And we're off...
Play it from the Heart The only light in the room came from the candles arranged around the room atop the unpacked cardboard boxes. A thin wisp of smoke rose from the incense holder on her desk, which was piled high with the types of things other people threw away. Krista lay across her bed, her notebook open in front of her, the top of her pen tapping her lower lip as she thought. She was working on lyrics to a song she’d started earlier that week, a song inspired by the beautiful girl at school. She was going over the words, trying to tone them down so that they didn’t sound like amateur poetry night. She’d been taking tips from a book on songwriting her dad had gotten her recently, and it had proven to be helpful. Krista mainly wrote love songs. Not that she’d ever been in love before, but she’d read a lot of romance books, books that fueled her imagination of what it would finally be like. Unfortunately, lack of actual experience tended to give her songs a fanciful feel; lots of beautiful imagery without any real emotion behind it. She was smart enough and talented enough to recognize that. Sighing, she laid her head on her notebook. Not that she could change that if she tried.
A knock on the door caused her to lift her head. “Come in.”
The door crept open and her father’s head peaked around the edge. “Hey, Button. You’ve got a phone call. And mom just got home, and dinner’s ready, so try and make it quick, ‘kay?”
“ ‘Kay,” she answered as she got up from the bed to take the phone her dad offered her, casting him a questioning look. She waited for the door to close before plopping back onto her bed and putting the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“How’s Wonderland?” a familiar voice asked.
“Diana!” Krista shrieked, sitting up in a rush. “Oh man, I thought you were going to call later!”
“I can call back,” her friend said with a chuckle.
“Oh yeah, please do. I haven’t been waiting to talk to you all week or anything.” There was a pause as they both laughed, the pleasure at being in touch with each other evident in their voices. They had known each other since they were eight, and had been inseparable ever since. The loss of physical proximity to her best friend had made the move to Alexander all the more distressing for Krista, and she and Diana had promised each other that they would email every day, and talk on the phone at least once a week. Krista was thankful to this day that her admission of a year ago didn’t wreck this friendship. “So, God, what’s going on? How are you?”
“Alright. We all miss you. Mrs. Truman was talking about you in rehearsal.” Krista smiled at the mention of her old band teacher. Truman had been the sweetest teacher in the school, and although their band never won any prizes, they were a tight-knit group and had always been proud of themselves. “So, Kris, what’s going on at the new school? How was the first day? Did you make some friends? What are the kids like? Do you hate them all?”
“Actually, you’ll never believe it. I got into the jazz band this afternoon, and the drummer is this guy who has a band, and he invited me to come over and play with them.” She waited for Diana’s reaction. Diana was well aware of Krista’s shyness and the difficulties she had meeting people.
“Wow,” Diana breathed. “I’m impressed. Almost speechless. What, did you move and suddenly grow balls?”
Krista rolled her eyes. “No. Pure luck, y’know. But I’m nervous. I’ve never played with a
band band before. I’m not sure what’s gonna happen.”
“Kris, it’s music. You play the same notes, just maybe a different tempo. You’re gonna rock. And roll.”
Krista smiled to herself at Diana’s words of encouragement. Diana had always been her supporter, pushing her to do things she’d otherwise not have the guts to do. She was the catalyst behind Krista joining the jazz band back home. It felt good that even now, hundreds of miles away, Diana was still being her cheerleader.
“Anyway,” Diana continued, “moving on to the next big topic. Romance? Any hot young lesbians waiting for you?”
“Dude,” Krista hissed, looking around as if she expected to see her parents pop out of the closet. Despite the lack of dating and interest in boys in general, which Krista thought would have set off warning bells for her parents by now, they were still clueless about her sexuality. Hell, Krista’d only come to terms with it herself within the last year. She was in no means ready to come out to her parents, or anyone else. She felt content to live in her romance-novel fueled mind and wait out the three years till she was able to live on her own before she even thought of broaching the topic with her parents. It wasn’t that they weren’t liberal. Like any parents, they had expectations of her, and she was well aware that being gay wasn’t one of them. Some self-preserving instinct within her had tipped her off that liberalness sometimes started in other peoples’ yards, and landed home last. “No, no romance or anything. Are you kidding? I’ve resigned myself to being alone at least until I’m 21.”
