“So, what do you think of Laney?”
I turn to Justin while Miss Myers hands out a couple sheets of composition paper to each student. His face shows no signs of amusement, no cocked eyebrow and no devilish smirk. Instead, grey eyes stare back at me plainly as he slouches back in his seat, his legs spread out sloppily in front of him.
I shrug.
What do I think of her? She’s obviously the definition of perfect: pretty, polite, friendly. I don’t have a real problem with her, besides the fact that she is flawless. She hasn’t done anything to me, yet, to make me despise her. All I can do right now is shrug. Shrug because I haven’t got a good read on her yet.
“She’s nice.” I say flatly, and give Miss Myers a nervous smile when she sets four pages of composition paper on my desk before she moves on.
“That’s it?” Justin asks suspiciously, his eyebrows furrowing together and he sits up slightly, unbelievingly. Goodness, what does he want from me? Does he want to see my jealous streak again? Is he surprised I haven’t gone on a tangent about the million reasons I’ve decided to love or hate her?
I nod to him and press my lips together tightly, playing with my fingers atop my desk. I really don’t need to be interrogated about his ex-crush before writing a literary essay. My hands have already started to become cold and clammy in anticipation of holding a pencil much too tightly and scribbling down ideas faster than my brain can function. Legs crossed, my foot jiggles anxiously, toes bumping against the leg of my desk. I need to focus right now.
“I don’t believe you,” he whispers when Miss Myers has returned to the front of the classroom whilst glancing up at the clock.
“Shut up.” I snap the same moment Miss Myers orders us to start writing.
It takes me a few extra moments to clear my head before starting. I tap my pencil against my lips, staring at the essay topic printed neatly on top of the paper in front of me. With a loud sigh, and a final glance at both Justin and Miss Myer, I press pencil to paper and begin the essay.
~*~
Biting the nail on my thumb, I stare down at Sean’s notebook and repeat the lyrics of a song we’re singing Wednesday in my head over and over again. He was nice enough to write them down for me after my failure to get them right on Saturday. Justin stands beside me, plugging things in as I lean against the control table. Faintly, I can hear muffled conversation between the other boys while they stand around Sean’s keyboard—acting like I can’t hear them.
“I like Laney just fine. Now, find someone else to gossip about, ladies.” I say loudly, not bothering to look up from Sean’s notebook but smiling in satisfaction after calling them ‘ladies’. There is some clearing of throats, and what I can assume to be knowing nods to talk about it later.
“Ears like a hawk.” Alex grumbles, most likely giving me one of his looks. Not that I’m paying attention anyway. I’ve got lyrics to learn.
“No, men are just too loud to gossip. That’s why women do it.” I shrug aloofly, objecting his statement.
“Not true!” Austin protests, snatching up his guitar. Ah, he would be the one to argue. He’s always the one to call me out when I say something that could be taken as ‘sexist’.
“Whatever,” I mumble, turning the page and running fingers through my hair as I squint at Sean’s rushed, choppy handwriting.
Justin steps back from the table, double checking that everything is plugged in before shuffling over in front of me and grabbing my waist. I raise an eyebrow and fold the notebook down, looking up at his cute, smoldering expression.
“Can I help you?” I ask, no longer crabby at the world now that exams are done for the day but still feeling as sassy as ever.
He bites he lip, pulling me closer and ducking his head down. If he’s trying to seduce me, it’s not working. It just doesn’t work in front of the guys. Want to know why? I can feel every one of their eyes watching us.
“Not trying to ruin whatever mood you think you’ve got going on,” I whisper, and his face breaks out into a laughing smirk, “but,” I continue, “we’ve got an audience—plus, this is sort of random.”
“Sorry, “he mutters back lowly, hugging me closer, “I’m just proud that you didn’t give Laney a black eye today.”
I scoff, and push him back as he chuckles deeply in the back of his throat. “Not funny,” I warn him, biting down a smile.
