Although Keely didn’t have any reason to be up early, she found herself sitting at the breakfast table with her father.

As he chatted about the blueprints he’d just received for a new job, she found her mind wandering far from his words while she pushed the bloated cereal around the milk, the soggy pebbles crumbling with the motion. Sighing she cupped her chin with her hand, leaning against the arm that was propped against the table.

There was no doubt in her mind that she didn’t look exactly great this morning, sometimes the mirror really should break. From the sleepless night of tossing and turning around her bed, her hair was knotted and twisted more than usual. Her eyes were sunken and had dark bags, even her skin looked on the sickly side of pale this morning.

What was it with it worth people and the L word?

Love was such an enormous word, and she didn’t like it thrown around. But at the same time, she couldn’t say that Joe had thrown it around like it was nothing. The painfully honest glint in his eyes flashed in her mind, and Keely felt an agonizing jab in her stomach at the thought.

That was her best friend; sure he could hide things from her and not approve of what she did. However, there was one thing they didn’t do lightly to one another.

And that was lie.

He hadn’t been lying.

Oh god, he hadn’t been lying.

Giving a groan that sounded in the back of her throat, Keely dropped her spoon into the bowl with a splash, burying her face in her hands.

“You’re not listening to a word I say, are you?”

Hearing her father, she didn’t even lift her head. Instead, she mumbled muffled words into her hands, “Not really.”

There was a long pause where she was tempted to look up, but didn’t dare in case he would be able to see right through her. In the time since she’d come home, Keely was beginning to realize her dad noticed a lot more than she gave him credit for. Yet he was one to keep his mouth shut about it.

“If it’s about performing at the school later,” he started, an awkward strain on his voice, “I can stay home from work and go with you if you need me to.”

Instantly she gave an incredulous look, but the words made her heart melt in her chest, giving her that warm gooey feeling she was associating with father daughter moments or Tony and Sadie. She’d never really felt it before.

Finally lifting her eyes, she knitted her fingers together and leaned her chin upon them as she stared across the table to her father. “Don’t worry, dad, it’s not some eighth grade musical. You don’t need to come.”

He stared at her shrewdly, narrowing her eyes and she felt a sinking sensation in her belly. “It’s not about the school, is it?”

Unable to lie straight out to him – in part because she’d feel guilty, but mostly because she suspected he’d know – she avoided his eyes, turning instead to the questionable spot on the wall over his shoulder. “It’s partly about school.”

“Keely,” he said slowly, his voice holding that parental tone that was enough to have her shrinking back into the chair.

“Fine,” she muttered, rubbing a hand wearily over her forehead. “Joseph and I had a fight, alright?”

He frowned slightly, “Another?”

Mirroring his expression, she stared back at him, asking, “How did you know about that?”

“You don’t exactly keep your voice down when you’re angry,” he returned rationally. Swallowing a spoonful of his cereal, he sent her a wise look, continuing on. “Well, that fight didn’t last long.”

Sadly Keely stared down at the table, feeling the water press at her eyes. “This is worse,” she replied, gulping down the ball of tension in her throat.

Of course it was worse. How could they ever solve anything now? It just was too fucked up.

Half of it felt so much like a stupid teenage soap opera, and she wasn’t even sure if she could follow the logic of it. Apparently her best friend loved her, he’d always loved her. But had decided instead of making his feelings clear, he’d started dating her girl best friend. Then, instead of wisely keeping his mouth shut, told the girl what was wrong then broke up with her. And after that, started dating her again, why Haley would ever agree to that was a mystery to her. So now she was back, and in love with some famous rock star, one of her best friends hated her and the other tried to kiss her.

Yeah, that made no sense at all.

That story line was far too complex and terribly stupid; she doubted she even had the attention span to go through it again.

“He didn’t…” her father began slowly, but then the realization dawned on his face. “Oh, he did.”

“You knew?” she asked incredulously.

Wincing, he stared down at his breakfast. “Well, yeah,” he replied reluctantly.

This time her face flushed a deep red as she dropped her head onto the table, banging it not too lightly on the table. “Oh my god,” she moaned pathetically.

“It was kind of obvious,” he admitted, “I knew for years.”

“Oh my god,” she repeated, refusing to look up in her embarrassment.

To be honest, she didn’t quite understand what was making her embarrassed. Was it that her father knew that someone loved her? Or was it the fact that he had managed to see, over apparently years, but she was too stupid to notice?

In her head, Sadie’s words from long before echoed through her mind, I love you, but you’re the blindest person I’ve ever met.

“You sure you’re okay? I don’t have to go to work.”

Finally dragging her head up from the table, Keely let herself collapse forward onto the table, her elbows propped in front of her. “No,” she told him, staring blankly at a crook that had been chipped into their kitchen table long ago. “I swear, I’m fine with this. Anyways you took off tomorrow for the concert.”

Sending her a concerned look, her dad asked hesitantly, “Are you sure?”

Pasting a false smile onto her mouth, she gave an enthusiastic nod. Although his eyes narrowed suspiciously, he let it go, obviously knowing her well enough that she was too stubborn to do the same.

After all, she knew him. And that meant that she knew that while he might go with her to the high school, his idea of a good day was far from hanging out at high school watching her teach a bunch of either prepubescent or just snobby children about music. Not to mention, she expected to gain quite a bit of abuse from this visit whether it be vocal or not, and that wasn’t something she really wanted her father to see.

Saying a goodbye to him, plus assuring him that she’d be alright again, she sent her dad off to work.

For the past week having grown closer to her father, she’d been awaking early to have a coffee with him, and almost immediately after, passing out until a more appropriate time. Apparently she was become quite immune to caffeine well, unless she pounded back the coffee, which she couldn’t deny that she had on multiple occasions.