“That’s a long time from now. I told you, you oughta answer a personal ad or something. ‘Big Momma Bear Seeks hot young thing to be her Goldilocks.’” They burst into a fit of laughter at the old joke between them. After her confessions of gayness and love, her good friend Diana had offered to take out a personal ad for her. “Besides, you’ve officially crossed the line from girl to woman. Time to get on that horse.”
Krista sighed. She’d never admit it out loud, but she had hoped, deep inside, that the recent event of her 16th birthday (for which her parents had been kind of enough to postpone the move so that she could spend it with her friends) would prove a landmark for her romantically. Two weeks into it, nothing had changed, and there was nothing about her circumstances at Townshend that gave her hope that it ever would.
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve never even seen a horse,” she retorted, and quickly changed the subject. They talked a little longer, Diana updating her of the goings-on within the little group she’d left behind. Krista listened carefully, memorizing and visualizing every detail, trying hard to ignore the pang of loneliness and missing she felt as she pictured each of her friends. They ended the call with promises of a repeat phone date the following week. Krista sat on the bed for a minute, composing herself and carefully placing her past on a shelf to be examined later, when she could be alone in her room all night. When she was ready she headed down to dinner.
The smell of food made her stomach rumble as she stepped into the dining room. Her father was setting the plates and napkins at the table, and a steaming bowl of pasta in sauce sat in the middle.
“Smells great, dad,” Krista complimented.
“Thank you. Help me get the rest of the silverware. Your mom’s changing. She just got home.” They headed into the kitchen together, gathering glasses, forks, and knives. They returned to the dining room to find Janice Evans wearily slumping into one of the chairs, emitting a big sigh. Father and daughter followed suit, setting the remaining dinnerware in their proper places and taking their seats on either side of the tired woman. Krista leaned over and gave her mom a small peck on the cheek. Her father reached over and took his wife’s hand, giving it a light squeeze.
“Ooohhh, am I glad this week is over,” she exclaimed. Mr. Evans reached for the bottle of red wine and her glass.
“No progress?” he asked as he poured her a glass.
“Progress, sure,” she replied, accepting the plate of pasta Krista set in front of her. “Just not enough. Mmm, this smells wonderful honey,” she added to Mr. Evans. “Anyway, I shouldn’t complain. I knew what I would be getting into. I knew it would be hard. Just…” she smiled ruefully,” it’s hard.”
Janice Evans had moved her family to Alexander, Arizona, to take the VP of Operations position at the local hospital. The interviewing process had been long and drawn out; the family had spent most of the summer unsure of what to prepare for. When the job offer finally came, the subsequent move was hurried. Bill Evans had recently been let go from the company where he’d worked for 30 years, and had nothing to gain by staying. The family had packed up their entire lives and made major adjustments in a short period of time. They had only arrived a week ago, and still had yet to completely unpack their belongings. Their new home showed the haphazardness of the move, and Krista’s parents were concerned about the affect the major transition would have on their daughter. She had had to be taken out of school, and away from the only friends she’d known for most of her life. In the end, though, moving was really the better option. Krista had assured her parents that she would be ok, and they’d made their decision.
Krista scooped some salad onto her plate. “Did you settle things with those HR jerks?” Krista asked. Janice had experienced unforeseen delays in processing her paperwork, and the hospital’s Human Resources department had been less than helpful
Janice nodded her head, chewing vigorously. “Mmhmm. I finally went straight to the Director, and he settled things very quickly.” She turned to her husband. “Have you heard anything else about that store?”
“I’ve got a meeting with them on Tuesday,” Bill announced, smiling proudly. “The price seems right, and if the inside is anywhere near as great as out, I think I’ll make an offer.”
“When do we get to see it?” Krista asked. Her father had started looking for rental property to try his hand in the retail business and pursue an independent computer business.
