Play It From the Heart
Krista joined the swarm of student bodies in the hall and made her way towards her locker. She stifled a yawn; French class was definitely not the way to wake up, and she cursed whatever bad luck had scheduled it at 8 am. She walked with slow steps towards her next class, her body broadcasting her lethargy. She did not register that anyone was walking beside her until a voice said, “Wow, Krista. Comatose much?”
Her head jerked up and she saw Jay’s grinning face inches from hers. She stopped abruptly, her eyes wide with surprise. “Wow, Jay. Creepy much?” The words slipped out of her mouth before her censor could stop them, and she looked away and continued to walk towards her classroom. She hoped she hadn’t offended him; it wasn’t her way to be that forward with people she barely knew. Her worries were put to ease when he caught up to her, laughing.
“Sorry, man,” he apologized, though he was still grinning. He didn’t know she had such a quick tongue. “You were so out of it, I was walking with you for like two minutes before you noticed.”
“I’m tired.”
“You’d better wake up before we get to class. Mr. Snyder is notorious for giving quizzes during the first few weeks of school. He thinks it makes him look tough, so people won’t slack off in his class.”
Krista sighed. “I’m totally the kind of person to prove him wrong. Especially at oh-dark hundred in the morning.”
“Listen, I wanted to have a short meeting at my house tonight, just to discuss stuff like, what we all want to get done for the band, what sort’ve stuff we want to do performance-wise. It won’t be long. Meet after dinner, like eight or so. Do you think you can come?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Okay.” They’d reached the door of the classroom just as the bell rang. Mr. Snyder was standing right beside the door, and slammed it shut as soon as the last note of the bell died away. Everyone hustled to their seats. He strode to the center of the room, picked a stack of papers off of his desk, and smiled at the class.
“I have a treat for you all,” he began. Jay and Krista looked at each other and laughed.
******************************************
The warning bell rang and Krista shoved her unnecessary books into her locker, retaining the ones needed for her next two classes. She started up the stairs and upon reaching the top and turning the corner spotted Taryn at the other end of the hall walking towards her with her usual gaggle of friends. Krista resisted the urge to wait and say hello and slipped into her English class just as the final bell began to ring.
Her concentration drifted in and out as they discussed their first major reading assignment, The Importance of Being Earnest. She’d enjoyed the play very much; her copy was dog-eared and marked up with passages she wanted to be able to readily revisit. Her classmates had no such love for it, though. The vast majority of them seemed to have found it boring, and since she wasn’t about to stand up and contradict them (and create a reputation that could very well follow her through the rest of her time there), she chose to tune them out. She didn’t tune in again until Mrs. Taylor made an announcement towards the end of the class that she found interesting.
“I have a quick announcement before the bell,” she started. “Maybe you’ve seen the flyers posted around the school, but in case you haven’t, this year is the trial run for the first Townshend High student magazine. This is going to be a quarterly endeavor, and unlike the student newspaper, it will be dedicated entirely to creative work. Drawing, photography, poetry, prose, whatever people submit, so long as it’s printable. The first deadline for submissions is set for November 2nd, and for anyone who’s interested in joining the staff, the first meeting will be tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. So, if---” She was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the bell. She shrugged and waved her hand towards the door. With a scraping of chairs and the zipping of many backpacks, the classroom was soon cleared out, and Krista rode the wave of student bodies out into the hall to her Health class.
****************************
Bright sun greeted her as she stepped out of the double doors that lead to the outdoor lunch area. She shaded her eyes and looked towards her spot; it was isolated from the general student population, and she didn’t really expect anyone to else to sit there, but she always experienced a brief moment of panic anyway. She hurried up the hill and sunk onto the grass beneath the tree, settling herself until she was comfortable. She removed a brown paper bag from her backpack and unpacked her lunch with measured preciseness: sandwich on her left thigh, her jug of juice on the grass to her right, open bag of chips nestled in the crook of her knee, paper bag with a piece of fruit still inside laying in front of her on the grass. Once everything was settled she ate her lunch with little attention, her thoughts drifting inward.
Taryn squeezed through the double doors, her tray balanced carefully in her hands, and scanned the yard for her friends. Before she spotted them her eyes landed on Krista’s lone figure. A pang of pity shot through her as she observed the girl, eating her lunch and staring into space. She looked at her for a long moment before her body made a decision and turned itself in Krista’s direction.