However, when she went back to bed, smoothing the covers over her, she found that sleep was just as elusive as it had been during the night.

Feeling uncomfortable lying on her side, she flipped to her stomach then back again at the same sensation. In the end, she ended up on her back, staring up at the ceiling, attempting to force her mind to think of nothing, but managing to think of the mechanics of thinking of nothing and that led – in a roundabout way – to thoughts of both Seth and Joe, with the big L word. Then the blanket began to feel stifling, and a sheen of sweat covered her skin in a slick cover.

Giving up on sleep, she tried to do menial tasks around the house, wasting time to her performance at the school. But when she thought of another reason to distract herself, she found her mind circling back to her little show that day, remembering that Joe was supposed to come with her as a roadie and she’d invited Seth to go with her.

What was she going to do? Joe probably didn’t want to see her, which she didn’t blame him for at all, and in honesty she wasn’t sure she really wanted to see him. To know that’s how he felt, how he’d always felt like that, it made a well of guilt form in the pit of her stomach, stifling her to the point of mental suffocation. But then she couldn’t help but remember the terrified feeling that had possessed her when he’d crushed her to him, and it made her feel guilty that she could ever feel afraid of Joseph yet it also made her furious at him.

Then the thoughts would roll around to Seth, reminding her of the fact that he hadn’t looked exactly ecstatic to do what she’d been asking him. He probably wouldn’t even show up, after all, he was quite right; Seth Ryan at a private school didn’t really fit. There was no way he’d even show up.

And what was she going to do then? She’d have no one, Seth wasn’t going to bother, Joe wouldn’t want to see her and Haley wanted nothing to do with her. Well, there was always Sadie and Tony, but they were absolutely there for one another, and despite how much she appreciated and liked them, it wasn’t the same.

With the thoughts circling around her head constantly, she found herself scowling after her shower as she pulled on her clothes.

For a moment, Keely paused, holding the tank top out in front of her considering. In that school the Johnny Cash baggy white tank with him flipping the bird to everyone who dared glance in his direction wasn’t exactly what they figured appropriate. But she just dragged it over her head, feeling extra ornery with everything that had been going on. It may not have been all that rebellious with her slip on sneakers and frayed cut off shorts, yet it made her feel a little calmer.

Since she felt like she was walking into an execution, she just ran her fingers through her hair and didn’t even bother pondering makeup. Who got dressed up like the belle of the ball on their death sentence?

Dejectedly, she ran a hand over her face, gripping her guitar case and heading out the front door into the heat that pressed down on her skin familiarly.

Today was far from what she’d planned. She’d thought she would have her three good friends there supporting her, making it so much easier to suffer through the ordeal. A part of her had even thought she might confront Haley, just because it felt like time was quickly running out for them. Then there was the addition of Seth.

If she’d just gone with him yesterday, not cowered away, would it be better?

Before she could ponder the answer of her own self posed question, Keely raised her eyes to her car and found herself pulling up shortly.

At a loss, Keely opened her mouth, but no words occurred to drip from her mouth and she shut it sharply. Running her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her face, she let out a long sigh.

“What are you doing, Joseph?”

The boy in question winced at the simply weary tone of her voice, dipping his hands deeply into the pockets of his cargo shorts as he looked at the ground. “I-” he started, but when he glanced back up at her, his voice cut off abruptly.

Breathing in deeply through her nose, Keely took pity on him. He obviously was far from comfortable with the situation as well, with the tension running straight through his shoulders and the reluctance to meet her eyes. “Are you coming to the school or not?” she questioned, looking over his shoulder.

He was her best friend; she could just try to act like it never happened, right?

At her words, Joe’s shoulders slumped slightly in relief as he nodded. Probably relieved that she wasn’t going to slap him again, the thought made Keely snort but quickly it turned to guilt.

Seeing his mouth open, Keely didn’t hesitate. She knew what he was going to ask. “I’m driving,” she snapped, brushing past him to the driver’s door. It had just gotten to be that little sliver of annoyance, him insisting to drive when she was perfectly capable and knew exactly where she was going. Another one of those little irrational feelings that she seemed plagued with constantly.

At first, she didn’t turn up the radio, bracing herself stiffly as she gripped the wheel of the car tightly in case he wanted to talk about it. She could talk about it, she didn’t want to, but she’d manage it. Because she wasn’t going to run away from things anymore, she simply couldn’t do it. There was a time to stop, and it was now.

However, Joe didn’t make a move to speak, instead staring passively out the window of the car. In turn, she gazed pointedly out at the road, not making a noise except the occasional gulping when the tension in the car got too heavy for her to handle.

About halfway through the drive, the conclusion that he wasn’t about to breach the subject either occurred to her and she frowned slightly, risking a quick glance in Joe’s direction. But he was hiding his face from her.

And just like that, all her worst fears were confirmed. It was never going to be the same. A part of Keely knew she couldn’t have it all, she was so fiercely opposed to being the same girl she’d been before moving away, yet she wanted all her friendships to stay the same as they’d always been. It was a hopeless dilemma. She could only have one, but she was being selfish, wanting everything. As close as she’d come to it, having everything was impossible.

This friendship, if somewhat salvageable, was never going to recover completely and now she was just grasping at straws.

Trying to distract her thoughts, she hastily turned up the dial on the radio. And she did find solace in the music, while it played between the commercials. She even heard NSR’s Tired As You between The Pixie’s Where Is My Mind and Cloud Nothing’s No Future/No Past.

But finally it was she that grew tired of that strain between them.

