I size up the pale yellow door in front of me, raising an eyebrow at the festive Christmas wreath that still hangs limply from its hook. Biting my lip, I glance around to make sure no one is watching. The idea of inviting Stephanie to my birthday celebration makes me queasy. She’ll stick to me like glue, watching me like a hawk. She was always like that to begin with, glad for my company. Now though, things are different. She’s out to get me. Jealous that I hang out with Justin, she’s decided to hate me.
It’s weird actually; she encouraged me to join the band in the first place. But, her crush on Justin must have overtaken her thread of logical thinking and now she’s incredibly envious, wanting me to stay away. I wonder if she thought that if I was friends with him that would automatically make her friends with him as well. She was so wrong.
Swallowing my dislike, I plaster a fake, sickly sweet smile on my face and knock on the door. I wait for someone to answer, shifting uncomfortably on the welcome mat. When the door does open, I’m greeted by Stephanie herself. Her dull blonde hair is unbraided and framing her face in a crimpy, tangled mess. She looks quite crazy, almost like a mental patient. If it weren’t for her creepy persona and her strange tendencies she’d actually be quite pretty, but it’s quite obvious she’s stuck in the state of a child. She tends to dress in clothes I would find my niece, Lexi, wearing with long blonde braids down her back. She’s immensely sheltered by her mother, so I can see where this comes from. Nevertheless, she’s got a mind of her own and gives me an amused look from behind the door.
“Come to apologize for stealing my future husband?” she asks, giving me a serious look.
I know she’s kidding, she has to be. That’s a new level of crazy if she thinks I’d apologize for stealing someone I never really stole. Plus, she’s never said more than a couple of words to Justin and usually when she does it’s along the lines of “marry me”.
I shake my head and clear my throat, trying to avoid looking into her eyes.
“Actually, I’ve come to invite you to my birthday celebration this Wednesday.” I say as casually as possible. Part of me wants her to say no, but I know that if my plans are going to work out she needs to say yes.
Her eyes narrow, a skinny arm snaking around completely to the front of the door before her body emerges from behind the protection of the painted entry. To be honest, it kind of freaks me out.
“Why would I want to come to that?” she asks, spit flying from her mouth as her lisp takes over.
I rock gently on the balls of my feet and run a hand through my hair, trying to find a good excuse.
“I—um, I just thought that since you live so close and everything that you might want to come,” I say, wincing at how horrible this sounds, “There will be cake.” I add.
She throws her thin locks over her shoulder and leans in the entryway; trying to look cool, I presume, and answers, “The Heartbreakers perform Wednesday. I can’t miss it.”
“Oh, well, what’s one performance?” I ask, “Besides, I was hoping we could be friends again. I’m sorry about the whole Justin thing. I know you love him.”
She seems to measure the honesty in my voice, glaring at me slightly. It’s like she can see through me.
“Yes, well, I do love him. He’s perfect and I can’t miss his performance.” She tells me, turning her face down to examine my appearance.
I could slap her right now. Why can’t she just go along with it?
“Please Stephanie? I’m sure he won’t mind. Besides, I’d forget about Justin, he’s not the one who likes you after all.”
Actually, I take that back. I could slap myself right now. Watching her eyes widen as they meet mine, I instantly regret putting one of the other boys at risk for Stephanie’s over the top fan girl trends.
“One of the Heartbreakers likes me?” she asks, her eyes lighting up and her voice rising to impossible octaves as she begins to squeal, jumping up and down. Reaching out, she grabs my shoulders, still bouncing, and questions, “Which one is it? Which one likes me?”
I open my mouth, searching for an answer. I have to be the worst friend right now by doing this, but it’s for the sake of the band. One of them is going to get thrown under the bus, and I’ve only got two options seeing as the rest are taken.
“Alex.” I answer quickly, nodding at my problem solving skills but mentally strangling myself. When Alex finds out he’s going to kill me.
She stops bouncing, “Alex? “Her eyes become glazed over, staring off into space. A small smile spreads across her lips, “Alex.” She repeats, and contentment washes over her.
“Yep, he’s head over heels. Don’t tell him I told you,” I beam largely, “Anyway, he’d be incredibly embarrassed if you showed up this week because he just got a new haircut, see, and is worried about the way the lights will bounce of his hair.” I lie, it’s a horrible lie but she’s buying it, “So, it’d make him feel better if you didn’t come. I thought I’d help him out by inviting you to my party. Wow, feels good to get that off my chest.” I say with fake relief, wiping pretend sweat off my forehead.
