Love Songs (Secret Songbook #1) (2 page)

BOOK: Love Songs (Secret Songbook #1)
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They promised to keep her secret, despite telling her too many times to count that she should share her talent. Every time she refused. It was something to give her a voice when she needed to find one – not something to tell other people about. Even Harper didn’t know, and they shared everything.

Almost, anyway.

The door to her bedroom opened while Kaley was lost deep in thought. It startled her for a moment.

“Your dinner.” Georgie placed the plate on her desk. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us? They aren’t so bad, really.”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks, Mom.”

“Okay, but if you want dessert, you’ll have to come and get it.”

Georgie closed the door after setting the bait. She always did that – tried to lure her daughter out of the room. The joke was on her, Kaley didn’t particularly like the dessert she made. It was a strawberry tart and she never put in enough sugar to make it sweet. She almost felt sorry for those that had to eat it and pretend it tasted good.

Kaley looked at her dinner, steam rising from the hot meal. It smelled really good, it was enough to tempt her away from her writing session.

She flicked on the television to have some background noise. It was better than listening to the outbursts of laughter coming from the dining room. Georgie had a high-pitched giggle that could resonate through several walls and a sturdy door.

It was one of the things she loved about her mother. It might grate on other people, but she found it cute – like it reminded her of complete happiness. Either that or she was a good actress. It could have been either with Mother Barbie.

After the meal, Kaley returned to her guitar. She wasn’t done with her song yet. She wanted to keep going, at least it kept the thoughts about Eli at bay while she worked. Providing she didn’t focus on the lyrics, anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

T
he next day at school, Kaley found herself someplace she never thought she would. She never ventured there and never had a desire to. It was dangerous territory, she never knew what she could get hit with. A ball, a drumstick, a cheerleader’s hand, anything could come flying her way.

The bleachers surrounding the school’s football field was a dangerous place indeed. Which is why she rarely went there.

Today was different, she was prepared to risk her life to catch a glimpse of someone. When she awoke that morning, she had hoped she would be over her stupid crush on Eli Stone. Whatever she had imagined that transpired between them yesterday didn’t exist. It was ridiculous to think otherwise.

Which is exactly what she told herself every step of the way there. Her head was screaming for her to turn around and find Harper, yet her feet weren’t listening. Her heart was apparently in control of them today. Or her delusions, one or the other.

Whatever, she couldn’t stop herself from spying on him while he trained with the rest of the football team.

As if in slow motion, she watched as the sun glinted off his brown hair and basked his upturned face in the soft glow of the light. He was laughing, slapping his teammate on the back about something – a shared joke Kaley would never know. In that moment, she was jealous of his friend. She wanted to be in on the joke and able to share in the laughter.

But that would never happen, the sensible part of her said so. Eli had only spoken to her because he had run into her. If it was a normal day and they didn’t happen to collide, he wouldn’t have even known she existed. He would have retrieved what he needed from his locker and she would have got to class quicker. At least then her head wouldn’t be so full of damn Eli Stone.

“Hey, here you are.” Harper interrupted her daydreaming and sat down beside her on the bleachers. “I’ve been looking for you. Never thought I’d find you here but it was the last place I would have looked. And I always find what I need in the last place I look. So I looked here first and here you are.”

“What?” Kaley only heard about two words of the whole sentence and understood even less of them.

“What are you doing here?” Harper wasn’t prepared to repeat it again, once was enough.

“Nothing.”

“Something must have made you come out here. You don’t just go sit in the bleachers for nothing.”

“Well, I am,” Kaley lied, trying not to get defensive. Harper knew her too well. If she tried too hard to cover her true reason, she would get it easily.

Harper shrugged and pulled out a mandarin, she started peeling it, offering half to Kaley. She scanned their surroundings, taking in everything that was happening on the pitch that afternoon.

The football team were practicing, as were the cheerleaders. A few enthusiastic people were running laps around the edges.

“Oh my gosh, you’re here watching Eli,” Harper accused when it hit her. They had started at the school a year earlier and never sat in the bleachers during lunchtime before. She knew there had to be an ulterior motive.

