Rocker Boy

by Wendy Knight

  "So—what? She's some sort of musical genius?" Cameo sat back, watching him with calculating eyes.

  Levi nodded. "Yeah. She can play anything."

  And Cameo pounced. Before any of them could stop him. "Then why did you cut her out of the band?"

  Because our manager is an asshole and Harli's a martyr.

  Graham, surprisingly, came to the rescue. "She's good, but Harli's still in high school. When these guys were on the show, she was about to be a junior. It's always been her life goal to graduate and go to college, and she wanted to focus on that." He shrugged while the rest of them stared at him in shock. "It's hard to do while you're touring the country. Levi and Colin had to have tutors for half our tour last year."

  Cameo studied them, head cocked to the side, for several long, agonizing seconds. And then he nodded, turning to Levi. "So she broke your heart, huh? Does it bother you to see her getting all this attention now?"

  Levi's heart stopped. It hurts like hell to see her, period.

  Colin laughed, somewhat maniacally. "No. She's sweet. No one can hate Harli. And she didn't break any hearts. She tricked another guy into falling in love with someone else and then made it seem like it was his idea." He shrugged. "That's just how she is."

  Levi felt like the claws of death had an iron grip on his lungs.

  "And once that guy was safely off with Harli's friend, she let him go. I think, although I can't say for sure, but I think she was in love with someone else. But she wouldn't hurt anyone," Colin continued.

  Me. She was in love with me. And I lost her.

  HARLI'S COMPUTER BEEPED CHEERFULLY, telling her she had an incoming email. She clicked it open with one hand while she tried with her other hand to apply mascara without poking out an eye.

  It was a link to a video on the Forums, and thankfully, not her video.

  "Shattered Assassin on Talk to Me with Cameo Prince"

  She sucked in a breath. It would hurt, she knew, but she couldn't not watch. It had hurt too much living in his apartment, so she'd moved out, back home because Selicia was gone, but it didn't help. She spent her nights watching his concerts on repeat, and she still missed Levi so much she felt like it was eating away at her heart. Like there was a dark shroud over her that she couldn't shake off, and watching him live without her darkened her shroud and lightened it all at once.

  She clicked play, and the video started with pleasantries and boringness. And then the band walked out, and she stumbled back like she'd been kicked. Levi looked so good. He smiled and waved in a tight black t-shirt and ragged jeans. His black hair was perfectly messy and his tattoos seemed to dance across the muscles of his well-defined arms. She plunked down onto the edge of her bathtub, her finger tracing him across the screen of her computer.

  Her video — the one of her playing with Justin's band, bloomed to life on the screen across the stage. She screeched, sounding distinctly like a barn owl. Gasping, she dove for the screen, turning the volume way up.

  Her. They were talking about her.

  Her eyes wouldn't let Levi go. His face was completely blank, except his eyes, which were watching her video like memorizing it could save him.

  And then he was talking, his smooth voice wrapping her up and pulling her closer. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks, smearing her mascara. She remembered that first class they had together. She remembered the cocky, gorgeous boy who had been thoroughly unimpressed with her — despite the fact that she'd spent most of her Christmas vacation teaching him to play guitar—and before that, when she'd saved his life and all

  The segment ended and she watched it again. "I miss you so much," she whispered.

  Her phone alarm went off, telling her she had five minutes to get to class. "Creak!" she screeched, snatching her phone off her desk and throwing her bag over her shoulder. She sprinted down the stairs and out the front door. Her feet skidded to a halt on the wide front steps, her entire body freezing in fear.

  Selicia was home. Two weeks early.

  And she was not happy.

  "You! Get in the house, now!" Selicia screamed, slamming her car into park in the middle of the curved driveway.

  Harli gripped her keys in her hand and leaped down the stairs, landing hard on driveway. Selicia planted her feet like she'd try to tackle Harli in some bizarre, horrifying game of football. Harli swallowed hard, gathering her courage. "Not again, Selicia." She sprinted forward, straight at her mother, and swerved at the last second. She was fast, and Selicia was in heels. Harli made it to her truck and jumped in, slamming the rusted door behind her. She didn't even buckle her seat belt, just hit the gas as soon as the car started, and drove over the immaculate lawns. In the rearview mirror, Selicia screamed, fists clenched at her sides, wobbling on her heels.

  She couldn't tell if she wanted to cry or scream or dance. She made it to the road and stopped to put her seatbelt on with shaking hands. Did she dare go to school? Was Selicia mad enough to pull her out of class? She didn't know what else to do, though. She drove slowly through town, her heart hammering in her chest.

  Her phone beeped happily, completely unsympathetic to her entire trembling body. She was already a mess. Trying to read a text message while driving was just stupid even in the best of circumstances. She steered her truck to the side of the road and glanced at her phone, biting her lip.

  Jace: Where are you?

  She closed her eyes tight, willing her hands to stop shaking before she wrote back.

  "On my way to school."

  His response came immediately. "You're never late. You catch Shattered Assassin's interview?"

  She'd forgotten about the interview. All she wanted to do was hide.

