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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.