Not sure if she wanted him to respond, she waited until she was about to pull into the school’s parking lot when she turned down the radio. She just wanted him to think about what she was saying.

“I hate this,” she told him simply when she pulled into the lot, finding a spot far away from the entrance of the school.

Quickly escaping the car, she grabbed her guitar from the back seat, not giving him a chance to respond. Straightening her back pointedly as she already felt gazes boring into her back of the students loitering around the lot during the lunch break, she found herself thankful for the dark sunglasses as she spun around, readying herself to stalk into the school.

But only then did she see another car. It wasn’t the car that stood out; after all, most of the cars in the parking lot were damn expensive, so the familiar silver Porsche didn’t stand out. But the person leaning against it did. So maybe the day wasn’t going to be as different as she’d thought yesterday. Well, with the blaring exception that everything was different.

“Keely,” she heard Joe’s voice vaguely call as a door slammed, but she was already leaving him by her car.

Seth really did stand out with the students milling around, far too many standing feet away and whispering as if they were arguing on if it was really him. He was so blatantly opposed to everything the school stood for and tried to do… and she loved it. There was no conforming or just nodding without questioning when it came to him. While the other guys around had their hair brushed back neatly, their dress shirts tucked into their pants, he was leaning back against the hood of his car, his guitar case propped beside him with the messy dark hair, faded jeans and Led Zeppelin tee.

“You really need to break off the affair,” she called out, strolling up to him. It was incredible how easy it was to forget that there was a crowd of people not too far away when he was even close. “I’m getting tired of covering for you.”

That trademark cocky grin slipped onto his face at her words, his head turning in her direction. “Ah, she’s still in her denial state back home, and the other is happy as a mistress.”

Grinning for the first time that day, Keely bit on her lip, fully aware how the conversation would sound to anyone listening in. “How dare you,” she accused, but her voice was trembling a little bit with laughter, “Dirty manwhore.”

“Ouch,” he replied, placing a hand over his heart jokingly as she pulled up to a halt in front of him.

Smirking, she pushed her bangs away from her eyes, letting a relieved breath slip from her mouth, the tension running away as if it had never even been there. “I didn’t think you’d actually do this,” she told him softly, turning her gaze straight to him.

He quirked his eyebrows sarcastically in response, hauling up his guitar case, saying with a great sigh, “The things I do for you.”

Frowning slightly she was about to question him about his words, but he nodded towards the school, reminding her of the crowd that was standing not too far off. “You ready for this?” he asked.

With a sigh, she turned her gaze towards the school. “Now or never, I guess,” she replied forlornly.

“What’s going on with you?” Seth questioned shrewdly, causing her eyes to swivel back to him.

Seeing that darkly concerned look in his eyes made her heart skip a beat in her chest, it literally made her heart putter like a crappy old car. However she just gulped, before forcing herself to play it off. “I just don’t like it here.”

“I know,” he replied significantly, making her heart repeat the same action over. “But it’s not that.”

Wearily she rubbed her free hand over her face. “You’re not supposed to know that.”

“Ever heard of sleeping?” he continued, completely ignoring her words. “You look like something from an Anne Rice book.”

“Oh, gee, thanks,” Keely replied sardonically. “I could say the same thing to you.”

“What’s going on?”

“Seth,” she warned, shooting him a cautionary look. Did she ever really miss him? He was kind of irritating.

Unsurprisingly, he disregarded it. Instead just replied, mimicking her tone, “Keely.”

Rolling her eyes, Keely found herself surprised that she was biting back a laugh. What did he do to her? She could be getting annoyed at him, and then by just one word, he could have her smiling like no one else. “We’re not talking about it,” she told him firmly, spinning around to walk away.

“Hey, hey,” Seth started from behind her.

“My, my,” she mocked, not turning around.

However, his hand quickly grabbed her wrist, pulling her around to look at him, making her stomach drop out, her heart momentarily forgetting its place in the world and her skin start to tingle.

Okay, she definitely missed him. No point denying it.

“We’re talking,” he informed her resolutely, his eyes searching her face.

Biting down on her bottom lip, Keely couldn’t help but think that there would never be anyone else who she could get lost in the way she got lost in him. And in a rush, she found herself grateful for leaving, for the rift between she and Haley that had grown, the awkwardness between she and Joe. Because if she hadn’t, who knows if she’d even had the chance to meet him?

Her very much prideful independent side had to say it had been she who had changed herself. Through everything that happened, it had been through her choices that she became a different person. And that was true. But even that side had to admit – not even reluctantly – that Seth deserved a huge chunk of the credit.

He’d begun fixing her before she’d even known how broken she truly was…

“Hey, Keely,” a different voice interrupted.

Oh, how surprising, interrupted again. Note the sarcasm.

Not quite ready to look away from him to see Joe, she sent him a smile, the edges of her mouth curving up softly. “Not quite yet,” she returned, gently prying her arm out of his grip. Sending a quick look to Joe, she turned back around to the school, announcing, “Alright, let’s go boys.”

It was odd, but walking into the school, she didn’t feel so terrified. She didn’t feel like a wild animal boxed into a corner anymore.

To be sure, she wasn’t exactly comfortable. After all, no one would be comfortable with the stares she was seeing, a few of them openly hostile, though most consisted of being just rudely incredulous.

“So what is this?” asked Seth as they moved through the halls.

That caused her a moment of pause. She’d forgotten she hadn’t even explained a thing to him to do with this, just for him to bring his guitar. “Uh, it’s kind of a favor to Mr Summers… I told you about him, right?”

“Multiple times,” he provided.

“What about Mr Summers?” Joe pestered, but she didn’t as much as glance in his direction.