It’s like she’s seeing an angel choir in the distance, an airy giggle escaping her pale pink lips.
“Alex! Oh my gosh! Alex! I should have known!” she exclaims, “Of course I don’t want to embarrass him, I’ll come to your birthday for his sake. I must keep my man happy!”
I want to laugh. I want to burst out laughing and never stop. This is just too ridiculous! How can someone even be that gullible? Whatever, it’s helping me so I can’t really complain. But, boy, this girl will believe anything she’s so desperate. I almost feel bad.
Most of all, I feel sorry for Alex. Welcome to hell, Alex. She’s going to follow that boy like a puppy, take secret pictures of him and hang them up in her locker, and she’s probably going to want to learn to play the drums just to impress him. What can I say, she’s a hopeless romantic. I’m taking advantage of it and I’m not proud, but I’ll sort everything out once I’m back in the Heartbreakers. Selfish, I know. I’m a terrible person.
“Yep! So, come on over to my house at four-thirty-ish Wednesday after school. Um, yeah, see you there,” The words tumble out of my mouth quickly. I should probably get out of here fast so that she can’t see the flaws in my answers, “Oh, and you don’t have to bring a gift.” I add, mentally rolling my eyes at the tubes of paint and sets of charcoal pencils I know I’ll be receiving soon.
I rush off the welcome mat and stalk down the path to my house across the street. I don’t dare look back at the light blue house and the pale yellow door behind me. Making eye contact or turning back will only give her suspicions.
Oh, who am I kidding? I read far too much into this kind of thing. I just need to relax. Getting flustered and negative will only bring me down. To be honest, I don’t need that right now.
~*~
Wednesday morning I hit the buzzer on my alarm clock, despising its very existence, and do my routine morning stretches: arms above the head, arms to out the side, toes and feet flex and extend, sit up and stare around my room blankly. I’m yawning deeply and rubbing the sleep from my eyes when a nervous flutter in my stomach causes my eyes to fly open and my tired body to bolt out of bed.
Today’s the day. Today’s the day I sneak out, the day I reunite with the Heartbreakers, the day I turn seventeen. Today is the day.
Usually in the morning I turn on autopilot, but not today. Today isn’t just a normal day.
After my morning routine of showering, dressing, and managing to tame my red hair, I stroll down the stairs with a cute little smile on my face. Walking into the kitchen, I find my dad waiting there expectantly with my mother at his side.
“Happy birthday Reesie!” My dad smiles largely, pushing a little wrapped box across the breakfast bar.
“Happy birthday Reese.” My mom chimes in, smiling as well. She is my mom so I know she can’t fake this. However, she is so not forgiven.
I continue to grin as I cross the room and pick up the box, jiggling it a little.
“Let me guess,” I begin, putting my ear up to the package and frowning on the inside, “something art related.”
My father’s smile falters, but he continues on beaming none the less, not saying a word. My mother just nods to the present, urging me to open it.
I peel back the simple light pink wrapping paper and reveal a little white box which I waste no time with. I lift the lid and before my eyes sits a silver necklace, but it’s not just any necklace. This necklace is in the shape of an artist’s palette and has my name carved into the middle. It reminds me a lot of something else I usually wear around my neck.
I clear my throat and look up to smile at them, but it’s tense.
As if I don’t see what’s going on here. They’re trying to get me to take the guitar pick off and replace it with this. Wouldn’t my mother feel like she’s got me wrapped around her little finger if I actually wore this? Of course she would. It’s almost like a trick. When the necklace comes off and is replaced with hers I’m no longer connected to the band, I’m connected to her. She will be in complete control.
“I love it, thanks.” I tell them and take the necklace out of the box. The guitar pick hangs off my neck, resting on my chest perfectly visible against my shirt. I notice my mother raise her eyebrows in anticipation as I begin to fiddle with the latch of the new necklace. But, I don’t take the guitar pick off at all. I simply put the new necklace on over the pick and smile at them. I can practically see the vein in my mother’s forehead begin to twitch.
Score.
“Glad you like it, Reesie.” My dad grins and walks around the breakfast bar to kiss my forehead before leaving me alone to deal with my mother.