“No, I’m not,” Kaley laughed but it didn’t sound right. “Can’t a girl just sit here and enjoy the sunshine?”

“Maybe some other girl, but not you.”

Kaley wondered whether she could get out of the situation without revealing her pathetic truth. She couldn’t, there was no way Harper would let it go.

“Fine, I was watching Eli.”

“I knew it. You are totally crushing on him.”

“Why did I tell you about our encounter yesterday? I knew I should have kept it to myself.”

“Because you can’t keep secrets from me.” Harper nudged her playfully. She looked at their target, the beautiful Eli, across the field. The team were practicing their throwing and catching skills. The ball seemed to float in and out of Eli’s capable hands. Sweat was starting to slide down his face with the effort. “He’s really cute, I don’t blame you. I can see the attraction.”

“He’s also completely unattainable.”

“Maybe not. He’s not getting back together with Abigail.”

“He isn’t? How do you know?” Kaley perked up, her hope perhaps a little restored.

“I was in the bathroom when Abigail and her minions were talking. I stayed in the stall until they left. She said she was over him and on the prowl for someone that deserved her.”

Kaley nodded, it did sound like something she would say. Abigail, in her world of being perfect, wouldn’t appreciate a guy like Eli. She wouldn’t be able to see him for the gorgeous and caring creature he was.

She would just see his perfect hair and adequate wallet. The moment he put a foot out of place, she would drop him and move onto the next guy. She was surprised she hadn’t done it sooner.

“It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not like Eli is suddenly going to ask me out or anything.”
Even though I desperately want him to
, Kaley added in her head. Just the thought of it was enough to send the butterflies in her stomach into a spin.

“Guys like that don’t go out with girls like us,” Harper sighed. She doubted whether even one person practicing on the field would be able to recall either of their names. “But who needs them anyway? We don’t need stupid boys. We can live without them.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Kaley said with conviction, trying to convince both of them. “It’s their loss. We’re awesome.”

“Yeah we are. Awesome with a capital A.”

The words were one thing, believing them was another. The truth was, if any of those boys ran up to the bleachers and declared their everlasting love for them, they’d change their minds in a heartbeat. There probably wouldn’t even have to be a declaration, a passing ‘hey’ would likely have the same effect.

It was too depressing.

Harper changed the subject, remembering why she had been looking for Kaley in the first place. “Have you thought any more about joining the school band? Our first practice is this afternoon, it’s not too late to sign up.”

Kaley rolled her eyes, they had that same conversation too many times over the last few weeks. “I’m not joining the band, Harper. I’m not good enough to play in public. I can’t do it.”

“Maybe if you played in front of people, we could be the judge of that. You’ve been taking lessons forever, you must be able to play something.”

Harper would never understand, so Kaley didn’t even try explaining any longer. The way she played music, the way she wrote songs, it wasn’t up for public ridicule. It was her way of speaking to all those she couldn’t. She didn’t do it for other’s entertainment.

Plus, she would have to play the most boring songs in the world over and over again. She would rather be spending her time with her guitar, doing whatever she wanted.

“I don’t want to play in the band. It’s your thing, not mine. Besides, if I’m in the band, who can cheer you on from the sidelines?” Kaley smiled, trying to make a joke of it. “I like cheering for you.”

“You’re the only one.”

“Not true, your parents are there for every performance.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.” Harper pouted, but she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her lips. “Fine, but when we are winning the regional band competition and getting untold fame and wealth, you’re going to be sorry. You’re going to be the girl that could have been in the band.”

“I think I’ll be able to live with it.”

“We’ll see.”

The bell rang in the background, signaling the end of lunch. It was always the quickest forty minutes of the day, twice as short as any class of the same length.

Harper stood to leave, when Kaley didn’t look like she was going anywhere, she was worried they weren’t on the same planet anymore. “Are you coming? We have English class.”

Kaley stole one last look at Eli as he used a towel to wipe off the sweat that had accumulated on the back of his neck. How she wished she was that towel at that very moment.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She tore herself away from the view, taking a snapshot in her mind so she could replay it later.

They went to one of the most boring classes they had on their schedule that semester. It wasn’t that the actual subject of English was terrible, it was just the way the teacher made everything seem boring.

