"Thank you all of you for coming on time today," Hailey stated, looking directly at Jake, who smiled at her sheepishly. "As you all know, we'll be having a performance in the canteen tomorrow, when most of Zander and I's class will be going to DofE, so, come on time tomorrow to perform at the canteen, so any of you got any questions?"
"Hailey, what am I going to sing?" Jake asked, with the rest of the club looking at him dumbfound.
"Thanks for the question, Jake, we'll be performing the song that we'll sing on band competition," Zander replied with sarcasm, making Jake look even guiltier. Seems like Jake was too focused on something to pay attention, which is normal. Milly started to giggle while Sean just grinned like an idiot.
"Anyway, come earlier than usual tomorrow, we have to prepare for the performance," Hailey announced to the rest of the club, followed by cheers and grins and some giggles.
Before the club president could leave, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see her potential soulmate, grinning sheepishly. The same grin he showed when he called her "princess." The two stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Jake let out a cough.
"Thanks, Hailey, for choosing tomorrow," Jake said, smiling softly, the smile the club president is not used to at all.
"You're welcome Jake and, is there anything else you need?" Hailey replied, blushing slightly. She wanted to ask him about the soulmate app, the app that showed the two got 98% compatibility.
"Uhh, not really. I just want to thank you, princess, for allowing me to the club despite me being a huge douchebag towards you and your stepbrother." Jake replied, winking at Hailey knowing that the nickname always irritates Hailey.
Instead of responding with her usual response, Hailey just blushed and smiled, nodding in reply. After a few seconds of silence, the two silently departed from the music club to go to their classrooms.
"Oh my god, why didn't I respond! I should've asked him about the app." That was all Hailey thought before sprinting into her classroom, sitting in her usual seat next to Zander. Zander just looked at Hailey, who was red in the face and seemed a lot more focused in class more than usual.
Hailey looked across her room, to see one of her first crushes, Daisy, sitting there and writing notes down. Hailey was still envious that despite the fact that Daisy wasn't a prefect, she got head girl. Daisy was smiling, probably thinking about a special someone in her mind. Maybe, maybe Hailey could have the courage to talk to Daisy again.
"Hailey, could you tell me what is the reason why Stalin became the leader of the USSR?" Miss Jones asked, noticing that one of her students was spaced out for a second. Hailey snapped back into reality and saw the notes on her notebook. Luckily, Zander wrote down some notes for her so Hailey decided to answer the question.
"Stalin was the next in line, all of his competitors were either arrested or disappeared, thus having no opposition," Hailey replied with her monotonous voice, and went back to actually paying attention to Miss Jones. Hailey could here some of Jake's buffoons snickering at Hailey. Hailey could hear Henry mocking her in some way or another but Hailey couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She was having her emotional moment and Miss Jones had to ruin it.
~~~~~~~~
"Good morning class, as you all know, some of the students had left to go to the DofE Awards, thus some classes will be cancelled for today. Thank you for your time and you may proceed to go to your clubs or stay in the tutor room."
After all the tutors announced their announcements, Jake, Hailey, and Zander walked to the music club extra early, just in case Milly, Sean and Luke got out early. While walking in the hallways, Jake saw in the corner of his eyes, a bright white hair, running towards him. Jake felt his feet stopped and turned around to see the girl of his dreams, Daisy, looking at him. She was smiling softly and somewhat blushing at him.
"I can't wait to see you three perform on lunchtime!" Daisy stated, giving off a happy closed-eyed smile.
"D-daisy, don't you have head girl duties?" Jake stuttered out, making Daisy's vocal cords bring out giggles with a small blush.
Hailey didn't know what she's feeling but she's feeling hurt that Jake is looking at Daisy the way he does when he's supposed to look at her-, wait a second...Hailey snapped out of her thoughts. What were those thoughts, she never thought of anyone, especially Jake, that way?
"Oh yeah, well, I'll still be around to watch you guys for lunch!" Daisy replied then skipped off to the opposite hallway from the music club, presumably going to do her head girl duties.
