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.