Category: The Teenage Monologues.

The last 45 minutes have been a complete blur. Maybe I practiced these songs so much within the last couple of months, I actually don’t have to be mentally present in order to play them anymore. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Sophie said and how angry I was for her not telling me sooner. It felt like I was not only getting betrayed by my best friend, but I was also getting betrayed by a girl that… well, I really liked.

I didn’t realize just how much I liked Sophie until I saw her perform her solos on stage. She seemed nervous when her parts were coming up and in a sense, she looked in the front rows before she started them. She locked eyes with me before she started her solos; all I could do is smile at her. She worked hard for these solos, and I wished that we both started our performances on a better note. She deserved someone watching her solos after sharing with me that her mom couldn’t be here for her first ever showcase. Sometimes I forget just how different Sophie and I are; all of her family is back in either England or South Korea and even then her family is still considered small. Her only support system is her mom, and I can’t imagine not having the only person I want to support me not being able to come and do just that. I look over towards my family in the audience; most of them take almost two rows of seats. I am grateful that everyone is here tonight for the first ever Waverly showcase and that they are here to support me and Mollie later tonight. I look back at Sophie as she plays the rest of her solo. I don’t know where Sophie and I stand, but in that moment, I wanted to let her know that I’ll always be here cheering her on for her performances. She deserves it, and in a way music has always been the one thing that truly connected us.

Her solos finish and I’m already standing from my seat cheering for her. The piece wasn’t even done yet, but I wanted to let Sophie know that she’s not alone today and that her section in our ensemble matters. I wanted to let her know that I’ll always be here to support her when she doesn’t have anyone else to do it. Shortly after, their first performance is finished ad I give them a standing ovation. I give Sophie the biggest smile so she can see it from the stage.

…

A soon as the band ensemble works out of the auditorium, I run across the hallway to make it to the vocal room on time. That’s the only thing that sucks about being a dual major; you are constantly having to run to one classroom to another for rehearsals and performances. Can this be counted towards my grade in gym?

I finally run inside of the vocal classroom as everyone in our choir continues to get ready. I look over at Mollie who is getting ready by herself at one side of the classroom. I walk up to her and sit next to her. I look at her as she continues to lace her dress shows up. I look at her as if she’s a completely new person because she’s definitely not the same person I knew as my best friend. She looks at me when she’s finished doing what she was doing.

“You good, Milo?” Mollie asked as she began to take out makeup from a little bag. Since when does Mollie wear makeup? I watch her as she applies makeup on top of her eyelids with her finger.

“I guess,” I answered back.

“Well you’re staring at me like I have a third eye or something,” Mollie points out and now starts drawing something on her eye with a pencil.

“Just never thought I’d see the day Mollie Castro puts on makeup,” I blurted out, which makes her stop what she’s doing to look at my face.

“It’s a normal thing people do,” she explained.

“Yeah, but not you,” I emphasized. Mollie didn’t say anything back. She kept taking out all these different things out of this bag; I didn’t know she had so much makeup. “It’s like I barely know you.”

“Whatever,” Mollie dismissed the conversation quickly. “Don’t be that guy.”

“I mean, you said you would never put on makeup because only girls who are ugly have to make themselves look decent,” I said, recalling a conversation we both had months more everything changed. Months before she met Aaron. “Now all of a sudden you’re wearing makeup?”

“Is it a crime to do so?” Mollie stopped what she was doing to finally talk directly to me. “Seriously, Milo, what’s up with you today?”

“Nothing is up,” I crossed my arms as I answered. “I’m just saying that girls only want to put makeup on for a boy, never because they want to.”

“Milo, you sound like a typical boy,” Mollie sounds annoyed now at the conversation. “Like please take that old age idea somewhere else.”

“You’re right, ” I finally cave in and take a deep breath. “I mean, you would tell me if you liked someone or that you were dating someone, y’know since we’re best friends.” Mollie nodded her head as she looked into her little tiny mirror.

“Yep,” Mollie said without any emotion behind it. I was getting annoyed that she would still sit here and lie in front of my face. It made me think that Mollie thought I was this dumb boy that couldn’t see through her bullshit. Mollie has always made it apparent that she is able to see right through me, but she fails to realize that I know her just as much as she knows me, and she never gives me any credit for being her best friend. I sat up in my chair and left out a sarcastic laugh.

“Yep,” I began to say. “Because my best friend would tell me that she’s dating someone as soon as it happens, not even I find out randomly from someone who already knows.” Mollie looked up from the mirror; I lock eyes with Mollie. “My best friend wouldn’t do something like not tell me.”

“Where are you going with this?” Mollie turned her entire body to now face me. Before I can say anything back, my dad quiets the class down before he starts talking to us.

“Alright guys, we’re heading up to the auditorium in 5 minutes,” my dad begins to say. “We are walking out there like professionals, because each and every one of you are capable of being professionals. You guys have worked this hard for tonight to finally come, so let’s have fun, stay focused, and show the audience that the freshmen at Waverly High are a force to be wrecking with.” The class claps after my dad’s speech. I wonder how many times has my dad said these exact words to every freshman class each year, but I wonder if this year is any special considering Mollie and I are in this freshman class.

The rest of our classmates begin to line up at the door. Mollie tries to walk away from me to line up, but I was not done talking to her. I need to know if what Sophie said was true.

“We’re not done talking, Mol,” I walked in front of Mollie before she got any closer to the two lines outside our classroom door. “I’m not saying what I heard has any truth behind it, so I need to hear it from you.”

“Hear what?” Mollie asked, annoyed and anxiously bouncing in place to try to find a way to get to the line. I wasn’t going to allow her to get on that line until she told me or if my dad says something to me. “Milo, we fucking have to line up–“

“Are you dating Aaron?” I finally spat out, wanting to get to the bottom of things. Mollie scrunches her eyebrows together.

“Aaron? Like Aaron Serrano?” Mollie emphasized.

“Well there aren’t any other Aaron’s we both know,” I pointed out before crossing my arms along my chest. “It’s a simple question, Mol. Are you dating him or not?”

“Why would you believe anything that anyone else has to say about my life,” Mollie quickly responded. “Like for you to stand there and interrogate me about something you heard from someone else really makes me question our friendship–“

“Mol,” I said before I smiled. “I know you and you’re backtracking. I simply just heard something and just want to know if it’s true or not.” Mollie rolls her eyes before she tries to walk away from me again. I block her way, which makes Mollie become more angry.

“Get out of my way,” Mollie demanded.

“No,” I firmly said back. “If you were really my best friend, you would tell me straight up if it’s true or not.” I look at Mollie and she doesn’t move or say anything else. She looks like she’s crumbling underneath, like she’s trying to keep this hard image on the outside but the inside is just falling apart. I know this look on Mollie well, and it nearly makes me sick to my stomach. My eyes widen as if I was really shocked that the rumor was true. I guess There were parts of me that hoped that maybe Sophie was laughing, like she wanted Mollie and I to fight or something; I know. But I know Sophie wasn’t that type a girl, but then again even I don’t know that anymore; she hid this secret from me knowing how I felt about Aaron.

“So, it’s true? You’re dating Aaron Serrano?” I whispered at this point. Mollie doesn’t answer, but she immediately looks at Aaron who is now in line waiting to go up to the auditorium. That’s when I knew the truth: Mollie was dating Aaron. “You’re dating the one guy that I absolutely hate more than anything else in this world? All these guys in our school and you chose to date him?”

“You only think about yourself, dude,” Mollie finally said. i wasn’t expecting her to respond the way she did. “Maybe I didn’t tell you because you made me very apparent that you didn’t see me as your best friend anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” I spat back. “Are you really going to blame this all on me? You’ve been my best friend, but I can’t say the same for you if you are willing to date someone whose only mission in life is ruining mine.”

“You haven’t been my best friend!” Mollie yelled out. “You’ve done nothing but brush me off for the past couple of months because either you were too busy doing dual major shit, or because you already made plans to hang out with Sophie. It’s not my fault that I’m now hanging out with someone who actually wants to hang out with me, not because they have to.”

“If the roles were switched and I was dating, like, Laurie or some shit, you would’ve acted the same way!” I know Mollie would’ve made it a huge deal and very much about her if I was dating someone she didn’t like. She would’ve made it known that she was hurt and felt betrayed if I did something like that to her; but nope, everything is just fine that Mollie can do it but I can’t feel hurt or betrayed.

“Aaron is not Laurie,” Mollie quickly tried to correct me. “Aaron has not purposely did anything to you that you didn’t do to yourself.”

“Are you hearing yourself right now?!” I couldn’t help but yell louder at this point. I didn’t care if there were people now looking at us talk. “Dude, Aaron is the reason why I was temporarily suspended from my dual major status–“

“Oh shut up about the dual major thing!” Mollie yelled. “That’s all you fucking care about! Just because you’re a dual major doesn’t mean you’re better than everyone else! Get off your fucking pedestal and recognize that you are nothing outside of Waverly!” The whole class is now looking at us argue and I can feel my face getting hot. I see my dad walk toward Mollie and me before standing in front of us.

“That’s enough,” my dad sternly said. “This is not the time or place to be doing this, so please get in line so that we can go upstairs.” Mollie quickly walks away from my dad and me, and I can’t help but watch her stand toward the back of the line, next to Aaron. I quickly turn around and walk to my spot on the line. I can’t fucking believe that my best friend would do something like this to me.

I don’t hear or see anything when I walk toward the stage with my vocal ensemble. I don’t remember even looking for Sophie in the audience; all I can look at is Mollie and Aaron standing in front of the two microphones for their solos in our last performance. They look at each other as they sing; I hate that I didn’t catch on sooner because the way Aaron looks at Mollie perform is… the same way I look at Sophie perform. Mollie doesn’t take her eyes off of him as they perform the solo parts of the song; you can tell they practiced outside of school because they sound more together and prepared than the other solos of the night. I thought that maybe Aaron had a crush on Mollie, but never did I think that Mollie would have a crush on Aaron back. All that time that Mollie spent after school without her friends… was she on dates with Aaron? All these months and she was Aaron Serrano’s girlfriend? I can tell by the way Mollie looks at him that she really likes him and he really likes her. They perform for each other more than the audience in front of all of us. I wanted nothing more than to just run off this stage and hide under a rock. If Aaron has done anything to ruin my life these past couple of months, it’s taking my best friend and having her fall in love with him. She knew she couldn’t tell me because she knows Aaron was wrong for doing what he did about my status as a dual major, yet that wasn’t enough evidence to convince her just how much of a shitty person this guy was.

