When I woke, the morning sun was beginning to slip through my closed blinds. I sat up and sighed, I was afraid of speaking face to face with my father. I was awfully good at lying to myself, but lying to him was another matter. If it hadn’t been for Kristen and Jack’s insistence, I would never have changed my classes in the first place and keeping that a secret had been mission impossible from the start.

There was no turning back now though, and sooner or later I would need to face him. I climbed out of bed, showered and dressed in my Messoda shirt, with a jacket over top and then walked down stairs to greet my father. He had a bowl of oatmeal sitting at the table waiting. “I heard you rattling around in there.” He smiled. “Oatmeal.”

“Thanks.” I replied. My tummy turned, I had never really liked oatmeal. It was bland, lumpy and even the swirl of honey wasn’t enough to salvage it, but we never had the money for different cereals so I learned to tolerate it. Only this morning I wasn’t sure I could. “I’m not hungry right now though. I’ll take an apple.”

Dad sighed and I could feel his eyes on me before I even met his glance. He folded his newspaper in half and lay it down on the old mahogany table. He lifted his coffee to his mouth and took a long sip before placing it down. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. How can you expect to keep up those good grades without a healthy serving of something delicious and good for you.”

I looked down at the slop, I struggle to believe that he really thought it was either of those things. I ate it anyway. I needed him off my back.

I finished the last mouthful and placed the spoon in the bowl. “I really need to go. The bus will be arriving any minute.”

Dad shook his head. “I’ll take you in. I wanted to chat to the dean about your classes. I figured if you’re already doing extra credit in Math, I should see if they’d consider bringing in some college level papers for you.”

My stomach dropped and I gulped audibly. The last thing I needed was my father asking the dean about my non existent math class. I shook my head and scooped the handles of my backpack up. “Please Dad. I’ve already got so much on my plate.” I replied. I never really complained about my workload, not unless I was struggling, but this was vital to keeping my secret hidden. “I’d really just like to keep it as is.”

“You sure?” He said, his voice was filled with disappointment which stung me for a moment. But I brushed it off and reminded myself why I was doing this.

“Yeah, Thank you though. See you after school.”

I walked to the front door and down the driveway. I waited at the bus stop with the other kids and sought Greta out. Her smile beamed up at me and she patted the seat down. “You look happier this morning. Yesterday you seemed distracted.”

I nodded. I couldn’t tell her that Lex had offered me a position in his band on the first day. I couldn’t tell her that was why I was distracted. “I was a little. I’m feeling good today though.”

“I can tell. It doesn’t have anything to do with Mr Scott does it.” She whispered as she leaned in. “I saw you running toward him after school yesterday.”

Dammit. She had seen me. Hiding the band thing from her wasn’t going to work. I grabbed her arm and shook my head. “We’ll talk about it at lunch.” I whispered under my breath. Talking about it in a crowded bus where ears were flapping was dangerous. It wasn’t like it was some big scandal, but I couldn’t risk any of this coming out in any capacity.

“Whoa.” She choked on her own words. “I thought it was just about homework.”

She looked at me with her almond shaped brown eyes in shocked wonder. It was like she suddenly saw me as a scarlet woman. Me, of all people. I shook my head and hissed.

“It’s nothing like that Greta.”

We didn’t speak the rest of the way, I had clearly shocked her. The moment we hopped off the bus though she took me by the arm and dragged me out of the earshot of any of the students. “There is no way in hell I’m waiting til lunch.” She exclaimed. “Talk.”

Her eyes were angry now, but I couldn’t place why. It caught me off guard and I didn’t know how to begin to explain any of it. She grabbed my hand and shook it tightly in hers, waking me from my confused daze.

“Look, I like you and everything, but Mr Scott is the coolest teacher here. If you’re like poison Ivy reincarnate then I’m going to have to stop you.”

I smiled and then chuckled. She was worried I was trying to seduce the guy. So maybe I had a crush… but that probably wasn’t unusual. They guy was young, attractive and completely off limits; he probably had the wavering libido’s of many girls in the school attention.

I shook my head and aligned myself to the conversation. “He asked me to join his band.” I managed to say without stumbling. I looked away from Greta and surveyed the area, we were still alone. I looked back at her, she wasn’t angry anymore. She let go of my arm and took a step back.

“Band?”

“You know. Music.” I offered. “Yesterday when you saw me I decided to go watch a rehearsal.”

