I got back home and mom wrapped up my foot and gave me a bag of ice to keep it from swelling. "So you saved a life?" Ryan asks, sounding impressed, which he should be. I nod and he applauds me. I roll my eyes.
"Do you think you can go to school tomorrow?" mom asks and I nod, "Of course. It's just a sprain, probably."
At least I hope. "Okay, get some rest. Goodnight." What am I, five? She turns out the light and I'm just relieved she didn't want to tuck me in. Now, maybe I'll actually get some sleep, or maybe I'll just think about Peyton all night. I think I know the answer to that.
******
I skip breakfast entirely so I can get to school quicker. Dressing in clothes similar to what I had on yesterday, I grab my drums sticks off my dresser and drive to school.
After homeroom, band class is my first class of the day. It's also my favorite class of the day. You'd be surprised at how much stress you relieve by hitting a drum set.
My ride to school is peacefully quiet. When I walk in the school building, I pop in my ear buds until I get to my homeroom class, on the other side of the school. Of course, I take out my ear buds when I reach the classroom. The hallways are just so loud in the mornings that I wanted to keep my peaceful morning quiet.
I take a seat next to Trevor and wait, like everyone else, for the morning annoucnements.
"Good morning, students! It's getting closer and closer to the end of the first semester, so make sure you're signing up for your second semester classes! As you all know --"
And I zone out.
That is, until I hear my name. "This Thanksgiving weekend, a student of ours saved a life. Peyton Releigh's 3-year-old cousin nearly drowned in their pond and Adam Greene jumped in to save her. Thank you, Adam, for being a hero."
Many students won't recognize the name. Many students won't care. But Peyton and I heard the announcement and I wish I could see the look on her face when they mentioned it.
The bell rings for us to go to electives. Band class is on the end of this hall so I don't have to go far.
When I walk in the room, Mr. Silovich is making an announcement that we're joining with the chorus kids today to sing a few songs. I don't know anyone in chorus.
The whole room is filled against every wall with girls from chorus. Some guys, clearly, are in chorus, but majority are girls. Many of the girls I recognize from my previous flirting days, but when they wave at me now, I can't bring myself to look at them while Peyton walks in at the same time.
"Okay, okay, take your seats. Adam, you set on drums?" What a ridiculous question. Of course I'm set. "We're going to pass out a song that hopefully most of you in chorus will know. We've been working on it for about a month. We'd like the chorus and band to perform this song together on the concert."
Peyton walks over to me and bends down. "What song, drummer boy?" I chuckle, "It's Classic." She jumps up and down, "I love this song!"
And I love to see her get happy.
"Okay, let's begin!" Mr. Silovich counts us off and one of the chorus kids says the first line of the song that cues me in.
"Aye! Where's the drums?" Then I bust into a frenzy of hitting everything on the set.
Once that little solo is over, the trumpets take the melody. Then the chorus kick off the song officially along with the flutes.
"Oh, girl you're shining
like a fifth avenue diamond.
They don't make you like they used to;
you're never goin' out of style.
Oh, pretty baby,
this world might've gone crazy.
They way you saved me,
who can blame me,
when I just want to make you smile?"
The boys come in with the piano:
"I wanna thrill you like Michael,
I wanna kiss you like Prince.
Let's get it on like Marvin Gaye
like Hathaway,
write a song for you like this."
I come back in on the drums with,
"You're over my head,
I'm out of my mind.
Thinking I was born
in the wrong time.
One of a kind,
living in a world gone plastic.
Baby, you're so classic."
They repeat the last line as the piano fades.
"Four dozen roses,
anything for you to notice.
All the way to serenade you,
doing it Senatra style."
I stop the drums again as the guys say this line:
"I'mma pick you up
in a Cadillac
like a gentleman
bringing glamour back.
Keep it real-to-real
in the way I feel.
I could walk you down the aisle."
They repeat the chorus again and someone raps the next verse. Then the chorus repeats again. The piano and I have a solo and literally finish with a bang.
Everyone cheers and I wink and smile at Peyton across the room. Though, some other girl smiles back because she thought I was winking at her. Oh, well.
"That was great guys! We'll continue to work on that!" Mr. Silovich says. I find Peyton sitting at the piano as everyone else starts to sit down and talk.
"Whatcha' playin'?" I ask, somewhat startling her. "Fall for you by Secondhand Serenade. Do you play guitar? We could do a duet." I grab Mr. Silovich's acoustic and nod for her to play.
We both agree that we should just skip ahead to the chorus.
"Tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don't make me change my mind.
I won't live to see another day,
I swear it's true.
Because a girl like you is impossible to find.
You're impossible to find."
She plays a little of the piano then we jump back in.