As the song ended, the audience claps loud of the soloists; even the vocal ensemble claps for them. I stand there, looking at Mollie and Aaron take their bows together, and then watch Aaron show off Mollie like she’s his prized possession. I lost my best friend to Aaron Serrano.

And I guess I lost Sophie tonight, because I look out in the crowd and don’t see her in the seat she was sitting in anymore.

— End of Season 1 —

Tonight is the night of the first showcase I will ever do as a student at Waverly High. This week leading up to this day had the entire school in complete panic mode; decorations were being put up and it was announced very morning on the loudspeaker in every classroom. I didn’t realize just how serious a showcase like this was for the school; it felt like the Grammy Awards for a performing arts high school.

I stepped out of the bathroom stall and looked at myself through the mirror. The other guys were laughing and talking near the sinks in the boy’s bathroom. We’re all dressed up in fancy tuxedos; with brow ties and everything. It definitely feels like the real deal now, I mean at every recital or school concert I did when I was younger we wore a button down short and whatever pair of pants we wanted to wear. This feels like a completely different level of performing.

“Mr. Harrison wants us back in the band room, guys,” one of my classmates stated. The other guys begin to get their stuff and talk as they exit the bathroom. I take a deep breath before gathering my stuff to do the same.

I begin to walk down the hallway back to the band room when all of a sudden, I feel someone grab my shoulder.

“Hey, dude,” Davy said as we walked down the hallway together. “You’re ready for tonight’s show? You have, like, 30 songs to perform.”

“Ha ha,” I sarcastically laughed. “I’m just ready for this showcase to finally start so we can perform already.” As Davy and I continue to walk towards the band room, our band-mates keep walking ahead and passing us; one of them being Aaron Serrano. I rolled my eyes at the sight of him. We hear Mr. Harrison’s voice coming out of the band room, making sure that we all get to our final rehearsal before the showcase later tonight.

Everyone gets in their seats as Mr. Harrison closes the front door. The room is quiet; I can tell we were all nervous to do our first showcase as students here at Waverly. Who knows who’ll be sitting in that audience watching us? Who knows if we will be any good; what if we don’t live up to the expectations of the other Waverly students before us? Mr. Harrison stands in front of us before he speaks.

“Tonight is a big night for all of you,” he began to say. “This will be the first of many showcases coming your way, so even if you are nervous or feeling intense about tonight’s performance, make sure that no matter what, you have fun doing what you guys love to do.” Mr. Harrison looks at me and Aaron before pointing us out to the class. The class turns around to look at us; Sophie does as well. “We have some of our dual majors participating in the Dual Major Performance tonight, so please stay after your performance and support not only them, but your fellow Waverly classmates as well.” The class looks forward again as Mr. Harrison addresses the class again. “Lastly, good luck and be the best that you are on that stage.” The class claps after his speech and begins to gather their things in order to line up for the show. I get up from my seat quickly, wanting to talk to Sophie before we all left for the auditorium. Aaron nudges me to make room to pass me with this things, not even looking back to say anything. I wanted nothing more than to just kick him in the mouth. Davy walks towards me once more while looking at Aaron pass by me the way that he did.

“Of course Mr. High-And-Mighty probably got off at the praise Mr. Harrison gave you guys about the dual major performance,” Davy mentioned. I don’t say anything back. I see Sophie walking by with her instrument in hand with the other members of the string section. As Sophie got closer to us, I smiled and waved at her.

“Hi, Scout,” I said to Sophie. She looked up and quickly smiled at me, then looked back down as she walked by. I was a little hurt that she didn’t stop to say hi back. It was our first showcase and she knows just how much it meant for the both of us. I thought she would’ve stopped and wished me good luck or possibly calm me down after seeing just how fucking nervous I am for this showcase. I didn’t get anything but a quick smile of acknowledgement.

“Are you and Sophie good?” Davy asked.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” I said, trying to play off the exchange as if it was nothing. “Her section had to line up.”

“Oh,” Davy answered. “I thought maybe you were mad at her for talking to Aaron the other day or something.” Aaron? I quickly look at Davy feeling very confused and concerned. Why would Sophie be talking to Aaron of all people? Sophie knows that Aaron was the reason why I was temporarily suspended from my dual major status. She knows just how much work had to put into learning all of the band pieces on top of the dual major pieces that I missed during my suspension. She knows how I feel about Aaron, so why is she talking to him behind my back and not even telling me?

“Aaron?” I began to question. “Like, Aaron Serrano?” Davy looked at me like I was crazy.

“Yeah; who else?” Davy answered. “I don’t know what they were talking about, but they were loud enough for it to be heard from down the hallway.” One of our band-mates taps Davy to tell him to line up in his section. Davy walks away from me without explaining anything to me. A part of me didn’t want to know more; I felt sick to my stomach knowing that a girl I like was talking to Aar–

I mean, my friend. My really good, supportive… funny… smart… beautiful friend.

I look over at Sophie; she’s standing in line with the rest of the string section talking to the other band-mates. I can’t help but look at her and not feel the things that I feel. She makes me nervous, especially when we hang out in complete silence and she just looks at me and smiles. I feel like besides Mollie and my other friends, she’s the only other girl that actually listens to me; not when she feels like it or when it has to do with her, but actually listens. She always talks to me like she wants to her what I have to say. It’s nice to have someone like Sophie in my life.

I began to walk to where Sophie is standing; I have to talk to her. I can’t help not knowing why she would need to talk to Aaron and why all of a sudden she’s so cold towards me. I don’t care if we have to be in our spot before we enter the auditorium; Sophie means more to me than any performance I can do tonight. Maybe that means something.

I walked up to Sophie, in which she immediately stopped talking to the other band-mates and looked at me. She looked nervous; sad even. Why was she sad to see me? Why did she look like wasn’t happy to see me?

“Hey, Sophie,” I said, feeling like this was the first time I ever spoke to her.

“Hi, Milo,” she answered back quickly. “We’re going to head to the auditorium any minute now, so–“

“I know,” I quickly said, trying to not waste any time before that happens. “Can I talk to you for a quick second? I promise I’ll get you back in place before we have to go in.” Sophie looks hesitant, but ultimately walks away from the line to talk to me.

“What’s going on?” Sophie asked once we found a spot to talk at. I didn’t know where to start, in all honesty. I didn’t know what to bring up first or how to bring it up without it coming of the wrong way. Either way, I had to say something fast before it was too late.

“Are you mad at me?” I asked. “I just feel like for a day like today, you would’ve been more supportive or something.” Sophie’s eyebrows scrunch together; I definitely did not mean for it to come out like that.

“You’re not the only one performing tonight,” Sophie spat out. “Maybe I was also just too busy trying to get my things together for my performance as well?”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said without letting Sophie say anything else. “It’s just… you’ve been around for all the practices and you know how much work I had to put into learning all these pieces for the band and the dual major performance–“

“So is my hard work for my performance not valid to yours just because you’re doing much more?” Sophie asked, now annoyed at me. I didn’t understand why she was acting this way. She wasn’t letting me speak, and she wasn’t listening to me anymore. It was like Sophie wasn’t herself , and I have no idea what happened to change that.

Besides talking to Aaron.

“Why are you acting like this?” I finally said back. “It’s like ever since you spoke to Aaron, you’ve been so distant and cold with me.” I can tell my Sophie’s expression that she did not know that I knew about her talk with Aaron. She quickly gains her composure back before she answers.

“My conversation with Aaron had nothing to do with you,” Sophie answered. “Why does that even matter?”

“Why would you have a conversation with him? You know how I feel about him,” I asked; I was done trying to sugarcoat how I was feeling with Sophie. She clearly didn’t care how she was making me feel in this moment.

“He’s one of our band-mates,” Sophie said. “Just because you don’t like him doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist in our class.”

“You never spoke to Aaron before,” I pointed out, trying to not get loud. I was getting angry at Sophie; who the hell was this girl I was talking to? What did Aaron tell her to make her act this way toward me? “Seriously Sophie, what can you and Aaron possibly talk about?”

“Oh wouldn’t you love to know,” Sophie mocked, rolling her eyes at me. “Not everything is about you, Milo. For once, maybe you should think about someone besides yourself.”

“What are you even saying?” I asked, clearly confused at this whole conversation. “I’m just saying that Aaron has no business talking to you. He doesn’t even like you.”

“Yeah, apparently I’m hard to like,” Sophie said as she tried to walk back to her spot. What does that mean?

“Sophie,” I said as I grabbed her by the hand. She quickly yanked her hand away from me. Now I was angry. “What the hell is wrong with you?! I didn’t do anything to you–“

“Milo, you didn’t even ask me how I was feeling about this performance,” Sophie snapped at me. “Not once did you acknowledge the fact this showcase is bloody nerve-wrecking for me. My mum couldn’t even make it here tonight because it conflicted with her job! I know I’m not performing for that audience tonight; there’s barely anyone there because they know the string orchestra always performs at the beginning of the showcase. I’m not performing that solo for anybody but the people who rehearsed the same two songs with me for the past four months. But no, you just wanted to talk to me about a boy that you despise and see if he said anything to me about you.”

I didn’t know what to say in this moment. I didn’t know that Sophie was going through all of that; she never told me she was feeling these things. She normally would; we confine in each other and for Sophie to hold all of that in and not tell me before the showcase was weird.

“You know, maybe Aaron isn’t that much of a jerk as you made him out to be,” Sophie said.

“Are you fucking serious right now?” I spat out, furious that Sophie would even say anything like that. “Dude, he was the reason I got my dual status suspended! He doesn’t care about anyone but himself!”

“At least he goes out of his way to care for the people he cares about!” Sophie said. What? “You want to know so bad what Aaron spoke to me about? He was looking for Mollie! He saw that I was the last person to talk to her and wanted to know why she was so upset. He didn’t ask me ‘oh what did you tell Mollie about me’, but he was genuinely trying to find out why Mollie was upset.”

“Mollie?” I questioned. “Why was Aaron asking you about Mollie?”

“Because that’s what you do when you like someone!” Sophie answered out loud. “When you care about someone and like someone, you make it known that you do. You do anything to make that person feel happy; you put aside your own problems for that one moment because you know that the person you like and care about is not okay.”

