by Wendy Knight
And Kim thought the job would do nothing for her.
She stashed her stuff in the locker room and took a super quick and super cold shower. Shivering, she got dressed and tied her hair back in a braid before she hurried out. "I'm a janitor. I'm janitoring," she muttered, keeping her head down so none of the teachers would look too closely.
"Hey, Harli!"
Harli squealed, leaping back, mop ready to defend her. "Kim! What the heck?"
Kim smirked. "I had to re-take a test. What are you doing here so early?" she asked again.
"I work here. Remember?" Harli tried for an annoyed scowl, but she was fairly positive she failed.
"Yeah… but your truck is cold and has frost over all the windows. You haven't driven that thing this morning." Kim crossed her arms over her chest and stared Harli down.
"I—I just thought it would be easier to sleep here when I have to get up so early." Harli shrugged. "No big deal."
"Tell her you can't go home. She's your friend. She will help you."
"No," Harli snarled back in her mind. "She'll hate me for ruining everyone's dreams."
"Levi didn't."
Kim raised an eyebrow, completely unaware of Harli's inner conversation with her ghost buddy. "That's bull, Harli. Tell me the truth."
Harli wanted to. She was so tempted, more tempted than she'd ever been before. She opened her mouth, but the words didn't come.
"Harli?" Kim asked softly. "What's going on?"
"Nothing, Kim. Nothing's going on, but I gotta get to work and you have a test. Good luck, by the way," Harli said in a rush, swinging her mop around. "I'll talk to you later!"
She could feel Kim watching her walk away, but she didn't dare turn. What would Kim think? Would she blame Harli? Would she think she was weak?
"She would be there to help you. Like a true friend."
"Yeah. I've had great luck with people being true anything," Harli hissed out loud. "Except for you. What would I do without you, Angela?"
LEVI'S PHONE BUZZED IN the middle of rehearsal. They had a concert in a few hours, and he was trying his damnedest to focus.
But he hadn't heard anything from Harli or Jace or anyone for two weeks. Meaning, he dropped his guitar and jogged across the stage, snatching his phone away when Michael reached for it.
It was Kim. "Harli's been sleeping at the school and she won't tell me why."
He stared at her text for several long seconds, trying to figure out just what it meant. "What?"
"I caught her this morning, but I know she's been doing it for two weeks because Jace said her truck's been here when he goes to class in the morning."
Levi had to re-read that one, too, jealousy gnawing at his insides.
You told him to protect her, idiot.
"Levi! We're in the middle of a song!" Graham yelled. Levi looked up, frowning, and realized, somehow for the first time, that Graham looked like shit. His face was slick with sweat, and his drumsticks shook in his hands. His hair was a long, stringy mess.
Levi blinked. He recognized that look. Something inside snapped.
"What are you on?" he yelled, dropping the phone and storming across the stage. "We made a deal, Graham!"
Colin and Dorian both watched silently.
"Are you my mama now, Levi? Have to babysit me because your girlfriend's found someone else to take care of her?" Graham laughed, high and maniacal.
Levi lunged over the drums and punched him. Graham's head snapped back as he toppled off his stool. "You son of a —" Levi yelled, jerking him to his feet.
"Oh yeah. You're real tough, Levi. I don't feel a damn thing." Graham smiled triumphantly.
"Dude…" Dorian said. "You're bleeding all over."
Colin got between them, pushing Levi away. "Go get cleaned up, Graham." To Levi, he said, "We can't deal with this right now. We have a concert tonight, but the weekend is free. We'll take him to the clinic, get him some help…"
"You can't get cleaned up in a weekend!" Levi bellowed.
Colin sent him a look, one eyebrow raised. Feeling like he'd just been reprimanded by his grandma, Levi scowled and crossed his tattooed arms over his chest.
"Fine. As soon as our tour's over, we'll get him in a program. Go." Colin pointed Levi toward the front of the stage. "I'll handle this."
Levi grabbed his phone. "I'll be home as soon as I can. Just don't lock me out of her house this time."
