The Perfect Harmony

♡ Chapter 17 ♡

♡ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ♡

Ariana shook her head. "Seriously? Brandon again?" she asked.

Brandon was on the stage, singing with a guitar. Ariana sighed and went back in the water. She could still here Brandon's singing and she hummed along. Ariana floated in the water, facing up at the sun.

I could stay like this forever, she thought.

Her eyes closed and she felt weightless. Ariana didn't know how long it was until she woke up, but she found herself floating in a part of the sea that was a little too far from the shore for comfort. The water was now a deep, dark blue instead of the clear blue that she was comfortable with. Ariana swam back to shore a little too hurriedly and she walked up the sand dripping wet.

Pulling the locker open, she looked at the time on her phone. It read 6:30.

Ariana shut the locker closed and locked it again and looked at the sky, which was starting to dim. She smiled, excited to get the chance to be able to watch the sunset. "Ariana?" someone called from behind her.

Crud, Ariana mentally groaned.

Ariana knew that it wasn't the guy with the smirk. If it was him, he would've said 'seashell' instead of her real name. And second, the voice was much higher than his voice. Turning around slowly, Ariana gritted her teeth.

Before her stood Mikaela. Her brown hair was wet, which meant that she had gone in the water too. She was wearing a black bikini that exposed a lot of skin.

Mikaela put her hands on her hips. "I didn't expect to see you here," she said.

"What do you want?" Ariana snapped.

Mikaela smiled at her and cocked her head to the side. "Nothing. I just saw you standing here and figured I should say 'hi'."

"Okay, hi," Ariana replied.

Just then, Brandon came running up to the two girls, wearing nothing but dark blue beach shorts and a lop-sided smile.

"Seashell," he smiled. Ariana waved at him.

Mikaela scowled. "Come on, Brandon, we should go." She started to pull Brandon away but he didn't budge.

He waved Mikaela's hand away and went closer to Ariana. Ariana suddenly felt insecure.

"Hi," she greeted him weakly.

"Hey," he greeted back. "Seashell, could you do me a favor?"

"It depends on what the favor is..."

"Will you sing a song with me again?" he asked. At that, Mikaela grounded her teeth together.

"Uhh..." Ariana didn't know if she should or shouldn't. Mikaela would be upset, and Ariana didn't want to cause drama with her. But she did want to sing with the guy...

"Please?" Brandon asked her gently, water dripping from his eyelashes. He blinked them away.

"Fine," Ariana gave in. He gave her the biggest smile he could manage.

"Great. Thank you." Brandon leaned in and Ariana's breath hitched. And then he pressed his lips to her forehead and took off to the direction of the stage.

Mikaela and Ariana were both frozen, Ariana with shock and Mikaela with anger. Mikaela shot a murderous glare at Ariana and then she stomped off.

In the distance, Brandon called to her. "Seashell! Are you coming or not?"

Ariana smiled but turned to her locker. She took out a towel and dried her hair as best as she could. And then she put on a thin, white shirt and put her shorts back on, then she ran over to Brandon. He was getting the guitar and positioning two stools in front of mic stands on the small stage.