“Aaron likes Mollie?” I simply asked. Sophie rolled her eyes and began to walk back to her spot in the line. We were all about to start walking towards the auditorium. I wasn’t done with this conversation; I needed to know what the hell was going on.

“Yes,” she finally confessed. “And he made it so known to her that they are actually dating now, because when you like someone, Milo, you tell them. You don’t just leave them in the dark questioning their very existence because you’re more worried about yourself!” I couldn’t hear anything around me. I felt everything in my body drop to the pit of my stomach. Aaron and Mollie are dating? My best friend is dating my worst enemy? Mollie is supposed to be my best friend; her dating Aaron would be like me dating Laurie. Aaron has done nothing but make my life a living hell since the day I met him, and for Mollie to know this and not tell me he was her boyfriend? I feel hurt and betrayed.

“You knew they were dating and you never told me?” I asked, more furious than anything else. “You knew this entire time that they were dating and you weren’t going to tell me?!” Sophie looked pale in the face, like she was going to be sick. I don’t think Sophie was planning on telling me this information, because she is looking at me like she just spilled the biggest can of beans imaginable.

“I shouldn’t have even told you,” Sophie quickly answered. “It wasn’t my place to say anything, but–“

“You knew this whole time that my best friend was dating my worst enemy, Sophie! How could you do this to me?” I yelled at Sophie. This was the first time I was this angry at Sophie. It was like everything I ever felt about her and everything I thought about her was a complete lie. Maybe she never liked me; maybe she was just using me for her own personal gain. I thought she was different. Sophie now looked even more angry than she was before.

“Do this to you?” Sophie said. She scoffed and took a deep breath. “You know what? Fine. I’m sorry for keeping that from you, but has it ever occurred to you that Mollie and Aaron didn’t tell me that they were dating? That maybe, just maybe, they made it so bloody obvious they liked each other and were dating, but you just never paid attention?” I looked at Sophie trying to put the pieces together. How could that even be? Mollie and I always hang out… well, most of the time.

Wait. Now that I think about it; it’s been a long time since we actually hung out after school or even spoke to each other for more than 5 minutes during passing. She was with Aaron this entire time, and I never knew. Was I really that so out-of-touch with everything that I didn’t see the signs? How did I not notice that Mollie was dating a guy, let alone Aaron Serrano of all people?

“There’s a lot of things you didn’t pay attention to,” Sophie said.

“What is that suppose to mean?” I asked. Before she could answer, Mr. Harrison yells out for us to get in our spots in line. Sophie walks back to her spot without saying another word. There’s nothing I can do but go back to my spot and walk into the auditorium with the band to start off the showcase…

To then go and sing with my so-called best friend and her boyfriend as the soloists.

I sat outside the school before going home. It was pathetic, but I had nowhere else to go besides straight home, and I didn’t feel like going home just yet. I wanted to hang out with Milo; I wanted nothing more than to go to the pizza place and get a slice while we talked about anything we wanted to. I miss the days when Milo and I did that; I don’t even remember the last time we did something like that.

I guess I didn’t realize it’s been so long because I hang out with Aaron most days after school. Maybe I’m only realizing just how much I miss hanging out with Milo because this is the first time in a long time that I haven’t spent my time after school with Aaron. I was supposed to meet with Aaron near my locker after class, but I ditched him after hearing those girls talk about him in math class. I didn’t understand what was happening; I mean, Aaron and I never made it official; like we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, but we act like we are. Whenever we hang out, we hold hands when we walk and he kisses me on the cheek and he always hugs me. Aaron always gave the best hugs.

I start to feel the tears fall from my eyes again, and I immediately wiped them away. The last thing I needed was some dumb kid looking at me cry over a boy on the front steps of the school. I just didn’t know what to do or feel at this moment. I want to run away and hide from everyone, but I feel stuck in these steps. Maybe I’m just here because I know that once I go home, I will just let my thoughts get the best of me and I’ll start crying. I looked at my phone to see if Milo maybe messaged me; nothing. He’s probably with Sophie like he always is.

This is when I get up from where I’m sitting and just go–

“Mols?” I heard Aaron’s voice call me by the nickname he only calls me, and I feel my heart jump around along my chest. I look up and see Aaron standing at the end of the bench, looking directly at me. I looked away quickly; I really didn’t want him to see me upset. It wasn’t long after that I felt him sit next to me on the bench. “Mollie?” Fuck. Not my full name.

I looked up at him and I can see the confusion written all over his face. He looked hurt like me not meeting him after class affected him negatively. That’s not how a guy talking to multiple girls acts. I felt bad, but then I hear those two annoying girls in my head, talking about Aaron like they knew him the way I did. When did I become this jealous? Did it mean that I actually wanted more than what we already are? How can I trust a guy as talented and as known as Aaron Serrano to want to be just my boyfriend? Maybe he has an agenda like every boy on this planet. Why would Aaron actually like me?

“Is everything okay?” Aaron asked. I sighed and faked a smile; I didn’t want to get into everything at this point. If anything, I just wanted my mind to quiet down.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t they be?” I answered, picking the nail polish off my nails. Aaron watched as I did as if he already knew my nervous ticks and defense mechanisms to save face.

“You weren’t at your locker after class,” Aaron pointed out. “You always meet me at your locker so that we could go to practice together.” Fuck. I totally forgot we had band practice in the city today.

“Why didn’t you go without me?” I genuinely asked, worried that his bandmates would be angry at him for missing a practice. Aaron tilted his head like he was confused.

“Because I was trying to find you all this time,” Aaron answered, sounding as if he was growing annoyed at me. I rolled my eyes, getting frustrated all over again at him. Why would be trying to find me? Clearly, if I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, that meant I didn’t want to be found. I wanted to be invisible.

“You should’ve just gone without me,” I started to say. “Now your bandmates are gonna be mad at you for missing a rehearsal so close to the show–“

“You think I give a shit about that?” Aaron interrupted me to say. “Plus, you’re a part of that group. You’re our lead singer,” Aaron emphasized. A couple of weeks ago, Aaron told me that the band wanted to change their image up a bit and thought it would be good to have a girl sing the lead vocals. Aaron asked me if I was interested in joining his band to sing. Of course, I was nervous at first; I was now entering a band that had a solid lineup prior to me ever knowing Aaron. But, I found myself enjoying being a part of the band; not only was I singing lead in a band, but I was hanging out with Aaron and I couldn’t deny the fact that I valued the time we would spend together. Stupidly of me, I thought I was different.

“Yeah, well I didn’t feel like going,” I said, grabbing my bag from the bench and getting ready to leave. Aaron places his hand gently on top of mine to stop me from getting up. I looked at him as he looked at me. “What?” I coldly said.

“What’s wrong?” Aaron finally asked without any gentleness, like he was done being nice to me and wanted to get straight to the point. It pissed me off, why couldn’t he take what I was saying as it was and just leave me the fuck alone?

“Nothing,” I simply said.

“Ronnie said you were upset when you left your class; what happened in your class?” Aaron was trying to put the pieces together. It felt like he was trying to pull out teeth one by one until he was able to get to the root of it all. I warned him, and he wasn’t getting it. You wanna know? Fuck it.

“Oh nothing, just the fact that I had to sit in front of Bella and her annoying ass friend and hear them talk about how she can’t wait to see you at your next show,” I confessed. “So much for inviting me to your showcase because you only wanted me there, huh?”

“Bella?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah, Bella!” I yelled. “What, is she your girlfriend or something, or is she just your biggest groupie?” Aaron looked mad about what I was saying. It was out there and I couldn’t stop any more from coming out. “Because the way she spoke about you, it was like you guys are officially a couple or some stupid shit.”

“Bella is just a girl in my dual major rehearsals,” Aaron explained. “She’s also a senior.”

“Oh,” I sarcastically said. “A senior! Wow, how does it feel to be a freshman scoring with a dumb senior that’s still taking freshman math?!”

“You think Bella and I are dating?” Aaron repeated back to me. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Don’t be one of those guys that deny dating someone when literally she spoke about you as if you were,” I spat back to Aaron. I didn’t see anything but red at this point. I know what I heard and saw with my two eyes.

“What in your right mind thought that Bella and I were dating?” Aaron began to raise his voice back at me. “Seriously, Mollie; she’s just a girl in the dual major rehearsals like we have to talk to each other because we are a part of the same ensemble for the showcase–“

“So, let me get the facts straight,” I spoke over Aaron. “She’s a senior, she’s pretty and popular, and she’s also a dual major. What does she dual major in?” I asked.

“Why?” Aaron asked. “Why does that matter?”

“What does she dual major in?!” I yelled out. Aaron paused to look at me, and I hate the look he was giving me. He looks like he’s just seen me for my true colors like I wasn’t the cool and chill girl he thought I was. I hate how this was going and how I was reacting to everything. I felt like I was suffocating in this conversation and grasping for any sort of oxygen to keep me still breathing. Why did it matter what Bella majored in? Why was that the one thing I wanted to know?

“Vocal and dance,” Aaron finally answered. The answer wasn’t shocking, but I was dreading that to be the answer. I had a feeling Bella was a vocal and dance dual major just in the way she carried herself. She looked like she came from money, and in order to be even considered for Waverly’s dance program alone, you needed the money to be a part of it. Costumes and hairpieces and travel fees… that all had to be paid by the student.

It was something I wanted to do when I auditioned for Waverly, and when I got the acceptance letter to be a dual major myself, I declined it. I couldn’t do it. For Aaron to have found someone who was everything I wanted to hurts the most.

“I guess she was everything you wanted, huh?” I finally said. I wanted to cry and run away, but something kept telling me to stay and to hear Aaron out. I just wanted to understand what was it about Bella that made him want to talk to her and invite her to his shows. I wanted to hear him say the things that I needed to hear, and the longer I sat here waiting for him to say them, the more desperate I became.

“Mollie, are you hearing yourself? I didn’t say anything about Bella in that way,” Aaron tried to reason with me. “I don’t know what you heard from Bella and her gossiping to her friends, but I simply invited her to the show because she asked. Her brother is Xavier.”

“Brother?” I repeated.

“Yeah, Mols,” Aaron stated. “I don’t see Bella in the way you think I see her. She’s a friend.”

“But, she made it seem like she liked you more than a friend,” I explained.

