"It isn't your place to tell me what to do! Just do your job and leave her up to me! I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing better than you!" I hear my uncle yell as I begin to wake up.
I moan at how loud he is and roll over to look at my clock on my nightstand. I blink a couple of times before seeing the time on the clock. I jump out of bed as soon as I see that it's almost fifteen minutes until ten. I rush to my closet and grab some clothes before slipping them on along with my shoes. I grab my phone and hurry downstairs.
As much as I don't want to give the tour to Nick, I know that I have to show up, and I need to be there on time. I hurry into the kitchen where Emma and my uncle are standing, shouting at each other. They stop as soon as I walk in, but I just roll my eyes and grab a muffin that's on a platter in the middle of the kitchen island.
"Where are you off to?" my uncle asks as I rush to the back door to go through the second kitchen.
"School. I'm giving a tour to someone. Oh, and don't bother stopping whatever you're arguing about. I'm seventeen and have heard plenty arguing in my life. Though, I haven't ever heard of anyone arguing with their housekeeper. Gotta run!" I shout as I run out.
I don't have to turn around to know that they're both probably staring after me like I've lost my mind. I hurry down the path and soon come to the center of town. I jog down the streets with people staring after me as I run, but I ignore them and hurry to the school. Once I get there, I check the time and see that it's exactly ten o'clock. I breathe a sigh of relief and slow down.
"Glad you're here, Miss Walker," the principal says as I walk up the steps toward him.
I just nod, and we stand next to each other in awkward silence. Standing with the principal, waiting for Nick, is not my idea of a fun Saturday morning. I silently beg for Nick to hurry up and get here as the silence grows more and more awkward.
Just as I finish my silent begging, I hear Nick's voice greet, "Hello, Principal Beck. Thanks for allowing me to come tour the school. I'm really excited."
Principal Beck smiles as Nick walks up to us. "Anytime, Nick. This is Maya Walker, but I'm assuming you know her pretty well because she told me that you two are acquaintances."
Nick shakes the principal's hand and gives me a smile. "Yes, we do know each other. Good to see you again, Maya."
I force a smile and an overly sweet reply. "You too."
"Well, now that the introductions have been done, let the tour begin. Nick, if anything goes wrong or if you need more information, please feel welcome to come to my office. I'm sure Miss Walker will give you a satisfactory tour," Principal Beck tells Nick as he walks inside, leaving me alone with Nick.
"Shall we start?" I ask him in my fake sweet voice.
He smiles at me. "You can drop the sweet act. And yes, I would love to start the tour."
"Thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to talk in a sweet voice the whole day. Anyway, here is the outside of the school. As you can see, it is a top notch building," I tell him sarcastically.
He laughs, and I officially start the tour. I try to be slightly serious throughout the tour, but I'm still not exactly happy with the whole situation. He laughs at my jokes and sarcastic comments during the whole tour, surprising me. He seems to actually enjoy my company, which is a drastic change for me.
The tour finally finishes at around eleven thirty, and I lead Nick to the office where Principal Beck is waiting for us. I can tell that Principal Beck is worried that I may have done something to offend Nick, so I simply smile at him and let Nick talk.
"How was the tour?" Principal Beck asks slightly nervously.
"It was great. Maya did an excellent job, which leads me to a question I have for you," Nick replies.
Principal Beck almost sighs with relief but manages to ask steadily, "And what is that?"
"Well," Nick begins, "I really want to do something special for the Clearwater Bay community, and Maya mentioned that the town holds an event every year for tourists. I was thinking that maybe this year the high school could put on a little show that involves singing performances and possible a play or something like that. I would love to put it together with the help of my aunt. Maybe, I could even surprise the audience with a performance of one of my songs."
Principal Beck looks shocked that Nick would even consider to do something like this. In fact, he looks starstruck. Nick waits for a response, but he doesn't get one right away. Nick looks over at me, but I just shrug my shoulders and ignore Nick.
Finally, Principal Beck manages to squeak out, "That would be amazing. I'll talk to the festival committee. I'm sure they'll also be pleased with the idea."
Nick stands up to leave and holds his hand out to Principal Beck. "Awesome. I'll be waiting for a call about the idea. Have a great day."
Principal Beck shakes Nick's hand and replies, "Thank you for your generosity. I'll call you as soon as I have an answer." Nick nods and walks out of the office, and Principal Beck immediately says to me, "You did your job well, Maya."
I just nod to his praise and stand up to leave. He says one more thing to me before saying goodbye, and I leave. I walk out with a sigh of relief because I just got the least favorite thing of the day over and done with. Now, I get to go back to the house and relax with music, reading, and writing.
"Maya," Nick's voice interrupts me from my pleasant thoughts.
I groan and turn my head to see Nick leaning against the side of the wall as though he was waiting for me. "What do you want now?" I ask him tiredly.
He stands up straight and walks over to me. "I'm hungry and was wondering if you would want to get something to eat with me."
"I'm not hungry," I say to make an excuse, but my stomach growls loudly, causing Nick to look at me with clear amusement on his face.
"Sure... C'mon, Maya. I know you don't really like me, but you might as well come and eat with me. Look, I promise I'll try not to annoy you," Nick tells me.