Kim's response was immediate. "I'll let you in myself if you can help her."
Michael snatched the phone out of his hand. "Go. Rehearse."
Levi snarled. He'd fought so many guys over Harli that it was second nature to clench his fists and start to swing.
But he stopped at the last second, his knuckles inches from Michael's startled red face. Instead, he jerked his phone out of Michael's sweaty palms. "I'm done."
He stalked off the stage, already texting Harli before he got to his dressing room. "What's going on, Sunshine?"
But she, of course, did not respond. Like always. He slammed his dressing room door and flung his phone at the wall. It didn't shatter like he'd hoped, so he paced angrily in the small space, swearing under his breath. He could barely see through the red haze of anger and frustration and more anger. "I don't want this. I don't want any of this!" he growled, more pissed off with each word. "This wasn't my damn dream. It was hers. And she's not even here!"
"Levi!"
Levi froze, teeth clenched, fists balled, and searched for the tiny voice. He caught sight of himself in the mirror—black hair sticking up like a mad scientist yet again, face almost as red as Michael's. He was, in a word, a total mess.
"Levi!"
"Jace?" Levi turned slowly, looking for his lifelong friend. "Are you a ghost?"
"Phone, dude."
Blinking stupidly, Levi dug through the throw pillows until he found his non-shattered phone. "Jace?" He held it up to his ear.
"Last time I checked. What's your problem now, rock star?"
Levi sank onto the couch. "I'm a shitty excuse for a rock star. I just walked out on rehearsals."
"Poor you," Jace snapped. "New girls every night, so much money you don't even know what to do with it, and the most gorgeous girl on the whole planet. Life is so hard."
"I don't want new girls every night. My money is all going into savings for Harli's college fund, and in case you didn't notice, I lost the most gorgeous girl on the planet."
"You deserve it."
"What the hell is your problem?" Levi snapped. What little patience he had was gone days ago, and he was sick of Jace's crap.
"My problem is that you had the two things I wanted most in my life, and you're screwing them both over." Levi could hear Jace's ragged breathing through the phone.
"One, I didn't go after Harli until you had another girlfriend. You moved on, Jace. And two, you hated playing. You only played so you could hang out with Harli, and you quit as soon as you didn't need it anymore. What the hell was I supposed to do, drop the two things I wanted most so I didn't offend you?" He was yelling. Sucking in a breath, he attempted to find calm. His inner Zen. Something.
"Whatever. Stop calling me. And stay away from Harli."
Levi was about to hang up. He wanted to hang up. He was angry enough to hang up. But Jace was more than a friend. He was like a brother, and he'd been there when everyone else looked at Levi and saw white trash with no future. "Jace."
"What?" Jace snarled back, proving that he hadn't had the guts to hang up, either.
"When did this happen?"
Jace paused. "What?"
"This. Between us. When did we stop being friends?"
Jace's answer was instantaneous. "When my mom died and you didn't even come home for the funeral."
Levi felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. "Your—your mom—?" he gasped. He racked his brain, trying to remember any mention of this at all.
He came up empty.
"Harli made excuses. 'Oh, he wanted to be here. His
manager has him on such a tight leash. He's really heartbroken.' Then that night, while I'm carrying my mom's ashes into the house, I see you on the TV, partying it up like you didn't even care. And she loved you, Levi. Like her own son. She loved you and you forgot all about her. I'm not going to let you treat Harli like that, too."
"Jace—" Levi searched for words, but there was nothing to say. "I—I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. When?"
Again, Jace was silent for a long time. "Harli said she talked to your manager because you weren't answering your phone." His voice was less angry now. More confused. More hurt, but maybe, if Levi knew him like he thought he did, there was also hope.
"When?" Levi sounded like a stranger in his own head.
"Last August. You really didn't know?"
Six months. Jace's mom had been gone six months, and Levi hadn't even sent his condolences. He dropped his head to his hands and squeezed his eyes shut tight. When had everything gotten so out of control?