"Heh, looks like the selfish reason is a girl," Zander muttered under his breath as the three continued to walk to the music club. Jake seemed to hear that as his eyes went back from dreamy to neutral.
"Shut up Zander, I do like singing! In fact, I loved it but I stopped it beca-" Before Jake could talk more about his primary years, he stopped talking, making Zander and Hailey look at him, dumbfounded. It doesn't matter anyway, it will not fix some of the damage Jake did to the two.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the three after that, due to the lack of things to talk about. The three just walked and soon enough, they were the first three in the music club. Since the three can't talk about anything at the moment, they just went their separate ways. Zander and Jake continued to practise for the performance while Hailey made sure that the others arrived on time. Zander seemed to keep on glaring at Jake while Jake was very focused on singing. Zander sighed internally, thinking that maybe Jake isn't that bad after all, Jake didn't mess up the chance Zander gave him...at least not yet.
"Hey Zander, the song's done." Jake's voice appeared out of nowhere and Zander saw that he was still playing the song while Jake already finished singing. Zander sighed again, thinking that it is not acceptable to do that again.
"I'm so sorry, Jake," Zander replied, rolling his eyes. Sure Zander was acting childish but it is reasonable in a way, it's only been 2 weeks since Jake joined the music club and Zander is still not comfortable around Jake. To say that there was a small tension between the two would be a huge lie, there was a lot of tension between the two.
"Anyway, did you try the soulmate survey app yet?" Jake asked out of nowhere, making sure that Hailey did not hear what he said. Jake didn't want to make the situation even more awkward between the three of them.
"Yeah...I did." Zander replied, eyes rolling to the back of his head, the sarcasm venom went directly to Jake's heart. Jake sighed, knowing that it will take a very long time for the two to finally get along.
"And if you ever hurt her...you know who I'm talking about...you'll be facing all of us." He continued, looking at Jake directly in his eyes. There was always something about Jake's almond brown eyes that made Zander wanted to get lost in- wait a second.
"Come on Zander, the app can't be that accurate, can it?" Jake replied while he hoped that Hailey won't come to the two of them. Luckily for the two, Hailey was outside, greeting the other music club members, specifically Luke and Millicent.
"Well, it is the most accurate app by far but, I know you don't like her that way, do you?" Zander stated, glaring at Jake as if it is going to show him any intimidation. Jake just sighed and blushed slightly, confirming the suspicions. Despite the fact that it is obvious he's crushing on Daisy, he also likes Hailey. "So you do, well hurt her heart and we'll kick your-"
"I get it, Zander. I won't hurt her anyway, she doesn't like me that way." Jake replied, pretty confident in his answer. Zander just rolled his eyes, he knew how his stepsister feels about that boy. She liked Jake for as long as Zander remembered, ever since KS3.
Before Jake could snap Zander back to reality, Hailey and the others walked into the music club. The drums were set up, Milly had her guitar and Sean was ready with his DJ stuff.
"Okay guys, everyone is here so let's get practising for the band competition and our performance today, we all have our music sheets, Jake remembered his lyrics and Sean got the composition set up. You guys know what to do so let's get started."
To say that the practice was exhausting was, to say the least, Jake sometimes stumbled on his lyrics or sometimes Milly started her guitar too quickly when the others were not prepared yet. Hailey was tired but she knows it will be worth it in the end, maybe, the music club could gain some respect in the crowd.
Hailey would hate to admit it but Jake is a pretty good songwriter because apparently, Jake made up the song from Sean and Zander's instruments on the spot. Jake had an entire idea of how music works and everything, proving to the rest of the music club that he is capable of making music and genuinely loves music. However, Zander is still stubborn about it, thinking that Jake joined for a selfish reason.
After a whole 30 minutes of practising, the band decided to take a break and sat in their own friend group. Zander and Luke sat next to each other, talking about their golden days while Sean and Milly were making up random stuff in the passing. Jake was standing in a corner, texting someone, who he apparently liked a lot due to his red face and Hailey was standing in another corner, also texting someone.