“You said yes right? That’s why you’re more relaxed.” She was smiling now, and her voice was almost excitable.

“Yes.”

She grabbed my hands and in the middle of the almost abandoned grassy knoll where we stood she jumped up and down like a fangirl at a concert. “Oh my god. So you’ve gone from rebelling against your father and taking music to being in a real life band? This is like a real life rethought footloose.”

“Except I’m not a dancer.” I shuddered.

“Ugh, don’t be difficult, you knew what I meant.” Greta grinned. “Can I please come to a rehearsal. I’ll be super quiet I promise.”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Lex.”

“Lex?” She was confused again, and it took me a minute to work out why. I bite my lip and readjusted the shoulder strap of my bag.

“Mr Scott.”

“You call him by his first name.”

“Could be kind of strange calling him Mr Scott in rehearsal.” I noted. Although so far I’d been almost purposely careful not to call him anything. Right now, with Greta was the first time I’d said his name out loud.

“I guess. Wow. This is so cool.”

“Just do me a favor, keep it between us. Last thing I need is word to get out that I’m in the teachers band.”

“Obviously.” Greta replied flicking her multi hued hair back. “Hey You know, I’m going to a party this weekend. You should come.”

“Party? Yeah I can see my dad allowing that.” I said with an overwhelming amount of sarcasm.

“Tell him you’re sleeping at my place.”

“But we’re only just new friends. You might not like me once you get to know me better.” I croaked.

“Are you kidding? Until a couple of days ago I had exactly zero friends here, and that is completely by choice. You’d know if I didn’t like you.” She threw her arm over my shoulder and began to walk back towards the hoards of students. “I like you. Come to the party. It’ll be amazing.”

I found myself nodding, although I wasn’t sure that I would stick to the confirmation. Despite the overwhelming need to make music I wasn’t exactly an outspoken girl. Parties frightened the living shit out of me. The closest I had ever gotten to a party was Kristens 15th. We had snuck wine coolers down into her basement and the three of us drank them. We had started acting crazy, singing on her karaoke machine like drunk tone deaf rats, but in the end it turned out they were non alcoholic and her parents had bought them for us anyway.

“I’m kind of a party noob.” I explained as we walked into the corridor.

“No kidding? Look you can wear something of mine, It’ll be fun. I promise.”

“Whats wrong with my clothes?” I grumbled. Sure I wasn’t fashion forward, my jeans were old and slightly torn, my t-shirts weren’t cutting edge and my hoodie jacket was bought from the boys department 3 years ago. But it wasn’t like I was wearing a clown suit or anything.

“Nothing, Dressing up is just half the fun. I figured if you’ve never been to a party, your wardrobe is probably lacking in party clothes.”

“You’d be right. Okay Greta, One day, I’ll be your real life Barbie doll.” I laughed.

I struggled through the day. For some reason the information being fed to me didn’t sink in as easily as it usually did. More than once I found myself staring out the large windows. The rooms looked like a classroom, decorated with posters pertaining to the subject, furnished with perspex desks and chairs; but they felt like a prison cell.

By the time music rolled around my head hurt from the overload. I slunk into my chair and looked at the robot. The class was still empty, even Lex was nowhere to be seen. I pulled a black marker from my bag and drew another robot. Just as I finished he walked into the class.

“Afternoon Addie.” He murmured.

“Afternoon Mr Scott.” I replied, calling him Mr Scott again was strange, but I couldn’t call him Lex here. The class began filing in and Greta sat beside me. “See that boy up there. The one with the black and grey beanie?” She pointed behind us, I looked up the tiered seating and let my eyes focus on the boy in the black and grey beanie. I could see underneath the beanie he had longish brown curly hair. He was hipster, I could tell by the way he was dressed. His collared shirt, suspenders and trousers were a dead giveaway. His brown eyes caught mine, and he smiled at me. He was beautiful in an aesthetic way.

“Yeah?” I murmured as I looked back at Greta.

“He’s in English with me.” She replied. “He asked me about you. I think he likes you.”

“He doesn’t know me.” I retorted.

“You don’t know much about boys do you?” She asked.

“I’ve never dated.” I replied. “I’ve never had time.”

She sighed and took my hand. “That’s really sad. Have you ever wanted too?”

I shook my head and pulled out my music theory book. “I’ve never liked someone enough to want to.” I replied. Until now. I looked at Lex, who was standing beside the stage watching the class fill up, and bit the inside of my cheek. The first time I had seen him, before I knew he was my teacher I had pangs of interest. The fear I had felt that I was somehow broken had faded away. Except as quickly as the feeling had come, I had to push it away.