“Don’t get excited yet, honey. It’s not a sure thing. But, if you happen to travel downtown this weekend, it’s on Fifth and Maynard, on a street that’s got a lot of little businesses, around the corner from the main business district.”
Janice sipped her wine and eyed her daughter. “What about you, Button? How was your first week of school? We haven’t heard much. How’re the other kids?”
“Yeah, when do I get to start scaring teenage boys?” her father added, rubbing his hands together and emitting an evil chuckle.
Krista looked down at her plate, suddenly very interested in the configuration of her salad greens.
I don’t know dad, hopefully you’ll have to scare some teenage lesbians away first was what she thought. What actually came out was a hollow laugh with a small, “Daaad.”
Janice watched as her previously animated daughter shut down. It had been this way for almost a year. One day she was the same old Krista, open and good-natured, and suddenly she had turned into this secretive, distrusting person that didn’t talk to her parents. She and Bill had worried about drugs, but intensive investigation had proven that not to be the case. She suspected that it stemmed from hormones; Krista was probably depressed because she didn’t get a lot of attention from boys. The strange thing was that prior to last October, Krista had gone on a dating spree. She’d actually dressed herself up nicely and went on quite a few dates. It had stopped just as suddenly as it had begun, leaving her parents confused and worried. Janice just hoped that whatever it was would pass or come to a head. She missed being close to her daughter.
“All kidding aside,” she prodded now, “how was your first week?”
“It was fine,” Krista replied. “I got into the jazz band.”
Bill reached over to pat her arm. “I knew you would. Never had a doubt,” He said proudly. Bill was particularly invested in Krista’s musical involvement, having been a talented saxophonist in his youth. He only picked it up to play around now, and would periodically practice with Krista, but had long ago given up his aspirations to be a professional jazz musician.
“And how about your teachers? Do you like them? Have you made any friends?” her mother questioned.
“The teachers are fine. And I’m getting to know people, I guess.” There was a pause, and her parents looked at each other, wondering if they should give up the questioning. “Actually,” Krista volunteered, “the drummer for the jazz band invited me to sit in with his band tomorrow night. He thinks I might be good enough to join them.”
“Oh, he has own jazz band?” her dad asked excitedly.
“Actually, no. It’s a rock band, I guess.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “A rock band? Finally! Congratulations!”
“Well, thanks.” Krista looked at her dad fondly. She’d shared her frustrations with him about trying to get into bands in Staughton. It was just like him to be more excited than she was. Krista had a suspicion that he was living out his musical dreams through her, but she didn’t mind so much. At times she thought it was cute.
“What’s his name and where does he live?” her father inquired.
“Jay, and he lives on Roslindale, the street right behind ours. I think he might actually live in the house behind ours.”
“Is he cute?” her mother asked.
Krista sighed and replied, “No,” and turned her attention back to her food, refusing to participate any further in that particular conversation. She just didn’t know how to answer questions like that. Jay was cute in a completely objective way, but if she’d said that they’d have started in with the wriggling eyebrows.
She didn’t see her parents look at each other, mystified by her reaction to an innocent question. It always got this way when they attempted to talk to her about her private life. Quite frankly, the person she was becoming baffled them.
Suddenly her mother cleared her throat and turned to her father. “I met the nicest woman at work today, and I wanted to invite her and her husband to dinner one night. Which means,” she glanced at Krista, “Sunday is designated Family Cleaning Day. We need to get the rest of these boxes cleared and start making this place look like a home.” With that the tension eased, and the meal was finished with easy gossip about her mother’s new co-workers. Finally out of the spotlight, Krista settled back and relaxed with her family.
. Love sam xx 
I'm a guitarist, so hopefully my interpretation of bass playing'll ring true.
all i need is a feeeww moooore updates hmmm.... I hope you're feeding my addiction as we speak/...er...type!
I wanna know what happens! 
I knew she'd make it into the band. Its all gettin' very interesting; can't wait to see how things go in the next update...
).