It was like a dream.
Rainbow lights surrounded me as I waved from the middle of a large stage, cheers below. Cheers that soon changed to screams. Gasping as smoke filled the room, I fell from the stage, my skirt ripping. The floor shook as feet ran in different directions, the flames growing bigger and bigger. And in all that chaos, only one thing mattered.
Reaching him.
“Arthur, I finally found you,” I muttered, coughing as I crawled towards him. Reaching for his hand, everything went dark as a voice screamed—
> “Good morning, and TGIF! You’re listening to P202, bringing you the latest music, news, and music news!”
I jumped up, squinting in the sunlight peeking through the blinds. It was pretty quiet, save for singing birds and the music coming from next door. Rubbing my eyes, I stretched and leaned against the wall. “The house is alive with the sound of music,” I sang.
The music instantly turned off. Laughing, I stood and walked over to my twin’s room. I knocked twice; she answered in two seconds still in her bright pink nightgown. “Did I wake you?” she said.
“Well, morning to you, too, Auria,” I said, making her frown. “You did, but it’s fine. Rather that than burning skin.”
“Burning…?” Auria’s frown grew. “The fire dream again?”
“Yep,” I said with a sigh, leaning against the door frame. Ever since my 15th birthday, I’d been having the same nightmare. The colorful stage, the burning room, and the likely dead guy wearing a red eyepatch. “It was more real this time, though. I even learned eyepatch boy’s name, I think. Arthur.”
“Arthur? Is that someone you know?”
“Nope. Maybe he’s from a show or something.”
It became awkwardly silent before Auria snapped her fingers. “That reminds me; they just announced the date for The Harmonia Festival.”
“Wait, seriously?” I excitedly followed Auria to her laptop as she opened Flitter.
> Get ready, teens; we’re 3 months away from the awesome, amazing Harmonia Festival!
>
> Schools, start prepping your best performers for December 26.
>
> Who will represent your school?
>
>
>
> Harmonia Festival founder, Esther Stella, has announced that her annual gala is set for December 5. P202 will be outside conducting interviews.
December was looking to be an awesome month! Just like how that morning got better as Auria turned the music back up. Music we both knew very well. “It’s my song!” I said. Auria laughed as I danced around her room, singing along with the greatest singer of all time.
Ellie Stella!
“Come on, Auria; you know the chorus!” I said, grabbing her hand. Laughing more, she tossed me my hairbrush mic as we sang.
“One day when my heart tells me
To stand and pursue my dream,
I’ll jump up, my voice going far.
And I’ll shine just like the stars!”
Bang!
We jumped at the sound which was followed by, “Serena Elayna Starr, it’s way too early!”
“Why’d he only yell at me?” I muttered, Auria rolling her eyes. She turned her music down, the vocals of Five Directions coming from my room. “Guess we should hurry up and get dressed.”
“You mean you should hurry so we’re not late again,” Auria said.
Mean.
I stuck out my tongue before sliding out of her room and into the bathroom. As I got ready, my dad’s oldies played through the wall. Meaning my mom had likely already left and he was reading while listening to music. Contradictory much? Then again, he might’ve been working on someone’s watch, but that was really unlikely.
And again, why was I the only one to get yelled at?
Finishing up, I dashed to my room, turned my alarm off, and threw on my favorite hoodie jacket over a black skirt. Auria claimed I wore it too much, and the blue was a little faded, but that made it more awesome. Brushing my curls down, I snapped my star hairclip in, jumped into my sneakers, and grabbed my bookbag. As I left my room, my baby brother came out of his, his eyes closed. “Have a good day, Noah,” I said, squeezing his cheeks. He swatted my hand away with a mumble, making me chuckle as I jumped down the stairs. Auria stood at the bottom holding my lunch and a blueberry muffin. Grabbing both, I stuffed them in my bag and beelined to the door. “Bye, Dad! See you tonight!” I called.
Slamming the door, we jumped off the porch to my bike, Auria climbing behind me. Once her arms were around my waist, I kicked off the ground and made my way down Pine Road. “I really hope someone sings Shine at the festival this year,” I said.