“Thank you,” he murmurs sincerely and moves in to press his lips to mine gently, maybe even carefully. Why he feels the need to be so incredibly soft, I don’t know, but it’s nice. It’s a sweet moment when all a person can really do is just savor it, close their eyes and let the rush of butterflies flutter inside them. I don’t realize how long we’ve been like this—sentimental and enjoying pure bliss—until Alex decides to cough not so subtly.
Justin pulls back slowly and winks at me before turning to sling his guitar over his shoulder. I follow him to stand behind the mics, still warm and tingling all over. I’m only brought out of my daze when the boys begin tuning up their instruments.
I guess I was wrong about Justin.
~*~
The only other days leading up to Wednesday go by quickly. The end of the school year has finally come. Even though my last few moments are spent hurriedly finishing exams, they go by rather smoothly and all too quickly. Which, I guess I don’t really mind. I have tonight’s gig on my mind and am finally granted the right to dismiss any thoughts about school, my finished mural, and hiding my boyfriend from my mom.
Justin insists on meeting my family right after the gig, but I refuse immediately. For the first time since I met her, I’m glad for Laney Stewart. After spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday’s lunch hour with her she’s decided she wants us to be friends—or at least that’s what I got from her proposal to have a sleepover at her place after the gig. She said she wants to get to know me because Sean talks so highly of me, and I seem like a good time. Now, I don’t know where she got that idea, but I accept right away, knowing that I can hold off Justin meeting my parents for just a little bit longer.
Now, I’m at Laney’s house. It wasn’t planned; she just offered to let me drop off my overnight stuff before we headed over to the gig. Her house is not what I expected. It’s small and a little cramped. Her room is half the size of mine, but cozier. Appliances in the kitchen are outdated and the TV is one of the older box sets that my parents owned back when I was a kid.
“You can just set your stuff here.” Laney smiles, motioning to the wall next to her bedroom door before she shuffles across the room and plops down onto her bed. I nod and toss my bag onto the ground. “Excited?” she asks when I look back up at her.
I snort and rub my clammy hands on my shorts, “More like nervous.” I tell her.
She shrugs and pats the space next to her. After I seat myself beside her she turns to me, getting herself more comfy and tucking her legs under her.
“You,” she asks, “nervous? What about? You never look nervous on stage.”
I sigh. It’s strange. What I’ve found out about Laney is that she actually looks up to me. She’s told me on more than one occasion that she adores my confidence. What confidence? It’s impulsiveness, not confidence. If I try to tell her so she won’t have any of it.
“The song choices,” I grumble, “They’re songs I know but at the same time I can’t seem to get the lyrics right.”
“Nonsense,” she tells me, waving her hand as if batting away a fly, “you’ll be perfectly fine. If you forget the lyrics just start making stuff up. Nobody will notice, it’s not like we know the lyrics,” she laughs.
Frowning, I bite my lip. I’m getting more nervous by the second.
“Here,” Laney begins, scooting backward and looking at me with anticipation, “sing right now. Refresh your memory and humor me with a sneak peek,” she beams while clapping her hands her hands together. I eye her warily but she just stares back at me with wide blue eyes and straight smiling teeth.
“Don’t laugh,” I order, forcing myself not to smile back at her child-like interest, “Catching Walleye from the dock, watching the waves roll off the rocks, she'll forever hold a spot inside my soul. We'd blister in the sun, we couldn't wait for night to come, to hit that sand and play some rock and roll.”
She watches intently while I sing and then bursts into applause when I’ve finished. “Didn’t sound like you messed up to me,” she points out.
“I didn’t, I just got lucky. Usually I stumble on the second line.” I tell her and then begin mumbling “Watching the waves roll of the rocks,” over and over.
“You’ll be fine. You sounded really good,” she says encouragingly and rubs my shoulder when she sees me grimace at the statement, “Confidence,” she nudges me playfully and then glances at the alarm clock sitting on the window sill beside her bed, “better get there before the guys start to worry.”
