♡ CHAPTER ELEVEN ♡
Ariana was too stunned to speak. Blair looked down at the three of them. Her dark hair was loose and she wore a baggy shirt, a black vest and ripped jeans.
"Blair? Blair Vasquez?" Damian stammered. If possible, Blair's smirk only grew wider.
"I should've known that you two were friends, it would be the only reasonable explanation why you would choose that nerdy piece of garbage over me," Blair said. If Brandon knew what was going on, Ariana was sure that he would've called Blair off. But since he was still processing what was happening, and Ariana fumed with anger, she stood up from her seat and snapped at the rude girl.
"Actually, the only reasonable explanation why I voted for him instead of you is because he's way more talented than you," Ariana said. When Blair opened he mouth to say something back, Ariana cut her off.
"And more good-looking, too." At that, Blair's mouth fell open. But she quickly closed it and crossed her arms.
"Forget it, we'll settle this on Friday, be there or else." And with that, Blair stomped out to find somewhere else to go get ice cream. Ariana blinked for a moment or two, shocked that she had just talked back to Blair. And then she abruptly sat herself back down.
Ariana kept her eyes on the table, avoiding eye contact. And she pursed her lips. Oh no, that was supposed to be my chance to ask Blair if we could cancel the sing-off! Ariana mentally freaked out. And I blew it! I completely and utterly blew it by insulting her! What was I thinking?! I'm so stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stu---
"Seashell?" Brandon's voice interrupted her mental self-scolding session. She looked up at the two boys slowly.
"Yes?"
"What just happened?" Brandon asked. Ariana sighed as she turned to Damian.
"Damian, I'm so super sorry for-"
"No, don't apologize," he smiled. "You really boosted my self-esteem," He smiled. Before Ariana could ask what he meant, he cut her off.
"I've never been called talented and good-looking in the same day before, so today is really going well for me," he grinned. Ariana chuckled lightly.
"Seashell, what did that Blair girl mean about settling it on Friday?" Brandon asked Ariana seriously. The expression on his face was so intense that Ariana felt like melting away into a pulp.
"Well it all started yesterday..." and she dove into the story. She told them about the recording studio and how Blair had challenged her. When she was done, the boys had two completely different expressions their faces.
Damian's expression was of anger and partly guilt. Brandon's was of mischief.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Damian and I are going to coach you so that you'll be ready for the sing-off this Friday," Brandon said with a mischievous grin. Even though Ariana got the feeling that Damian wasn't that much of a troublemaker, he actually looked like he agreed with what his friend said.
"Yeah," he nodded. "That would be good."
"Coach me?" she asked them. "Coach me... how?!" she demanded. Just then, the waiter came by their table and gave them their orders. When the boys licked their ice creams, they looked at each other and shared a look. And then they looked back at Ariana.
"We'll coach you on all the performing and trash talk things..." Brandon said.
"And our friend Keera will teach you the rest," Damian finished.
"First of all, I don't want anything to do with trash talk! And second, who in the world is Keera?!" Ariana protested. The boys shared a mischievous look.
"You'll find out soon," Brandon replied.
~~~ONE HOUR LATER~~~
When the boys finished their ice cream, they headed to a local talent summer school where this so-called 'Keera' was. They said that Keera was a vocal coach, and she taught in the summer school that was the rival of the summer school that Blair used to have singing lessons.
They had waited in the reception room of the summer school, waiting for Keera. All the while, Damian and Brandon chatted away while Ariana repeatedly drummed her hands on her thighs and tapped her foot on the floor.
When the door swung open, the three of them stood up. The girl standing in the doorway was wearing a fitted silver metallic shirt with a purple skirt and an oversized purple jacket. She wore medium-sized heels and her dark brown hair was waved down her back. She had blue eyes from what Ariana could tell and she wore neon purple nail polish.
Wow, this girl sure loves purple, Ariana thought, just like me.
She walked into the room while closing the door behind her. She had a pretty face, and she looked no more than four years older than they were.
"Brand-Dam! What brings you here?" She asked in a delighted tone. Ariana suddenly wondered who she was and what she had to do with these two boys.
Brandon and Damian went over and gave her a hug. And Ariana suddenly felt like she didn't belong. When they pulled back, Keera noticed Ariana standing awkwardly.
"Who's this?" She asked.
"Oh, this is our friend Ariana. She sort of has a situation going on..." Brandon explained the whole story. When he was done, Keera smiled and gave Ariana a hug.
"You came to the right girl," She smiled. Keera then hurried the three of them into a room. It had several instrument lying around. And there was a mini-stage in the center. The walls were all white while the floor was purple carpeting. It also had several stools and chairs.
"Ariana, Brand-Dam and I will be your coaches from now on," Keera said in a serious tone.
"So lets get this started. Since the battle is on Friday, we only have today, tomorrow, and Thursday to get this perfect," Keera said. Ariana just pursed her lips and nodded.
"First of all, what is this battle going to be like? Will it be a secret battle, or will you guys really battle it out on a stage?"
"Well, Blair told me to meet her in the stage at the boulevard so I'm guessing we're gonna battle it out on the stage," Ariana explained nervously. Keera snapped her fingers.
"Of course! Fridays are always battle days in the boulevard! I should've known," she shook her head. "Anyways, the battle days in the boulevard goes like this. You just sing a song, there will be three judges. Do whatever you want except hit your opponent, lip sing, bribe the judges, or sabotage your opponents performance." Ariana nodded and saluted.
"Okay, step one," Brandon started, "breathing." And so Ariana was taught about how to breathe properly while singing, but she mastered that easily. She knew how to do that ever since he's started singing.
