Walking into the building the next day, I grinned at the sight of Tori, Cat, and Robbie all chatting by Tori's locker.
"Hey guys!" I smiled.
"Hey Sky!" Tori smiled back, giving me a small hug.
"Quick question," I said, "do you guys like chocolate chip, sugar, or snickerdoodle cookies?"
"I have a gluten issue." Robbie sighed, "But I like chocolate chip."
"Chocolate chip!" Cat exclaimed with a giggle.
"I like sugar cookies!" said Tori.
"Cool, cause I made like three different batches of cookies last night, soooooooo," I pulled out the containers and a bag, and taking out the respective cookie for each person, "Choco chip for Cat, gluten free choco chip for Robbie, and sugar for Tori!"
"Wait," Robbie said, "I thought you said you made three batches?"
"I have a cousin who has a gluten allergy, so I stopped by her place to pick up some gluten free ones just in case. I don't wanna cause any issues with your stomachs." I explained.
"You're so sweet, Sky, thank you so much!" Tori excitedly said as she took a bite.
"So good!" Cat mumbled under her breath, causing me to giggle.
"I'm glad you like them!"
"What made you happy enough to make these?" Robbie asked, a little bit of chocolate on his cheek.
"Nothing much, really." I fibbed.
"We told her the news." Jade's voice echoed behind me.
"What news?" Tori asked.
"Nadia got suspended." Beck answered.
Tori cheered, "Thank god! She was getting on my nerves."
"Yeah," Robbie agreed, "I didn't like pretending to be her friend."
"She's really mean." Cat said feebly.
"Luckily, her hearing is in three weeks, but the final decision may take about four days after the hearing." Jade said.
"Regardless, she's not here to cause any more harm." I sighed.
I turned myself so I was able to see everyone in my friend group, I noticed Andre turn the corner and I got quiet.
"Hey guys." Andre greeted, his demeanor seemed happy but there was something different, like he was trying to hide something.
"Hey Andre!" Tori greeted.
"Where'd y'all get the cookies?" Andre asked, motioning to the cookies in everyone's hands.
I smiled, "I baked them last night!"
Andre's eats turned red, "Oh?"
"You want one? I made three kinds!" I showed him all three containers.
"Come on man," Beck beckoned, "she's a great baker."
Andre hesitated but then reached for a sugar cookie, he took a bite and his demeanor relaxed, "Damn girl, these are amazing!"
"Yeah, Skyla, you should've taken culinary here!" Tori said.
"Awe, thank you! But honestly, I learned to bake from my grandma. You should really try my squash bread, it's killer."
Everyone groaned from the sound of it, Jade gave my arm a squeeze, "Keep that promise, that sounds amazing!"
I giggled in response, I did like to bake. It was one of my favorite past times!
"So, Skyla, I had a question for you." Andre said, wiping the crumbs from his cookie on his pants.
"Hm?" I hummed.
"I have to write a song for my creative writing class, do you wanna help me write it?"
Shocked by his offer, I quickly nodded my head, "Of course! I'd love to! When?"
"Tomorrow after school."
"Meet me at my locker then?" I asked.
"Deal." he smiled.
The bell rang and we all made our way to our first class.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lunch came around and we all sat together, I sat by Jade and Andre, chicken sandwich in hand.
"The fries are a bit soggy today." Jade pouted.
"Yeah, I agree." I made a face.
"Hey!" Trina's voice shouted.
Tori groaned, "Trina! Why are you still here?"
"I have a bone to pick with Skyla."
"Why me?" I asked, turning around.
"You got Nadia kicked out!" she shouted, clearly angry.
"She did that herself." I turned back around.
"Yeah, Trina," Andre sighed, "Dia was given too many chances to change, she clearly won't. Her attacking Sky out of jealousy and rage was proof enough that she'll never mature."
"How could you say that?! You're her boyfriend!"
"Not anymore." Andre huffed.