Krista looked up in alarm as a shadow fell over her. The sun was shining in her eyes, casting the face of the new arrival in darkness.
“Hey,” she heard, and recognized with relief that it was Taryn- relief that was quickly replaced with panic. She brushed her hand over her mouth, hoping she didn’t have breadcrumbs stuck on her face or something embarrassing like that.
“Hi.”
“What are you doing out here all alone?” Taryn questioned, folding her long legs beneath her and sinking to the ground in one fluid motion. She set her tray on the grass in front of her and looked around, taking in the view. “Wow, you can see everybody from up here. Great people-watching spot. I don’t know why I’ve never come up here before.”
“Yeah. It’s perfect for being alone and watching everyone else.” She didn’t add that most people were too busy socializing during their lunch period to even consider secluding themselves under a tree.
Taryn glanced at her. “Am I intruding? I shouldn’t have just assumed---”
“No, no,” Krista was quick to assure her. “I mean, I don’t know anyone here to have lunch with yet, so…”
“Well, we share lunch periods. I’m sure we could probably eat together from time to time,” Taryn teased.
Krista bowed her head in embarrassment and gave a weak laugh. Her pulse started to do a tap dance at the thought of spending more lunch periods with this Goddess (Stop it, she thought) but she didn’t want it to be because the other girl felt sorry for her.
“So, what classes are you taking?”
“Oh, um, I have French with Mr. Potter, World History with Mr. Stewart, English with Mrs. Taylor, um, Health with Ironman Howell---”
“Caught on to that one already, huh,” Taryn remarked around a chuckle.
“Yeah. It’s pretty funny.”
“But very right on. So who else?” Krista listed the rest of her teachers, Taryn nodding her head and offering the occasional suggestion about how to handle so-and-so’s class, or regaling her with some school legend about what so-and-so did. What grade is she in anyway, Krista wondered. They didn’t have any classes together, so definitely older. Junior maybe?
Her roster of teachers exhausted, they sat in companionable silence for a moment, eating their lunches. Taryn laid her fork down after a few minutes, her face registering her disgust, and she leaned back against the tree, her shoulder inches away from Krista’s.
Krista’s breath caught at the proximity of the girl. “Not good?” she asked, inclining her head to indicate Taryn’s discarded lunch. She struggled to be cool and casual.
“Very not good,” she replied. “It’s a gamble, y’know? Whether or not what you choose for lunch was scraped off the bottom of someone’s shoe.” She smiled as Krista erupted into laughter.
Krista seemed to watch from outside of herself as her arm magically extended her sandwich to Taryn and her lips moved without her consent. “You want half of my sandwich? It’s kinda weird, you might not like it.” Her brain yelled at her, What are you doing, dumbass? No she doesn’t want a part of your sandwich! She was about to grab hold of her senses and retract the offending arm when Taryn reached over and took it. She looked at it for a second.
“You don’t have to---” She was about to assure Taryn that she didn’t have to eat from the part Krista had already bitten into, or take the sandwich at all if she didn’t want to, but Taryn had already torn off a piece right down the middle, right through the indentation Krista’s mouth had left. Krista watched in mute fascination as Taryn casually lifted her half to her mouth and took a bite. Krista thought she would swoon. Watching Taryn eat a part of her sandwich, a part that she herself had already bitten off of, was almost like kissing her. Which goes to show how much I know about kissing, she thought wryly.
Taryn handed the other half of the sandwich back to her. “Mmmm,” she murmured appreciatively around a mouthful of sandwich, “this is good. What is it?”
“Um, avocado, sprouts, tomato, cheese, and mayo.” The answer was automatic; her thoughts were elsewhere.
“Are you a vegetarian?”
“No, I just don’t like lunchmeat.”
The sandwich was falling apart with its slippery combination of fillings, and an avocado/mayo mixture began to creep down Taryn’s wrist. Krista watched in wide-eyed amazement as she began to lick the offending mess off of her wrist, oblivious to everyone. Krista burst into laughter, leaning over her knees, her face almost in the grass. Her mother would have had a conniption at that display of bad manners! Taryn continued to eat her half of the sandwich, eyes wide and innocent, though Krista caught the sparkle in them that said she was enjoying her reaction.