So, we climb off her bed, shove our feet back in our shoes, and head off to The Lunch Box carrying on meaningless conversation the entire walk there.
We arrive just as the café begins filling with rowdy teenagers who’ve come to celebrate the beginning of summer. As we walk through the café I see Alex giving Stephanie a quick kiss on the cheek but turn away as soon as he sees I’ve noticed him. He leaves her and jogs up to us, waving at Laney.
“Sean’s in the back,” he tells her, “but girlfriends aren’t allowed back there. That’s where the magic happens,” he winks.
“That’s complete BS,” I tell Laney and poke my tongue out at Alex, “The magic happens on stage.”
Alex shrugs, “Either way, no girlfriends backstage.”
Laney stops then and clasps her hands behind her back. “Geez, I know when I’m not wanted,” she says teasingly, “I’ll see you guys later. Tell Sean to come and see me really quick though, okay?”
Alex nods and we leave Laney behind to meet the other guys in the back. The other boys are lazing around when Alex and I step in. Sean scurries off to see what Laney wants after Alex informs him she wants to see him. Austin, Kris, and Justin seem to be playing an enthusiastic game of “see who can chug bottles of water the fastest”. All of them are going to have to pee when they’re on stage, and I’m going to have no sympathy.
When Sean returns he also brings one of The Lunch Box employees with him. The girl tells us we can go out whenever we’re ready and leaves just as suddenly as she came.
“What did Laney want?” I ask Sean while wiggling my eyebrows.
“To wish us luck,” he tells me, wiggling his eyebrows back at me mockingly. Well, that just proves they have a lame relationship. I haven’t seen Sean kiss her once. Rolling my eyes, I open the door and motion them out. Justin pecks my cheek quickly on his way out and Kris makes a kissy face at me. I slap the back of his head as we follow the rest of the boys out onto stage. He just looks back at me smugly.
“Happy last day of school and first taste of summer!” Justin cheers into the mic, fist pumping the air. The crowd begins hooting and hollering, getting themselves even more excited. IPhones and cameras are thrusted into the air amid all of the excitement and there are a couple of flashes here and there. Geez, easy. Can I lose my eyesight from this?
“We’re the Heartbreakers.” Justin announces over the cheering and begins to point around the stage, “Kris, Sean, Alex, Austin, and Carrots.”
“It’s Reese, actually.” I grumble into my mic. Call me Carrots in private, okay. Call me Carrots in public, stuff’s gonna go down.
“Could also be Strawberry Shortcake,” Alex adds with a wicked grin.
“Reese!” I inform the crowd exasperatedly, “It’s Reese.”
The crowd is laughing now, amused at my hot-headed tendencies and teasing. I’m blushing now, brilliantly.
“Well,” Justin chuckles, “Carrots, Shortcake, whatever, I’m Knight, Justin Knight. My favorite pass time is rescuing damsels from towers and riding off into the sunset with them on my snow white steed.”
His opening, as always. What used to be funny is now just annoying. A part of me kind of wants him to alter it because I’m his girlfriend and there should be no other “damsels” to go and rescue. Then again, it’s like a trademark for him and I wouldn’t want to be the one to ruin something like that.
“Welcome summer!” I say loudly, smiling at the crowd and trying to ignore that jealous flare. “No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks! Schools out for the summer!” And with that I begin cheering with the crowd as Justin starts the introduction guitar solo and Alex crashes down onto his cymbals.
Well we got no choice
All the girls and boys
Makin all that noise
'Cause they found new toys
Well we can't salute ya
Can't find a flag
If that don't suit ya
That's a drag
I sing with Austin and Sean loudly. Our main goal isn’t even to sound uniform and harmonized. Instead, we go for a sound that’s sort of messy and wild and, somehow, for the song it works.
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
All of us sing together. The crowd even joins in. They’re jumping around, beating the air with their hands, and screaming the lyrics out at the top of their lungs. This is what summer feels like.