My mom’s eyes look down at the granite counter top and her slim fingers tap against the surface lightly. I turn around and avoid a conversation by quickly taking an apple out of the basket by the refrigerator and sticking it in my mouth as I exit the kitchen.
~*~
After a miserably slow day of school I arrive back home and enter the house just as the rain begins to pour heavily from the sky.
“Rats.” I mutter as I glance out the hallway window at the rapidly falling rain. This is going to mess up everything!
I hurry upstairs and almost bump into A.J. as he saunters out of his bedroom. He looks down at me and then glances out a nearby window.
“Well, I guess this is a sign. You shouldn’t go tonight,” he states casually, trying not to look smug.
I huff and look over my shoulder at the pouring rain, wincing at the faint sound of thunder in the distance.
“Nope, I’m going.” I say persistently.
A.J. only sighs, shaking his head before he brushes past me to skip down the stairs. He’s still against the idea of me sneaking out tonight. Speaking of which, I’m doing exactly that in less than an hour.
Hurrying into my bedroom, I throw a sweatshirt on over my t-shirt and slip on a different pair of shoes. I’ve just finished up retouching my makeup when the doorbell rings, so I launch myself down the stairs to answer it.
“Hey Stephanie.” I breath, slightly out of breath from my speedy descent down the stairs.
“Hello Reese, happy birthday!” she sings and enters the house with her mother and father trudging along behind her.
I show her in and lead her family into the living room where A.J. is sitting in front of the T.V. He sees them and quickly switches it off, standing up to be polite and shake hands.
Stephanie is tugging at my shirt, begging me to tell her everything about Alex. I give her short answers, glancing at the clock every other second until my parents finally decide to show up from their last minute present wrapping in the office.
My mom makes conversation with Stephanie’s quite easily while my dad begins to talk fishing with hers. A.J. keeps bouncing back and forth between all the conversations. It’s hard to get his attention, but when I do I nod to the clock.
“Alright, well, I think we should get to presents.” A.J. pipes up.
Everyone agrees and I awkwardly sit there opening up package after package, smiling for the camera and saying quiet thank you’s. As expected, the majority of my gifts are artsy: new easels, paints, brushes, pencils with my name engraved in them, a new sketchpad. My brother is the only one who’s got a sense of humor and decided to get me a shirt with a witty saying on the front and plastic toy cars (because my mom refuses to let me get a car of my own).
After presents are opened I look back up at the clock and see I’ve got ten minutes to finish up here. I quickly suggest everyone watches a movie while I go and try out my new birthday gifts. My mom is about to ignore the idea so A.J. decides to talk her into it, and Stephanie’s family agrees. I give A.J. a grateful look and scurry off to the office where I throw my presents on the desk and lock the door.
The rain is still coming down pretty hard outside and I immediately blame Justin for anything bad that might happen. A rapping at the window makes me stop unpacking presents from the gift bags and fly across the room to open the latch.
“Didn’t think you’d get out of this just because of a little rain, did you?” Justin asks as soon as the window is pushed up. He’s standing outside the office in the flower beds completely soaked. His usually perfectly gelled hair is plastered to his face, droplets dripping off the ends delicately.
“Course not.” I reply and swing a leg out the open window.
Justin helps me out, holding my hand so I can steady myself as I slide out. When my feet hit the damp earth below me I cringe. There goes a perfectly good pair of shoes.
“Come on, we don’t have a lot of time.” Justin urges, tugging on my wrist to pull me forward.
I follow him out into the rain, flipping up the hood of my sweatshirt but still getting incredibly wet. We run down the sidewalk to The Lunch Box feet crashing into puddles, breathing labored, and jumping at every rumble of thunder. The few blocks it takes to get to The Lunch Box almost don’t seem worth it. I’m freezing from the early summer rain, and completely drenched. There is no way I’m getting away with this. My parents will know something is up when I suddenly appear in the living room dripping wet.
The other boys are waiting for us outside the café when we arrive and hurriedly lead us to the back room. As soon as we step inside the room Alex begins pulling out a change of clothes for Justin from a backpack while Austin is obsessing over my hair by trying to wring it out with his hands. Pushing Austin away, I pull off my wet sweatshirt and adjust the mostly dry shirt that was underneath.