“Nothing,” she told the boy on her other side vaguely, still focused on Seth. “But, yeah, I came for a visit the other day and he asked.”

Seth raised his eyebrows, questioning, “And he asked for me? That’s rather creepy, to be honest.”

Rolling her eyes, Keely gave a snort, shooting a quick look in front of them, but she only caught sight of a gaggle of students and quickly readjusted her gaze back to Seth. “Yeah, narcissistic, much? Actually he wanted me to just talk to a class, answer a few questions then play a little set for them.”

Not protesting about the fact that she’d just told him he had to sit in a class and attempt to teach a group of obnoxious, self-important and sometimes plainly unintelligent teenagers, he just shrugged. “Don’t tell Maureen about it,” he said simply, “She’ll kill you for the free concert.”

“It’s not even a concert,” she replied incredulously, “Just some cover songs and talking. Anyways, we already did that at Christmas. She didn’t seem mad.”

“She was furious,” Seth corrected, sending her a bland look. “You just got her after she tore a strip out of us.”

For a minute she remained disbelieving, but at the honest look on his face, she found herself frowning in confusion. “You’re serious? She’s never exactly held back when she’s yelling at me. Why?”

Pulling his gaze away from her, Seth answered while rubbing the back of his neck. “I told her you had nothing to do with it and we dragged you in. Which is true.”

“But I was willing,” she returned quickly.

However he just shrugged, still looking forward.

She’d been about to respond, but instead she found that they’d finally reached the music classroom. And leaning against the wall beside the door, she found Sadie and Tony waiting quite patiently, their fingers twined together.

“It’s a real concert now,” Keely concluded, though she was forcing the humor now, “We even have stalkers.”

In response, Sadie turned her gaze in her direction and stuck her tongue out.

That was enough to shock Keely out of her thoughts about Seth’s words and simply laugh. “Did you just stick your tongue out at me?” she gasped. “That’s like giving someone the finger for five year olds.”

“Shut up,” Sadie answered, a pretty blush gracing her cheekbones.

Still laughing, she just shook her head and pushed into the classroom, Seth and Joe pushing in together behind her, with Tony and Sadie pulling up the caboose with their hands still tangled tightly together.

From the desk at the corner of the room, the conniving music teacher she couldn’t help but adore glanced up from his work at the sudden commotion. From behind the reading glasses he had on, his eyebrows drew together and he leaned his elbows on the wooden tabletop. “Are you set on giving me more of a headache?” Mr Summers’ asked directly to her, pulling off his glasses as he spoke.

Squeezing through the rows of chairs that had been set up, she made it up to the tiny space that had been designated for a stage, their seat being a bench pressed against the wall, stuffed between the piano and a cello. “What do you mean?” Keely replied, propping her guitar case carefully against the bench.

 “Just the classic problem with being a rock star; rumours. It’s nothing,” he sighed at her perplexed expression, “Who is everyone?”

Letting it slide because she didn’t feel like prying into anyone else’s problems, Keely pointed to each person as she spoke. “I’m deciding I’m a diva and I don’t perform without him,” she said pointing to Seth who was standing there silently with his guitar in hand. “He’s my roadie,” decided she as she turned to Joe. “And they’re stalkers,” she finished, just referring to Sadie and Tony in a whole.

“You’ve got exactly three minutes before lunch ends,” Mr Summers announced, looking at his watch. “I’d get ready.”

Nodding quickly, she turned back to the bench where Seth had found his way and was already unpacking his guitar. “How do you want to do this?” he questioned, pulling his black acoustic out of the case easily.

Resisting the urge to reach out and brush her fingers over the familiar guitar, Keely stuffed her hands in her pockets, pondering the question. It would have probably been a good thing to think about before they’d shown up, but she always was a fan of the looser, natural acts. Well, she had to say that, she wasn’t exactly a planner. And even she knew it could crash and burn easily, she’d experienced it first hand over the tour, stumbling over chords or mumbling through words on stage.

“Start out with a song,” she informed him, thinking of the miniature concert as if it was an interview. It was easier to make sense of that way. “Break the ice, you know? Move on to a few questions, let that take us where it might. Then talk about song writing, recording and touring. Try to avoid our personal lives. Then end it with more songs.”

Seth nodded, slipping the black strap of his guitar over his shoulders as he listened to her words. “Not too many songs, we have a show tomorrow, we need to save your voice.”

His words made her stomach jolt, remembering clearly the pain that had possessed her throat, but she quickly pushed that from her mind, not wanting to spoil her first real – albeit, small – performance since the incident. “Alright, first song we do is a duet, even up the lyrics between us. Next one, we’ll sing together again, but keep together through the entire song. Third I’ll do a solo, fourth is your solo. Then we can finish off on one together.”

“Sounds good, song choices?”

Pursing her lips for a moment, she soon gave a shrug. “For now first song We’re Going To Be Friends, but the rest, just figure out as we go along?”

Brushing his hair away from his forehead in a motion that made her stomach jolt for an entirely different reason than before, he started speaking, Keely having to gather her wits about her in order to pull together some focus. “What if we don’t know the songs the other chooses?”

“Risk I’m willing to take,” she returned, sending him a cheeky little smile.

If he’d have replied, she’d never know because the bell to signify the end of lunch shot off through the school, making Keely wince obviously. “Oh man, I hate that sound,” she muttered, turning around to grab her guitar from the case as well.

“You ready?” Mr Summers enquired moments later from the door.

Settling down upon the hard bench, Keely drew in a foreboding breath. “As ever,” she answered reluctantly, shifting the guitar awkwardly in her lap.