"This is not what I intended.
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart.
You always thought that I was stronger.
I may have failed but I have loved you from the start."
Then we sing the chorus again.
We would finish but everyone starts clapping. Peyton blushes and I set the guitar back on its stand. She stands up and walks over to her friends like nothing happened.
Did she not feel the chemistry that I did?
The bell rings and I push through people to catch up to Peyton. "You're a really good singer." I say. She turns around and then grabs my wrist, pulling me into a side hall that's abandoned.
"Please, don't embarrass me. I don't want to be known as a singer, just a jock, okay? And if you start telling people, then I might just have to tell people that you're trying to get back on the football team with my help."
I shrug, "Well you can tell everybody," I say in a sing-song voice. "You can tell everybody, go ahead and tell everybody," I lean in close to her so she gets goosebumps from my breath against her ear. "I'm the man, I'm the man, I'm the man."
Then I walk away to P.E. Being that I'm a junior, it's not mandatory we take P.E after freshman year. But I take it to stay in shape for football. Yeah, ironic, I know.
A hand claps on my shoulder suddenly and I wince at the strength. "Heard you and song bird make a good duet? I didn't think she was good for anything but making faulty plans for the football team." Aaron's football buddies (that I thought used to be my friends, too) walk over to back him up.
"Please, don't even blame her for your crap record. It's just because I'm not on the team." I smirk and let it sink in with them before they start to laugh. "That's a joke!" they hoot, then I grab Aaron's shirt and pull him close. "No, what's a joke is the fact that you're making a girl write plays for your team and the only reason you blame her for the losses is because you don't understand the playbook. Now, get out of my face."
I don't have any trouble getting them to back down. Meanwhile, lots of people stare, including the girls, and for once, I don't like it. I walk away, like one of those mysterious bad boys of the school. Except, I feel quite the opposite.
P.E goes by quick, as it usually does when I'm having fun. Electives are over so now I go to A.P biology. Something about a project I'm doing with Peyton in there makes me rush down the halls.
The teacher stands outside the room, passing out papers to us as we enter. I grab one and take my seat beside Peyton. Once everyone enters the room, Ms. Keiner starts to speak.
"Some of you may know about the final grade project in here, being that I do it every year at this time. It requires after school work, volunteer hours, and a partner. I will let you choose a partner after I explain what we are doing. Take a look at the directions."
We all skim the directions and then look back at her. "You will have a month to complete this assignment, which should be due the day we get out for Christmas break. The directions for this project are simple and printed on this sheet so you can reflect upon it. You are inventing something eco-friendly. Keep in mind it has to be original and has to pertain to living organisms, being that this is A.P. Biology. You may choose your partner. After that, you may begin."
Well, I already have a partner. I turn to look at Peyton now and see she's having to shoo people away who want to be her partner. Something inside me warms up at the fact that she chose me.
She picks up a pencil without looking at me and starts answering some questions. Her bracelet that connects to be a ring jingles when she writes.
"You should just come over to my house and I'll see what kind of junk we can put together from our garage and we can start with that." she says matter-of-fact like. I nod as she looks at me. "By the way, I'm convincing coach to let you back on the team. He's slowly buying into it."
I want to hug her for all she's helped me with. Somehow I keep myself calm and collected though. "Sounds awesome. Thanks, Peyton."
The rest of the day blurs by and I end up in my car, driving to my house, thinking about Peyton. Soccer is over, but she still has to stay for football. I eat a snack at home and walk to Trevor's house, play a video game of his, then I head to Peyton's place.
I don't see her in the yard at first and it doesn't look like anyone's home except her. I shrug and walk up to the door. She always seems to be outside more than anything, so I'd be surprised if she was inside.
She texts me before I can knock on the door.
I'm on the trampoline out back.
I nod and start in that direction. When I see her laying face down against the trampoline, I smirk and roll under the trampoline, forcing her to gasp. "Hi." I say with a grin. She says hi, too through her smushed lips and I laugh. "What are you doing?" I ask her. She clears her throat, "Relaxing. I had a busy day at school." I prop my head up with my hands and nod, "Always."
We both stare at each other a minute, then she breaks the silence. "So...we should get inside and start working. Come on!" She practically rolls off the trampoline and we run to the house.
I don't mind the work. If I'm with her, anything's fun.
A/N
Hola guys! Super sorry how late this is! I didn't realize it's been 3-4 weeks since I updated this story; I've been so focused on my other story WHICH IS FINALLY FINISHED! So now I will just be focusing on this book. So I hope that more focus comes a better book but we shall see. Anywho check out my COMPLETED other books, comment, vote, share. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME FOR BEING PATIENT!
~Always, Sunny