Winged? [Complete]

One

"I wanna be far away. Where the cold clouds go and the sun shine stays. Far away. from here, from here"

"Kelly stop singing!" Jacob shouted from his room.

I stuck my tongue out at the door. I was in the middle of making another song. I scribbled on my notepad the lyrics, bubbling in quarter notes on my staff paper.

For some reason, I've been writing a song everyday. Yesterday was "Wings to Fly", before that was "Airborne", today... I'm not sure what to name it. I played a few more chords on my acoustic and wrote a few other notations down.

"Leaving behind the dusty tears would be a haven of joy. But I can't keep waiting for my ticket out of here."

Singing the lyrics, I drifted into thought. I couldn't pinpoint why all of my songs were dealing with flight lately, but I have been aching to escape this wretched place. My parents do nothing but argue and when they're done, they come and yell at me or Jacob for nothing. That is, when they're around.

I stared out my window. A bird had made a nest in an empty flower pot I left on my window sill. I watched as the mother took its chick and dropped it, teaching it to fly.

"Fly free, birdy," I thought to myself, "I'll catch your feathers." I smiled to myself, thinking of an entirely new song:

"Fly away my love. Don't you look back at me. Fly away, away-ay-ay. I'll see you with the clouds. When the stars come out at night, I'll be watching you shine bright. Fly away, fly away, fly away..."

Jacob shouted another 'shut up' at me, and I just laughed. I sighed, hearing mom saying something to me about my friend, Taylor, being here. I shuffled my papers in a neat stack near the case where I placed my guitar in. I slipped my flats on and grabbed a belt for my pants, lacing it through the loops on my way down stairs.

"Hey, Taylor," I smiled, buckling my belt front, "We still on for today?"

"Yea, Mimi's in the car." She said, sipping her frappe.

Me, Taylor, and Miona had plans to study together, then hit the mall. We're going to Miona's today. I went to tell mom I was leaving and when I'd return. She told me she was leaving back out herself anyways. Then, I followed Taylor out to the car where Mimi waited behind the wheel.

"Hey, you." she greeted, extending 'you',

"Hey you." I said, doing the same,

"Hungry? I'm driving by Chick-Fil-A." I nodded and agreed. Luckily, I stuffed $10 in my pocket before leaving, but she would've paid for me if I didn't anyhow.

Taylor jumped into discussing boyfriends and social whereabouts during the car ride. Mimi made occasional jokes, and we laughed, commenting something funny as well. When we got to the drive-thru, Mimi placed our order and paid for everything. She also took the liberty of checking out and flirting with the cashier. Taylor had her comment about how she's a flirt and as always, Mimi protested. I looked out the window, staring at the clouds, thinking of a tune that had been echoing in my head for a while. I hummed it to myself, singing the lyrics in my head.

"Mimi, you still have your acoustic?" I said suddenly,

"Yea, why?"

"Can I use it when we get to yours?"

She mumbled an 'mhm' while sipping her milkshake, "I think it needs tuning, though."

"That's fine," I said "I'll tune it there."

Mimi shrugged as Taylor passed me my sandwich and milkshake. When we pulled into her driveway, I could almost hear the song complete itself. It was corrupted by the sound of dog barks.

I chuckled, "So you didn't sell Caramel, I hear."

"Pfft," Mimi denied, "What? Who said I was selling her?"

Me and Taylor both held a look of disbelief. We shook our heads, closing our car doors behind us, taking our backpacks with us. We followed Mimi into her house, she greeted her mom and her mom greeted us all. We returned smiles to her welcome.

We followed Mimi up to her room, neat, spacious, and decorated. The colors were so bright, it made me want to go on a road trip, or write a million songs, or have a sleepover, or-

"Kelly, you on Earth?" Taylor said, clipping my string of thought. Mimi was handing me her guitar and I had been staring anywhere else.

I nodded, coming back to 'Earth', "Yea, sorry," I said, taking the instrument from her.

Mimi smirked, "Kelly, there's a gig at my school in like a week or so. You should perform there."

I shuttered, "What?"

"Yea," she bit a granola bar, "It'll be in a smaller area than the auditorium. It's an open mic. My team thinks if we get a good turnout, we could raise like $100 for donations and $20 extra for our profit."

My chest tightened. I have terrible stage fright. I've never publicly performed ever. I've, instead, been humiliated.

Grade school: "You can't play with us because you might infect us with dork-Kelly-itis"

Middle school: "Ms Witteker, she can't play this role because she's brunette. Alise is blonde in the movie and book and Broadway!"

High school: "Huh, hey guys look at this. Kelly the bookworm wants the solo part? Somebody hand her Moby Dick since that's the only way she can get any."

I try to be reserved, now that I'm in college. I don't want to relive anything. What if I get rejected on stage? I tried to shift thoughts.

"So, what did you wanna play?" Taylor asked curiously,

I looked at her, trying to remember what did I want to play? Then, as if in response, I remembered. I plopped on Mimi's bed, plucking a few strings to see if I needed to tune it. I didn't. I exhaled, "I only heard the chorus in my head. Maybe I can finish it later." I breathed again, and started to strum the guitar according to the sound in my head:

"In the air I can breathe and see a thousand lands away, in the sky with these blades, I can't lead my heart astray. Wouldn't it be nice to feel the clouds on your face? No rules to hold you down, no one to tell you how. In the air, the world expands and I inhale adventure in the wind."

I paused, letting the last string's vibration echo off the guitar. I blushed a little when Mimi and Taylor clapped and howled.

"Okay, you definitely have to do the open Mic!" Taylor said, all too excitedly.

I grinned, brushing my long hair behind my ear, "Maybe..."

"Maybe??" Mimi inquired, "You've got talent and you are so doing the open mic!!" I giggled still grinning.

"Yea! Mimi and I can help you with the song, if you need help." Taylor backed.

"You don't even have a definite date yet, Mimi." I said, finding a sad excuse out of it.

"Pssh, I'll get the date tomorrow."

"But till then, you need a song!"

I looked from the cheering Taylor to the dancing Mimi, and reached for my backpack. "How about we focus on this homework for now?" I said, changing subjects, "In case you forgot, we have a science project and essay to do."

They agreed, taking their textbooks and materials out. I was just happy to change the subject.