Instantly he swung the door open, allowing in a stream of people piling into the classroom as she watched in amazement. These people couldn’t really want to talk to her… could they? Or maybe they were just like countless other people that just liked to watch the wreckage unfold, just to see if they could make her break.

However, she didn’t know what it was like to be truly surprised until she watched Haley walk into the room, she and Taylor sandwiched between music majors. Haley looked awkward and a bit like a trapped animal, her eyes darting around while she crossed her arms in front of her chest while Taylor just looked bored.

Drawing her attention immediately away from them, Seth took up the spot on the bench beside her, his thigh pressed against hers and making goosebumps travel up her skin.

“Hey, Keely?” he started, his voice at a whisper although she was sure he could have talked normally and no one would have heard. The racket going on in the room was truly incredible as people settled down.

Pulling in a shaky breath, she found herself staring up into his golden hazel eyes as she gripped her guitar tightly. “Hm?” she mumbled.

“You look like you’re about to hyperventilate,” Seth informed her, a smile playing on the corners of his mouth.

“Charming,” Keely returned sarcastically. But she quickly relented. “Is it that obvious?”

That hint of smile soon turned into that crooked grin that made her feel all gooey as he reached out, pulling her hand off from her guitar. Balancing his guitar in his lap, he held her wrist gently in one hand while the other traced the red marks that the strings had caused from her tight grip, his eyes never leaving hers. “It’s going to be okay.”

Pulling in a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment, just feeling the guitar on her lap and the tingling fire that ran up her at his stroking hand. If she did that, shutting everyone else out, she could pretend that it was just them. That was easy. Nothing was easy with him, but at the same time, everything was. There it was again, that damn contradiction.

But one thing was for sure, she wasn’t going to break. Not again.

Her eyes flickering open, she offered him a soft smile, squeezing his hand slightly before pulling away and bringing her hand back to her guitar. “Time for some White Stripes, you think?”

It was Seth who started playing the guitar, not even waiting for the rest of the people to sit down as the starting chords ran through the clean acoustics in the room. But opposed to that huge racket that had been echoing through the room, a quietness fell over the room like a pall so that Seth’s guitar was all that was heard.

However she soon added in with her guitar while he began to sing the first lines. As she took up a few lines as well, Keely found that her voice felt slightly rough, yet it was only from her lack of warming up instead of anything more critical. However, she was sure never to look at the audience for the first song, focusing straight on Seth.

She didn’t want to see their smug glances. They could just wait; she was simply not warmed up yet.

“And we don’t notice any time pass, we don’t notice anything. We sit side by side in every class,” Keely sang lightly, staying on the safe side for the song as she kept her gaze trained on Seth. She barely dared to blink, and he simply stared back at her, not bothering to acknowledge the audience either, his dark eyes intense on her in a way that would have made her falter if it hadn’t been for the music.

When she took a pause, Seth took up the vocals, finishing the chorus seamlessly for her. “Teacher thinks I sound funny, but she likes it when you sing.”

Although she gulped slightly at the penetrating gaze he had on her, Keely picked up her cue perfectly, moving along to the next lines. And it was finally Seth who finished the song, singing, “Cause I can tell that we’re going to be friends,” as they played the last chord together, their timing flawless.

Swallowing, she finally tore her gaze away from him, angling her body to the crowd of people shoved in the band room with all the chairs they could find. All the sudden she felt vulnerable without the bond the stare had created, but she stubbornly stiffened her shoulders, looking out at the high school students. Independent young woman, right? Anyways, he was right beside her if she wanted to cower away, which was always a possibility.

It was a shock when she found that there was one seat empty in the entire room, and it was one in the front row.

Taylor and Haley were sitting beside each other and to Hales’ left sat the empty seat with Joe safely on the other side of the barrier, Tony and Sadie on the other side of Joe. While Joe and Haley were pointed not looking at one another, Joe’s eyes focused softly on Keely herself while Haley was as well, though not so softly, the other three were completely oblivious. Taylor was picking at her nails as Sadie stared back at Keely with a bright smile and Tony was sharing the attention between she and his girlfriend.

Why her friends would chose those spots, she would never know, but Keely quickly gathered her wits about her, braving herself to speak.

“That was a song by the White Stripes,” she told the class, her voice a lot weaker than it usually was during a performance of any kind. “I’m Keely Staub and this is Seth Ryan… So, I guess this is the part where everyone gets to asks questions?” she asked, her voice seeming pondering as well as she sent Seth an unsure look.

“I’ve got a question,” Taylor piped up, not bothering to stop cleaning her nails as she crossed her legs. “Have you ever had a vocal coach or something? You sound like a dying cat or something.”

As Keely’s eyebrows shot up, Haley sent a shocked look at the girl beside her, making a shushing sound. However it was Seth who came up with an answer first.

“You know, you should try listening to your own voice sometime,” he said, his voice so cold Keely was surprised everyone simply didn’t freeze in spot. “Does someone have a real question?”

After that, the questioning period went fairly well, nothing too exciting happened. For the most part, there were some intelligent questions referring to their musical process as well as touring and what happens with the press. Although Keely refused to say that they were all intelligent, there were more than a few people just searching for gossip, asking about their relationship. To which they were only met by stony expressions where she refused to even look towards Joseph.

However Keely didn’t miss the fact that halfway through the time period, a very familiar figure slipped into the room. She’d never had to actually talk to the principal, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know exactly what he looked like. With his salt and pepper hair and starched shirt tucked into his pressed pants, there was no doubt about who he was.