“But that doesn’t mean I like her more than a friend,” Aaron looked me in the eyes as he spoke to me. “And I don’t.” I didn’t say anything after that; in a way, I felt incredibly stupid for letting something like this get to me like this. Maybe I couldn’t hide it anymore. Maybe I needed to know in this exact minute what are we, just so I can either feel some sort of relief or go home and cry my eyes out. Either way, I wasn’t leaving until I knew.

“So what is it, really?” I simply asked. Aaron scrunched his eyebrows, appearing confused.

“I told you, Bella and I are—”

“No,” I interrupted him. “I meant… what really is this?” I asked as I pointed to myself and him. Aaron looked flustered and at a loss for words. What he lacked in this moment I had too much of it, and I needed to control this situation.

“Aaron,” I gently said his name. “I don’t want to be one of those jealous girls and explode on the littlest things, but I realize I acted that way because, well, I don’t know what we are. You never asked me to be your girlfriend.” Everything was now out in the air. I wanted to vomit the nerves out of my stomach. Looking at Aaron piece together his thoughts before he spoke was killing me. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe Aaron never wanted to be more than friends with me.

“I didn’t know you wanted that, Mols,” Aaron started to say. “You never brought this up before.”

“I shouldn’t have to,” I snapped back, feeling defensive. “You should want it too if you felt the same way!”

“I can’t read your mind,” Aaron started to say. “I can’t assume you feel the same way about me when you haven’t said anything about it.”

“Then what was all that crap after the showcase about?!” I yelled out. Aaron looked around, seeming worried that someone would hear us. I didn’t care enough to lower my voice. “Being the rockstar’s girlfriend? Saying you like me and that you kissed me?! It was like that night happened and never spoke of it again!” Aaron didn’t know how to respond, and I guess his lack of response made me realize that I was a fool all this time. I grabbed my bag from the bench for real this time and walk away.

“Mollie, wait!” I hear Aaron call out. I don’t turn around and I don’t look back. I don’t want Aaron to see the tears falling down my ace at this point.

“Don’t leave Aaron waiting for too long,” I spat back. Oh. My. God. Why would I ever say that to Mollie Castro? I don’t know what has gotten over me, but hearing Mollie blame me for her and Milo’s friendship being different now made me angry; furious even. I don’t know Mollie well enough to judge her, but I can only say what I see with my two eyes, and something told me to say it because it was the only way I could ever hurt someone like Mollie Castro the same way she wanted me to hurt.

Mollie turned around and looked me dead in the face. She looked paler in the face; ghostly even. Something tells me I opened the biggest can of worms I could possibly open. Mollie walks to me without ever breaking eye contact; I can feel my fight or flight response kick in, and all I want to do is run away.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mollie calmly said, which was scary since her face expressed the total opposite of it. “So I suggest you mind your business, Sophie.”

“Does Milo know what I’m talking about?” I asked. I was more curious than being catty at this point. Mollie seemed to be angered at my question.

“Fuck off, Sophie–“

“You can’t blame me for your friendship being rocky with Milo when really it’s because you’re dating someone that contributed to Milo losing his dual major status in the first place,” I confessed.

“You’re just mad at Milo hasn’t even asked you out yet,” Mollie snapped back. I know Mollie is known for saying anything in order to protect herself; Milo told me that much about her. But, this caught me off-guard. Ask me out? Why would Mollie think Milo and I would be anything more than friends? Has Milo mentioned something to her? I mean, they’re best friends and best friends tell each other everything in secret. Does she know more about Milo’s feelings than I do? Why would it hurt so much to hear her say that Milo still hasn’t asked me to be more than just friends? “At least I have a boy that doesn’t play with my heart as much as Milo has played with yours.” Mollie laughed before ending the conversation. She stands there and looks me in the eyes.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I simply answered Mollie’s accusations. The truth was that I didn’t know if she knew the truth or not, and I think she knows that I’m doubting everything coming out of my mouth at this point.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” Mollie started. “But remember that Milo used to tell me everything before he got blindsided by you. He was my best friend and if he can just ditch his best friend since birth for a girl, imagine what he’ll do when someone prettier and smarter comes along and grabs his attention.” Mollie turned around and walked down the hall. The last warning bell rings and all of the other students go to their next class.

…

I walk into our band rehearsal in the auditorium and watch everyone set and tune their instruments. I walk to the strings section and begin to take my violin out of the case. I was still so angry at the conversation I had with Mollie. Why would I let her get to me like that? Why would I allow someone that barely knows me get the best of me in the way that she did today? Only I know my friendship with Milo, and I enjoy it very much. But Mollie knows Milo best, which bothers me. Someone as cynical and catty as Mollie Castro, knowing someone as sweet and kind as Milo Kamalani bothers me. Doesn’t it worry you, Sophie, that you are the company that you keep? What makes Milo any different?

“Has anyone seen Aaron?” Mr. Harrison asks the class before beginning the rehearsal. No one answers back, or they simply shake their heads no. I scoffed under my breath, not surprised in the slightest.

“Some star student,” I said under my breath as I walked toward the stage with the rest of the ensemble. I took a quick glance at the percussion section and see Milo there. He looks at me and smiles as we make eye contact. I quickly looked away; not only did I need to stay focused since the showcase is in 2 days, but it simply hurt too much to dwell on what I was feeling.

I remember when Milo first kissed me back in middle school. Milo was writing music in his treehouse at his grandparents’ house; the one where he shared that it was his biological mum’s when she was a teenager before she passed away. I was the only other person that ever saw the inside of the treehouse. He was having a hard time with the last group of friends I had and I went to check on him. We spoke about our goals for Waverly and all of the fun things we would do in band class together. Milo made me feel comfortable when he kissed me like it was supposed to happen that night. I thought about that night many times afterward, hoping that one day it could happen again. But, something changed when we got to Waverly. It’s like everything about our friendship changed like all of what happened in middle school was gone forever. We never spoke about the kiss, and we never had conversations about the future after graduation. We never went back to the treehouse together.

Maybe I was so hurt by Mollie’s words because maybe deep down, I knew some of it was true.

…

The bell rings and it’s finally the end of the day. I packed my violin back in its case quickly, hoping that I am out of the auditorium before Milo can come up to me and talk. I didn’t want to talk. I wanted to go home and do my homework and practice for the showcase and hide in my room until I had to come back here tomorrow. Once I closed my violin case and picked it up, I scanned the auditorium to see if Milo was still in there. To my surprise, he wasn’t. While I was relieved that I didn’t have to talk to him, I was a little hurt that he didn’t come to check on me. Milo was always good at knowing something was wrong. I know he’s probably running to the dual major rehearsal for the showcase, but it’s something that I’m used to at this point. Milo was going to be a dual major this whole time Sophie, what did you expect?

I walked out of the auditorium towards the exit of the school before I hear someone call out my name. It caught me by surprise considering no one ever calls for me unless it’s a teacher or Milo. I turned around and see Aaron walking toward me. Aaron?

“Yo, Sophie,” Aaron said coldly. “We need to talk.”

“About what?” I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together. What was there to possibly talk about with Aaron Serrano?

“What the hell did you do to Mollie?” Aaron asked, visibly angry. I was confused; I didn’t do anything to Mollie besides–

Oh.

I swallowed hard because I was nervous. Was Aaron talking about me knowing he and Mollie were dating? Why would he be upset at the fact that I knew that? It was pretty obvious to anyone that saw them together that they were very couple-like.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” I answered back. “Now if you excuse me–” Before I can walk away from Aaron, he steps in front of me. I look up at him, getting annoyed now.

“Mollie is upset,” Aaron started to say. “Ronnie told me you were the last person to talk to her. Why is she so upset?”

“What?” I scoffed; it was the only reaction I had to this situation. “I don’t know why Mollie is upset or what Ronnie told you, but I didn’t tell her anything that wasn’t obvious already.”

“Stay out of my business and focus on your stupid little violin solo,” Aaron mocked. I was sick and tired of people talking to me in any way that they wanted to at this point, especially when it comes to me being a violinist. I despised Aaron when he spoke poorly about my section in the ensemble; any dual major that talks badly about anyone and their talent shouldn’t be a dual major in my opinion. Your role as a dual major means that you help others in their craft and showcase leadership and professionalism. Milo always made me feel like I mattered in the ensemble whenever no one else did. He encouraged me to always be better than my last performance and no matter what, he was always there to listen and give constructive criticism when needed. it’s a shame that Milo wasted a month without his dual major status when it really should’ve been Aaron.

“Stay out of my business and go focus on your stupid little girlfriend,” I snapped back. I hate that I just called Mollie “stupid”; it wasn’t like me to belittle another girl but for her to say that I was the reason for not only ruining her friendship with Milo but now her relationship with Aaron, I was really irritated at this point.

“Don’t you ever talk about Mollie like that!” Aaron aggressively spat back. My heart stopped as I listened to Aaron yell at me like that. “Stop putting your nose in people’s business before it gets you hurt in the end.” Aaron walked away and toward the exit of the door. I finally exhale the breath I kept in, trying to catch my breath in the process. I wanted to cry. This isn’t something I ever wanted to get in the middle of all of this. I wanted nothing more than to just go back to my own little world where I didn’t know Mollie or Aaron or Milo at this point. Milo. I began to wipe away tears that instantly fell down my face once I was alone. I run towards the corner of the hall to exit the school until I bumped into Davy by accident.

“Hey, Sophie–” Davy nervously said to me. I didn’t say anything back; I ran past him and exited the school. I need to leave now.

I need to breathe.

“Ms. Castro,” I hear my math teacher call for me while she waits at her classroom door. I turn around to look at her as she points her fingers toward the inside of her classroom. I turned back around to face Aaron. He smiles at me as he nods his head toward where I need to go.

“Go before you get in trouble, Mols,” Aaron teased as he rustled my hair with his hand. I jokingly rolled my eyes as I looked toward my classroom. Aaron hugs me from behind as he whispers in my ear. “I’ll see you after class.” I feel the butterflies jump around in my stomach as his voice echoes in my ears and throughout my body. Before my math teacher calls out for me again, I run toward her class before the bell rings as Aaron walks in the other direction. I looked at Mrs. Jacobs, who looked at me; clearly not impressed that technically I was on time.

I go to the back and sit in my seat. Everyone in the class is still talking to each other before they all run to their seats as the bell rings. I take out my notebook and pen, looking around at everyone else before looking forward. The two girls who sit in the seats in front of me still continue talking with each other; they are honestly so annoying because they never shut up and then wonder why they don’t pass the Math tests.