"Step two, hitting the high and low notes," Damian said. He taught her his techniques, and so did Keera. They practiced some power ballads, and Ariana was exhausted by the end of it all.
"What time is it?" She asked. Damian glanced at his watch.
"Uhmm... Five p.m," he said. Ariana's eyes widened.
"Really? Where did all the time to?" She scratched her head. "Anyway, thanks for the lessons and such but I'm exhausted and I really wanna go home now," she said. After saying goodbye to Keera, they waited outside the building.
"How did you guys know so much about singing?" Ariana asked Brandon and Damian. They smiled.
"When we were young, we used to go here every summer for music classes. That's how Damian and I became best buds. We used to have the same vocal teacher, and he would sometimes bring his little sister with him while he was teaching us. His little sister is Keera, she's sort of like a sister to us now, too," Brandon explained. "When he retired, Keera took his place. When we were about fourteen, Damian and I would post covers on YouTube. And we sorta stopped spending our summers here, but we would always visit from time to time."
Ariana nodded with a smile. "That's sweet," she said. Damian didn't respond in any way, but Brandon just gave her his signature smirk and winked, which made Ariana blush for some reason. But she was thankful for her tannish skin since her blush wasn't that noticeable because of it.
When Damian's taxi pulled around, he offered to give them a ride home. But they declined, since they couldn't just leave the bikes there. And the bikes couldn't fit into the cab. After saying goodbye, they biked back to their neighborhood.
When they arrived at the Davis's front lawn, the sun had just started to go down. And Ariana instantly grinned as they put the bikes down in their garage. Brandon seemed to take notice of her attitude, since he commented about it.
"What's gotten you into such a great mood?" He asked.
"I just really love sunsets," Ariana shrugged. Brandon grinned, too.
"Well let's go watch one, then!" And before Ariana could protest, he dragged her by the wrist and inside the house where they climbed up the stairs.
Ariana noticed that none of his family members were in sight as they got into the hallway. They went into the door that was on the right-side of the staircase. If it was Ariana's house, that room would be their storage room, across from her room.
The room was mostly empty, and dusty. But Ariana noticed something else about the room. To the far left corner, there was a ladder leading up to a hatch in the ceiling. Brandon looked back and smiled at her as they made their way towards the ladder.
Brandon let go of her wrist and climbed the ladder and opened the hatch. And then, he stepped off the ladder and motioned for Ariana to go first. Ariana shook her head. But then he gave her an 'oh just do it, seashell!' look. So she sighed and started to climb the ladder.
It was a short climb, and when she was at the top, she stepped onto the tiled roof. The roof was a maroon-ish color and Ariana was surprised to see that it was actually pretty clean.
Brandon then climbed up the ladders and joined her. He closed the hatch and sighed contentedly. The sun was setting, and the beautiful colors of day shifting to night was at its highest and most colorful point.
Brandon guided Ariana towards the edge of the roof, where they were facing the opposite of Ariana's house. They sat down on the roof, Ariana hugged her knees close to her chest as Brandon sat comfortably on the roof.
For a moment, they were silent just looking at the sun set over the horizon. And then Ariana asked Brandon a question.
"Do you come here often?"
"Yeah, this is where I go to if I want peace and quiet. I sometimes even bring my guitar here, when your house was still unoccupied. You know that both houses beside my house were unoccupied before you showed up," Brandon informed.
"Oh sorry, is the fact that me and my family moved into this neighborhood a bad thing for you?" She asked.
Brandon smirked and shook his head. "Nah, totally not a bad thing."
Ariana smiled at that. "So now you don't bring your guitar up here?"
"I do, but I can only play it here," he gestured to the area they were sitting on. "Because if I play it in the part of the roof near your house, you guys would hear me."
"All the more reason why you should play it near our house!"
Brandon just snorted a little and shook his head. Ariana huffed but didn't comment about it anymore. Together, they watched the sunset. While Ariana was busy trying to memorize all the little details and colors, she didn't notice Brandon scooting a little closer to her.
He did it ever so slightly, to make sure they wouldn't lose their balance on the roof. Ariana had rested her hands on the roofs tiles. Just when Brandon was about to reach out and grab it, Ariana startled him by abruptly sitting up straight whilst snapping her fingers.
"I have an idea!" She announced. She didn't notice Brandon's rather disappointed look.
"Why don't I... Never mind that ain't gonna work, just forget about it." And she slumped back down with her her arms resting comfortably on her knees, making her hand unavailable for Brandon to hold. Brandon just blinked at her for a moment, and then shook his head and looked back at the sunset.
They watched the sky melt into darkness. And then the sun was no longer visible and the sky grew dark. Ariana pursed her lips.
"Okay, now that that's done, thanks for everything today," she smiled as she stood up slowly. Brandon helped her as they tried to keep their footing on the roof.
"Yeah," Brandon smiled, too.
"So,uh... Goodnight," she said.
"Night."
And they went to the hatch in the roof and climbed down the ladder. They went out of the room and down the stairs. When Ariana was about to leave through the door, she did something she didn't think that she would ever do.
She turned around and planted a sweet kiss on Brandon's cheek.
~~~Author's note~~~
Did you guys like the ending to this chapter? Hmmmmm?
Well, I know I did. Anyway, thanks again for the support :) and also I'm really excited for CHRISTMAS!!! Woohoo!
So lets get to the question...
Do you believe in Santa Claus?
I know that it's a rather silly question, but I still wanted to know if you guys believe or not. I honestly don't, but I still wanna know if you guys do. So um, don't forget to comment, vote and fan! Bye, peace :)
-J.Q