“I should’ve warned you. It’s messy,” Krista said when she could draw a breath.
“Apparently,” Taryn replied. Krista shook her head wordlessly. “You do know,” Taryn continued, “that you now have to bring enough food every day to feed the both of us. In case I don’t like the cafeteria food.”
“Says who?” she shot back, a little taken aback by her boldness. But it feels good, she thought.
Taryn pretended to look offended. “We’re lunch buddies, aren’t we?
Krista peered at her suspiciously, unsure. “Are you serious?”
Taryn opened her mouth to answer when she was distracted by puffing, shuffling sounds. They turned to their left to see three girls trudging up the hill, panting and making complaining noises. Krista recognized the girls as Taryn’s normal lunch group. The pretty blonde with high-heeled boots and tank-top reached them first.
“Goddamn, Taryn,” she whined, “What are you doing in the nosebleed seats?”
Taryn looked up, unconcerned, wiping avocado off her pants. “Krista and I were just hanging out. You guys know Krista?”
The blonde shook her head as the others reached her, looking equally annoyed by the trek. All three peered down at Krista, who had the sudden sensation of being on display.
“Krista, this is Shelley, Candice, and Meg. Guys, this is Krista. She’s the new bassist for Q.”
Krista watched in amazement as the disinterest in their faces turned into curiosity. This was magic. One small thing like being in a band was enough to make her into a ‘somebody.’ It was better than she’d imagined. She glanced up nervously and said, “Hi.” I wish you’d sit down or go away; preferably go away, she added to herself.
The girls murmured greetings, looking at Krista with uncertainty.
“You play bass.” The blonde, Shelley, seemed unsure of whether she was asking a question or making a statement.
“Yeah.”
Shelly seemed to consider this for a moment as her companions looked on. It was clear that whatever Shelley’s reaction, it would dictate that of the other girls.
“Cool,” Shelley finally said. “Good for you.” She shifted her attention to Taryn, and the four began to babble about various mutual acquaintances at school and who did what this weekend and to whom. Krista stood for a few minutes, uncertain of her next move, before deciding that this was appeared to be her cue to get lost. She turned, bending to pick up her trash when she felt a hand on her arm. She straightened up, surprise etched on her face as she stared at Taryn.
“Where ya’ going? Lunch isn’t over yet.” With that Taryn tugged Krista’s bag out of her hand and turning back to the others said, “And you guys sit. You’re making me nervous.”
Krista watched as the three girls struggled to get comfortable on the grass and formed a loose circle- that included her! She clasped her hands together in front of her, her shoulders slumping a bit. She was so nervous. She watched as Taryn and Candace, the girl with the cornrows, their loud laughter over some tale carrying across the courtyard. She decided that if Taryn had seen fit to introduce her to her friends, the least she could do was try and fit in. She focused on the conversation that was flowing between the friends and, gathering her courage, decided to jump in, laughing in the right places (which wasn’t hard after a bit, since the girls were actually pretty funny). Before long Krista found herself even adding to the conversation. By the time the bell for 6th period rang, Krista was engaging with the other girls in a way that would have shocked her friends back home.
“Oh shit!” Krista exclaimed, grabbing the remnants of her lunch and shoving it into her backpack. “I’m gonna be late for Algebra!”
“No worries,” Taryn assured her as she gathered her own trash. “Have you never been late before?” she teased.
“Says the girl who has Study Hall right now,” Candace muttered.
Krista shot Taryn a look. “Bye you guys. It was nice meeting you,” she said, her voice shy as her nervousness returned. She offered the girls a weak smile before she hurried down the hill.
“Same here,” Shelley replied.
“See you later!” Taryn called after her retreating figure. She stood and grabbed her lunch tray and headed down the hill, her friends in tow.
“She’s…different,” Meg commented from behind her. “Nice, but way too quiet.”
“It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for,” Candace added.
“Cut it out. She is nice, and really talented too. And since she’s in the band you’ll probably be seeing a lot more of her, so you need to be nice too,” Taryn warned. She didn’t see her friends roll their eyes at her tone.
“When’s the first show anyway?” Meg questioned, changing the subject.