“Did you see Aaron in the auditorium last period?” one girl asks the other. I immediately look up at the girls wondering why they are talking about Aaron. I try to not look like I’m all in their business, but I can’t help but feel angry hearing other girls talk about Aaron.

“I did,” the other girl answered. “He was in the hallway and we spoke for a little bit.” I could feel my blood begin to boil hearing this stupid, pathetic girl talk about Aaron. Why would Aaron want to talk to someone like her? She literally is the most uninteresting person ever, and she does nothing but chew gum loudly and gossips with her just-as-stupid friends.

“Oh my god! What did you guys talk about?!” the girl’s friend excitedly asked.

“His band,” the girl answered. “The last performance he did was so badass like his vocals just make you melt.”

“Bella,” Mrs. Jacobs called out. “Please let this be the first and last time I catch you talking during class.” Bella. Ugh, she even sounds like a stupid girl. As Mrs. Jacobs turns back towards the board, Bella’s friend leans towards Bella to continue talking.

“Did he invite you to his next show? Brian told me that he has another show coming up.”

“He told me about it!” Bella excitedly answered back. “He said he would love to see me there and you know I’m going!”

I felt all the butterflies in my stomach fall from the sky and hit the ground to die. I was just with Aaron in the hallway talking about that show. I was just in his band practice to prepare for that damn show. He had just hugged me goodbye before I got to my math class. Was Aaron leading me on this whole time? Was he just using me? Was he lying this whole time? Was it truly too good to be true? I couldn’t focus in class and I don’t even remember if I took the right notes and everything. I just wanted to do two things at this moment: hide under a rock and disappear forever, and tell Aaron how much of a dickhead he was. Why it had to be you?

The bell rings and I quickly pack up my things and get up from my seat, walking past the two stupid girls who were talking about Aaron. I walked out of the classroom and before I realized it, I felt tears falling down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away; I didn’t want anyone in the hallway to see me crying over a boy like a pathetic loser. I walked to my locker and quickly opened the door to get my things before my next class. I didn’t take my head out of the locker and I didn’t want to, but I hear someone call my name as everyone is now in the hallway during passing. I slowly take my head out of the locker and see Milo next to me, opening the door of his locker now.

“Hey Mol,” Milo says as he smiles at me. I tried my best to fake a smile back just so I didn’t have to get into anything I didn’t want to get into at this moment. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Guess,” Milo said back. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

“Milo, I’m not in the mood to be playing your stupid and useless guessing game,” I said as I turned back toward my locker. I should’ve just played along; now he’s definitely gonna say–

“Dude, what’s your problem?” Milo spat back; clearly, he was annoyed with me and now I was annoyed at him. Dude, you don’t get to be annoyed at me for not playing along with your stupid game. “I feel like I can’t even talk to you anymore.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said as I slammed my locker shut. I was fuming; I swear there was smoke coming out of my ears because my face felt like it was on fire.

“I literally wanted you to be the first to know that I got back my dual major status,” Milo confessed. “Wanna know why? Because you’re my best friend, Mollie.”

“Well congrats to you,” I sarcastically said. “Now you can go back to being too busy to even be my best friend,” I spat back at him. I didn’t know where this was coming from, but it was already out in the world and I can only defend my feelings and heart from anything and everyone at this point.

“You’re such as asshole,” Milo yelled at me. “Seriously Mol, when was the last time you even tried to hang out with me?”

“Why should I try when I already know the answer’s gonna be no?” I yelled back. “You think you’re such a great best friend to me when really, you’re being just as much as a shitty best friend back to me.” I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. I didn’t want Mlo to see that I was that upset with him. To think about it, I was mad at Milo for the same reason I was mad at Aaron; they both would rather spend their time with someone else and not with me like I wasn’t good enough for their company. Aaron, I can deal with it on my own, but Milo? He was supposed to be there for every inconvenience because he was supposed to be my best friend.

“You didn’t even tell me where you were a couple of weeks ago and still haven’t said anything,” Milo counteracted. “At least I chose to keep you in the loop on what’s happening in my life when we don’t hang out. I don’t know a goddamn thing you do these days besides come to school and see you in vocal class.”

“Well maybe I just gave up on you actually caring about what’s going on in my life,” I spat back. “When was the last time you actually asked me how I was doing? Huh?” I could see it on Milo’s face that he knows I was right about that. Milo hasn’t asked me if I was okay; he used to sense it once he would see me but now, when I feel like absolute garbage that was tossed to the side of the road, he doesn’t see it. “You only care about Sophie!”

“Don’t bring up Sophie,” Milo threatened. “She has nothing to do with this–“

“She has everything to do with this!” I snapped back at Milo. “You are so stupidly in love with this girl that you do not see what you have done to our friendship! Ever since that groupie came into the picture, you’ve done nothing but ignore me, blow off our plans for her, and protect her like she’s this twig that can break at any given second!” The first warning bell rings as I turn away from Milo, walking quickly down the hallway. I don’t see anything or anyone; I just wanted to get to my next class so that I don’t dump into Aaron. I was supposed to see him after class but last this point, I don’t want to see or hear from him. I look up as I hear my name being called once more; this time it’s a girl’s voice.

“Mollie,” Sophie calls out my name and runs in my direction. I turned around as she stops in front of me. “Have you seen Milo? I have to talk to him–“

“Of course you do,” I interrupted her. “A groupie will always be a groupie, no matter what time of day it is.” Sophie scrunched her eyebrows together once I answered her.

“What?” she asked.

“Give him some space for once,” I quickly spat back. “Like seriously don’t you realize that you’re the reason why Milo and I don’t even hang out anymore?”

“How dare you put your falling out with your best friend on me?” Sophie said.

“Oh! So the groupie speaks,” I said as I laughed and turned around to go to class. “I don’t have time for this–” Before I can finish my sentence, my eyes widen and my heart sinks to the pit of my stomach.

What did she just say?

“Did Mr. Harrison tell you what he wanted to see me for?” Milo asked me as he closed the auditorium door behind him.

“He didn’t,” I answered as we started walking down the hall to return to the band classroom. “How’s vocal rehearsal going?”

“Ehh,” Milo responded, shaking his hand back and forth as he did. “It’s fine, it’s just not as exciting as band used to be.” I nodded my head, understanding where Milo was coming from. Band class hasn’t been the same since Milo’s dual major status was suspended; it’s made me not want to be in band class anymore since no one but our teacher cares about the string orchestra section. At least when Milo was there, he always looked excited to hear the strings play or rehearse. Milo looked at me before saying anything else.

“Band’s not too exciting either,” I admitted as we turned the hallway’s corner. “Our rehearsal is actually making me sleepy.”

“You? Sleeping in class?” Milo teased. “The world is coming to an end.” I couldn’t help but laugh along with Milo. I really do hope he’s able to come back soon to band class. We finally get back to the band classroom and enter; the band class turns around to see Milo and I walk into the room. I can hear Davey call out to Milo as we both walked toward Mr. Harrison; he couldn’t help but wave and say hi back. Some of our other bandmates called out for Milo; he was very popular in this class when he was here.

“Alright class, quiet down,” Mr. Harrison says to the class. I return to my seat as Milo walks up to Mr. Harrison. “I’m giving you 5 minutes to go over your music before we continue our rehearsal.” Mr. Harrison takes Milo to his desk. I opened my binder of sheet music to go over a couple of trouble spots in the piece we’re doing for the rehearsal.

“So,” I hear Davy say as he sits next to me. He clearly tries to hide from Mr. Harrison as he talks to me. “Whatcha think Milo’s here for?”

“I don’t know,” I quickly answered, hoping that would end the conversation. Apparently, he didn’t get the memo.

“You think Milo is coming back?” Davy asked. “I mean, Aaron hasn’t been showing up to band practice so there’s no one really playing in percussion.” I looked at Davy, not aware of that information. The two sections of the ensemble have been having separate rehearsals, so I didn’t know what was going on with the other half of the band.

“Aaron hasn’t been to rehearsals?” I asked. Davy shook his head.

“Not that I know of; people say it’s because he’s a dual major and he gets special permission to come whenever he pleases, Davy answered. “But whatever, we already know Milo’s the better musician anyway,” Davy said as he walked back to his seat. I turned around to the seats where Milo and Aaron would sit. Did Aaron quit? I look up front to see Mr. Harrison letting Milo go, indicating that the conversation has ended. Milo turned around to walk out of the band room. I looked at him, hoping he would give me some sort of sign that things went well. He walks past me and looks at me, flashing a smile and a thumbs-up. I look forward, smiling. I think Milo’s back.

…

I opened my locker to take out the books needed for my next class. The hallways are full of chattering students in passing. I look up and see Aaron and Mollie walking down the hallway together; it makes my stomach turn. Something tells me that Mollie hasn’t told Milo that she’s friends with Aaron, which Milo despises. If she did, I know Milo would’ve told me about it, and it annoys me that for Mollie to be his best friend, she hasn’t really been acting like one. I quickly look away, back toward my locker. I can see that Aaron has just walked up to his locker, which is two lockers down from mine. I don’t look up or say anything, but that doesn’t mean Aaron understands the social cues of someone that doesn’t want to be bothered.

“Hey, Sophie,” Aaron says to me. I look at him quickly, barely giving him a smile. “So how was the band rehearsal today?”

“You’re asking me that?” I responded to Aaron. I was confused that out of all of the people in our band class, Aaron wanted to ask me how the rehearsal went.

“Well, you are in band, and I know you had to have been at the rehearsal,” Aaron slyly said back to me.

“Well, maybe you should start actually showing up to band rehearsal if you want to know what is happening in band rehearsal,” I spat back, closing my locker before walking away.

“I’m a dual major, sweetie,” Aaron answered back. “My time is needed in vocal as that show is coming up first-“

“It’s Sophie,” I corrected him. “And quite frankly, I don’t care.” Aaron’s eyebrows scrunched together, clearly, he was getting offended at the way I was responding to him. “Then maybe you don’t deserve to be a dual major.” I don’t know why that came out of my mouth, but it was too late to take it back.

“Why would I listen to a mediocre violinist,” Aaron spat back. “I was trying to be nice and ask a simple question about rehearsal, but clearly you’re hurt or intimidated that Mr. Harrison doesn’t get on my case as much as he does with your weak little section.” I was getting angry; I refuse to let someone as shallow and conceited as Aaron Serrano get the best of me.