I felt Auria shrug. “I wonder who’ll go this year?” she said.
“From our school? I’m betting on Iris Adamos. She should’ve gone last year instead of what’s-his-name.” Auria giggled. “But Shine wouldn’t really sound right with her. She’s too serious.”
“Then who would sound right?”
“Hmm,” I hummed as I stopped at the stop sign. “Someone who’s passionate, sparkly, and fun. It’s hard to replicate Ellie, you know.”
“…You basically described yourself.”
“Very funny,” I said with a half-hearted chuckle. “You couldn’t catch me on a stage. That’s more you, Miss Theatre.”
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Auria sighed; I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. “I’m not the one who knows the words to all of her songs and has her hairclip,” she said.
Shrugging, I began pedaling again as my fingers gently caressed my 12th birthday present from Mom. The day I swore to shine like the stars, just like Ellie. However, I didn’t want to be exactly like her. ‘Cause if I’m being completely honest, the idea of singing and dancing before a bunch of strangers didn’t sound fun at all.
It sounded freaking terrifying.
We reached a corner and turned, Pine Road merging into Main Street. The smell of pancakes and bacon floated into my nose, the boutiques opening their curtains. Neighbors were getting on the bus to head to work, some waving at us. I waved back as the music of beautiful Heartsgrove filled my ears. Dogs were barking, people were talking, and someone was crying in pain.
One of those was not like the others.
I slammed on the brakes in front of Starr Bakery, Auria almost flying off. “Why did you do that?” she asked.
“Did you hear that?” I said, looking around.
“Hear what?”
“That cry? It sounds like someone’s hurt.”
I tried listening for the voice when I heard whimpers coming from the alley between buildings. Obviously, that wasn’t good, so I got off the bike and followed the sound. “Wait, Serena!”
I kept walking as the whimpers grew louder. Reaching some wooden boxes, I gasped. Behind them was a teen girl in hot pink and black pulling a boy’s ear. Tears filled his eyes; he couldn’t have been much older than Noah. After taking in the scene, I stomped forward. “Hey!” I shouted, the girl flinching. “Let him go!”
The girl looked at me with a frown. A frown that slowly changed into a smirk, chills crawling down my spine. Letting the boy go, she walked towards me before taking a step back. As if she weighed nothing, she backflipped over the alley fence and out of sight. “How the—?”
“Serena!” I glanced back, Auria running towards me. “What’s going on?”
Before I could answer, there was a thud, the little boy sitting on the ground rubbing his ear. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked, bending down. He flinched and brushed his dark brown bangs away to reveal the biggest green eyes I’d ever seen. Clutched in his arms was a cartoon wolf backpack.
He may have been younger than I’d initially thought.
The boy rubbed his eyes and looked down. “I’m okay, but thank you for helping me,” he said in a small voice.
“No prob.” He stood shakily and put on his backpack, wiping away any remaining tears. Wondering if there was anything else I could do, a grumble filled the air. I snapped my fingers, reached in my bag, and pulled out my breakfast. “Here,” I said, holding it out to the boy. “You can have it.” He stared at the gift before slowly taking it. “Actually, how about I give you a ride to school? If you’re out at this time, you must go to—?”
“Um, speaking of school,” Auria said, pushing her watch into my face.
7:25.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I said. “We’ll have to—” Before I could say more, the boy sprinted past us. “Hey!” I reached out to him, but he was already gone.
***
Lunch A’s bell rang throughout J. Albert High, classroom doors opening. I shuffled alongside my peers, conversations around me. Such as:
“Hey, do you wanna hang out after school?”
And…
“Oh my God, did you hear? Stacy and Jimmy broke up again.”
Along with…
“When did Mrs. Swartz say she was giving back the quizzes?”
“Next week, I think. Wanna bet Cielo got the best score?”
I sighed, unable to chip into any of it. All day, I’d thought about the little boy in the alley and if he was okay. However, what irked me at that particular moment sat in my bookbag.
A paper with a giant 10/20 written on it.
