The Throw-Aways

The car easily turned on and I backed out. It was time to go to school. As I started my short drive to Golden High School, All Time Low’s song, Dear Maria, started on my playlist. My Ipod was forever hooked up to the sound system just so I didn’t have to listen to the mountain’s favorite radio station: static.

“There’s a story at the bottom of this bottle and I’m the pen…” I sang along, word for word. Song lyrics came to me as easily as breathing. If I wasn’t talking, I was singing to myself, alone in my room. There was no chance I would ever sing in front of anyone except for my best friend, KK.

Speaking of the devil, a text buzzed from my backpack. It took all my brain power to not reach down and grab my phone. No, I was a safer driver than that!

So for now, I sang along with Alex through my playlist. If this song came up first, then it had to be a good day today! Right?

The parking lot was starting to fill up with cars, but it was still relatively empty. School started in thirty minutes, so I had time. Most people might think that it was odd that I actually wanted to be early to school. Being early had its advantages! There was basically no one except for the teachers and a few other early birds, so I could pass through the halls without anyone commenting against me. I was invisible, just like I wanted to be.

Once the car was off, I reached for my black backpack and pulled out my phone, reading the message.

Kylar: GET TO THE LIBRARY ASAP! NEW ALERT RELEASED BY UR FAVE HOTTIE!

I rolled my eyes and slipped on my backpack and walked a short distance to the side entrance of the small high school. If I used the old side door, then I could get to the library faster.

As I snuck into the empty halls, I sighed in relief. No one was here yet. The one bus that transported the thirty or so kids that lived in the area down to the building would arrive in about five minutes. I had a short amount of time to get to Senior Hall and my stuff.

The tall blue lockers stood sullen, waiting to be used. Already, most of my stuff was emptied out except for the few folders I needed for the last couple of finals. Being a senior had its perks. We got the biggest lockers, knew every twist and turn possible in this school, and we even got off a week before everyone else! It was the last week for me and Kye, and we were ecstatic!

My black Vans squeaked as I walked down the tiled hall to our tiny little library. Just outside the door, two kids were hanging out and talking in hushed whispers. They looked up and smiled when I neared them.

“Kylar’s inside. She seemed extra perky today.” The girl with scarlet hair noted. I sighed, but grinned. Kylar was always super quiet and rarely talked to anyone outside of those she knew. Once you get to know her and she got comfortable around the new person, you could’ve sworn that Monster Energy Drinks were her drug.

If you knew her as well as I did, hyper mode was activated.

“Did you give her Monster shots?” The black haired boy asked. I smiled but shook my head. Grasping the cold knob, I pulled open the door. Kye was sitting across the room, half hidden by a book case.

“Hello, Mrs. Nansen.” I smiled. The old librarian mirrored my happiness, despite the early morning. She was a good friend of mine since I came to the library basically every day since I had gotten to this school.

“Hello, R.” She went back to reading whatever novel she worked on now. I swore, she had read every book in this library already! That was over four hundred!

“Hottie alert, I just got an update this morning.” Kylar pulled out her phone. The eighteen year old girl’s light brown hair dangled in front of her shoulder. I set my backpack down across the table from her and pulled out my math folder. Today would be the final, but math always came easily to me.

It was like counting the beats in a measure. Math and music worked well together…

“He’s not my hottie. Stop calling him that!” I swatted her arm. Kylar had been my best friend since I was in eighth grade. We had been band buddies since then and had connected over one single band: Of Mice and Men.

“You looooove him!” She teased. I rolled my eyes but blushed. No, I don’t love a man I haven’t met. He’s been my inspiration and the band’s music had helped me through tough times, but I couldn’t say I knew him personally enough to love him.