“We don’t know yet. Jay’s working on it.”
Shelley emitted a dramatic sigh. “Jay.” She started singing to the tune of a classic 80s song, changing the lyrics, “He’s only 16…16….” The girls dissolved into fits of giggles, Taryn grimacing at the sight of her friend gushing over her little brother.
****************************************
The first official day of jazz band rehearsal went well for Krista. After warm-ups, Mr. Brannigan had handed each performer a binder full of sheet music. This was the band’s repertoire for the school year (amendable if anyone had a suggestion, he assured them). Mr. Brannigan also encouraged each student to try and commit at least one tune to memory, as he felt it helped the pace and feel of the music if everyone’s eyes weren’t focused on sheets of paper when playing. Overall Krista approved of the choices, although she could have done without some of the more Jazz 101 selections, which were the songs they were starting out with. She supposed it was to help sync the band, but she was eager to get into the more difficult numbers. There were even a few that she hadn’t played before. She was excited to show them to her dad.
After rehearsal Jay caught up with her again to remind her about the meeting. She reassured him that she would be there. As they pushed through the double doors and entered the late afternoon sunlight, Jay said, “Hey, I can give you a ride to school sometimes. Since we live near each other. Save the planet, y’know?”
He smiled at his joke and followed Krista to the bike rack. She leaned down to unlock her bike, avoiding his eyes as she replied, “Well, I usually ride my bike to school. It’s good exercise.” Her bike unlocked, she rolled it back from the metal bars and turned to look at him. Figures; I like boys and not one asks me out. I like girls and suddenly I’m wanted. She was flattered and a bit amazed that Jay was interested in her, but she was also uncomfortable at the thought of having to eventually turn him down. She hoped he would just get her hints and let it go.
“Oh. Okay. If you ever change your mind, y’know, and don’t feel like biking you could just come by the house in the morning. Or call and we could pick you up.”
Krista had swung a leg over the seat of her bike and was preparing to ride off, but stopped. “We?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound too excited.
“Yeah. Me and Taryn drive together some days.”
It was tempting. But I’d be leading Jay on if I said yes, she thought. Besides that, she had already acknowledged to herself that continuing on with fantasies about Taryn would be bad business. “Well, that’s nice of you. I’ll take you up on it if I ever find myself with a broken leg or something,” she said, smiling to take the sting out of it.
“Alright,” Jay said, smiling in return. “See you later, then.” With that he turned and headed towards the parking lot. Krista pushed off on her bike and began her ride home.
******************************************
When she entered the house her father was sitting on the living room floor amidst piles of brochures and catalogs. She went into the kitchen and grabbed a snack before walking over to see what he was doing.
“Wanna see some of the shelving and displays I’m thinking about getting?” he asked, his voice brimming with excitement.
“Sure, dad,” she said, and sat down to browse a few catalogs. Truth be told, she wasn’t interested in the more mundane side of retail at all, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He seemed so entranced with the whole thing.
She sat with him long enough to appease him before announcing that she needed to do homework. Standing and stretching, she said, “Oh, I’m going over to Jay’s after dinner for a little bit to do band stuff,” and started for the stairs.
“Uh, honey,” he called out. She stopped and waited. “Band stuff for how long?”
“I dunno,” she answered, “an hour maybe.”
“The whole band or…just you and Jay?”
“The whole band.” Krista cocked her head, understanding dawning on her. Her father was concerned about her sending time with a boy. Alone. She fought the urge to laugh out loud. So this was how her day would go? “No worries, dad.”
He colored a little, sensing that she understood his angle. “I’m not worried,” he replied, pointedly returning his attention back to his catalogs. “
Krista nodded. “Oookay,” she said, shaking her head. She escaped up the stairs, her mind repeating her conversation with her dad. Her parents thought she was interested in Jay. What had she done to give them that impression other than joining his band?
Her train of thought was interrupted when, halfway down the hall, she noticed that her bedroom door was ajar. “Who’s been in my room?” she shouted down to her father, a feeling of panic building.
Her father’s head appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “I was. The DSL software came today and I thought you might like to have it set-up already.” He gave her a look that said So there and walked away.