There was one difference though. He’d barely even had the time to send her a glance through all her years there, and all the sudden his eyes were coldly focused on her, his arms crossed disapprovingly over his chest. And when she glanced at him, she felt like shrinking back into her chair, like a scorned child. She didn’t exactly fit into the image of his school with her messy hair, Johnny Cash shirt that was quite blatantly fingering him, frayed jeans and torn up sneaker, not to mention the rock star sitting beside her.

People said that attention was good whether or not it was for a good or a bad reason. But under his distrusting gaze, Keely was finding that people were wrong. At the moment she would have liked to just drift off into the background.

The only time she managed to forget about the man was when they started playing music again, the awkward questioning period finally over. They were going to play music, and she let out a sigh of relief, this was what she was meant for. Not talking to a bunch of teenagers, she just wanted to play music.

This time she let choose the song choice, and he surprised a laugh out of her when she recognized him playing Bob Marley’s Jamming. It wasn’t one she would have expected from him even though she knew he loved Bob Marley as much as she, but she had a suspicion that was the point. Yet she didn’t miss a beat either as she joined in on the guitar, keeping her voice perfectly with his.

“I hope you like jamming too,” they finished together, fading their voices out in a way that they would have usually saved for studio pro tools.

Sending her a nod for her to pick her solo, Keely swallowed, a bolt of panic shooting through her stomach as she realized she hadn’t even gave it a second of thought. What song could she sing? In her rush of thought, she looked away from Seth, her eyes finding the still not exactly friendly eyes of the whole classroom, though in particular she looked at the first row.

When the song finally chose itself in her mind, Keely hauled in a deep breath, attempting to calm herself as she pulled her guitar away, placing it flat on the bench beside her.

There was no protection now. She needed to do this; it just had to be her voice and her heart on her sleeve. Maybe people wouldn’t realize the truth in the song, but she was hoping that the people that she was singing to would, at the very least.

“What song are you singing?” Seth asked from beside her.

Sending him a quick smile, Keely spared him a short glance as she drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes.

“Keely,” he hissed warningly.

But she didn’t listen, just began to sing without any guitar, hoping he’d join in once he realized what song she was singing. Keeping her eyes closed, she sang out, her voice still soft, “Regrets collect like old friends. Here to relive your darkest moments. I can see no way, I can see no way. And all of the ghouls come out to play.”

Her eyes finally flickered open when Seth’s guitar mixed in to the mix, though her sharp ears detected something rather shocking, though she didn’t dwell on it. The chords weren’t right, sure not many people would notice, but they were somewhat wrong, mixed up in places. He didn’t know the song for sure, and was just playing it from memory. She didn’t know whether to be smug that he didn’t know a song she did or impressed that he could simply play from memory that way. But she was too focused on her singing to really ponder it, losing herself in her voice and the lyrics.

“And every demon wants his pound of flesh. But I like to keep some things to myself. I like to keep my issues drawn. It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Finally her voice began to grow stronger, in a way she hadn’t dared to use it since before she’d come home, she’d simply been keeping it acoustic and soft, but she was leaving it all out now.

Pushing up from the bench, she stood up straight, allowing her voice to be used to its fullest extent. “And I’ve been a fool and I’ve been blind. I can never leave the past behind. I can see no way, I can see no way. I’m always dragging this horse around. Our love is questioned, such a mournful sound,” she sang out, her voice as natural and free as it used to be while she sent Seth a quick look. However she quickly had her gaze back on the audience, though she wasn’t really seeing them. “Tonight I’m going to bury that horse in the ground. So I like to keep my issues drawn. It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

When the chorus came out, Seth joined in with her as a replacement for the background singers. “… And it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back. So shake him off, oh whoa,” they finished the chorus together before she took up a solo verse again. “And I am done with my graceless heart. So tonight I’m going to cut it out,” Keely sang out the lyrics passionately, her hands moving to set it in deeper, “And then restart. ‘Cause I like to keep my issues drawn. It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

She held out the last word of the verse, her voice reverbating through the room while Seth sang the chorus behind her.

Unable to stop herself, she turned back to Seth, meeting his eyes boldly while he remained playing his guitar behind her, content with background vocals. “And it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back. And given half the chance would I take any of it back? It’s a fine romance but it’s left me so undone. It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

When the time came for a short instrumental break, Keely let herself sit down beside him, staring at Seth while he played a part so brilliantly and with such confidence on the guitar, even though it was clear to her he’d never thought to learn the song before.

“And I’m damned if I do,” she sang, her voice soft again as their eyes met over his guitar, “And I’m damned if I don’t. So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my road.” Gripping the bench tightly with her fingers until her knuckles turned white, Keely closed her eyes tightly and let her voice loose. “And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope. It’s a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat,” Keely belted out while standing up once again. “’Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me. Looking for heaven, found the devil in me. Well what the hell, I’m going to let it happen to me, yeah.”

As she held the note, Seth once again took over the background vocals for her until the last chorus which they finished together.

Her chest heaving, Keely came out of the musical induced haze, finding herself in the middle of the space between her friends and Seth. She suddenly felt terrified, standing in no man’s land. “Your solo time,” she announced abruptly, taking the seat between Haley and Joe without even thinking, so caught up in her whirl of emotions concerning Seth.

When he started to play the guitar again, she found the tight muscles in her back loosen and smile work its way onto her lips. “Just wait,” she whispered to Joe beside her without looking at him. “You’ll never have heard anything like it, he’s incredible.”

Where she had gone for grandiose in her solo, Seth instead opted for simplicity in the Foo Fighters’ Walking After You.