"No. I didn't know. My manager is an asshole. He doesn't tell me anything." Fighting the tears pooling in his eyes, he said, "I'm sorry, Jace. She was an amazing woman. She—she made me believe that—that there was hope."
"Thanks. She would have liked to hear that."
Levi didn't know where to go from here. He didn't want to hang up, but he didn't know what else to say.
"Can I just point something out that you don't seem to realize?" Jace asked, but the anger and cruelty were gone from his voice. Now, he just sounded tired.
"Yeah."
"Your life seemed to go to hell when you cut Harli out of it. And the further you let her go, the worse it gets."
And there, like a star from heaven, was his answer. The further you let her go, the worse it gets. He had to fix it. He had to get her back.
"I'm coming home."
Again, Jace met him with silence. Levi wondered when his friend had gotten so wise. "You know that I love her, Levi. And I love her enough to want her to be happy, Levi. You make her happy, and I can't seem to. But you screw up again, and I will personally make your life hell. Do you understand me?"
Despite himself, Levi cracked a smile. He probably should have been annoyed, but instead he was just grateful that Harli had someone to watch her back. Or her heart.
"I got it, Jace."
LEVI WANDERED THROUGH HIS hotel room. He didn't pace like usual. He just… wandered while his brain sorted and rearranged and plotted and planned. And when there was nothing else to distract him, he finally picked up his guitar, the one Harli had saved for a year to buy him, the one that had helped them win The Last Chord, pulled out the music Harli had written him, and started singing.
Singing about Harli was the easiest thing in the world. He'd forgotten how easy, until now. Like everything else, he'd forgotten. All his old songs had been about her, and this one. The words came from the heart, bypassed his throat and mouth, and somehow possessed the room. He sang the whole song three times, and then he set his guitar down on its stand and leaned back against the couch, hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. He was more at peace than he could remember being for a long, long time.
He wished he could sing it to her. That song said it more fluently than he could have. But Harli was ignoring his texts again and he had no way to contact her, save sending Keven to her house to tell her to check the Forums. That wasn't the kind of work Keven liked to do, and Levi doubted the request would go over well.
Levi sat up. Keven wouldn't go tell her, but if he posted it on the Forums, he had a whole town who would. Harli wouldn't be able to escape it.
Grinning, he picked up his phone and balanced it against the TV, and then grabbed his guitar. It took a few tries to get the damn video to cooperate, and he was ready to try shattering it again when it finally worked. But it did work, and he played the whole song, eyes closed and pretending Harli was standing in front of him.
Then he posted it on the Forums.
"Try to avoid that one, Sunshine."
Chapter Ten
LEVI WAS A LEGEND AT THEIR high school before he'd turned into a rock star practically overnight. So of course, everyone was talking about his new song, one she hadn't heard yet. Most of the kids at her school knew they had been together. Unfortunately, most of them that knew they'd been "together" also knew they'd "broken up", and for some reason, they felt the need to inform her of his every move. It was super fun, if by super, one meant not at all. Harli had stayed away from the Internet and the Forums specifically so she couldn't see him, because seeing Levi made her heart hurt. A small, stupid part of her had been waiting for him to come back — she knew his schedule better than she knew her own, and knew he'd had some breaks. But he hadn't come.
He was doing exactly what she'd asked.
And she hated it.
"Harli, did you hear Levi's new song? Do you think he's singing about you?" A girl who was particularly fond of Levi asked, her eyes dancing at the hint of gossip.
"I doubt it." Harli brushed past her, hoping to make it to her locker before anyone else caught her.
"How is he writing songs while they're on tour? Levi said touring was super busy." Another girl. Harli didn't even know their names, but they all knew the details of her personal life. Awesome.
"I don't know." She ducked her head and practically sprinted past, diving for her locker like it would save her. She opened it, wincing at the empty spaces on the door that used to have Levi's photos. Now it was just blaringly blank.
"Sounds like your little rock star is having a hard time without you."