“Did you get a new ring?” I asked her and tapped my nose. Kylar wasn’t just the average teenage girl. Along with her light brown hair, she had a nose ring on the left side. On that arm, a tattoo was written in loopy letter. It said Inspiration, Dedication on the inside skin. Her dark brown eyes always seemed to read you like a book and could see through any lie. Everyone called her Kylar, but I called her Kye or Kk. She played guitar and was fan-freaking-tastic at it, but wasn’t one to boast. Kk would only play and sing if I bugged her enough to do it for me. She at least had more confidence than I ever did!

“Yes, actually. I just went with a basic gold.” She turned her head for me to admire. I nodded with a smirk.

“Gold for Triple-A, like a ring.” I teased her with the nickname she always used with the ginger guitarist. She stuck her tongue out and went to scrolling through whatever was on her smart phone. Kye could tease me all she wants about Austin, but I would return fire about her celebrity crush with Alan, the diva.

“Hey!” she snapped and then showed me her phone. I looked at a picture of Austin standing with the band in front of a road sign. At the bottom read the photo credits to Adam Elmakias.

“Cool pic, but what was I supposed to see?” I asked her, slightly annoyed that she had gotten all worked up over this little bunch of pixels. She scrolled down and then pointed without saying a word. The article made me gasp

Popular Band, Of Mice and Men, Searching for New Keyboardist!

The talented band named after a classic novel is on the hunt! Alternative Press magazine recently caught up with the lead singer Austin Carlile on the latest news!

“After we released the Restoring Force album, our band and manager talked. We agreed that adding a new keyboardist to our group would not only expand the sound of the music we do, but would add to the group overall.” Carlile told AP. They said they’re not planning on holding auditions right away. Alan Ashby filled us in on more of the process.

“So how will you boys choose a new member?” AP asked.

“We’re having a bit of a break before we join in on Warped. We have until June twentieth if we want to have our new member join in on some performances on the tour. We’ll just be going around to different areas and see what our manager has recommended we check out. If we don’t find anybody, then we’ll wait until after Warped and look at holding auditions.” Ashby claimed.

So who will this new member be? Will there be a member soon? The fans of the band anxiously await the news on how Of Mice and Men will sound after their new addition.

“So?” I asked my best friend, licking my lips nervously. I had a feeling I knew what she wanted.

“TRY OUT!” She whispered very loudly. I rolled my eyes. Kye, of all people, should know this!

“No, I can’t.” I shook my head. I wasn’t good enough.

“No, you can! Kye, I know what happened a few years ago, but you can do this! You’re the best piano player I’ve met!” She cheered me on. I shook my head.

Two years ago, I was forced to play the piano at my mom’s funeral. It was just supposed to be one song, her favorite piece titled, The Raven and the Blue Jay. She had always loved that song, and I used to play it for her every day. At the funeral, I started playing it, but I was too distraught with what had happened and I screwed up. I played all the wrong notes and had to stop in the middle of it. It was the worst day of my life.

What was worse? My enemy number one was there to witness it all. From every day on, she bullied me and teased about how I was never going to be good enough to play again. Every day, she teased me in choir about how I could never sing alone, that I had to have other people to cover up my mistakes.

I had felt like a failure that I could even play my mom’s favorite piece for her at her final rest. It was the worst day of my life and I swore I wouldn’t let myself screw up like that again. I would never play the piano in front of anyone else, except for maybe Kye when she forced me to.

Another secret I held from even Kylar was that I would sing. Sure, I would joke around with her occasionally about screaming to the radio, but otherwise I would never sing in front of her.

I couldn’t let myself screw up again.

“I’m not that good.” I mumbled, not letting her goad me into playing. I was saved by the bell as the ringing over my head stopped her before Kk could speak again.

“I’ll see you in History.” I smiled and walked off before she could complain. But this wasn’t the last I would hear of her.

Notes

So thanks for reading so far and don't forget to leave a comment! We'll be getting into a bit more of the school life of Raven in the next few chapters! Also, we'll hear a little bit more of what happened with her mom's funeral and who her enemy is...mystery!!!