Baby Blue Eyes

Chapter Two

‘But you have a girlfriend!’ Eddie tells Jamie. ‘You can’t date me!’

‘I’ll make exceptions for you, gorgeous,’ Jamie responds, and the two of them fall about laughing once more.

Eventually, the peals of laughter subside, and Eddie sits down on the edge of my chair, Jamie taking the edge of Willow’s.

‘So, do you still have your skills on the bass?’ I ask Jamie, who gives me a look.

‘Of course I do, missy,’ he tells me, scratching his faint beard, which he always thought gave him ‘an edge.’ Matt tells him he looks like a tramp whenever he mentions it. ‘And you still have that songbird voice in you?’

I wince slightly at the use of the word songbird. Levi used to say I was his songbird, as cheesy as it sounds. I wonder if he calls Imogen that? I’d feel rather betrayed if he did, it has to be said. Not that it matters. ‘Well, hopefully. If not, we’re in trouble.’

‘And I’ve been practising drums almost every day since the break up,’ Eddie puts in, proudly, adjusting his beanie across his dark blond hair.

I smile. ‘It sounds as if it’s all perfect then,’ I say, optimistically.

‘Yeah, we just need a replacement Levi, that’s all,’ Matt puts in, his tone a lot less optimistic.

‘Trust me on this one,’ I say. ‘It’s not going to be that hard to replace him.’

‘You’re right,’ Jamie says. ‘There are so many guitarists in this school, there’s bound to be one who can sing as well as strum, no?’

Matt still doesn’t look convinced. ‘Well, maybe.’ He adjusts his oversized glasses. ‘But it would help if they were a song writer too.’

‘I can write songs!’ I protest.

‘But you usually wrote them with Levi, didn’t you?’ Matt persists. ‘Can you do it on your own?’

‘Well…’ I don’t like to mention that I’ve already written several songs on my own, ones that just sort of slipped out one day when I was playing the guitar and mulling over Levi. None of them were good enough to play in the band; I would need Levi’s input, but seeing as the songs are about him, I don’t think that’s a possibility.

‘We might find a songwriter to go with you,’ Eddie suggests, hopefully, and I smile at him gratefully.

‘Yes, let’s wait and see,’ I say, ruffling Matt’s hair affectionately.

He raises an eyebrow at me, unimpressed. ‘I’m sorry to be pessimistic, but I just don’t want you to compromise on the guitar playing because you have a vendetta against Levi.’

‘He deserves it,’ I mutter, darkly.

‘Well, we’ll see,’ says Matt, eyeing Jamie, who appears to be having a tickle fight with Eddie.

‘We will,’ I reply, a great deal more confidently. Not even Matt’s pessimism can get me down today.

*

My last lesson of the day is Spanish, and I head off to it reluctantly. Spanish is my only lesson with Levi, and I can’t say that I enjoy having him there in the lesson at all.

I sit down in my seat, pulling out my pencil case and smiling at Willow, who’s sat next to me.

‘Okay?’ she asks.

I nod. ‘Not to bad at all. You?’

She nods too, leaning forward to catch her pen as it rolls off of the table. She misses, and it falls off, only to be caught neatly by someone just before it hits the floor.