“Mr. Harrison’s not on your case because he just asked Milo to come back for band, ” I said as I looked at Aaron right in his face. “Clearly, the ensemble doesn’t need you as much as you think we do.” I turn around to walk away from Aaron; I was going to be late for my next class and I didn’t have time to argue with Aaron. I knew Aaron was very self-centered, but I didn’t think he treated others like complete garbage. Something told me he only treated me that way because he knows Milo and I are friends, and clearly he has some opinions about Milo being his competition. It felt good to tell him that Milo was coming back to band and that he got his dual major status back, but the pit in my stomach tells me otherwise. Is he going to try to get Milo in trouble again? Was it my place to even say anything about Milo coming back? Was that even true that Milo was coming back to band? I mean, he really didn’t tell me anything besides that everything was okay.

Did I just add fuel to a fire that had nothing to do with me?

I get lost in my spiraling thought, not realizing that I bumped into another girl in front of me.

“Watch where you’re going,” the girl said. I immediately recognize the voice being Mollie’s. I look at Mollie and she rolls her eyes.

“Sorry, I-” I began to say before she walks past me, going in the opposite direction I was going. Mollie, from what I gathered in my own observations, was a mean girl. She has never really been nice to me unless Milo was in the same room as the both of us. Again, I don’t know why Mollie refused to be nice to me if her best friend was friends with me; but then I quickly realize that Milo is not nice to Aaron and vice versa. Maybe Milo does know about Aaron and Mollie? Maybe that’s why Milo and Mollie have been so distant from each other lately?

“Ms. Lee,” I hear a teacher call out. I look at the teacher standing at their classroom door; it was Mr. Kamalani leaning against his classroom door frame with his arms crossed across his chest. “Get to class.” I nodded my head before I quickly walked past him.

I need to find Milo before Aaron does.

“Alright guys, get in your positions on stage,” my dad calls out to the class as we drop our things on the auditorium seats. I look around and see the other vocal majors in my class slowly walk up to the stage. I haven’t seen Mollie since last week, and something tells me it’s because she’s grounded from not checking in with anybody. I’m still annoyed that she never even checked in with me or told me where she was going. Some best friend I have.

I walk toward the stage to get to my spot when I see Aaron enter the auditorium. He holds the door for someone else coming into the auditorium. I notice that it’s Mollie he’s holding the door for. She smiles as she walks past him to rush toward the stage. I don’t understand why she would be nice to a two-faced punk like Aaron. Aaron only cares about Aaron, so I don’t know why he even tries to be nice to Mollie, and why Mollie doesn’t see past the bullshit.

“Ms. Castro,” my dad called out for Mollie. Mollie runs to her spot on stage. She looks at my dad. “Try to make it to class on time, please.”

“Technically I am on time,” Mollie explained. The late bell rings, in which my dad looks at Mollie. “Now I would’ve been late.” My dad doesn’t argue with Mollie; he walks to the front of the stage as everyone else gets to their spots.

“The winter showcase is 4 days away,” my dad begins to say. “We have to clean up any spots in the songs that do not sound clear, confident, and coherent.” My dad looks at one of the students in the back of the formation who just dropped a bunch of papers from his binder. Before the guy can pick them up, my dad speaks directly to him.

“We are also not using our sheet music this week,” he continued to say. “Music must be memorized by now so if you don’t know it; learn it.” Sometimes I really think my dad turns into a completely different person when he’s teaching. How can I go home and my father dances around with music playing from Jennifer’s portable speaker in the kitchen? How can he be a chill dad but an uptight teacher within the same day? I know passing his class isn’t easy, but if I know my dad well enough, he makes everyone work hard in their craft; even the weakest link. My dad flips through his binder of music and looks up at us.

“All for Love,” he says to us, which is the song we’re performing as a whole choir as our finale. “Mr. Serrano and Ms. Castro, take your spots up front for the solo.” I watch Aaron walk past me and I can’t help but roll my eyes. I don’t know why out of all the people in this class, my dad decided to give Aaron the solo. I can understand Mollie; she’s easily the best vocalist in our class, but Aaron is mediocre at best in my opinion.

Both Aaron and Mollie stand in front of the choir, facing out toward the empty auditorium. There’s nothing but silence before my dad lifts his arm for us to get ready to practice the song. The bass section starts off the song, followed by the altos. Then, Aaron starts the song with his solo part. He and Mollie start off singing the solo parts back to back before the choir comes in and follows.

“And so I say hey,” Aaron belts out, which starts the chorus of the song, and now everyone is singing their part. My dad continues to direct the different sections, rocking and bumping to the beat and getting into the music. This is more so the guy I know as my dad.

No one expects Mollie to hit the high note so early in the song, but it definitely catches some of our choir mates off. My dad stops us when he realizes that the choir loses energy at this point. He walks to the individual sections of the choir to assist them. Mollie turns her head to look at me.

“Was I off?” Mollie asked me. I shook my head before answering her.

“That was dope,” I said. Mollie smiles before she turns back around. She looks at Aaron who smiles at her and gives her a thumbs-up. It bothers me that Aaron and Mollie seem to tolerate each other, and I don’t know if that’s because they have to rehearse the solo parts, but I expect Mollie to see that Aaron only ever does things for himself. Maybe Mollie is doing the same?

I don’t know, but Aaron always looks at Mollie the way I look at Sophie. Wait.

“Alright, let’s start from the chorus,” my dad calls out. The choir focuses on my dad, who then counts us off to start. Aaron starts off the chorus, and the choir follows right after. I look at Aaron and Mollie as they go back and forth sharing the solo parts. They look at each other as they sing the lines.

As we get to the most complicated part of the song, the choir does a good job of keeping the tempo even when all the parts are different. The chaotic noise comes to a halt when both Aaron and Mollie belt out the highest notes in the song. They look at each other as they do it. Aaron smiles as he stares at Mollie at this moment. They sound… Clear. Confident. Coherent.

Does Aaron like like Mollie?

“Mr. Kamalani,” my dad calls out for me. The choir stops singing and my eyes jolt back to my dad. “Please try to pay attention so that you do not miss where you come in.” I didn’t bother fighting back with him; it was bad enough that the last time I did, it gave me a strike on my dual major status. My dad starts up the song again from where we last left off. I can’t help but look at Aaron and Mollie throughout the whole rehearsal; it bothered me that they were so friendly with each other, let alone think that Aaron actually might like her. Does Mollie like him back? I know when Mollie likes a guy, and she doesn’t really seem to be acting all boy-crazy over Aaron. Maybe Mollie can see the bullshit for what it is because Aaron wears it proudly without even knowing.

We finally finish the first song of rehearsal; my dad starts off the unit rehearsals and this particular one I sit out. It’s a small group of baritones and altos that are now rehearsing for their section. I sit next to Mollie in the auditorium seats; I feel like it’s been forever since we actually got to sit down and hang out.

“Hey, Mol,” I said as I sit in the seat next to her. I held my fist out for her for a pound; Mollie smiles and returns the fist back.

“Hey, Milo,” Mollie greeted back. “I’m glad we’re done with that first song, it kills my voice.”

“I can only imagine,” I said back. “It messes up the whole choir after the first couple of tries.” We both look at the stage where the baritones and altos are rehearsing their songs. Aaron is one of the baritones rehearsing up on stage, and I see Mollie watching the rehearsal happen. God, I got to ask.

“So,” I started off the conversation. “Did Aaron allow you to get more lines in the solo part when you guys were dividing them up?” Mollie looked at me, clearly confused at what I was asking.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“It’s just that you definitely outshine him in the solo,” I explained. “It must’ve been hard for him to give up some of the parts.”

“Your dad split up the parts,” Mollie corrected me. “But thanks for the compliment!” I shake my head and laugh. I watch Mollie go back to watching the rehearsal happening on stage. I fidget around in my seat until I see my dad look at the back of the auditorium and stops his rehearsal.

“May I help you?” my dad talks to the person at the back of the auditorium. I turned around and see it’s Sophie; she looks nervous to be down here.

“Uhm, Mr. Harrison is asking for Milo Kamalani,” Sophie answered. Me? I turn around to look at my dad; I’m not surprised that he’s looking at me as well.

“Go,” my dad said. I get up from my seat and look at Mollie, then back at Sophie. I walk down the aisle up toward the exit of the auditorium. “Please be back before your unit comes up for rehearsal.”

“Okay,” I answered. As I got closer to Sophie, I felt my mood instantly change for the better. Thanks for saving my day, Scout.

“Yes, mum, I’m with Milo,” I answered on the phone; my mum had called me wondering why I wasn’t home yet. It was getting colder, which means that the days were shorter and 5 o’clock felt more like 9 o’clock at night. I looked over at Milo, who was looking at me. He looked nervous; I know he got nervous every time my mum would call me when I was hanging out with him. “We’re about to get to his house, can I please stay for at least another hour?” I asked my mum. I know she was going to come and pick me up as soon as I told her I was at Milo’s house. To be honest, I wasn’t ready to go home and end my hang-out with Milo; who knows when will be the next time I’ll get the chance to see Milo again.

I hung up the house once I said bye to my mum. I looked over at Milo who was waiting for me to say something.

“My mum said I can stay for another hour and then she’ll come and get me,” I told Milo. He nodded his head as we continue to walk down the street before getting to his house.

“I’m glad she’s warming up to the idea that you have friends,” Milo teased. I nudged his arm as he laughed. “Plus, I know Jennifer wouldn’t mind a guest at dinner today.”

We finally stop in front of Milo’s house. He walks up the front steps to the front door; I trail behind him getting nervous with each step made closer to the door. Milo opens the front door to his house; he waits for me to walk in before closing it behind us. We start talking up the stairs to Milo’s apartment; I’ve only ever been here a couple of times before in the past. Milo’s family never made me feel weird or uncomfortable when I came over, but it also wasn’t always like that at first. Sometimes I feel like Milo’s family is only nice to me when I’m there but once I leave, they say bad things to Milo or disapprove of me.

We finally get to the door that leads to the apartment. Milo opens the front door and walks through it, looking at me to walk in as well. I slowly walked into the apartment, and Milo closes the door behind us before saying anything out loud.

Almost immediately, Mr. and Mrs. Kamalani walk into the main area where Milo and I are standing; they look concerned.

