At the end of the day, I walked into our vocal room for class, looking around to see if Aaron was in class already. Of course, he was; he even had his sheet music on his desk. I look at him and smile. I guess he saw me stand there because he smiled back at me. Before I can even react, I hear Milo walk into the classroom fast. I look at him and follow him to our seats. Milo sighed loudly, clearly annoyed at something.
“What’s got you all pissy?” I asked Milo. He rolled his eyes at my question. “Well, shit; I didn’t do anything to you.”
“I’m not in the mood, Mol,” Milo spat back. “I just want this day to end so I can go home.” I didn’t answer him back. It’s been a couple of days since I last saw Milo; I knew that he got injured in one of his classes, but shit; I thought maybe he’d be happy to see his best friend or something.
“How did you get hurt in band class? Drumstick hit your face or something?” I asked. Milo finally turned his whole body to look at me; he looked pissed.
“Can you just leave me alone, Mol? Please?” Milo said, louder than I think he thought he said it. My face flashed red out of embarrassment. He didn’t even bother apologizing, he just faced back forward toward the blackboard and pretended I wasn’t even sitting there. Ouch. I sank into my seat, waiting for Mr. Kamalani to start class.
“Alright class,” Mr. Kamalani began. “The showcase is less than a week away, so I expect everyone to be on time for rehearsal starting tomorrow. This is your first showcase as Waverly High student; the first of many while you’re here. Let’s get started on practice; everyone please stand in your assigned position.” We all got up from our seats and went to stand in our positions. I rolled my eyes at the fact that the person standing next to me was Laurie. She flips her hair when she sees me standing next to her.
“Try not to sing off-key this time, Mollie,” Laurie whispered in my direction. I rolled my eyes at her, not really wanting to answer her.
“You might be listening to yourself sing, Laurie,” someone behind me responded. Laurie turns around to see who said it. I then feel someone place their hand on my shoulder; I looked up and see that it was Aaron. I smiled and felt a little better afterward.
…
The bell rang, which meant that the day was now officially over. I look over at Milo, who runs past me to leave the classroom while everyone starts to pack their things. I rolled my eyes, annoyed that Milo is acting the way he was. I packed my bookbag at my desk and hear someone’s voice close to me.
“Hey, Mols.” I looked up and see Aaron standing there. He smiles down at me; I couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Hi,” I calmly said, happy to see Aaron standing there. He ruffled his hands into my hair, which also made me laugh. “Whatcha doing after school today?”
“I have band practice,” he answered. I couldn’t lie, I was a little sad that he had plans considering that today was one of the only days I had time to hang out after school. “Do you want to come with me?” I looked at him, and I guess I gave myself up when I smiled the biggest smile I could possibly make. He laughed and placed his arm around me. “Let’s go.”
…
Aaron and I got on the 3 train and took it into the city for his band practice. I can’t lie, I was nervous to be going to this practice with him. Would his bandmates not like me being there? Will Aaron become a different person when he’s in practice? After his showcase and everything that happened that night, nothing was ever really spoken about. Aaron and I went on like nothing happened, and I don’t know if I did anything wrong or maybe he’s changed his mind or–
“What’s on your mind, Mols?’ Aaron asked. I looked back up towards Aaron, who was standing near the door, holding onto the pole next to him.
“Oh, uhm, nothing really,” I answered, trying to gather my composure again.
“You sure? You look like a lost New Yorker on this train,” Aaron teased, to which I rolled my eyes and huffed.
“Please, I was born and raised in New York,” I responded. “I just never had any reason to take a number train somewhere.”
“What trains do you live near?” Aaron asked.
“The R,” I answered. Aaron scoffed and laughed under his breath. “What?”
“The R is like the slowest train out of all of them,” Aaron teased. “It takes like an hour to just get into the city on the R train.”
“Well it’s better than taking a number train any day,” I fought back. Aaron laughed, and I couldn’t help but laugh either since I know taking a number train is probably the quickest way into the city. Aaron smiled and walks to stand next to me. He placed his hand into mine, which took me by surprise. Yep, I can definitely feel my face getting hot.
“Are you gonna tell me what’s really on your mind?” Aaron nearly whispered to me. I looked at Aaron, who is staring into my eyes, waiting for an answer. There was something about Aaron that felt… different. I’ve had crushes on boys in the past; I remember having my first crush in the 3rd grade. I mean, sure he did nothing but chew gym and trade lame cards with his friends and didn’t really pay attention to anything else, but he was still really cute… even if he thought my name was Maggie. And then there was Theo who ended up being the biggest jerk in 8th grade for using me for a bet. Aaron pays attention to me. He listens to me when I speak and he actually likes to hang out with me and truly wants to hear what I have to say. Aaron really made me feel like any bad day can be turned into good.
“I’m a little nervous about meeting your band members again,” I admitted. How was it so easy to be honest with another human being? Aaron nodded his head, understanding my nerves and possibly why my palms were sweaty.
“What’s making you nervous?” he asked. I took a deep breath and exhaled before I answered.
“I don’t know,” I began. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. They seemed like cool guys when we met back at Aaron’s showcase a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I felt like I didn’t fit in. Aaron was another person when he was on that stage, and I can only imagine he was that person around his band members.
“Don’t be nervous,” Aaron began. “The guys are cool, and they don’t mind you being at our practice.”
“They know I’m coming?” I asked, getting even more nervous than before. What if they gave him a hard time for bringing someone to their practices? Did they get mad at him?
“Yeah,” Aaron answered. He quickly spoke right after looking at me: he probably sees the nerves written all over my face. “Breathe, Mols. You’re gonna be fine.” Aaron squeezes my hand; I almost forgot he was holding my hand in the first place. It was like it was supposed to be there all along. He smiled at me, waiting for me to smile back. I couldn’t help myself; I smiled back.
Suddenly, he moves his head toward the temple of my head, gently kissing it and looking outside the train window like what he just did was nothing. It was like it was natural for him to do such a thing. I might as well paint my face red permanently.
Letters From Liz. 