Harli leaned her head against the shelf and muttered an almost-curse. Then she took a deep breath and faced the voice. "Brandon, I'm starting to think you have a Levi obsession bigger than most of the girls in this country. You practically stalk him." She tipped her head to the side, as if she was considering him. "Are you in love with him?"
Brandon's face turned red and his eyes widened as his mouth opened and shut uselessly. "You little bitch!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the locker next to her head.
Inside, Harli curled into a ball and sobbed, but she'd been hit enough in her life to know that if she showed fear, they'd feed off her. So on the surface, she glared at him. "Go. Away."
"Hey Harli. How's it going?" Jace stopped next to her, his voice friendly and his eyes shooting daggers as he leaned casually against the lockers and stared Brandon down.
"Fine," Harli said through gritted teeth, hiding her hands behind her back so Brandon couldn't see them shaking. "Brandon has anger-management issues, and he was trying to take his frustrations out on me."
Brandon's face paled as if he was only just then realizing what he'd done. "Harli, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"
"I think you better move on." Jace pushed away from the lockers and moved closer to Brandon. He was at least four inches taller, and although Brandon probably outweighed him by sixty pounds, Jace was pure muscle. Like all bullies, Brandon backed off as soon as someone bigger stood up to him. He sent Harli one last, desperate look and spun away, practically running in the opposite direction. Jace watched him go, his dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "You need to watch out for him, Harls."
Harli nodded, gritting her teeth for all she was worth, like that could control the tremors. "I don't like violence," she muttered. Jace slid his arm over her shoulder and pulled her against his chest. She could feel the anger in him, reverberating through his veins.
"Hey." She tugged on his chin, so he had to look at her instead of the thing he wanted to bash to little bits. "I've seen Levi fight my battles too many times. I don't want to watch you go through the same thing."
"But he—"
She cut him off. "Levi barely graduated, he was suspended so often. It would ruin your perfect GPA, Mr. Genius." She grinned and danced away from him when he rolled his eyes.
"Hey." Kim fought her way through the crowd to stop beside them. "You okay? You're pretty pale." She pushed her bright red hair over her shoulder and stu
died Harli like she was a specimen in the biology lab.
"Yeah." Harli nodded too enthusiastically. "It's been a rough month. And you—" She pointed at Jace. "—what are you doing here again? What about your class?"
"Professor didn't show up. Thought I'd check on my favorite little high schoolers." He patted them both on the head. Harli waved his hand away, scowling.
"Oh!" Kim bounced, her emerald green eyes sparkling. "You know what we haven't done for ages?"
"Made it to class on time?" Harli asked as the bell rang. She grabbed her books out of her locker and hurried down the hall. Jace and Kim flanked her as her black boots clicked against the laminate flooring.
"No. Well, yeah, that too, but we haven't had a bonfire since last summer."
Jace stopped outside the math hall. "That's because it's April, Kim."
"But there's no snow. We'll have a big fire. We live in the desert, Jace!" She clasped her hands in front of her and begged, the smallest of smiles dancing on her lips.
Jace sighed and rolled his head toward Harli. "I think it sounds fun. It's only, like, fifty degrees outside at night."
Kim squealed, clapping her hands. "I'll spread the word. You guys will bring your guitars, right?"
"I don't sing in public, Kim." Jace crossed his arms over his chest.
"And I don't sing at all. That's why we have you." Harli held her throat like she was strangling on her own words.
"I'll sing. Jace, you do too sing in public. You did last time we had a bonfire."
"We are so late for class." Harli started backing away.
"I only sang because I was hammered and thought it was a good idea. I was wrong."
Kim pushed him down the hall, waving at Harli. "See you at lunch!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the nearly empty corridor.
Harli laughed and jogged away, trying not to drop her books.
She made it through the rest of the day with only eighteen people asking her about Levi's new song. It was a relief to finally escape to Jace's shop at the end of the day, alone with the comfort of her instruments. She sat down with her purple guitar, fighting tears because she was exhausted and Levi had bought it for her and she just wanted him to come home and tell her everything would be okay.