The way his eyes lingered on either her or the guitar as he played, made goosebumps run up Keely’s spine, listening to his voice roughen up some words, then smooth out others to perfection. “… If you’d except surrender, Give up some more. Weren’t you adored? I cannot be without you, Matter of fact. I’m on your back. I’m on your back. I’m on your back. If you walk out on me, I’m walking after you…”

Despite what it was doing to her, Keely never dragged her eyes from him, letting the song and him have the same effect she didn’t doubt he’d always have on her. It scared her, but she loved it at the same time. Damn confliction.

As the song ended, she was able to drag her eyes from him while the applause sounded through the room and sent Joe a bright smile. “I told you,” she grinned.

Yet his expression remained sombre as his eyes searched her face, making her gut jolt in her stomach while he gave a shrug. “I’ve heard better,” Joe replied, his eyes oddly intense despite the previous careless body language.

Before she could reply, the last and final song began playing without a moment of her input and her head quickly jerked back to the front of the room.

Although she felt slightly rushed, Keely joined into the harmony seamlessly of the song they both knew all too well. Her heart suddenly giving a jerk as a different kind of meaning to the song set it, her eyes meeting Seth’s across the slight open floor.

“… This is not the end. Live unbruised, we are friends. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” they sang together, a mournful sound coming from both of their voices as Seth’s guitar added to the sound. “Sigh no more, no more. One foot in the sea and one on shore. My heart was never pure. And you know me. You know me.”

Still for next verse they stayed together, but Keely kept her eyes closed during it, breaking off the deep line that had been connecting them. “But man is a giddy thing. Oh man is a giddy thing…”

Together they finished off the verse, however when they got to next, Keely stopped singing, letting Seth take over the vocals without a thought as she stared at him.

It wouldn’t have been the same had she been singing with him, there was something about him, whatever he might be playing, something so charismatic and brilliant she didn’t doubt every eye was glued onto him and every heart on the line with his voice. There was no way anyone couldn’t feel that shift in the room when something like that happened in front of them.

“Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you. It will set you free. Be more like the man you were made to be. There is a design, An alignment to cry, At my heart you see, the beauty of love as it was made to be.”

With every time he repeated the chorus, it got more passionate and louder, making her foot tap along with his as she remained spellbound in him and the song. His voice hitting notes that made a shiver run up her spine.

When the song ended, Keely’s eyes didn’t leave his while the applause sounded to end their little concert. And they didn’t when the bell rang, when everyone started packing away their things and leaving the room.

She simply ignored what was going on around her, and began to make her way towards him.

However she didn’t get the chance to get to him, their gazes’ intense hold being broken up by a head of curly hair. “You were great,” Sadie gushed, dragging Keely into a tight hug that she didn’t respond to immediately, her arms hanging limply at her side. “I can’t wait to see you for real tomorrow night, it’s going to be even better.”

Giving the girl a slight squeeze finally, Keely replied vaguely, “Yeah, thanks.” She was busy peeking around the girl to Seth, but now she found his back turned to her, packing his guitar away in his case.

When her gaze turned back to the other girl, she immediately went on the defensive. “What?”

Sadie pursed her lips, shaking her head slightly, her eyes focused on the door. Hastily Keely spun around to see what she was looking at, only to see a familiar female leaving the room, her blonde hair a tell-tale hint.

It was Sadie’s voice that made her spin around once again, her serious expression catching Keely off guard. “You need to make a choice.”

“What are you talking about?” she returned confused.

Sending her a flat look, the girl just said, “You know exactly what I mean,” before she moved away to find her boyfriend.

“Keely, are you coming?” Joe’s voice called from behind her.

Hauling in a shaky breath, Keely sent him a small nod and a forced smile. “Are you?” she asked, her voice normal but loud enough for Seth to hear while he placed her guitar in its case as well.

“Yeah,” he answered, his voice sounding slightly deeper than normal.

Biting the inside of her lip, she just nodded again, taking the guitar he handed her as she moved to walk out of the room. With just a smile as a farewell to Mr Summers, she headed out, meeting the rest of her friends where they began to walk around the school during their short fifteen minute break between classes.

Sadie and Tony began talking animatedly about the performance, and despite her previous serious mood, Keely found their excitement wearing off on her as a smile light her face and she joined in. Surprisingly Seth added comments into the discussion while they went as if it was second nature, and neither Tony nor Sadie seemed to find it odd at all that he was a part of their little group. It was Joe that stayed quiet surprisingly.

However only minutes later, Keely saw something that made her pause in her tracks, causing the rest of their mismatched group to halt and send her questioning looks.

“I’ll be back in a second,” she assured them, pushing her guitar into Seth’s hands as she passed as she was confident he would take the best care of it than anyone else. She trusted him with the things that mattered more than anyone else in the world.

Without glancing back to see what was probably confused expressions, Keely cut through the hallway to where her old blonde best friend was standing with Taylor, coffees in their hand. The sight made her stomach jolt in her stomach as she remembered her and Haley doing that not too long ago, but she ignored it purposefully.

“I’m sorry,” Keely blurted without an inch of pride as she pulled to a stop in front of Haley, not so much as sparing a glance to the other girl.

Despite that rough exterior Haley had been wearing lately, Keely didn’t miss the way that the girl’s hand holding the coffee shook slightly and her eyes widened marginally. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her voice firmly emotionless.

Not fooled by it, Keely ran a hand through her hair, the tears that always seemed to be close to the surface lately welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, “I really didn’t know. And I hate it. I’m just so sorry and I don’t know how to explain it.”

Suddenly Haley looked alarmed by the tears, and she straightened, starting, “Keely–”

But what she was about to say, Keely would never know because Taylor decided to cut in. “Oh, would you stop being so pathetic?”

“Would back off?” Keely returned, though her voice didn’t sound biting with the tears.

