SS: NOT-Just another Love story - Page 11

Chapter 6

After the first couple of days, school returned pretty much back to normal. The hate speech, which had previously been directed at me sucking up to Jake Austin, was now redirected to me sucking up to Justin Tyler. A few added compliments were about my voice, which according to some, sounded like a donkey taking singing classes or something mellower, like a cat crying. Jake, in retaliation to all of the haters, had taken me right into his inner circle and I wasn't complaining.

All in all, the hardest part had been dealing with Lily. She'd literally blown my ear off with her excited yelling and I couldn't understand a word she said, so I just put it about a foot away from my head and waited for the storm to blow itself out. After she'd calmed down, I told her the news in my own way, embellishing my meeting with Justin, details of our escape and other stuff. After yapping excitedly for an hour about my duet and dreams coming true, we moved on to my next ambition, aka Jake Austin.

Lily was all for me marching up to him and telling him exactly what and how I thought of him, in very explicit detail. I was more into leaving subtle hints about my intentions. Therefore, she suggested that I hang out my bra on the couch the next time he comes over. Fortunately, I decided it wasn't subtle enough. Quite apart from how s**tty I'd appear to Jake, I wasn't in the least bit interested to find Adrian's reaction. It was bad enough that Lily had developed a long distance crush on him and was forever asking me to pass her not-so-subtly-romantic messages to him.

That, however, was behind me. As it was, I had enough to occupy me without trying to act as Lily's makeout machine. The school, thrilled to have their student working with an international star, were considerate enough; I could submit my homework a bit later, like an hour or two, than the rest of the school. This, they obviously thought, was the adequate time I needed for the two to four periods I had been missing for sometime now.

Honestly, without Jake, I'd be hopelessly lost. Apart from his considerable basketball skills, he was also pretty good with sophomore algebra and other subjects. So he tutored me daily. I took the opportunity to drop my hints but he obviously thought I was his little-sister-cum-bestie or something.

About after ten days of wasting my time in the studio, with Justin showing off his guitar skills and the rest of the crew cheering him on, I put my foot down. Or rather up, since he was on the stage and I had to climb there to get his attention. Honestly, sometimes he acted like such a celebrity that it got on my nerves. I brought him back to reality with a swift punch on the elbow; that got his attention.

'What?' He sounded impatient, like I'd disturbed an important meeting.

'Um… I don't really know how to say this gently. You are wasting my time.'

He looked surprised (again) and looked around him. 'What? How? We're working on the live stage routine.'

'Yes… but I'm here to record my duet, not see you do booty shaking or whatever else that you're doing.'

'That was a moonwalk… and you're going to perform with me so, take a mic and jump up.' With that, he gave the signal to start and they were off again. I shook my head sadly; on his head be it. I made my way backstage and pulled the plug out of the amplifier. Their screams echoed hollowly, than slowly died down completely. Justin looked around and saw me holding the plug.

'Okay, guys, time out. Great practise; we'll rehearse again in half an hour.' Thus shouting, he jumped down and came up to me. I crossed my arms.

'So, ready to talk?' I asked.

'Yeah, I'm free.' Grinning, he took a juice from the small icebox they'd placed in a corner and slid on a bench. 'C'mon, spit it out.' Shaking my head at his gall, I made my way over.

'When are we gonna start practising? And recording?'

'Is that all? Honestly, I thought it'd be something important.' He took a long swig from his can.

Resisting the urge to spill it on his handsome face, I gritted my teeth. 'Of course it's important. That's what I'm here for.'

'Hmm… that's true enough. Okay, come along then.' He was up and about before I had time to react. Running after him, we made our way to the closed off studio stuck in one corner of the building. He handed me a headphone with mic and gave thumbs up to the keyboardist who'd suddenly appeared. Then he gave me the go signal. I was so shocked I didn't sing. He took off his headphones.

'What? So now you don't wanna sing?'

'Do you even… oh forget it.' Huffily, I snapped my headphones on and waited for the signal. He shrugged and started again. We practised three times in a row and by that time, my throat felt raw. To my annoyance, Justin seemed completely unaffected. I suppose it was child's play for him. He took me back to the stage, gave me some warm water and then handed me a mic.

'Join me on the stage.' I was too tired to argue right now, so I just went up there and felt extremely stupid as they all busted their moves. I asked for time out.

'Now what?' He sounded aggrieved.

'Am I just supposed to stand there?'

'No, you're supposed to belly dance. Get yourself moving.' He turned away but I had got my resolution and with it, my temper back.

'No.' I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. 'Really, what am I supposed to do? And why am I even doing it?'

'Well, you don't just want to be thrust on the stage, in front of millions of screaming fans, do you? I think you'll thank me for this one day. Of course, you need to be prepared to perform live anytime, anywhere.' This definitely was some sort of inspiration speech because he suddenly reminded me of our team coach who was always yelling encouragements to the players.

I shook my head in confusion. 'Why would I want to give a live performance?'

'What do you mean, why? You're going on the tour, right? And you want to be ready, I'm telling you.'

'I'm not touring. Nobody said anything about touring…' Justin sighed exasperatedly, then again signalled the rest of his band to take a break. Taking my arm like I was a toddler, he gently sat me on the stage's edge.

'Look,' he began in a tone that suggested he was talking to a mentally retarded person. 'We record your song here. That will be done in a week, at most. What won't be done is prepare you to sing for hours on end, even with a sore throat. That's what we need to focus on right now. Okay?'

'But why?'

'You are the most annoyingly curious, not to mention frustrating person I've ever met. You need to master your voice so that you can manage consecutive concerts, like me.'

'Concerts?' It suddenly sounded ominous.

'Live concerts.' Justin was smug. 'Your manager agreed.'

'My manager?' I choked.

'Adrian. You're underage, I couldn't just whisk you off.' Shaking his head at my pathetic grasp of the facts, he stood up. 'So, what do you say?'

'I am going to kill him.' I looked up. 'And you.' I added as an afterthought.