“Milo? Is that you?” I hear Mrs. Kamalani say as she and Mr. Kamalani walk toward us.

“Yeah?” Milo answered; he looked confused. The two adults stop once they get closer to us and they immediately look at me and take a deep breath. Oh no.

“Milo, have you heard from Mollie today?” Mrs. Kamalani asked Milo. Milo took his phone out to check his messages.

“No, the last time I heard from Mollie was last period in vocal,” Milo answered. I look at Mrs. Kamalani’s face; she looks worried as she brushes her red, curly hair away from her face.

“She didn’t text you or anything letting you know where she was going?” Mr. Kamalani asks Milo. Milo shook his head no.

“No? What’s going on?” Milo finally asked. I feel like something was happening that I wasn’t supposed to be here to know about. “Dad? Jennifer?”

Mrs. Kamalani walked away from us and toward a room down the hallway. I look at Milo, who now looks just as worried as everyone else. It’s like he doesn’t remember I’m here.

“Mollie never showed up,” Mr. Kamalani began. “We thought that maybe she was with you.”

“Me and Mollie haven’t hanged out after school for a while now,” Milo explained. “She’s either too busy with her other things or I was busy doing other things.” Milo turns around and acknowledges my presence; for once I wish I was able to disappear.

“But today there was no rehearsal for anything and it’s not Tuesday,” Mr. Kamalani clarified. “She’s not answering her phone when we call her; have you texted her since vocal class?”

“Yeah,” Milo answered. “She never answered back. I figured she was home sleeping or something. Mr. Kamalani sighs and puts his hands on his hips.

“I’m going to check on Jennifer,” he said before he notices me standing next to Milo. “I’m sorry, Sophie; we’re just going through a lot right now.” I felt my face getting hot; I felt weird knowing that Mr. Kamalani was basically telling me that I shouldn’t be here today. I simply nodded my head until Milo jumped in.

“Sophie’s mom is gonna pick her up,” he began to say. “It’s my fault; I told Sophie to hang out after school and lost track of time.” Mr. Kamalani nods his head and walks towards the hallway that Mrs. Kamalani went down. Milo walks me to the living room and sits on the couch, scrolling through his phone trying to figure out where Mollie is.

“This isn’t like Mollie to not text me back,” Milo began. “Like sure, she’ll leave a message on read from her parents, but she wouldn’t just leave me on read.” I looked at Milo, nodding my head as he explained the situation. I felt bad for Mr. and Mrs. Kamalani, especially Mrs. Kamalani. Mollie is Mrs. Kamalani’s youngest sister, and ican only imagine ho worried she is that her and her family haven’t heard from Mollie since school.

“Maybe she’s hanging out with her other friends?” I suggested. I know Milo and Mollie were always together, but it’s only natural that they hang out with other people…

I’m sure that Mollie does.

“Mollie doesn’t have other friends,” Milo confidently said. I looked at Milo, not really agreeing with what he said. I’m sure that Mollie and Milo’s friendship is strong, but for Milo to think that Mollie isn’t capable of having other friends made me feel annoyed. “She literally is too busy to have other friends that aren’t our friends.”

“Maybe you’re wrong,” I blurted out, not really thinking about hat I was saying. Milo tuned his head to face me. “Maybe she hangs out with other people that you don’t have as friends.”

“So now you know Mollie better than me?” Milo spat out; he seemed a little anoyed that I was disagreeing with him. I scruched my eyebrows together, getting mad at Milo.

“No, Milo, but just because you’re able to have friends outside of Mollie doesn’t mean she doesn’t,” I responded. Milo sighed and got up from the couch, walking towards the dining room table to sit. Instead of texting Mollie, he calls her. He sucked his teeth once he realizes the phone goes straight to voicemail.

I got up from the couch and started to walk towards the front door where my belongings were. Milo turned around to look at me.

“Where are you going?” Milo asked.

“I’m just going to wait downstairs for my mum,” I said in a panic. I felt like there were tears forming in my eyes and I didn’t want Milo to see me so upset. But, Milo jumped off of the stool at the dining room table to walk to me.

“Scout, wait-” Milo said as I started to put my winter coat on. I didn’t want to hear it; I felt embarrassed anyway being here during a time where the family was going through something serious. I shouldn’t have gotten on that bus with Milo. I stop once I feel Milo’s hand on my shoulder. I turned around to face him; his face was now more gentle than it was before. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn’t mean for it to come off the way it did.”

“I’m just saying,” I started to say. “I know you and Mollie are best friends but you’re underestimating her. She could simply be with friends that she hasn’t introduced to you yet.”

“Have you seen Mollie hanging out with other people?” Milo asked. I bit my lip, not really knowing how to answer him. If the person as anyone else, I would’ve told him who it was, but how do I tell him that the person I’ve seen Mollie hang out with the most around school is the same person that caused him to lose his dual major status? I know that Milo hates Aaron, and telling him that Mollie has now developed a friendship with him is going to make his blood boil. I don’t want to be the person to break up a friendship like Milo and Mollie’s, but maybe that’s the person Mollie is with right now, and I would also hate to keep a secret like this if it’s the reason why Mollie hasn’t answered Milo or her family.

Before I can say anything, both Mr. and Mrs. Kamalani come walking through the hallway and into the living room where Milo and I were. Milo turns around to face the two adults. They seem a lot calmer than they were a couple of minutes ago.

“She’s home,” Mr. Kamalani said. “Lydia called to let us know she got home ot too long ago.” I see Milo finally exhale the stress that he was keeping inside his body. I also feel at ease knowing that Milo isn’t worried or anxious like he was. I didn’t have to say anything about Mollie and Aaron. Mr. Kamalani puts his arm around Mrs. Kamalani and looks at me. “We’re sorry about tonight, Sophie; perhaps we can invite you over for dinner another night.” I nodded my head.

“Of course, Mr. Kamalani,” I answered. My cellphone started to ring in my coat pocket; I see that it’s my mum calling me. “It’s my mum, I should get going before it gets too late.”

“I’ll walk you downstairs,” Milo insisted. I didn’t say anything back to him. We started to walk down the stairs towards the front door of the house. I wait for Milo to open the front door for me, but he takes a second to look at me before doing so.

“I’m sorry, Milo,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say in that moment, but I felt like I needed to say sorry for getting into his business with Mollie.

“I’m the one that should be sorry, Scout. You did nothing wrong,” Milo emphasized. “Mollie is supposed to be my best friend and… I don’t know; it feels like we haven’t been best friends for awhile now.”

“But you guys have been best friends for years,” I responded back.

“Yeah, but something has changed about Mollie,” Milo admitted. I raised my eyebrows, kinda shocked that Milo was talking to me about Mollie in this way. “It’s like she let high school get to her head or something. She never really hangs out with me anymore so for her to just do what she wants to do without even telling me feels like a stab in the back. We’re suppose to always keep each other posted, no matter what.”

“I understand,” I simply said, not wanting to get too deep in this conversation. I don’t know Mollie well enough to have any type of judgement about her, but I still wonder if Milo is noticing this change because she now spends her free time in Mr. Kamalani’s vocal room hanging out with Aaron.

At that point, I think about telling Milo. If Milo and Mollie are best friends, then he deserves to know that his best friend has been hanging out with Aaron. Maybe Mollie thinks Aaron is a nice guy; maybe he is when he wants to be. But something tells me that if Mollie wanted Milo to know, then Milo would already know. This is making me feel like I’m keeping the biggest secret between two best friends, and I absolutely hate this feeling.

Shortly after, my mum drives up to the front of Milo’s house. I grab my bookbag and look at Milo. He smiles at me. That smile. I can’t help but smile back at him. As I walk don the front steps towards my mum’s car, I stop when I hear Milo call my name.

“Hey Scout,” Milo called out. I turned around to look at Milo. “Thanks again for being here for me tonight. I appreciate it.” I smiled back and turned away, walking to my mum’s car. The smile fades as I turn around and walk away. I’m nothing but a horrible liar.

“Was that right?” Aaron asked as the band was rehearsing a song in the studio. The older guy in the room, probably their manager, was taking notes as they rehearsed. The guy smiled and nodded and gave some tips for Aaron and the rest of the band.

I sat on a chair next to Aaron’s stuff, feeling a bit uncomfortable just sitting in a band rehearsal. I thought maybe he and his bandmates do this type of thing; they bring their friends or girlfriends to rehearsals and all know each other or hang out–

Girlfriend.

It’s hard to know what Aaron and I are; sometimes I really think he and I are a couple, but then Aaron will talk to me like I was just one of his friends. It’s like the kiss at his showcase never happened; we never even talked about it after it happened, and sometimes it makes me feel bad. Did I ruin what was a good friendship assuming Aaron wanted to be more than friends?

I look at the guys playing their next song from beginning to end; they sound insanely good like they’ve been doing this type of thing together for years. The older man stands up from his seat.

“Alright guys, 10-minute break, and then we will rehearse the last two songs,” the guys said. The band took off their guitars from their backs and placed their drumsticks on top of the drums. I looked at Aaron, who began to walk in my direction.

“You’re okay, Mols?” Aaron asked. I nodded before I said anything else.

“You guys are super talented,” I began to say. “I didn’t know you guys had a manager and everything.”

“Yeah, Willis gets us the gigs,” Aaron explained. “He’s been with us since the beginning.” I nodded my head once again, taking in what Aaron was saying. He looked at me and smiled. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“What?” I genuinely asked. Aaron was always unreadable; you could never tell what was going through his mind and what he was deciding to say out loud.

“Come,” Aaron said as he grabbed my hand to get me out of the chair. He walked me toward the band equipment and I was getting nervous. I was afraid of getting too close to the instruments like God forbid I bump into something and make it fall and break it? It’s bad enough that I don’t think his bandmates liked me being around as much as I am.

Aaron placed me in front of the microphone, in which I looked back at him.

“What are you doing?” I asked him in a panic. Aaron puts his guitar around his neck and faces me before saying anything.

“Sing something,” Aaron demanded. “What’s your favorite song to sing?”

“I don’t know,” I said in a hurry. “What if the band comes back and sees me near their stuff?” Aaron walks to me without breaking eye contact with me. Gosh, he looks so hot with his guitar in his hands looking at me.

