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Chapter 3

 

\\\ Nick ///

I woke up on Saturday morning with the sun streaming in through the thin, horrifically flowery curtains that covered my bedroom window. I hated everything about them but they gave me a little privacy, at least until we could afford something better. I lay in bed staring at the peeling paint on the ceiling and thinking back over my first week at school. The first couple of days had been overwhelming with all the new surroundings and teachers, not to mention meeting Noah and his friends. I never realised how much the school would affect me but everywhere I turned there was something that would trigger some memories I'd rather not dredge up.

Thankfully later in the week I'd been able to escape from all the madness when I met Mr Evans. Having a panic attack was not the best way to meet your music teacher but when he took me into the music department I instantly felt at home. The school had a whole performing arts department in a separate building and as well as having some classrooms, there were also a couple of practice rooms, recording studio, dance studio and a wardrobe department where students could learn to make costumes for any upcoming performances. To cap it all off there was nothing in the whole building to freak me out; no reminders of the past, just the music.

Mr Evans was a really cool teacher too, he was in his early twenties and had a few random tattoos on his arms, and possibly in other places as well, but I didn't like to ask. His dad had been in several bands over the years and still played a few gigs every now and then; more recently though he'd settled down to run a music store in town which I was dying to check out. I hopped out of bed and made my way down to the kitchen, following the smell of the last of the bacon being cooked for breakfast.

"Mornin' Mum." I yawned, rubbing my eyes before hopping up to sit on the counter.

"Good morning Sunshine. What've you got planned for the day?"

"Just going to head into town for a look round, you want anything while I'm out?"

"A job if you can find one." She joked.

"I'll try." I replied with a smile as she handed me my breakfast, giving me a peck on the cheek. When she moved away I was able to look her over and saw that she was definitely looking better. She was able to move around more freely now as her ankle seemed to be nearly mended and her face was back to normal. As long as she could get a job with no heavy lifting or twisting then her ribs should be ok in another week or so.

After I finished eating I jumped into the shower – which was barely warm due to the useless boiler we had – then put on my least shitty clothes so I wouldn't feel so bad out in public. Looking myself over in the little bathroom mirror I tried getting my hair under control again, even though I knew I was fighting a losing battle. Finally I gave in and decided I didn't look too bad; I could pass off the holes in my jeans as being a fashion trend and the band on my t shirt were in the midst of a farewell tour so they were still relevant, I just had to hope no one commented on my well-worn shoes but there wasn't much I could do about those.

I had a couple of options available for getting into town; I could either take the bus that went past the end of the road fairly regularly or face a thirty five minute walk. I considered taking the bus to save time but I'd rather use what little money I had saved for some new guitar strings. Even though it was late September it was a nice enough day so I decided to go by foot. Walking through our estate I looked over the other houses and saw some in a much worse state than my own. We'd only been in the area a couple of weeks and I hadn't ventured out much before school started because I'd been too busy getting the house in order and helping Mum out while she'd been resting her battered body. Finally free of the Pike View estate I started to notice better looked after houses and hardly any with their windows boarded up; by the time I'd made it to the main road into town it was like a whole new world.

The last mile on my journey to town took me past Hartswood Park, which I remembered briefly from the last time I'd lived in Emberville. I stopped to peer over the fence and saw that it had changed a little from what I remembered, but not too much. The kid's play area was still there as well as the old bandstand and tennis courts, but now there seemed to be an outdoor gym area near to the stone staircase which led down to another entrance to the park.

Carrying on into the town square I heard the familiar bells from the clock on the huge town hall at the far end as it chimed on the hour. In front of the town hall was a large fountain and either side of the steps leading up to the main building were a couple of statues of some famous people that I'd never heard of. All around the edge of the square were various shops from big high street names to a few smaller, independent stores, and of course there was the first ever Anderson's Comic Shop, still going strong. I tried to ignore that place as much as possible, knowing who owned it and how much pain they'd caused me.

I turned off into one of the side streets where I finally found what I'd been looking for. Evans music store looked fairly small and insignificant from the outside but when I walked through the front door I could see that there was much more to it than there first appeared. The shop went back much further than I would've guessed, and as I found out later there were a few rooms hidden off to the sides which were used for music lessons. Around the store there were various instruments set up, ready to play including a couple of drum kits, an upright piano, a few keyboards and various types of acoustic and electric guitars, it was like an Aladdin's cave, full of musical treasure just waiting to be explored.

"Ah, a new face I see. What can I tempt you with today young man?" I looked around for the source of the cheery voice to see a man standing behind the counter to the side of the store. He looked to be in his early fifties with long, grey hair, tied back in a ponytail, and a little Van Dyke beard surrounding his smile.

"Um...hi, I need some new guitar strings." I mumbled nervously. Before the man could lift the counter to point me in the right direction another figure appeared from the back of the store.

"Nick!! Glad you could make it." Mr Evans said, before turning to face the older man. "Dad this is the kid I told you about." I suddenly felt very uneasy about where this was going and started looking towards the door for a quick escape. I'd told Mr Evans things I hadn't shared with anyone else over the last few days and now I was terrified that I'd trusted the wrong man.