He didn’t quite capture the love story in Romeo & Juliet, describing it as a lesson about defying your parents and the terrible consequences they had to deal with afterwards. Then there was the three weeks they spent on the proper use of grammar and how texting was depriving the world of vowels. That one was painful.

As Kaley sat in the middle of the room, her preferred seating for the least amount of teacher attention, her mind wandered.

She couldn’t help it, if she heard Mr. Baron say the word
herewith
one more time, she was going to scream. Nobody spoke like that unless they were a lawyer, give it up already. Secretly, she suspected he might have been trying to start a trend at the school. Perhaps herewith would be the next watchword amongst the cool crowd.

It was the only explanation Kaley had.

Then her eyes started to wander too. Eli was sitting in the back of the class – the last row and three away from the wall. He was writing something in his book, surely he couldn’t be taking notes.

Kaley couldn’t turn enough to see any of the details. She could barely hide the fact she was turning to look at him at all. She wished she had a mirror, that would have been handy for seeing behind her.

She imagined Eli was taking notes of all the important things Mr. Baron was saying. He probably got good grades, he was a smart guy. He would never excel in academics because of his hectic training schedule with the football team, but he had the capacity to. She just knew it.

She wondered if he liked English class or whether he found it just as boring as she did. Maybe. Perhaps taking notes was a way to quell the monotony.

A piece of paper rolled up in a ball landed on Kaley’s desk, jerking her from her daydream. She looked around, trying to work out where it came from. Harper was staring at her, wide eyed. She had been caught. Again. And by the one person who would know what she was thinking about.

Damn it.

She opened the note, it read:

 

Reconsidered band yet?

 

She shook her head, silently answering the question. She was relieved, Harper obviously wasn’t aware of how she had been obsessing about a certain guy sitting in the back row. One less thing to explain after class.

“So who can tell me where Shakespeare was born and the inspiration for all his greatest love stories?” Mr. Baron stood at the front of the class and looked for volunteers. He didn’t get any, next he looked for victims.

Kaley didn’t put up her hand, even though she knew the answer was Stratford-upon-Avon and Anne Hathaway. She nearly always knew the answers in her classes, but she would never put up her hand. She was too afraid of getting it wrong or being looked at by the others. She was happy being invisible in times like these. It meant she could fly under the radar.

Mr. Baron picked on a guy in the second to last row – he didn’t know either of the answers. It frustrated the teacher just as much as Kaley. He wasn’t asking anything difficult, it was in last night’s homework questions. Obviously she was the only one that had done the required reading.

The minutes ticked by painfully slow. When the bell rang again, it was like a reprieve to end the torture. The only good thing was that Mr. Baron didn’t have time to dish out any homework. They would get the night off, a real treat.

Kaley’s next class was gym, not her best subject. She and coordination did not belong in the same sentence. She hated the stupid games they were supposed to play. She would never get picked for anything, she was usually assigned to the team who had chosen second – the leftover.

Not that she ever added anything to the side. It wasn’t like she ever kicked a goal or returned a volleyball serve. She wasn’t built for physical activities, not everyone was. Kaley had made peace with that fact in kindergarten. If only she could convince the teachers of that, too.

Today’s gym class was particularly bad – hockey. A whole class of girls running around with sticks, all trying to hit one little puck. A lot of the time legs got in the way and they didn’t particularly mind hitting a stray one if it meant winning – merely collateral damage.

Kaley took her position at the edge of the field. The sun was hot as it hit her dark hair. She watched the game like she was a spectator and hoped the action wouldn’t come anywhere near her.

She knew nobody would pass the puck to her, she
was
invisible after all. On the odd chance they would see her, they would know she would probably miss it anyway. That’s usually what happened.

She shuffled from foot to foot, holding the hockey stick like a walking cane in front of her. At least it was something to lean on. She slowly and subtly edged her way to the left where a large shady tree was beckoning her. The limbs of the elm would give her some relief from the blazing sun. It might save her from fainting with heat exhaustion or getting all sweaty.

BOOK: Love Songs (Secret Songbook #1)
8.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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