Trina stormed off, clearly pissed off that Nadia was suspended, but I didn't really care. Though I did find it odd that Andre talked down about Nadia.
"Hey, Skyla." Jade nudged me.
"Yeah?"
"Didn't you show me those opposite lyrics for Monsters?" she asked.
I clapped my hands, "I did! Why do you ask?"
"Opposite lyrics?" Tori asked.
"It's what I call my responses to certain songs that I like. Monsters is a song by Shinedown, it resonated with me so I wrote lyrics in response to what Brent was saying."
"Oooo! Can we hear?" Tori eagerly asked.
I nodded and cleared my throat, drumming on the table to make the beat.
"Bad for me, I fooled everybody
Bad for me, I fooled everyone
Bad for her, now she's somebody
But is that really what we want
I left my weapon on the table
Bloodied in burlap, so unstable
I'm not angry, promise I'm not
I refuse this courage in a liquid shot
Our monsters are real!
They know how to kill
And there's no coming back and they all laugh at how we feel!
Our monsters can fight!
We'll never say die!
And there's no going back and back
We're trapped, we'll never heal!
Our monsters are real
You say, good for me, I hurt everybody
Good for me, I hurt everyone
No for you, you love nobody
Yeah for you, you owe no one
I left my weapon on the table
Bloodied in burlap, so unstable
I called the doctor, said a prayer
But I know no god is there
Our monsters are real!
They know how to kill
And there's no coming back and they all laugh at how we feel!
Our monsters can fight!
We'll never say die!
And there's no going back and back
We're trapped, we'll never heal!
Our monsters are real
We left our weapons on the table
Bloodied in burlap, not even able
I'm not angry, promise I'm not
I refuse this courage in a liquid shot
You left a light on, cause you're able
But we both know, we're both unstable
I called the doctor, said a prayer
Yet I know no god is there
Cause our monsters are real!
They know how to kill
And there's no coming back and they all laugh at how we feel!
Our monsters can fight!
We'll never say die!
And there's no going back and back
We're trapped, we'll never heal!
Our monsters are real
Yeah our monsters....
Are real"
I sighed as I finished the song, I looked around to see everyone staring in surprise.
"Holy shit." Beck muttered.
"That was really good!" Andre exclaimed, "I didn't know you were that talented!"
I covered my cheeks with my hands to hide my blush, "Thank you!"
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and we all split up to go to our next classes. Jade has her arm linked with mine as we chatted and walked.
"So, you and Andre~" she teased.
"Shut up!" I grinned.
"Sky, you got a date with him tomorrow! That's progress!"
"I guess, but what if it's just a friend thing?"
"So? There's plenty of fish in the sea. Except for Beck, he's mine."
"Of course he's yours, Jade, I could never see myself with him."
She smiled, "Good. Cause if you move in on him, you're getting buried."
"Ouch, not burned in a funeral pyre in front of hundreds to witness?" I jokingly responded.
Jade laughed, "I like that."
We got to class and sat down in our assigned seats, I pulled out my notebook to start taking down notes while Jade just sat and listened. Sometimes she helped me with notes by listening and then filling in the blanks for me. Sometimes I just couldn't hear what the teacher said so I left a section of my notes blank while Jade listened and filled it out after class. She's so nice.
After class, I waited for her to finish packing up and we walked to her locker, then mine. After getting what I needed, she and I waited for Beck and we all walked out of the school.
"Can I get a ride from you guys?" I asked Beck.
"Always!" Jade answered for him as she linked her arm with mine again.
We got into Beck's car and he drove me home, waiting in the driveway to make sure I got inside. I watched as he pulled out of the driveway and drove away with Jade.
I sighed, shutting and locking the door behind me.
"Well, what do I do now?" I asked out loud.
All of my homework was done, there were no upcoming tests, part of me just didn't know what else to do.
"Maybe I'll get a head start with that project with Andre." I smiled, taking out my song writing notebook.