Sighing again, I walked down the stairs into the cafeteria. The smell of fried chicken hit my nose as I went to my table, dropping my head on it. My cheek cooled on the smooth wood as a loud voice got closer. Feeling the table move, I looked up to see the dark brown hand of my awesome best friend, Tayla Mitchells, put her lunch down. Next to her skipped chatty Jae Seong. Both sat and stared at me. “Um, you alright?” Tayla said.
“No!” I shouted, banging the table. “First, I had that stupid fire nightmare again. Then, I saw this poor kid getting bullied, but he ran off and I don’t know if he’s okay, and I ended up almost being late ‘cause of him.”
“Se—”
“Then, to top it all off, Auria got a great score on that stupid US History quiz while I got a crappy one.” I dropped my head on the table. “It’s last year all over again!”
“Serena, calm down!”
“But if I end up flunking, Coach Evans might kick me off the team for real. Then Mr. Smith will call my parents, and they’ll take all my games.”
“I think you’re overreacting.”
“You know how my dad is! What do I do, Tayla?”
She sighed, hand on her forehead. “First, will you calm down?” she said. “Now, why don’t you talk with Mr. Smith and see if you can retake it? If not, just do better on the next one. The year literally just started.”
In the ten years I’d known Tayla, she’d always given good and straight to the point advice. Especially the kind I didn’t want to hear.
“If you say so,” I mumbled.
Tayla rolled her eyes with a laugh. Mean. “Hey, look on the bright side; there’s still a football game tonight. Us versus the Creekstone Sharks. Unless you no longer want to go?”
“Of course I still wanna go,” I said, Tayla chuckling. Taking out my lunch, I caught Jae staring at me. “You good, Jae?”
“I know what else could cheer you up,” she said, grin slowly spreading across her face.
I knew where this was going.
“Let’s go to the mall!” she shouted, the neighboring table covering their ears. “We can shop at Parkies and then, like, go to Lady Topaz’s concert. Two stones, one bird!”
“Isn’t it…who’s Lady Topaz?”
“Who’s. Lady. Topaz?” Whipping out her phone, she thrust it into my face. “She’s only, like, one of the most popular Youtubers right now. She’s sings tons of cover songs and sounds amazing.” On the screen was a girl wearing a pretty pink mask singing with a pretty okay voice. “And not only is her show only one dollar, which all goes to charity by the way, but she’s doing a face reveal at it.” Jae held her phone to her chest. “We have to go.”
That was a lot.
I glanced at Tayla, who shrugged. “What about the game?” she said, voicing my thoughts.
“Like, before the game. Around 3. Please?”
The show did sound interesting, but the shopping bit did not. The last time we’d gone shopping at Heartsgrove Mall, that fashionista had kept us there for three hours before only buying
One
Ribbon!
Nervously chuckling, I picked up my unopened orange soda. “Well—”
“I’m in,” Tayla said. She was actually serious. “What? It could be fun, and it’s seeing a game and a concert in one day. Like Jae said: two birds, one stone.”
She had a point. “But—?”
“I’ll pay for Chuckie’s Burgers.”
“Sold! You’re the best, Tayla,” I said happily, throwing my hands in the air…along with my drink. “Crap!” Spinning around, I reached to catch it and froze. The can had landed in the hands of the last person anyone at JAHS wanted to cross.
The sophomore class rep, Kaiden Brenton.
He turned the can in his hand before his cool amber-brown eyes looked at me. “Is this yours?” he said.
“Um, yeah,” I said, holding my hand out. “Sorry about that; I didn’t mean to throw it.” Kaiden sighed and held out the can.
“Brenton!” We jumped, jerkhat Michael Smith walking towards us. “What are you doing?” he said, glancing between us. “We have better things to be doing than talking with…them.”
Rude, much?
Eyes growing colder, Kaiden tossed the can at me. “Watch where you throw things,” he said before walking away with a cackling Michael.
“That was awkward,” Tayla muttered, letting out a breath.
“He’s kinda a jerk, huh?” Jae said between bites of food.
“Which one?” I said, snapping my drink open. Taking a sip, I rested my head on my hand as the boys vanished from sight.