The Unknown Songwriter

Chapter Two: The Phone Call

Tia’s POV:

I was on my bed playing strings on my acoustic guitar trying to finish the song I had started. So some of you are probably asking, ‘How do her songs get on the radio?’, ‘Is she famous?’ Well, no I’m not famous and I’ll tell you why. When I was about ten my mom bought me a guitar. I loved it to death and would always want to play it nonstop even when I was in another place.

I decided from that point on that I wanted to involve my career with music somehow and someway. So when I was twelve I wrote my first song and it was called Oh My My My. It was originally supposed to be written to Will because I may have had a little crush on him… But I am over it now and just think of us as friends only. My mom first heard it and thought that we should get my music out there somehow. I didn’t want to because being me and all, I hated the spotlight. So life went on, and I wrote about ten more songs. A year later, I was thirteen and I finally decided that this was my time to show others my music. I searched up and coming artist at this time, which was Taylor Swift. I decided to send her some of my songs to see what she thought of them. Of course I never told her my name or anything that could give away my identity.

I never heard from her until a couple months later when her manager called me up and asked me if they could use my songs for her first album. I agreed but they wanted a signature identifying that they can use the song under reasons and stuff like that. As much as I tried persuading them that they can just use it without the signature, I knew I was defeated. You see at that time, I didn’t care to get the song under my name. All I cared about was getting to know that my music was out there for everyone to here.

During that summer, my mom and I took a secret vacation, that none of our friends knew about, to California. I met Taylor Swift for the first time, and for her to only be five years older than me, she was such a kid. (in a good way) From that point on, Taylor was a good friend of mine, and I became one of her songwriters. When my mom died, we became the closest. She was like a mother to me giving me all the advice I needed to hear.

Every now and then when she would call me in her free time, and Will would always be suspicious of who it was calling me. I just always said it was Cat or one of my other friends. I never told anybody about my little secret because I wanted them to know my music made it out there without me getting famous. Nobody but my mom knew, which is why I miss all the advice she would give me the most.

I continued to play notes until my phone vibrated. I looked at the caller ID to see that it was Taylor. “Hey Taylor!” I said excited to hear from her since the last time she called. “Hey Tia! I was wondering if we could discuss something…in private.” This made me suspicious and worried for some reason. “Ya, I’m home alone so it’s cool.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Remember the contract you signed four years ago?” “ya….” I was getting nervous and I don’t know why. I guess it was just the way she was wording it. “So my manager was going over it….and it says when you graduate high school you would have to come move to California with me.” She was talking very slowly. I guess to test me. “oh” was all I could say.

We stayed silent for a minute because in my head I was freaking out. “What am I supposed to do?!”, “What am I supposed to tell Will?!”, “What am I supposed to tell Cat?!” I was so scared and shocked at the same time. I finally had the urge to ask, “Do I have a choice?” I said barely audible. “No.” that was all it took to make me go bizarre. “Is there anything I can do to stay here?” I was never one to yell at others or freak out loud. I was more of an introvert. “I knew you wouldn’t want to move away from your friends, especially Will. So I came up with an idea.” I was calmer now thinking that Taylor was smart and she would have my back. “Just say you sent a college application to UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and say you got a scholarship to go there.” I nodded my head forgetting for a second that she couldn’t see me. Then a thought occurred to me. “But what if my friends come visit? What do I say?” I bit my lip feeling nervous about lying. I was never too good at it. I heard her sigh and then respond after a second. “Just say you can’t, and that you’re too busy with school.” I nodded my head understanding. “When do I have to leave?”… “Next week” I was shocked that she didn’t give me a heads up sooner. “Okay, well I guess I’ll see you next week?” “Ya. I really miss you though so that’ll be good to have you and me time!” she said sounding more cheerful. I nodded my head and tried to sound cheerful not thinking about what lied ahead. “Definitely.

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