"Ah, so this is the little musical prodigy, well I'm very pleased to meet you Nick, I'm Adrian and welcome to my little store." Wait, he told his dad I was a what? I shook the older man's hand tentatively and his warm smile made me relax a little.

"Thanks, Mr Evans told me all about you." I replied, more than a little confused about how to address them if they were both called Mr Evans, thankfully I didn't need to worry.

"You can call me Darren or Daz when we're out of school to make things easier." He said. "So, do you want to show my dad what you can do?"

"Errr...I can play the guitar a little." I blushed; still confused about why he seemed to think that was a big deal. Adrian led us over to the guitars and let me pick one out. I was terrified of damaging any of them as I'd never be able to replace them so I picked up a cheap looking acoustic one as the shiny, electric ones looked way too expensive for someone like me.

"What should I play?" I asked.

Darren just smiled and started a song off over the instore sound system. I'd never heard it before and there was a twinkle in his eye that told me it might be fairly unknown. The tune itself seemed quite complex, but after the first chorus he abruptly stopped the track then just simply said.

"Play that."

I gave him a quizzical look for a second then strummed the guitar a few times to get a feel for it. I started to play the long intro to the song and I found myself just closing my eyes, getting lost in the rhythm of the song, then as it progressed I even started to sing along to the lyrics I'd remembered from the recording. After I finished the chorus, instead of just stopping abruptly I just played what I felt should finish the song and gave it a little flourish at the end before finally opening my eyes. Adrian stood there looking astonished as Darren had a huge smile on his face, meanwhile I just put the guitar back where I found it and wondered if I did something wrong.

"What'd I tell you?" He asked.

"Wow, and you never played that song before?" He asked and I shook my head solemnly. "Never even heard it?" Again I shook my head. I didn't see what the big deal was. I knew roughly how to play the guitar so it was just a case of playing the right notes and chords the same way I'd heard them on the track.

"He can probably play it on the piano too, even though he'd never played one until two days ago." Darren beamed.

"You've got some serious talent my boy." Adrian gushed. I felt my face go red as I had never been good at anything before, let alone been called talented.

We were interrupted by the front door opening as a girl I recognised from school entered. She had long, light brown hair but the last couple of inches were actually turquoise. Her slim frame was squeezed into a tight pair of faded jeans with a few random tears in the legs, although they looked more like a fashion statement than the way mine were just worn out, add that to her Iron Maiden T shirt, studded bracelets and sweat bands on her arms which made her look like a proper rock chick.

"Ah Sammie, how's my favourite skin smasher doing?" Adrian asked with a warm smile.

"Pretty good Adrian, but I need some new drumsticks again and maybe a new head for the snare." She replied then noticed me and Darren off to the side. "Hey Daz, who's your friend?"

"This is Nick; he just started in the same year as you this week."

"Oh cool, I thought I'd seen you somewhere before, how's it going Nick? Are you here for lessons?" She asked.

"Ha!! He could teach us a thing or two." Darren replied before I could say anything. "Why don't you stick around and jam with us for a while?"

For the next few hours Darren and Adrian introduced me to various different songs. As I started to relax around them more I became confident enough to try out some of the other guitars to hear the differences in their unique sounds. Sammie also showed me why Adrian called her a "skin smasher" as she sat at one of the drum kits and went into a blistering solo. She then invited me to give them a try and after a few false starts I was able to bash out a pretty good rhythm. Daz (as Sammie liked to call him) praised me on my timing and technique but I just thought he was being nice.

The longer I spent there the more I opened up to them all about my likes and dislikes in films, music and TV shows, and I loved hearing them talk about the use of music in some of those films. During our time together Adrian was occasionally getting up to serve customers and Daz sometimes left us to talk or play together, but I got the feeling he was watching how I interacted with Sammie. Not that I minded; we got on really well and I loved having someone around who finally understood the way I felt about music as I'd never had that growing up.

"Sorry to do this kids but I've got to close up early today so I can get to a gig later, but you're welcome to come back any time." Adrian said, making me realise it was now early afternoon.

"Sounds great, I need to run anyway, see you around Nick." Sammie said before giving me a hug I wasn't expecting. She paid for her gear and then left as Adrian busied himself cashing up. Daz let her out and whispered something in her ear before locking the door behind her.

"So what did you think of her?" He asked.

"She's really cool; I can't wait to jam with her again." I gushed with a huge smile. I genuinely couldn't remember when I'd had so much fun, and Sammie was one of the nicest, coolest people I'd ever met.

"I'm glad you liked her but there's something I didn't tell you before. Her last name is Conway, she's Lucas Draper's twin sister." I stood there with my mouth wide open. He knew about my hatred for Lucas, Ben and both of their families as I had been open with him at school all week, but I never thought he'd trick me like that. I had no idea how I should feel right there; I should hate her as much as I'd hated Lucas but she'd been so nice and we'd had an absolute blast together in the shop. I felt slightly betrayed by Daz though for not telling me as soon as we met, but how would I have treated her if I knew? "Look I'll be honest, I invited Sammie here today and I took a chance that you wouldn't know her. I know you're hurting because of what's happened in the past but you need to make your own mind up about people."