“You’re a mess.” Kris notes, using the sleeve of his shirt in an attempt to fix my makeup.
“I’m aware.” I growl, upset about this whole situation.
Justin must have changed while Austin and Kris have been fussing over me and now him, Alex, and Sean stride over, Alex being the first one to pull me into a bone crushing hug.
“Aw, hey Strawberry Shortcake, welcome back.” He laughs into my ear.
“Alex!” I gasp, “Can’t—breathe!”
My statement only encourages him to squeeze tighter and the other boys join in as well, successfully suffocating me in a group hug. When they all pull away, I sink down and begin coughing. Are they trying to kill me? I need to be able to sing!
Alex claps me on the back and Sean catches me before I fall to the floor completely. Even though I’m in the middle of a coughing attack and Sean is just helping me I can feel Justin’s glare so I pull away from Sean and lean against Austin instead.
“Way to go guys,” Kris scolds, “Now she’s all broken.”
The way he says it only makes things worse because now I’m coughing and laughing simultaneously, causing Alex to crack up which in turn makes everyone else begin to laugh as well. Somewhere in the mist of all of this I stop coughing and give each of them a punch in the arm.
“That wasn’t funny!” I state as angrily as I can but still end up sputtering and giggling once again, “I could have died!”
“Oh, I’m sure.” Justin says sarcastically and I shoot him a look. He grins at me foolishly and I roll my eyes. He’s now dry and musing his wet hair with his fingers. To be honest, messy hair suits him much better than his perfectly spiked hair with slicked down flyaways.
“Really!” I insist and cross my arms. He mimics me so I slap him.
“You are an abusive girlfriend!” he grumbles pathetically, or at least it comes off that way but it was actually quite a firm statement. He wanted the boys to hear that because he smiles quite largely at me when all the boys turn to look at me with wide eyes. Then I remember he wanted to announce our little trial at the gig.
Well, right now is not the best time.
“What?” I ask, the feeling of all their eyes on me making me squirm and feel defensive.
“Girlfriend?” Sean asks, his eyes darting from me to Justin, “Girlfriend?”
“Something you’d like to tell us?” Austin smirks at me amusedly. I can feel my face heating up. There is no denying that my face has probably turned the same color as my hair.
My eyes shoot over to where Justin is smiling bemusedly with his hands in his pockets and his eyes twinkling with the spirit of a trouble maker. I give him a warning look and subtly shake my head, telling him that was a huge no-no.
“She’s quiet…too quiet.” Alex says in a low voice while stroking his chin.
“Must be true!” Kris adds.
Determined to not give them the wrong idea, I decide to speak up, “Not technically,” I tell them, glancing around the group, “Justin made me put him on test run.”
“Made you?” Sean asks, narrowing his eyes at me. It’s like the statement practically made him see red or something.
I sigh. This is obviously going to get nowhere. Trust Justin to mess up a perfectly good reunion.
“Look, it’s not permanent. Would you all just relax?” I groan in frustration, “I know what I’m doing.”
Seeing that I’m getting quite irritated by all their questions and speculations they all quiet, giving lingering looks to Justin who is looking at is feet, his smile dropped.
I understand they’re all concerned about me or whatever, I don’t care. I don’t need their input when I’m already beating myself up about this whole dilemma.
“So,” Austin starts awkwardly after some time of silence, “everyone ready to give a killer performance?”
The other boys take Austin’s statement as a cue to stop the awkwardness and are overly enthusiastic about they’re answers. They are, thankfully, interrupted with the opening of the door.
A tall dark haired boy pokes his head in and announces that we’re good to go and then leaves, closing the door rather loudly behind him.
“Yay!” I exclaim, clapping excitedly, “Come on! Let’s go! What are you all waiting for?”
Justin and Alex chuckle at my excitedness while Austin and Kris exchange smiles. Sean only rolls his eyes and stalks off to the door, pulling it open forcefully.
“Come on boys, “Alex starts, and I cough obnoxiously, “and Strawberry Shortcake, “he adds, grinning sheepishly, “we’ve got a special show to put on!” he announces, following Sean out.
The rest of us are cheering as we begin to jog out the door. I’m at the end of the line while the boys file on stage. As a last minute prepping, I reach up and unlatch my parent’s necklace from around my neck and shove it in my pocket without hesitation. This moment is just for us, the Heartbreakers and me.