My Little Decoy

♪ You're Alive to Feel ♪ {27}

"For all the air that's in your lungs
For all the joy that is to come
For all the things that you're alive to feel
Just let the pain remind you hearts can heal." -Hate To See Your Heart Break

 

"No, I'm not saying I'm sorry. One day, maybe we'll meet again." I sang in my low, soprano voice, as the acoustics echoed along the walls of the spacious practice room. The sound of my voice stopped as Jared Leto's carried on, filling my ears as the soundtrack continued playing. With my eyes closed, I focused on his voice as I interjected my own versions of harmonies in order to coincide with Gabriel's vocals later on. In my hands were my drumsticks, tapping out a simple click every measure to keep the tempo in check.

Warmth radiated through my thin, skeleton tank as the heater beside me kept me cozy in the autumn weather. My wool sweater hung over the rim of the piano I was sitting in front of, as the heat currently billowing into my face deemed it unnecessary. The breeze blew strands of my chocolate-brown hair into my mouth, and I would swat them away every so often whenever it would get in the way of my singing.

Currently, I was alone in the music room, but only until the lunch bell chimed and I was swept back into reality. Ever since the rehearsal last week, the rehearsal when we found out that we were moving on in the competition, I've been practicing nonstop - with or without the guys. I just felt like everything was turning out right, and I wanted to keep it that way.

As the song proceeded to loop, I adjusted the silky white earbuds into a more comfortable position as I stretched my cramped arms and legs. Accidentally kicking the piano's side, its keys let out a faint melodious echo from the impact. The instruments in the song began to filter in through the buds, making me freeze and listen to the harmonies and chords intently. I situated myself back into my previous sitting position, lifting a hand to float over the black and white keys of the grand piano in front of me. As the chorus started up, I pressed the keys down accordingly to the harmony I was currently creating and sang once more, "No, I'm not saying I'm sorry. One day, maybe we'll meet again."

A small, satisfied smile crossed my lips as I nodded in time with the song, singing softly and pressing the correct keys on the piano. I didn't know how to play the instrument, but I managed to pick out which pitches were which and based it off that. Sometimes, perfect pitch can come in handy, like in this situation. Other times, like whenever Drake, Xander, or Zac were out of tune, it was a curse. As the thoughts of the boys in Chasing Avenues floated through my imagination, I became distracted and accidentally hit the wrong key, causing the harmony and enchantment of the song to break.

I hit the pause button on my beaten-up iPod, making a mental note that I stopped just before the bridge. The clock above the rack of cellos in the corner told me that I had about seven minutes left until lunch ended. Taking that as a sign that practice was over, I closed the cover over the piano keys and grabbed my backpack, stuffing my iPod, drumsticks, and other materials back into its folds. To think that it had only been a matter of weeks, and we were already on our way to winning the competition.

During the duration of those weeks, I found that I was actually getting along really well with the guys, even closer than when I still hung out with Carter, Amber, and the Twins. Gabriel still seemed to have it in for me, but besides him, the rest of Chasing Avenues seemed to really take me and Xander under their wing. And during those duration of those weeks, I found that there was this... this weird feeling inside my chest whenever I saw them. It was hard to explain, but whenever I was at practice, or hanging out with them, I just felt complete. Happy.

It really was something I didn't understand, but I kind of liked it. I liked feeling content with something, rather than ignoring any sense of feeling altogether. The guys and I also managed to get close with Tilted Reality too, and I still couldn't believe it. Sometimes, they would invite us over to their mansion and we would just chill. As if we were friends since childhood or something.