“Sorry,” she called meekly. Her heart rate returning to normal, she entered her room, dropping her bag by the door and glancing around to reassure herself that nothing was out of place. She dropped to her knees and looked under her bed; her trunk looked undisturbed. She let the last vestige of anxiety disappear and sat in her chair, anxious to rejoin the online world. She was an internet junkie, and had missed having it for the short time that she’d been in Alexander. She was relieved that she could now email and instant message with Diana, who was almost as addicted as Krista herself was. She wasted no time in signing on to her internet email account. There they were: ten messages from Diana, and at least five from various other friends. She scanned through the messages; several of them were forwards or small messages to say ‘Hi’. Diana was not logged in to her IM account, so Krista satisfied herself with visiting her favorite sites and shooting off a few quick emails to her friends. She spent almost an hour online before she managed to push herself away from the computer desk, grab her bag from its place on the floor, and make her way to her bed. She sat cross-legged, her back against the headboard, and began to do her homework. She didn’t look up from her books until she heard her mother’s car in the drive, signaling that it was almost time for dinner.
******************************************
“Hey Krista,” Jay greeted her as he ushered her through the front door. “Right on time.”
“Hey Jay,” she replied.
He turned and motioned for her to follow him as he started down the hall towards the back of the house. “Everyone’s in the family room. You want anything?”
“Nah, I just had Chinese and I’m stuffed.”
“Funny. We had Chinese last night.”
They reached the doorway to the family room and Jay led her inside. She smiled at Sergio and Taryn, who were already there.
“Hey. Sit wherever you want,” Taryn offered with a grand sweep of her arm. Krista walked across the room, giving Sergio a small wave in response to his “‘Sup?” and settled on the carpet near the fireplace. She looked around the room, taking in the warm coloring of the room and the cozy decorations. Her eyes paused briefly in their roaming upon a set of large doors installed in the wall at the far end of the room. A couch was facing the doors, which weren’t attached to the floor in any way.
Sergio, who had been watching her assess the room, informed her, “Projection TV. State of the art stuff. You should come over here for movie night sometime. It’s better than being in a theater.” She smiled at him in thanks. It would have been rude to ask, or so her mom would have told her.
“You guys all set in here?” Krista turned to the doorway where Jay and Taryn’s mom stood addressing the room. Mrs. Hoffa spotted her and said, “Hi Krista. Nice to see you again.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Hoffa. Nice to see you again, too.”
“Call me Cheryl. All their other friends do.”.
“Yes ma’am,” Krista said, hunching her shoulders in an uncontrollable gesture of shyness. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to do that, and she could just imagine what her mom would say.
Cheryl smiled at the young girl. “Alright, if you guys need anything…at least three of you know where the kitchen is.” With a wave she turned and left the room.
“Alright man, call this meeting to order already,” Sergio encouraged, throwing a small pillow at Jay for emphasis. “Some of us still have homework to do.”
“Sorry if we’re a little unorganized,” Taryn directed at Krista. “We’ve sort’ve been out of commission for the summer, since our bassist graduated and took his lame ass off to college. So it’s like starting from scratch. Yay!” she added, jumping up and down in her seat with mock glee. Krista giggled. She was so cute.
“Sooo,” Jay started, trying to get everyone’s attention. When all eyes were on him he continued. “I called a bunch of the places we played at last year.”
“And?” Sergio prompted.
“We need a new demo. They were willing to listen, but they need a new demo from us.”
“Why?” Taryn questioned. “I mean, we’ve already played at these places, sooo… did they forget us?”
“Something like three of them have new management, so they don’t know who we are. And everyone else knows us as Diablo’s opening act. They’re not that psyched about giving us our own show,” Jay explained.
“Dude, we lost a bassist,” Sergio exclaimed, “not a freaking lead singer. No offense,” he added with a glance at Krista. “We sound the same.”
“Man, I’m just relaying the information,” Jay said, shrugging.
Taryn interjected. “No, no, it’s cool. I mean, I guess we could use a new demo anyway. We have a new member.” She looked at Krista and smiled reassuringly. The other girl looked a little overwhelmed.
Sergio slouched down in his chair and sighed. “Man. Are we going to just redo the old one or what?”