“Well good thing you’re standing where I normally stand,” Aaron answered back. He was right; Aaron was the lead singer in his band, and the microphone is technically his spot so I’m not touching anything that doesn’t belong to him. Aaron starts to play the chords of a song that he’s been practicing for the last couple of weeks; I only know of the music because he is constantly practicing it. He looks at me and smiles as he plays the song.

“I’m not singing, Aaron,” I stated. As I was about to walk away from the microphone, Aaron steps in front of me.

“Can’t seem to get my mind off of you,” Aaron began to sing as he played the guitar. I looked at him, not budging. He wasn’t going to get me to sing in a studio where any one of his members can walk in at any moment. “Back here at home, there’s nothing to do,” he continued to sing. “Now that I’m away, I wish I’d stayed,” The temptation is killing me, and I’m just talking about his angelic voice and charismatic smile.

“Tomorrow’s a day of mine that you won’t be in,” I started to sing. Aaron looked like he had just won the grand prize lottery or something. The song was just too good to not sing, and I mean, everyone is on a break, why not just play around before they come back? I grabbed the microphone off of the stand and started to bounce around in place. Aaron completely stopped singing and continued to play the song on the guitar; I was the one singing the lyrics. I looked at him as he looked at me, enjoying just playing around and singing along to songs like it was just us in a rehearsal room back at Waverly.

Aaron always made me feel the most comfortable when it came to singing. I mean, sure, I sing in front of my friends and family, but Aaron always makes me feel like he’s listening to me when I sing; plus, it’s nice to have Aaron playing the guitar as I sing. Aaron continues to look at me as I sing the lyrics to the song. It’s like the world is our stage.

I immediately stop singing once I see the door to the studio room open. Aaron’s smile fades and turns around to face the door. The rest of his bandmates stand at the door, looking at Aaron and me. I run away from the microphone stand and back to the seat I was sitting at. Aaron looks at me before looking back at his bandmates.

“Sorry, we were just joking around,” Aaron said as he adjusted the strings on his guitar. His bandmates don’t say anything back, but they continue to look at me with weird expressions on their face. I would do anything to hide under a rock right now.

“Yo, you sing?” one of the guys finally said; I believe it was Xavier that did. I look at Aaron, who is looking at me to answer or something.

“Uhm… yeah,” I answered softly.

“You got some crazy vocals,” Xavier responded. He turns his head to talk to Aaron. “You guys go to school together?”

“Yeah,” Aaron finally spoke. “We’re both in the vocal program at Waverly.” The other bandmates look at each other, clearly shocked to learn this new information. Shortly after, the band’s manager walks into the studio space.

“Alright guys, let’s get to work,” the guy says, going back to where he was sitting. The band members go up and walk to their manager.

“Aaron’s girl got pipes, bro,” Xavier started to say. Aaron’s girl. Does he talk about me as his girlfriend to his bandmates? “Like insane pipes.” I looked at Aaron; he was looking at the manager as he let his bandmates speak. The manager looks in my direction and I can feel my face get really hot, so that must mean that it’s tomato red.

“That’s Mollie,” Aaron finally said as he looked in my direction. I waved nervously. I saw Aaron smile. “She knows the songs better than I do at this point.” Their manager nodded his head as he was listening to the guys speak.

“That song you were singing,” the manager begins to say. “Would you mind if you sang it with the band one time?” Me? Sing with Aaron’s band? I looked at Aaron before answering the manager back; I didn’t know how to feel about randomly singing for a group of people I didn’t know. But, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do and want? I mean, I am a vocalist at Waverly High; the choirs perform in from of dozens of strangers for each performance and do it without any nerves showing. Besides, this is just for fun; and Aaron looks like he doesn’t mind me joining in on a song in a rehearsal for fun anyway.

“Of course,” I answered back.

“Alright then,” the manager began to rearrange the rehearsal formation and took another mic stand to place up front. “Xavier and Thomas on the right, Jordan in the back, Aaron on the left. Mollie, front and center.” The band got into their places, which made my stomach turn into knots; like this was actually happening right here, right now. I walked slowly to the microphone; my heart kept pounding the closer I got to it. I don’t look up from the ground or else I would run out of here as fast as I can.

“Hey,” I felt Aaron whisper next to me as he touched my shoulder. “You can do this. Pretend it’s just you and me in the room rehearsing.” I looked at him as he walked back to where he was standing. I faced forward and looked at the mirror in front of us. It was crazy to see myself front and center in front of a band as a lead singer. It felt almost natural to be standing there like I belonged in the band or something. I looked at Aaron through the mirror one more time before looking at the manager and smiling.

“I’m ready,” I finally said.

I kept looking down the blocks the bus was going down, not recognizing any of the stores or buildings that passed by. I know I should’ve gone home after school; I wasn’t planning to get lost in the city with a boy that my mum already has second opinions on. But, I also really wanted to hang out with Milo. I feel like it’s been ages since we saw each other in school, and with him not being in band class anymore, it was nearly impossible to see him at school.

“You’re okay Scout?” I heard Milo ask me. I turned my head, trying to hide the fact that I was nervous. If anyone was able to read through me, it was Milo. He looked away for a slight moment before looking back at me. “Tell me about your piece for the showcase,” he smiled as he said.

“My piece?” I asked. Milo gently nodded. “Well, we’re doing two pieces; one piece from the year we were born, and the second piece is the string orchestra’s cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which is the song I have the small solo in.” Milo kept his eyes on me as I spoke, which was comforting. He smiled as I spoke about the string orchestra; no one ever smiled whenever the string orchestra was being talked about unless it was something negative. It really made me think if going to Waverly was the best decision or if I should’ve just gone to a regular high school where I wasn’t surrounded by other talented students. But then when I sit here and see Milo excited about string orchestra for me, it makes it all worth it. At least I have someone supporting me.

“Mama, just killed a man,” Milo began to sing, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Even when Milo was joking around, his voice was angelic. It wasn’t your typical top-40 boy band singing voice; it was high-pitched but so controlled and smooth. Milo doesn’t sing often outside of school but, I’m always happy when he does.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you have an amazing voice?” I asked. It was a stupid question; of course, he’s literally in the vocal program, Sophie. “I mean, you probably get told that a lot.”

“Actually,” Milo began. “Not really, and family doesn’t count.”

“Did you get your singing ability from your family?” I asked. Another dumb question, Sophie.

Milo’s family was big and unique; he is the oldest of his siblings and his dad is married to Jennifer. Milo once told me he felt like an outsider in his family since Jennifer isn’t his biological mother. But every time I go over to Milo’s house, I see just how much of a family Milo has. To have both parents in the house that love each other and are supportive of their oldest son and younger children, sometimes makes me jealous. It would’ve been nice to have a sibling to talk to about things that I can’t talk to anyone else about. It would’ve been nice to have both of my parents still here with me; instead, our family dinners happen over a zoom call every other Saturday.

“I did,” Milo began to say. “My dad was a dual major when he went to Waverly; vocal and band, like me. He was in a band and everything. Jennifer was also a student at Waverly; she was just in the vocal program though. They were in a band together with their other friends, and Jennifer was the lead singer.” It was so interesting to learn about Milo’s background. I knew he had a passion for music, but I never realized that it was because he grew up with music all around him. I wonder if he really wanted to be a dual major, or if he wanted to be one because his father was one.

“How about your mum?” I asked. Milo didn’t talk about his biological mum a lot, but whenever he does I try to listen to every word he says. I know Milo talking about his mum isn’t easy, so I’m glad that he feels comfortable talking about her with me. He nodded his head before answering back.

“She also went to Waverly,” Milo began. “She was in the string orchestra, I think.” My eyebrows went up; I was surprised to hear that his um was also a member of the string orchestra. Maybe that’s why he actually appreciates the sting orchestra.

“Is that how your dad met your mum?” I asked.

“Sorta, one of my dad’s friends introduced them to each other,” Milo looked out the window briefly. I didn’t push him any further; maybe the conversation was getting too uncomfortable for him. He turned back to face me, quickly smiling at me. I know he does that when he doesn’t want me to worry about him.

“You don’t have to talk about it anymore if you’re not comfortable,” I suggested. Milo shook his head so that I wouldn’t worry or feel bad for asking him these questions. I know Milo Kamalani; he’s not going to tell people that some of the things others say or do actually affect him. “I mean it, Milo.”

“Nah, it’s just that sometimes I wish I was able to explain why I do certain things that my dad doesn’t do… I wonder if that’s because some of the things I do or say or think are just things I take after my mom.” Milo shared. I realized that I was able to relate to Milo in a way. There are some things I do or think that my mum wouldn’t understand, but know that my father would. That’s the thing: I know that there are some things that I take after my father because I know him. I grew up with my father in my life, and I know that some of his mannerisms reflect my own because I picked them up as I got older. Even though my father isn’t here with my mum and me, I know him well enough to know that these are some things I have because of him. But Milo, he’s never met his mother. He doesn’t know if the things he says and thinks are because he takes after his mum. Milo’s mum passed away when Milo was just a baby; he doesn’t remember her well enough to know if he takes after his mum. All he has is his father’s word that some of the things he sees in Milo remind him of his mother. He doesn’t really know that for himself.

I don’t say anything back out of fear that I would say the wrong thing. The bus stopped in front of a bus stop, and Milo gets up from his seat to exit. I followed him out of the bus; at this point, I have no idea where in Brooklyn we’re in. I guess I’m following Milo wherever he’s going.

We walk out of the bus and start to walk down the street. I keep looking at Milo, who continues to look forward as we walked. Did I upset him? I didn’t know what was going on in Milo’s mind. We kept walking until we hit a dead end of a street.

“Milo?” I called out his name. I was getting nervous now. “Where are we going?” Milo looked at me. He didn’t say anything but instead flashed a smile.

“I want to show you some of my favorite places,” Milo answered. I tilted my head; I was confused. Didn’t we do this back in middle school for our Teenage Tell-Tale project? He grabbed my hand and we continued to walk down the side of the road, away from the dead end. What was Milo’s favorite place that he didn’t show me before?

After a short walk down the road, we stopped at a really tall gate. I looked around, not really understanding why we were here in the font place. This wasn’t a park or a treehouse area or anything that shows civilization or interest to Milo. He looked at me and I looked at him, waiting for him to explain where we were.

“This might be weird, but…” Milo drifted off before he was able to finish his sentence. He took a deep breath as he looked toward the gates. “I want you to meet my mom.”

It quickly clicked: we were at the cemetery.