traveled faster than any real introduction.
It started in English class. A girl with perfect eyeliner leaned across the aisle, whispering to her friend, not caring who heard. "Did you hear the Truebloods are throwing another after-party this weekend?" The name stuck in Venus's head, unfamiliar but heavy with weight, like she was supposed to know what it meant.
At lunch, she heard it again. This time from a group of guys at the next table. "Mason Trueblood's band got offered another gig." One of them grinned, tapping a rhythm on the table like he wanted to be a part of it.
By the time Venus was walking home, the Trueblood name was everywhere, slipping into conversations in the hallways, scrawled on the back of notebooks, floating down the corridor like it belonged to royalty. Whoever they were, the brothers clearly mattered.
Venus didn't. Not yet, anyway.
She dropped her bag onto the floor as soon as she got home, Eli greeting her at the door with his usual burst of questions. "Did you make a friend yet? What's it like? Do they have pizza at lunch?" He barely gave her time to answer before darting back to the couch, flipping through his comic.
Her parents were both working late, again, so the apartment was quiet aside from Eli's commentary about superheroes and the faint hum of traffic outside. Venus retreated to her room, opening her notebook. Instead of doodling guitars this time, she scrawled the word she'd heard all day: Trueblood.
It felt strange on her page. Heavy. Important. She didn't know why.
When she reached for her guitar, strumming softly in the dim light of her desk lamp, she wondered if their name carried as much weight as people claimed—or if it was just another high school legend blown out of proportion. Either way, she had no intention of finding out. Not then. Not yet.
But fate, as always, had other plans.
"I'll keep you my dirty little secret, don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret..."
— The All-American Rejects
YOU ARE READING
Strings and Shadows
RomanceWhen Venus Miller moves to a new school in downtown LA, all she wants is to keep her guitar close and stay under the radar. But then she meets Mason Trueblood-the charismatic, talented musician who makes her world louder, brighter, and more complica...