  Well, no. If she was honest with herself, all she really wanted to do was drive across the country and find Levi and beg him to fix them.

  But that wasn't possible. Hiding was the only option left. But where to hide? And plus…

  "I have a math test tomorrow!" she wailed to the empty truck, having a completely one-sided conversation with herself.

  "Even if she does come try to pull you out of class, you don't have to go with her."

  She nodded, agreeing with Angela.

  Jace: "Maybe you should take the day off."

  Harli: "Can't. I have a math test tomorrow."

  She started the truck again and drove to the next red light before checking her phone.

  Jace: "You're a goody two-shoes. You know that, right?"

  Harli: "No one says goody two-shoes anymore, Jace."

  Jace: "I think I just—oh yes, yes I did—I just said it."

  She smiled, a shaky, wobbly smile, but it was real. Tossing her phone into her bag, she took her shaking foot off the brake and drove the rest of the way to school without crying one single tear.

  Chapter Seventeen

  HARLI DROPPED HER TRAY NEXT TO Kim's and sank into a chair next to her. "That interview made me a celebrity. Even my teachers are asking me questions."

  Kim looked up, blue eyes panicked. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean for the gig's video to go viral. Or get picked up by Cameo. I tried to take it down, but someone else just posted it back up."

  Harli smiled, shaking her head and digging into her questionable lunchmeat. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have been such a show-off."

  Jace showed up, flipping the chair around plopping himself down on it. "Do you ever go to class?" Kim asked.

  "No hot girls in my class. Have to come back here to find them." He winked at Harli, who rolled her eyes.

  Kim sighed. "Anyway. You're a genuine musical prodigy, Harli. You could have scholarships to anywhere in the country, and you think one little gig was showing off?"

  "I don't want to succeed by cheating. I want to earn my scholarship." She studied the stuff on her fork, frowning. It didn't look safe to eat at all.

  "It's not cheating if you're really that talented, Harli! And you love music." Kim seemed to not realize she was inspecting her food, which r
equired a lot of thought.

  "Actually," Jace pulled a stack of papers out of his back pocket. Belatedly, Harli realized she'd been set up. Her two friends were conspiring against her. "I took the liberty of printing off a scholarship application to Juilliard. You have to audition for them, but this is the first step."

  She took the pages from Jace's hand, glaring suspiciously from him to Kim and back again. "You guys plan this little ambush?"

  Kim blushed bright red and dropped her eyes. Jace shrugged. "It's possible. Fill it out, Harls. Or I will."

  "Juilliard. Can you imagine…?" Her fingers stroked the heading across the top of the page reverently.

  "I'm surprised they aren't already inviting you to apply. You're incredible." Kim peeked through her curls.

  "It's super hard to get in. And my mother will do everything she can to make sure I don't." Juilliard had been Selicia's dream. Until she'd gotten pregnant and had to walk away from everything. She'd be furious if she found out Harli got in.

  She pushed the papers back toward Jace. "I can't."

  "Yes." Jace pushed them back at her. "You can."

  They both glared at her.

  Thankfully, the bell rang. "I don't think I've made it to one class on time for a month. You guys are bad influences." She leaping to her feet, sending a grateful prayer heavenward. Conversation averted.

  "You're a senior. You aren't supposed to make it to classes on time." Kim followed her, leaving Jace behind so he had to jog to catch up.

  "It's okay to miss class once in a while. They aren't going to throw you out," Jace said, waving as he turned left to leave the school, and she and Kim breezed through the door into English. Thankfully, the teacher wasn't there.

  Harli blew out a relieved breath. At least something was going right today. Her pencil slid out of her hand, rolled across the desk and tapped across the metal legs as it fell off the edge.

  "Holy creak."

  Just like that, she was caught. That pencil had released a song, the music winding up and over and around her, demanding to be played. She grabbed her pencil again, rolling it purposely across the desk, and watching it fall, tapping against her English book with her fingers.

  Kim watched her with big eyes, but Harli was one possessed.

  This was her soul, trying to find peace in music.

  IT WAS COLD AND the alley smelled like cigarette smoke. But it was quiet here, away from the sounds of rehearsals and Michael and Graham fighting, so Levi balanced himself on the edge of the dumpster and stared at the sky. When his phone buzzed, it nearly startled him right off the edge and into the garbage. Swearing, he dug it out of his pocket.

  Jace: "I don't know what to do about her."

  It was the first time Levi had heard from any of them in several weeks. His blood roared at even the thought of her; his legs went weak. He had to shut his heart off before he could answer.

  Levi: "What's wrong?"

  Jace: "She's obsessed with this song. She goes to the cemetery with her flute for hours, and she doesn't sleep, and she's pretty much living at the The Muse-ik Shop, playing it over and over on all these different instruments. It's damn creepy."

  Levi sucked in a breath. That didn't sound like someone happily getting on with her life. He stood up, running a hand through his hair. "You're supposed to take care of her, you idiot," he growled, but Jace couldn't hear him because Jace was in Utah with Harli, and Levi was just passing through Tennessee. Gathering all the will-power he'd ever possessed, he wrote Jace back. "I don't know what to tell you. She got rid of me."

