Don't Stop The Music

- fourteen -

CHAPTER XIV

- one of the gang -

[Esther]

Esther had been staring at her computer screen for a while, deep in thought, when her phone started buzzing.

It was Diana. Since their talk a couple of weeks ago Diana had faithfully called her once or twice a week, mainly just to chat about little things. She had a talent for finding things to talk about, stretching what for Esther would be a mediocre day into a lively tale filled with anecdotes and complaining about teachers and the constant shifting loyalties of what she referred to as 'the B-crowd', the girls who hung around them.

"Hey, how's things?" Esther asked, tapping on the keyboard. Writing music and talking was a skill she'd developed over the years so she didn't have to stop writing whenever Ivy came in to talk, which was often, dividing her attention between the two. Right now, she wasn't really writing, per se, but she'd been adding drums to a song Robin had sent her the other night and then had stumbled across a rhythm she'd really liked.

It didn't fit the song, but she'd copied it into a new document and built slightly on it, and had been working on it for a while now. It was nowhere near a complete song, but it worked with something she'd wanted to write: a complex, rhythm-heavy piece, strong and relentless, the kind of thing that left you energised and pumped up once you'd listened to it.

"Yeah, yeah. Really good," Diana said. "You got any plans for this weekend?"

"Nah, not really," Esther said.

"Awesome. So. We're going out on Friday, probably to the leisure centre or something. I was wondering if you wanted to come."

Esther was surprised. "Me? Really?"

"Yeah, why not? It'll be fun."

Esther hesitated.

"Who's 'we'? Everyone?" Diana's group of friends was about seven people, and if you added Ell and Martine and everyone else that was at least fifteen.

Esther hated big crowds: there was no real sense of togetherness and it was so easy to get buried beneath more boisterous personalities and forgotten about, tagging along miserably with the rest of them. Especially with a bunch of people she didn't know well, cool people, the kind that judged you based on your shoes and talked about reality TV and didn't know people like her existed.

"It'll just be us: Ally and Jen and the guys."

The idea didn't exactly appeal to her. She knew enough of Ally to figure they probably wouldn't get on. She didn't know Jen, but she'd heard a lot about her, and that way she looked at people, like she was sizing them up, cool and distant, kind of freaked her out.

"I don't know, Diana, I don't know your friends that well," Esther said, uncertainly. "I'm not sure I'll fit in."

"They're nice, don't worry about it. And I'll be there, as well, obviously. It's just, I haven't seen you properly in a while, and this is a nice opportunity, you know?"

"I suppose..."

"Try it for a bit, and if it all goes horribly I'll take you home, ok? You might like it."

The imploring tone in her voice swayed her, and Esther hesitated again.

"Ok, I guess I'll try."

Diana cheered. "Brilliant! So Emmett will pick us up from the plaza down the street from yours at eight, so how about I come for you at half seven and we can walk there together? Sound ok?"