I turned on the TV and flipped through a few channels to get inspiration, I started writing down words that caught my attention. But I got distracted and started drawing pictures instead.
My phone buzzed, it was a text from Andre.
Hey Sky, letting you know now, we may have to record some vocals for the song.
I smiled and replied:
That's fine by me! I'm always down to sing something!
I tried to get into the song writing mood, but it was so hard to get inspiration. I tried searching through social media, watching videos, watching TV, nothing gave me inspiration.
"Fuck, what am I gonna do?"
I shrugged it off and went to bed, hoping that the next day, I would get some inspiration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, I walked through the doors of the school with a coffee in hand. As I was walking in, I went to my locker, earbuds in my ear.
I was listening to (G) I-dle's new comeback song, "Oh My God", it was so good. I was addicted to it. I was also hoping that it would help inspire me. I hummed along to it as I opened my locker door, putting away a couple books. I felt the presence of someone next to me, so I took out my earbuds and looked over to see Andre staring at me with a smile.
"Hey!" I smiled.
"Hey yourself." he grinned.
We chatted for a bit about the project tonight, then got onto the topic of music.
"What was that song you were humming?"
"It's this girl group I adore, (G) I-dle."
"Huh. I've never heard of them." he admitted.
I giggled, "I figured as much, they're a Korean pop group."
"That probably explains why. Can I listen?"
"Sure! Here, let me get the original, I was listening to a male version somebody made."
I pulled up the original music video and let Andre listen.
He passed my phone back to me, "Damn, these girls got talent."
"Wanna know something awesome?"
"What?"
"The girl with the short, black hair, Soyeon? She wrote the song and all the others on the album with no co-writers."
Andre's eyes widened, "That's amazing, she's a talented woman."
"She's very dedicated to her work, that's why I like her. She inspires me as a songwriter. Her dedication to what she does is admirable."
"That's really understandable. She must be a really great role model for you."
"Of course! She's my biggest role model!"
The bell rang and we walked to class together, still talking about music and the project.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day was halfway through and I was still not getting any inspiration for the project. I was starting to lose my mind.
"There's gotta be something!" I thought to myself.
I was in my third period class with Andre, who wouldn't stop passing me notes during class.
Hey
Hey what's the answer to number 5?
Skylaaaaaaaa!
I giggled at each note he passed, making sure not to get us in trouble. Still, I went through the day like it was any other day. Finally, during lunch, I started getting inspiration.
"Hey Sky-" Tori started.
"SHHHHHHHH!" I shushed harshly, furiously writing down everything I was thinking before I forgot it.
"What?" Tori asked confusingly.
"She just got hit with a wave of inspiration for the project with Andre and needs to write it down before she forgets." Jade explained, taking a bite out of her pasta.
I was erratically humming to myself, writing down whatever possible that sounded like a good idea. Then I stopped, having gotten everything out of my system. I exhaled, steam practically coming off my pen.
"You good?" Tori asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry for shushing you." I apologized and hugged her.
"You're okay, I've never seen you so hyper focused before."
"I get like that when I'm getting ideas or if I'm just really focused on like schoolwork or something."
"You're methodical like that." Beck commented.
"Yep! Always have been! Good grades have been a goal since...ever."
We all chatted and ate lunch, Andre soon sauntered over and sat down between Tori and I. The day just felt normal. I felt like I belonged for once. I didn't feel like an outcast, like a burden, I finally felt like myself.
The day ended, and I waited for Andre by my locker. I started to feel bad. Why was I so happy that Nadia was gone? Why did I feel like I was at fault for her being gone? Why did I feel like I fucked up? Why was I feeling so upset that Nadia got suspended? Why did this suddenly happen after I started feeling like myself?
"Hey, Sky! You ready?" Andre asked, snapping me out of my daze.
"Yeah!" I responded happily.
He walked us to an empty classroom which had some instruments, recording equipment, plenty of stuff for some music students.
And so the project began