  Jace didn't respond for several long minutes. Levi sat on the dumpster, kicking his feet and watching the rats squeak and scurry away.

  "So… you not playing with us tonight or…?" Colin asked, appearing in the doorway. "It's freaking cold out here. Does this place not realize it's almost May?"

  "I'm playing. Just needed a break."

  His phone buzzed again. "So you're just giving up on her? Just like that? I thought you, of all people, would fight for her."

  Levi clenched his teeth, his fingers flying angrily over the little buttons. "She walked away from me. No, she didn't walk. She freaking ran from me. She doesn't want me, and I'm tired of hurting her. And I'm tired of her hurting me."

  Jace's reply was just as angry, and Levi could almost hear his voice in his head. "You know damn well that isn't true."

  "Which part? Because I can assure you that I'm exhausted, Jace."

  "You know which part, dumbass. She wants you. She'll always want you."

  Levi didn't respond. He shoved his phone in his pocket and kicked harder. Colin finally sighed and came out, inching his way around the garbage. Levi was ready for him — he had his speech about how he didn't need to hear from one single more person how he should just let her go, or not let her go… everyone seemed to know what he should do, and it wasn't what he was doing.

  But Colin just heaved himself up next to him and didn't say a word. The alarm on his phone beeped, they could both hear Michael yelling inside, and still Colin said nothing. Just sat silently, typing on his phone.

  "The concert's gonna start in, like, thirty seconds," Levi finally pointed out.

  Colin shrugged.

  Levi sighed and let his chin drop to his chest in defeat. His phone rang. Frowning, he looked down, unsure anyone actually used a phone for calling people anymore. "Hello?"

  "If Harli had never come along… say I taught you to play and I got us gigs… is this where you'd want to be?" Jace asked without so much as a hello.

  Levi studied his boots, expertly scuffed so they weren't too trendy. "I grew up different than you guys did." His hands gripped the grimy side of the dumpster. "I didn't have food. I didn't have money. I didn't have good grades. If Harli hadn't taught me music, I'd probably be dead of a drug overdose by now. Or in jail. I didn't have any dreams before she came along."

  "So… what you're saying is if I'd introduced you to music, I'd be your sunshine?"

  Levi's eyebrows shot up, and he nearly tumbled backward into the dumpster. Again. Colin burst out laughing as Levi stuttered. "I don't—what?"

  Jace laughed. "Come on. I've been texting Colin. You're worrying him. You have a concert to rock, so get to it already. Colin says if you're really good and sing all your songs just right, he'll totally get you out of the after-party."

  Colin grinned.

  And then shoved Levi off the dumpster. He landed in a heap on the ground. "You tattled on me to Jace?"

  "Do we have a deal or not?" Jace yelled through the phone.

  "You made me an offer I can't refuse." Levi dusted himself off. To Colin, he said, "And you tore my jeans, asshole."

  Colin grinned and backed through the doorway, disappearing into the darkness on the other side. Levi rolled his eyes, following him in. He was pretty sure, if it wasn't for Jace and Colin, he wouldn't be surviving any of this. Without thinking, he said, "Hey, by the way… I'm sorry I stole Harli from you."

  Holy shit that was the stupidest thing I've said today.

  And he'd said a lot of stupid things today.

  But Jace didn't hesitate. "Yeah right. You're not sorry. And I'm not sorry, either. I wouldn't have my best friend if you hadn't."

  "ARRRGH!" HARLI GROWLED, PUSHING away from the drum set so hard she nearly fell off her stool. She shoved her messy braid over her shoulder and scanned the rest of the instruments, trying to figure out which one could give her the sound she needed.

  "Hey." Jace dropped a bag next to her, one that smelled deliciously like food.

  She blinked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

  "Well…" He sat down on the floor next to her and patted the carpet. Suspicious, she sank down next to him. "I haven't seen you all weekend and your boss at Muse-ik called to say you were freaking him out. Plus, I brought you food."

  "Oh. Food. Yeah." She suddenly realized she was starving, and she couldn't remember the last time she ate. She tore into the bag, picked through her hamburger
to get all the icky stuff off, and then devoured it like an animal, still studying the instruments. She didn't realize she was humming until Jace raised an eyebrow.

  "New song?"

  "Hm? Oh. Yeah."

  "Can I see it?"

  "No," she snapped, and then trying to sound like a less deranged person, she continued, "It's not ready yet. I can't get it right."

  "Harls, you've been in here for days and days. Did you know you missed school on Friday?"

  She sat up, jerking toward him. "I what? What day is it?"

  "It's Sunday, sweetheart."

  Harli flopped backward. "Holy creak." Her foot hit the violin, knocking it over and taking several other instruments with it. In the resulting chaos, she heard her note.

  "That's it!" Ignoring her food and Jace, she sprang to her feet and dug through the instruments, trying each one. It was, amazingly, the saxophone, that she'd tried thirty times already, that finally did it. She played it out, scribbled notes on her paper, and played it again.

  And then moved on to the next note.