I sigh and begin a debate in my thoughts of whether or not I should go eat with Nick. I'm really hungry, but I'm not sure if eating with him is the best idea. Then again, I wouldn't have to go home and face Emma and my uncle. Still, it's Nick, and he annoys the crap out of me. My stomach growls again.
"Earth to Maya," Nick says as he waves a hand in front of my face.
I snap out of my thought debate and sigh with defeat. "Fine."
His smile widens, and he leads me down the school's steps to his car, where he opens the door for me and closes the door behind me once I'm inside. He jogs to the driver's seat and gets in. We both buckle our seat belts before he turns on the car and begins to drive.
He turns on the radio, and one of his songs is on, making me groan. "Please, no."
"What?" he asks, switching the station.
"I don't like that song," I state.
I look over to see him raise his eyebrow as he slowly replies, "Okay. You do realize I'm the singer, right?"
"Of course I know it's your song," I snap.
"Wow, you're more straightforward than I realized," he says to me.
"Look, the song wasn't bad the first hundred times I heard it. After that, it got really repetitive, so I don't like it anymore," I explain.
"Makes sense," he replies.
Then, Home by Michael Bublé comes on, and I begin to sing along with it, ignoring the fact that Nick is in the car as well. It's one of my favorite songs. Suddenly, I hear Nick's deep voice singing along with me. I look over to him, and see him smiling as we both sing. I find myself smiling too, something very rare for me.
When the song is over, he turns the radio down and says, "I'm impressed. You've got a voice."
"Thanks. I think," I reply uncertainly.
"I'm serious, Maya. I'm not joking; you do have a great voice. Anyway, what made you want to sing along to that song and not a different one?"
I shrug. "I don't know. It's just one of my favorites. It never gets old, no matter how many times it's played."
"Interesting," I hear him mutter.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing. Ah, here we are. I hope you're not a vegetarian," he replies, changing the subject as he parks his car and turns it off.
I look out my window and see that we're at a burger place outside of Clearwater Bay. By the time I've taken a good look, Nick is on my side of the car and opening the door for me. I get out, and he closes the door behind me. He slips on some sunglasses and leads me inside the small building.
We get seated immediately, and I sit across from Nick. He smiles at me and then opens a menu. I also open a menu and stare at it. Once again, the silence is a comforting silence, not an awkward silence. It's weird how every silence I feel with someone is awkward, but somehow with Nick, whom I've only known for about a couple of weeks, the silence is a comfort. How is that possible?
"So, what do you think you're getting?" Nick suddenly asks me.
I pause before answering, "I think the chicken fingers with gravy. What about you?"
"The Original," he replies.
I quickly scan the menu and find what he's talking about. It's a regular burger with everything on it with a slight twist. "Looks good," I find myself saying.
I set my menu down just as he sets his menu down. When I look at him, I can tell he wants to ask me something, but he's afraid to ask. Then, he glances away from me. I turn my head and see that there's a girl staring at him. I offer to switch spots with him because he's sitting against a wall facing the girl. He agrees, and we switch quickly.
"Maya," he starts, "would you get mad if I asked you a slightly personal question?"
I sigh. "I think it depends on the question."
"It's about your uncle," he tells me.
I hesitate to reply because I'm not sure I want to answer any personal questions, especially from a singer who is going to be working with my uncle. In the end, I finally say, "Shoot."
"Why don't you like him?" Nick hesitantly asks.
"I just... I just don't particularly like him," I say quickly.
"That's not an answer," he states.
"I never agreed to answer," I shoot back at him, trying to lighten the mood.
He sighs and runs his fingers through his brown hair. "I promise I won't tell anyone. I swear I'm not trying to use you like I know you think I am. I just want to know if I can help or something."
For some odd reason, I find myself believing him, so I tell him, "You can't help. Nobody can do anything about it besides my uncle and me. I don't like him because he did something that caused more pain for me, and the wound is still fresh."
"Okay," Nick replies, not pushing for a better explanation, making me very grateful.
"Do you mind me asking a question?" I ask a couple minutes of later.
"Go ahead," he says.
"Why have you been so adamant about talking to me and getting to know me? I don't get it at all."
He leans forward slightly. "As hard as it might be for you to believe, I find you very interesting. Firstly, you are extremely straightforward and direct, which is refreshing. Secondly, I find you funny, and thirdly, I want to know more."
I raise an eyebrow. "More about what?"
He takes a deep breath and carefully says, "I want to know more about the secret that everyone in Clearwater Bay is holding in. Everyone tiptoes around like something is about to explode, and I want to know why."
"You think this so called 'secret' has something to do with me?" I ask him.
"I do, and I'll get to the bottom of it," he states.
"Good luck with that," I reply sarcastically.
"Thank you. Now, where is our waiter? We've been here for awhile, yet we still haven't ordered or gotten water or anything," he says, changing the subject.
"No idea," I answer.
He begins to look around for a waiter. I look down at my hands and realize that I had been staring at Nick. I begin to chastise myself for doing that because he probably thinks I'm weird. Plus, I'm not one to stare at a guy, so I don't know why I stared at him.
"There's our waiter," Nick mutters.
"Hello, I'm sorry for the long wait. I'm Alli, and I'll be your waiter today," a familiar voice says cheerfully.