Hailey was feeling better from that encounter with Daisy. She then got a pop up from the Soulmate App, showing that her list has changed. Daisy went down while Jake is still at the very top of the list. Still a 98 per cent.
"I wonder if he's ever going to ask me about...that..." Hailey wandered off in her mind, imagining her long time crush and her finally getting together. Jake would finally realise that Daisy doesn't like him that way and Hailey herself could help Jake get over Daisy and maybe, just maybe, he would realise that he liked her the whole time.
Jake, however, is too busy trying to find a way to ask Daisy out. He thought that this performance would be the perfect time, because one, his friends are on the trip and two, Daisy will be present for lunchtime. This is the perfect moment but first, he needs the club's permission.
"Hey guys, can I use this performance to confess to Daisy?" Jake said out of nowhere, gaining shocked looks from everyone. Hailey heard what Jake said loud and clear and felt her heart shattering slightly. Maybe the app isn't that reliable after all. The soulmates app might not be reliable after all.
Everyone in the club does not know how to respond, just like what Jake expected. Jake just sighed and went back on his phone. But before he could continue to text his friends, he heard an angelic voice.
"Sure Jake, you can."
The voice came from the club president herself, Hailey. Hailey seemed like she was ready to crumble down to the ground if we're looking from Zander's eyes. Zander just gave a small nod, Luke smiled while giving Jake a thumbs up while Milly and Sean just don't seem to care that much. Jake just grinned, thankful that someone decided to let him have this for once.
Zander, however, was glaring right at Jake when Jake went back on his phone. Sure the threat may have worked but, Jake isn't aware of how Hailey is feeling right now. How her heart and smile were fake, just to see Jake finally happy with his crush.
"Thank you, Hailey. I owe you one, don't I? How about ice cream this weekend, my treat." Jake replied, smiling at Hailey. Oh, how Hailey wished that she took those words back, seeing him smile because he'll be happy with another girl will break Hailey's, fragile heart.
"Jake..thank you, you and I could just hang out, without Zander this time," Hailey replied, giving off a smile that would fall apart that anyone could recognise. But Jake couldn't, he was a dense rock when it comes to relationships.
"Alright, I'll just announce it at the end of the performance, saying that I dedicated the lyrics to Daisy and just confess right there." Jake thought to himself while the others look and Zander weirdly. Zander was glaring, fire burning in his eyes, wanting to rip that smile off Jake's face so he could feel a small part of the pain Hailey was feeling.
"Alright guys, we have an hour left so we should continue practising," Hailey announced, making everyone groan.
~~~~~~~~
It was time for the performance, Jake's buffoons were not there to make fun of the music club this time, unlike the last time they performed. Jake was smiling, this was the perfect time to confess to Daisy. Hailey, however, looked less cheerful than her usual self, she was still serious but she doesn't seem the...same like her old self. Zander was the only one who noticed Hailey's strange behaviour.
The head girl, Daisy, went up to the canteen's front and cleared her throat with the microphone. Everyone stopped to look at the beautiful head girl, snow-white hair, bright blue eyes and a smile that could charm anyone.
"Alright, everyone! As the head girl, I have and love to announce that the Music Club will be performing for us today," Daisy exclaimed excitedly to the microphone, bringing applause from the audience, particularly the year 10s.
Daisy walked away from the canteen and motioned for the music club to come to the front to prepare their instruments. Hailey motioned Jake to say something on the microphone so the audience would not get bored.
"Thank you, everyone! This song is a song I've written a long time ago for a certain someone, who I will announce at the end. However, this song is also the song we'll be singing in the competition and I hope you guys can support us there!"
The audience let out huge applause, seeing that one of the more popular kids was in the club, surely, this must be better. Especially since Lia sent out a message to everyone about the band competition, meaning it must be good.
Hailey felt her heart shook slightly when Jake made his small announcement, knowing that the special someone isn't her. However, Zander seemed to notice it and started to glare at Jake, like he always does. Milly and Sean finished setting up their instruments and Luke finished setting up his drums. Finally, the band is ready to play their own original song.