“I’m thinking that if we have to do one anyway, we should put some of our new stuff on it,” Taryn suggested. “Not all new, cause then they might not recognize us. But something to show where we are now.” She looked again at Krista before turning back to her brother. “Did you give Krista a copy of our old demo yet?”
ay slapped his forehead. “Duh. That would be a good idea, huh? I’ve got some downstairs.” He jumped out of his seat and ran from the room.
Sergio and Taryn continued to discuss the details of making a new demo, leaving Krista to mull the situation over. She was unsure of whether or not it would be lame to ask the questions and concerns that were nagging at her. Gathering her courage, and trying to convince herself that they wouldn’t think her naïve for her questions, she jumped in.
“Um, where did you guys play last year? Like, what kind of places?”
“Anywhere we could get a show,” Sergio answered with a small laugh. “We do the standard school dances and some house parties, but they don’t pay much if at all and honestly, it’s nice to get some money for it, y’know?”
“We had a couple of good shows at some clubs,” Taryn added. “Through Carson mainly. His older brother had a band and we opened for them sometimes. It’s good exposure, sometimes they pay us even, and the sound equipment’s better, so we’re going to try and set some shows up.”
“It’s going to be hard without Carson’s connections though,” Sergio lamented. “Back to the bush leagues.”
Krista nodded dumbly, uttering a small, “Cool,” all the while trying to sort out what she was hearing. Late nights at clubs that they were somehow able to get into, unsupervised house parties; who were these people she was playing with anyway?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of three CDs in front of her face. “Here you go,” Jay announced. “One of them is the actual demo that we give out, and the other two are just recordings of all of our songs so far. It’d probably be a good idea for you to learn them all.”
Krista nodded her head in agreement, taking them. I might not need to. She turned the CDs over in her hands, glancing over the track listings. Jay settled back into his chair, this time with a pad of paper and a pen in his hands.
“So, is the practice schedule I told you still okay with you?” he asked Krista.
“Thursdays and Saturdays, right?” He nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
“If we’re trying to gear up for a new demo we might need to add a few rehearsals though,” Taryn added. Sergio nodded in agreement.
“Well, I know we,” Jay gestured to include Krista, “have jazz band Monday, Wednesday, and Friday till 4:30. What’s your work schedule like this semester?”
“4-9 on Friday, and 9-3 on Saturday,” Taryn said.
“You got any commitments?” he asked Sergio.
“I’m pretty much free whenever.”
“Krista?”
“Not that I can think of,” she answered.
“Alright. Let’s add Tuesday, same time, starting next week maybe?” There were shrugs and nods of agreement from everyone. “Cool.”
“Do we have new music?” Sergio asked the room.
“Yeah, actually,” Taryn answered. “I’ve been working on a couple of things, so I’d like us to try them tomorrow if we can.”
“Not the one you were singing in the shower this morning?” Jay asked in mock horror.
“Don’t be a jerk,” she retorted, throwing a cushion at him. She glanced once more at Krista, feeling a little disquieted by her silence. She wondered what was going on in her head, what she was thinking about while she observed everyone. She was tempted to throw a cushion at her too, just to get some sort of reaction. She quickly dismissed the feeling. I’m not some 13 year-old boy trying to get her attention. The thought startled her, and she brought her concentration back to her Sergio and Jay, who were engaged in a conversation about the upcoming party.
Krista half-listened to the boys as they talked about who would be with who at Sheryl’s (whomever that was) bash. She wasn’t invited, so none of that mattered to her, and she didn’t relish the idea of sitting there listening to details of everyone else’s bursting social lives when she had none. She looked at her watch and decided that if the meeting was over, she should be getting home. She got her feet, an apologetic smile plastered on her face, knowing that her departure would seem abrupt. “Sorry guys, but I have to get home. There’s some stuff that I gotta do.”
Sergio waved her off dismissively with a “Later.” Taryn cocked her head to one side, her face clearly showing her confusion, and said, “Bye.”
Jay jumped out of his chair and offered to walk her to the door. As soon as they had left the room, Sergio turned to Taryn and said, conspiratorially, “She’s weird, man.”
“Shut up Sergio,” she sighed, and stood up to head for the kitchen. She saw Krista and Jay standing by the front door as she crossed the hall unnoticed. She didn’t admit to herself that she was eavesdropping, but her movements were careful and quiet as she moved about the kitchen, her head tilted in the direction of the door.