Taylor rolled her eyes, taking a step forward, making Keely to have to tip her head up to meet her eyes. “You can drop the poor me act,” she put in, her eyes glinting maliciously. “We all know you slept with her boyfriend.”

“What are you on?” Keely exclaimed, the tears quickly drying up.

“You’re pretending to be this little sweetheart and you’re just a slut,” the girl returned, looking quite proud of herself.

Her eyes narrowing, she replied, “I don’t believe I ever pretended to be a sweetheart.”

“Cut it out,” Taylor said smugly. “We all know you’re playing every single person around you, even Haley knows now. So what are you doing? You’ve got Tony and Joe right now, but Seth Ryan as well? I wonder how long it would take for me to get him the same way I got Tony from you too.”

Not even thinking what she was doing, Keely acted on instinct, her fingers curling up into a fist as she threw it into the other girl’s face. Taylor let out a cry of surprise when Keely’s fist made contact with her eye with a surprising amount of strength.

However, the moment of her first real punch was ruined when Keely too let out a cry of pain at the contact of bone meeting bone.

Forcing herself to ignore the pain shooting through her hand, she bellowed, “You are such a bitch!”

“Keely Staub!” the familiar voice of that imposing looking figure from the music room roared down the hall. The principal soon followed, marching swiftly towards them and if it had been a cartoon, there would have been smoke blowing out of his ears.

“C’mon rebel,” said an amused voice, tugging back on her elbow, “Time to go.”

Her eyes widening at the sight of man, Keely didn’t argue with Seth as she let him tug her quickly out of the crosshairs. Even though there was still fury pumping through her veins from Taylor’s words, she quickly followed in behind Seth, cradling her arm to her side.

“You got this?” Seth called out.

Incredulous she looked around to see who he was talking to, but found herself even more surprised when it was Tony who answered in the affirmative.

“Since when are you two so chummy?” she asked grumpily as he pushed the front door of the school open for her, ignoring the shocked expressions that had been following them all around the school as they hastily took off.

“Since when do you punch people?” Seth replied, ushering her towards the car.

Despite herself she gave a snort of laughter, sending him a smile as she shook out her hand. “And here I was thinking you would be proud.”

“I would have been, it was totally badass until you cried out too,” he laughed, hastily leaning both of the guitars against the silver Porsche in the parking lot. Taking her hand in his, Seth scrutinized it closely, forcing her to bite her lip so she didn’t shiver. “Why did you punch the girl anyways?” he questioned, running his thumb over her hand gently.

Trying not to act like a love sick fool, Keely gave a shrug. “Unfinished business, we never were friends anyways,” she answered. And even though she didn’t give him an exact rundown of what happened, it was not a lie either.

“Well, she really did seem like such a bitch,” said Seth with that crooked smile, mocking her shouted words.

“Yeah, yeah, make fun, but I think I might just have been like bared from ever entering that school again,” she replied. However her tone was far from mad, in fact she sounded very close to laughing.

Letting go of her hand, Seth stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, leaning back casually against the car. “Did you ever want to go back anyways?”

“No, I really didn’t,” Keely told him honestly.

With a shrug, he sent her that charming grin. “Then who cares?”

Giving half a laugh, Keely just mimicked his shrug, running her hand through her hair and messing it up further. “You wanted to talk?” she asked finally, breaching the subject up on her own, though her voice was quiet.

“I did,” he said solemnly, straightening as he reached out, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But you kind of took up all my time with your little stunt with the class.”

“Oh, you would have done it for anyone,” she chuckled, rolling her eyes.

He shook his head, answering simply, “Not for anyone else. But I need to get out to Seattle to pick Marco and Colton up from the airport very soon.”

“Are you staying in town?” she questioned hastily, the thought of him going to Seattle, even if it wasn’t far away and she was going to be there the next day ripping at her. Now he’d come back, she just wanted to cling to him and never let go.

“Yeah, but we’re staying out there tonight,” Seth answered, running his thumb along her cheek gently.

Not thinking of her actions, Keely raised her hand, holding his wrist in place unconsciously, as if she held onto him he wouldn’t be able to leave. “Then at least give me the spark notes part of what you were going to tell me?”

“You know, this willingness to talk is starting to freak me out,” he told her with a grin.

“Seth,” she said softly, “Shut up.”

His grin faded away slowly as his eyes searched her face. “I got a letter in New York, I was invited to play at the Crossroads festival by Eric Clapton.”

“What?” she asked blankly. That had not been what she was expecting.

“Well, I guess NSR was,” he corrected with a shrug, “But since it’s a guitar festival and I’m the lead guitarist, it was more based towards me.”

“When?” she questioned, a crease coming in between her brows.

“Pretty soon,” Seth answered vaguely. “But I wanted to tell you something else. When you said if I actually loved you it was for your voice, you were probably right at first. But you know what? It’s been so long since I thought of you as a voice. Keely, I love you and I wouldn’t give a damn if you had never been able to sing again and joined the fucking circus.”

“Seth,” Keely started cautiously.

However before she could speak, he tugged his hand out of her grasp and took a step back, opening the door behind him. “I really have to go though, I think their plane has already landed and they’re going to try and kick my ass. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With a slight turn of the sides of his lips, Seth grabbed his guitar, handing Keely her own before slipping into the car and sending the sports car around the corner.

And he really did leave her feeling as if she didn’t have a voice, standing there blankly in the deserted parking lot.

- Happy now? Probably not.

There, I uploaded. Anyways, I literally have a tan line from wearing my riding gloves this weekend at the show. It was so fucking hot. This was a really hard chapter to write, I've been planning it in my head for like ever and it just didn't work, but whatever, It's something.

Dedicated to k3ls3y for the amazing cover!