Well we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes
Justin, Sean, and Kris sing that part. The crowd begins clapping in time to the song. Laughing, I stand at the front of the stage and clap. I want to be down there dancing around and whooping along with them. They’d probably die for a chance to stand up here and sing along with us up front.
School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer
Out till fall
We might not go back at all
School's out forever
School's out for summer
School's out with fever
School's out completely
When the song ends the place goes absolutely wild. The thrill of summer break combined with a silly cover of a popular song makes the audience fun and loud. I want to just close my eyes and stand among them feeling what they feel. Being the performer is one thing, but being part of the crowd would be incredible as well. To be able to cheer at the top of my lungs and forget about absolutely everything would be perfect, but I’ve got more songs to sing and an audience to please. My happiness and freedom will have to wait—even though I can’t imagine things getting much better than this.
The boys don’t take much time to get right back into things. Alex instantly starts a little drum roll and Austin, Kris, and Justin collaborate with guitars to set up the song. Sean improvises, though keyboard really isn’t necessary. It’s another summer favorite and the crowd knows it. Justin shuffles over to where I have my set my mic back on the stand. I stand beside him, tilting the mic at his lips as he strums along with Kris and Austin to the song. The crowd sings along with him as he begins the verse.
It was 1989, my thoughts were short my hair was long
Caught somewhere between a boy and man
She was seventeen and she was far from in-between
It was summertime in Northern Michigan
Sean hums out the “ahs” of the background vocals and Justin leans in and plants a kiss on my cheek before continuing. My breath hitches for a moment. I’m not great with public affection, but we’re on stage now, and it was nothing more than an innocent peck. I try not to dwell on it and instead watch Justin sing into my mic.
Splashing through the sand bar
Talking by the campfire
It's the simple things in life, like when and where
We didn't have no internet
But man I never will forget
The way the moonlight shined upon her hair
I lean in and sing along to the next part along with Justin at my mic. I really didn’t know this moment was cute or anything until parts of the crowd would stop singing just to “aww” at us. I tell myself to smile instead of elbow Justin away. Like I said, not so good with the public affection thing.
And we were trying different things
We were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long
I grab the mic off the stand and walk to the front of the stage, leaning down and singing at the crowd while I sing my verse.
Catching Walleye from the dock
Watching the waves roll off the rocks
She'll forever hold a spot inside my soul
We'd blister in the sun
We couldn't wait for night to come
To hit that sand and play some rock and roll
I audibly sigh in relief after getting the lyrics right and manage to catch eyes with Laney at the front of the crowd. She gives me two thumbs up and continues to cheer and dance along with the rest of the crowd. With the subtle praise and encouragement I strut back over to Justin and sing the chorus with him again.
While we were trying different things
And we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
What’s surprising for the audience is that Sean sings the next part of the song. Sean’s voice is actually very nice. Although it’s softer than Justin’s and not nearly as flexible, it does have a rough punch too it and makes him sound rocker-ish and older.
Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves began to change
Or how we thought those days would never end
Sometimes I'll hear that song and I'll start to sing along
And think man I'd love to see that girl again
He’s no Justin, but the crowd genuinely likes him and nods in approval as he finishes his part. If I glanced at Laney right now I would probably see nothing but heart eyes. She adores him.
While we were trying different things
And we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
While we were trying different things
And we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
We finish off the song but don’t give the crowd any time to cheer too loudly or get anymore boisterous. We go right into Summer of 69, singing our hearts out and getting into the mood of summer. A couple more songs and we finish, saying our thank yous, wishing everyone an amazing summer, and finally exiting the stage.
We all get lost in the sea of teenagers before we even say goodbye to each other. Alex gets tugged away by Stephanie, Austin and Kris wrestle each other to the door, and Justin pulls me aside before I can pick Laney from the crowd.
“Happy summer.” Justin grins and swoops in to press a kiss to my lips.