“Sorry I have to leave so soon. I just have a lot of stuff to do,” she heard Krista explain.
“Oh, that’s ok. We pretty much covered everything important,” Jay replied. There was a short, awkward pause (Taryn could just imagine the two of them standing there) and then, “Hey, um, so Sheryl’s party. Are you going?”
“No. I don’t know her.”
“Well, I’m probably gonna go. Do you wanna maybe go with me?”
In the silence that followed Taryn dropped all pretense of getting a drink. She stood still, listening with all of her might.
“Um…look, I’m sorry but…” Taryn could hear the regret and nervousness in her voice as she struggled to find the right words. “…I’m kinda at a point in my life…I’m not really interested in dating right now.” Her words suddenly came out in a panicked rush. “I mean, I assumed you were asking me out, not that I’m being conceited or anything, cause if it was just a friend thing then I’m really embarrassed and so sorry, but I didn’t want to give you the wrong impression in case you were asking me in that way, cause you’re really cool and I don’t want this to be a problem cause I really want to be in this band---”
“Krista,” Jay interrupted, “relax. I was asking you out on a date, but it’s cool. I just think you’re cute, and cool, and we have a lot in common, but it’s okay. You don’t have to apologize.” In the kitchen Taryn mentally applauded her brother for handling the rejection so well. He was being sweet about it. She didn’t pay much attention to the relief she had felt at Krista’s answer.
She heard a sigh, and then, “So this won’t…you’re not going to kick me out of the band?” Krista’s voice was quiet and belied her uncertainty.
Jay laughed. “Of course not. And I promise I won’t be weird.”
“Thanks.” There was another short silence before Taryn heard the door open. They each made more good-bye and see-you-tomorrow noises before it closed again and Taryn heard Jay’s footsteps approaching. She busied herself getting a glass and opening the refrigerator, but the footsteps continued past the kitchen door to the family room. Relieved that she wouldn’t be caught snooping, and at that point she couldn’t deny that that was what she had been doing, she relaxed and poured herself a glance of Coke before heading back to join the others.
Outside, Krista shuffled down the walkway and headed home. Her shoulders were hunched and her hands shoved deep inside the pockets of her jeans as she contemplated her immediate future with ‘Q.’ She sighed out loud. She couldn’t quite figure out how Taryn, Jay and Sergio were able to get into clubs, let alone perform in them. There were laws, weren’t there? And parties? She could just imagine the kind of parties they were invited to play at, like Sheryl’s party probably; lots of unsupervised teens getting drunk and doing crazy stuff. The kind of parties I never get invited to, she thought bitterly, until tonight of course. She gave a short laugh at her luck. Finally, invited to a party that smacked of the upper crust of high school society…by a boy. Whose sister remained a constant fixture in her mind.
She continued around the corner, absently brushing away the strands of hair the warm Arizona wind blew into her eyes. She walked in deep thought, oblivious to the sounds of her middle-class neighborhood, until she had reached the lit walkway of her home. She could see the flicker of light through the living room window. Her parents were watching television, probably a movie. She hoped they would be too engaged to drill her about her night; she was not in the mood to play the “heterosexual dating game.” She opened the door and stepped inside, fixing a neutral expression on her face.
Her parents glanced up at the sound of her entry. Krista smiled and said, “Hey,” intending to sneak off upstairs. “Hey,” her father hailed. “How was the meeting?”
She stopped in her tracks and turned around, resigned to the questioning to follow. “It was fine.”
Her parents nodded, waiting for more information. She smiled at them, rocking back on her heels. To an outsider they would have looked like a photograph, staring at each other as they were. Krista remained silent, refusing to participate. If they wanted to ask her questions, they were free too, but she wasn’t into volunteering any information. She just wanted to get into her room and contemplate the complications of her life.
Her parents finally exchanged a telling glance, and with a collective sigh released her. “Okay. Are you going to bed now?” her mother questioned. Her father was already picking up the remote.
“Nah. Gotta do some homework first.” Her mom nodded in approval, and turned her attention back to the tv. Krista breathed a silent thanks and made her way up to her room as fast as her legs would carry her.
Nice and long.
We Update Sluts like our fiction fresh 
. Love sam xx 
So I'm glad that came across. 
(i applaud your talent at writing)