"That's...what my mum said." I replied. "I don't know if I can though."

"You did ok before you knew who she was. You decided you liked her and wanted to see her again so maybe you should try to start with a clean slate with the other guys. It won't be easy I know, but you can come to me any time you want at school or just hang out in here any other time, although you may end up having to work a little if you want to stay out from under Dad's feet." He gave me a coy smile but I actually liked the sound of that, and if I could earn a little extra money then that would really help Mum out. "Anyway, you need to skedaddle cos we've got a gig to set up." I said my goodbyes and Adrian handed me the guitar strings I needed at no charge, even though I protested. That now meant I had the money for a bus ride home but I decided to savour the nice weather instead and walk back the way I came.

As I neared the park again I looked over the railing and saw the Fleek Flow crew on the grass near the outdoor gym area doing some crazy flips and tricks. Watching some of the moves they were doing made me decide to take my mum's advice and try to make friends with the guys; they'd seemed nice enough at school so I couldn't really think reason not to. I steeled myself by taking a deep breath then opened the gate and started walking towards them.

"NICK!!!" Danny was the first one to spot me walking across the grass and came bounding over to greet me with a high five. All the guys were wearing shorts and t shirts, some with the Fleek Flow logo and some without; Jamie as usual was wearing a different baseball cap to any I'd seen before.

"Hi guys, what're you up to?" I asked nervously.

"Just practising a few tricks and mucking about, wanna watch?" Ben replied with a warm smile. Before I could agree Tom walked up to me and offered his hand.

"Hey Nick, look I know I've been a bit of a dick to you this week but I was just messing around, once you get used to me you'll see I'm ok, all you have to do is..." He looked over at Jamie and Ben with a smirk and added, "Take a chance on me."

"That's it!! I'm gonna kill him!!" Ben shouted as Tom took off with Ben and Jamie hot on his heels. I found myself laughing harder than I had in a long time as the two boys chased Tom around the park, finally knocking him to the ground before pouncing on him and punching him in the arm repeatedly until he apologised through the laughter. They finally let him up and re-joined the group so they could carry on with more training. Danny was by far the most fearless and skilled of all the boys so he went back to showing Jamie how to do a handspring double corkscrew without messing up the landing.

I sat back on the grass and was soon joined by Ben, Noah and Tom as we watched Danny and Jamie train. Noah and Tom took the opportunity to take off their shirts to soak up the sun and I couldn't help but admire their tightly muscled bodies. I suddenly realised where I was and turned away, chastising myself before anyone could notice but I think Ben could tell I was feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"So how're you settling back in to small town life then?" Ben asked.

"It's ok I suppose, pretty much how I remember it. I spent most of today at the music shop with Mr Evans, and he invited a girl over to play some songs with us. She was really nice."

"Oh yeah? Who's the girl?"

"She's called Sammie, she's Lucas' twin sister apparently." I answered.

"Wait, you're telling me you spent all day with Sammie Conway?" Tom suddenly bolted upright, crunching his abs together in the process.

"Yeah, pretty much. We had a lot in common and just lost track of time talking and jamming together." I replied, paying close attention to the grass next to me rather than ogling Tom's torso. Tom burst out laughing at that point, making me feel slightly irritated. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"You've spent the entire day with her and this dickhead hasn't even managed to say more than `hi' to her." Tom sniggered, pointing to Ben. "Looks like you've missed your shot mate, Nick's only been here a week and he's already stolen your wannabe girlfriend." I could see Ben was starting to look a little annoyed and hurt.

"I haven't stolen her; she's not even my type." I said, trying to make him see that I wasn't a threat.

"Why, cos you feel like you should hate her too? You've been giving me and Lucas shit all week but you don't have an issue with her?" Ben snapped. "What the fuck have we done wrong? I mean, you've never even met Lucas so how he ruined your life I don't know, and even I'm struggling to know what I've done so what's the deal?"

Ben was up on his feet ranting at me because of all the frustration that had built up over the week and Noah stood next to him, ready to hold him back in case he went too far. Danny and Jamie came over to see what all the fuss was about as the tears started forming in my eyes. Noah knelt down in front of me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Nick, come on, what's going on? We want to help you and be your friends but we can't if there's a barrier between us. We promise we won't get mad, just let us know what's going on." I closed my eyes tightly then reached into my pocket, knowing it was time someone knew what had been going on. I pulled out my battered old smartphone, which had lasted longer than I'd ever dared hope, and then unlocked it. After pressing the screen a couple of times I handed it to Noah as the screen showed a picture of me from when I was much younger, and the folder name at the top of the screen just said `dad.'

"Scroll through those pictures." I said as I just sat there hugging my knees. The boys all crowded round the phone as Noah swiped the screen. As he did so all the boys had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces as they kept looking between me and the phone.

"Oh my god." Ben exclaimed after Noah swiped again.