Broken Strings

Chapter One

"Glad to see you're dealing with our news?" Hayden says and I turn to him narrowing my eyes.

"Do you people have any other ways to ruin our tour?" I ask him with so much hatred in my voice.

"Em are you pregnant?" I punch him in his shoulder. Hard.

"You know this would be great for the tabloids 'Esther Hills beats up Hayden Collins ruining her American tour and disappointing thousands of fans. What a bitch.' " Hayden laughs at me and I pick up a book off of a table on the middle of hallway. I fling it at him hitting him square in the face.

"Words hurt Esther." I storm away from the boy but he follows after me.

The two of us are going to the rehearsal room anyway. Hayden makes sure his footsteps are off time to mine. I rub my fingers together in frustration. He knows that the offbeat sound annoys me. His loud laugh comes from his mouth again.

"You're so uptight." Hayden says throwing his arm around my shoulder. I don't shrug him off though. I know I'm being a bitch, this tour is just stressing me out. Hayden stops walking and turns me to face him. His mucky brown eyes stare back at me.

"How about after rehearsal I get us the greasiest Chinese take out ever and we can get all those crappy singing movies you love. OK?" The corner of Hayden's mouth curls up into a half smile. He knows I can't resist Chinese food.

"Fine but don't tell Andre." I say relaxing my shoulders a little. Hayden makes an action of zipping his mouth shut. We enter into the rehearsal room.

The floor is wooden so it's easy for movement. The wall on the farther end of the room is covered in mirrors. Bars run along two of the white walls. In the corner at the back of the room is a mini fridge. Filled only with healthy snacks and water. Standing in the middle of the room is Andre. He is flipping through his phone as he waits for us.

I turn to Hayden and put my finger to my lips indicating him to keep quiet. I then move slowly across the room knowing which floor boards will creak beneath my feet. I reach the average height man and bend my knees slightly getting ready to jump on his back. I leap forward shouting.

I expect to hit Andres back but he steps to the side just before I can. My face is now pressed against the floor and I can feel my heart beat in my nose.

"Mirrors Esther, you forget every time." Andre sighs. I peel my face from the floor and look straight ahead.

Hayden's shaking shoulders are showing clearly and Andre's smirking face is looking at the back of my head. My green eyes stare back at me and strands of my brown hair fall onto my face. I blow them out of my eyes and sigh. I hate this room.

"Come on Rudolph." Hayden splutters out through his fits of laughter. The two boys take an arm each and pull me high into the air before slamming my feet against the floor. The mirror across the room reflects my big, red nose. I turn to Hayden and shove him hard in the chest.

"You know if we didn't have a tour in a few days I'd mess up that pretty little face of yours." Hayden says rubbing his chest. I stick my tongue out at him.

"Ok let's get started."

Hayden lies on my hammock and throws the stress ball in the air. Then catches it. Throws it up again. Catches it. If I wasn't so used to his irritating habits I would throw my fork at him. Not saying that I'd hit him though. My aim is terrible.

I finish off the last of my noodles and then walk over to my pile of movies. Which happens to be on the shelf over my hammock. I cross the room just as Hayden throws the ball up. I snatch it from the air with a triumphant smile. Hayden's mouth drops wide open .

"That may just be the most athletic thing I've ever seen you do." He exclaims. A exasperated sigh escapes my lips as I juggle the ball from one hand to the other.

"I'm a hidden athlete." Hayden scoffs.

"And I'm a hidden ballerina." He mumbles as he swings out of the hammock reaching to the top shelf to get my favorite movies.

"Actually there was that one time that you begged my mam to let you go to my ballerina lessons." I say pointing my finger at him.

"Don't ever speak of that again." He calls over his shoulder as he places Hairspray into the DVD player. "How many Zac Efron movies will I have to watch?"

"The limit does not exist." I answer without even thinking. My jaw drops open and I quickly look over at Hayden who is groaning.

"Seriously I now have to watch Mean Girls just because you accidentally quoted it?"

"It's really bad that you know that that was a quote."

"Esther. I've known you since we were six. How many times have you forced me to watch that movie?" He asks and then we both turn to each other quickly as the words slip from our lips.

"The limit does not exist."

"Jinx." The two of us busted out laughing. Our days usually ended like this. The two of us watching movies until we fell asleep.

"You looking forward to being stuck on a tour bus with me?" Hayden asked fiddling with the end of my pony tail.

"You live with me. I'm used to it." I say slapping his hand away from me.

"You couldn't live without me." Hayden hugs me tight and I bite his arm.

"Yes I could." We both knew that wasn't true.

I couldn't live without Hayden. He couldn't live without me.

That's why we work.

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Ok guys so new story! I've written quite a few chapters to this book and am happy with the result. Hopefully you agree. There will obviously be songs mentioned throughout the book and I am not claiming that any of them are my own. Also the groups in this book don't have any specific genre of music. If a song is mentioned there will generally be a message and a reason to the song.

I hope to update regularly and hope to get feedback from you.

Enjoy:)