“That’s the point of dating, you weed out the bad guys.”

“Do you think I should date him?” I replied.

“Why not? I could set it up. We could all eat together at lunch tomorrow.” She grinned and opened her book.

“Okay.” I nodded, but my heart wasn’t in it.

“Alright. If we’ve all finished gasbagging let’s get on with the day.” Lex stood right in front of us now. I wasn’t sure how much he had heard about me dating the hipster, but I was mortified that he might had heard any of it.

Despite the odd start the class relaxed me and by the end of it I had forgotten about how overwhelmed I’d felt all day long. I was almost disappointed when the bell rung to signify the end of the day.

“Addie, can I talk to you?” Lex called out as I began to walk out the door with Greta. I stopped and walked back to his desk. I didn’t realize that Greta was still with me until I stopped walking and our shoulders met.

“It’s okay. She told me about the band.”

Lex raised his eyebrows in my direction, I knew he’d be confused especially when not telling her had been my idea. “She saw me running toward you yesterday and thought I was attempting to seduce you.” I mumbled. “I mean not that I’m capable of seducing anyone… you get what I mean. I had to set her straight.”

Lex let out an amused chuckle then sat back on his chair.

“Alright. Well Greta, no seducing, just music. Um You’re still all good for rehearsal tomorrow Addie?”

“Yeah, Dad isn’t working but I’ll think of something.”

“I’ll bring her.” Greta offered. “I can borrow my moms car.”

He scribbled something down on a piece of paper and held it out to me. “Alright, My number in case you can’t make it.” Lex walked around his desk. “See you girls tomorrow.”

Greta grabbed my hand as she walked away. My eyes were still focused on Lex. He shot me a small smile and then looked down at the papers on the stage beside him. Once we were outside Greta let out an excitable squeal more befitting of a young kid than a high school senior. “I’m so glad you came along. This place was a bore without you.”

“uh, my pleasure.” I replied.

“Come on let’s go. I’ll tell you all about Ethan.”

“Ethan?”

“Beanie boy!” she exclaimed.

The entire bus ride home Greta gave me the insight of a boy who supposedly liked me. He was apparently popular, or at least the kind of popular being a musician in a high school could give. He’d dated Carrie, a senior the year before for 8 months until she graduated and moved out of state for college. He was a SNAG, which according to Greta stood for Sensitive new age guy. He sounded like a catch, but the entire time she talked about him, inside my mind, I was lost in someone else’s green eyes.

We swapped numbers before we reached her stop, and once she was gone I sunk back into the seat. Dad’s car was parked up on the smooth driveway. The bus stopped and I walked out and on to the sidewalk with the other kids at my stop.

I mentally prepared myself for the onslaught of school related questions. The last thing I wanted to discuss was biology or chemistry, but the likelihood of dad relenting on a lifelong ritual was slim to none. I pushed the front door open and attempted to sneak upstairs unnoticed, but failed. Dad was in the kitchen making coffee.

“How was school?” He asked. I stiffened, even though he had asked the same question for years now I was hiding something I would always wonder if he knew.

“Oh you know, learning and stuff.” I replied noncommittally.

“Learning and stuff?” he replied. “That hardly sounds enthusiastic.”

“It was a long day. Starting at a new school halfway through my final year is tough Dad.”

“But you’re up for the challenge aren’t you pet.” He replied handing me a cup of my favorite lemon and ginger green tea. I wanted to reply with a firm no. Because when it was all said and done, I didn’t think I was up for the challenge.

“Of course Dad. I’ve got homework. I might take this upstairs and get to it.” I replied holding the cup in one hand and my bag in the other.

He nodded and without another word I escaped the academia related discussion for the safety of my room. I pulled my phone out and added Lex and Greta’s numbers to my address book. I looked at my homework for the other classes, but the brain fog stopped me from doing any of it. I found myself sneaking my earbuds in and listening to Lex’s music again.

I picked my phone up and began to send a message.

I know this was in case I couldn’t make it tomorrow. But I had to let you know, your music moves me. – Addie

Thank you. I think yours has that ability too. – Lex

But I’ve only written one song. – Addie.

That’s all it takes. – Lex

If I write more, will you help me put music to them? – Addie.

Yes. Anytime – Lex.