In the Crowd (Tye)

Chapter 13

I didn’t mean to, but I found myself constantly avoiding ever meeting our new neighbors. No one would tell Choi that I lived here because the neighbors were used to me living here, I was just any other person.

I liked it that way.

I relaxed my legs, letting them stretch out in front of me. The itch on my back was insane, and I regretted immediately that I had hid in a bush. My neck was beginning to cramp and I knew soon I’d be aching all over. Why did I hide in a bush? It didn’t matter if Choi saw me- yet my reflexes had taken over. Now I was stuck here waiting for a time when no one would be looking so that I wasn’t totally insane-seeming.

My phone rung a painfully loud tune. I recognized it to mean that Griffin had texted me. Ah hell, why didn’t I set it on vibrate? I flinched at the sound and slowly crawled out. If anyone asked, I could always say I dropped my phone there.

Arina’s hair was tied messily together, and she wore a t-shirt and basketball shorts. Screw myself, she was standing right there. Her mouth hung open in the shape of an o. I cursed myself and my bad timing. Her eyes widened and no words came out.

“Hey,” I said lamely.

Finally regaining conscience, Choi raised her eyebrows. “So I have a magical bush in my yard that brings forth rock stars.” She stated sarcastically.

“Uh… no. Not really. Just dropped my phone. Under there. Somehow. A total coincidence!...” I trailed off, finding how stupid I must have sounded. I waved my phone in the air, as if it could explain everything. Well, I have to give her credit. Instead of making things more awkward, Choi bought my excuse and went on with it.

“So you live here?” she asked, her head cocked to the side.

“Yeah. Always have.”

She waved a music sheet in front of my face. “Change the ending and the second verse,” Choi practically commanded me.

“Where the hell did you get that?”

“Tony,” she shrugged, as though that were obvious. “It’s amazing how quickly you write songs, then just throw them away.” Choi added. I frowned.

“It’s not that simple,” I protested. “You have the write the song, then fix it up, and then a whole long process which you don’t want to hear,”

“I have time,”

“Well I don’t.”

I brushed off my clothes again to avoid talking for a moment. Before walking off, I snatched the music sheet from Choi’s hand. I noticed that she smiled at this.

“See ya Tye,” she called toward my back. Her voice was teasing, as though she were mocking me.

Why was she so different from all my other fans? At first, Choi was like any other, squealing about Hourglass. I respected the fact that she liked our music more than our looks, but still. After getting to know us more, she treated us- treated me- normally. Not like we were some famous band, not like we were rock stars, not anything like a normal fan.

It was fucking weird.

***

Performance 2nite at a club. Ask bailey.

I sighed and turned off my phone. Club performances were always the creepiest. I mean, technically, we were still underage right?

Normally, those stupid clubs had DJs and stuff like that. Yet they just had to have a live band come on every now and then. Ace was always hyped getting ready for something like this, and I was always the exact opposite.