"Sing to Me"

© KES

Chapter One

Senior year is the most important year in anyone's high school career.  Not because it's the time to raise your grades or because it's the time to slack off.  It's simply because you finally get to rule the school.  Those parking spots closest to the building are yours.  You could become a king or queen.  The seniors are in charge.  It was quite a feeling—knowing there was only one year of high school left.

So I was happy.  There was only a week until school started and I was looking forward to it.  I was going to run for Homecoming Queen.  I had the ability to win.  It had been my dream since eighth grade to become queen.  I knew my senior year would bring nothing but good times.

There was one thing that made me even happier than all that though.  My best friend in the whole, entire world had moved into my school district and would be attending Hamilton High with me in a week.

Kat (it's not short for anything; that's actually her name) Peterson would be a junior next week.  She and I had met when I was in kindergarten at a nearby park.  Our friendship was undying and we were inseparable—until her parents divorced and her whole family moved.  However, her parents were now reconciling some seven years later and they decided, with much convincing from Kat, to move back to Saint Cloud.

Kat and I were alike in many respects.  We both loved music—any and all.  We both loved movies.  We both were totally and completely into "Angel".  We both played guitar.  Beyond that, we shared the same viewpoints on many things that were a lot deeper than that, such as our belief that abortion should be a woman's choice and that the death penalty was too easy on criminals.

However, our appearances were quite different.  At this point, Kat's normally blonde hair was black with purple streaks.  Her ears were pierced all the way up and she had a nose ring.  The last time I saw her, she was wearing a purple shirt that read "Pretty Kitty" (nearly everything she owned had something to do with cats) and baggy black pants.  At Hamilton, she'd fit in perfectly with the "skaters".

I was, at this moment, wearing a collared tee shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch with tan capris.  My ears were pierced twice and I had my eyebrow pierced as well.  My normally blonde hair was still blonde.  My parents refused to let me dye it, not that I would want to.  I was part of the preppie crowd, there was no doubt about that.

"Liesl?"  My mom knocked lightly on my door.  "Kat just called.  She wants you to help her unpack."

"Okay," I called, grabbing my car keys.  It was so nice having Kat within driving distance again.  I'd missed her so much when she lived in Duluth.  It was going to be nice to see her parents together again.  I knew that Kat missed spending time with them and her older brother Colin when they were all together.

I couldn't help but wonder what school was going to be like with Kat there.  My group most certainly wasn't going to accept her with open arms.  That would screw with the high school hierarchy.  I tried not to think up it as I pulled into Kat's driveway.

Her house was huge.  Both her mother and father had done well for themselves while they were separated.  They put a lot of money into the old mansion and it seemed like a good investment for them.  I knew how much they loved to fix things.  Her mother was a renovating freak.

I entered her house without knocking and headed to her room, which was already completely unpacked.

I smiled, "I thought you needed help unpacking."

She grinned, "I lied.  I just knew you'd get here faster if you thought I needed you."

I sat on her purple beanbag chair and glanced around the room.  She had tons of posters from the Beatles to Good Charlotte to System of a Down.  She kept mementos from concerts she'd been to and pictures of her friends.  Her bed was covered in black sheets and pillowcases with a pink Hello Kitty design on the bedspread.

"It's weird, you know," she said, "Being back here and all."

I nodded, "It's cool though.  I mean, I totally missed you while you were gone."

She smiled, "Yeah, so did I.  Am I going to be eaten alive at Hamilton?"

I shook my head, "No.  You'll fit in great."

"Just not with your crowd."

I sighed.  I was part of the elite crowed at Hamilton.  It was so elite, in fact, that there were only four of us.  Melissa Davies, Jessyca Miller, Katie Dawson and I were what every other girl wanted to be.  The boys fawned over us, granting us our every wish.  Melissa was the best tennis player our school had ever seen.  Jessyca was the cheerleading captain.  Katie was the student council president.  I got all the star roles in the school plays and the best solos in our choir concerts.  We got want what wanted, no questions asked.

However, I was part of the elite and I hated it.  I'll be quite clear as to why I hung with them.  His name is Aaron James.  I had a crush on him since seventh grade.  Before I hung out with Melissa, Jessyca and Katie, he never said a word to me.  Now though, I'd get an occasional "hey, Liesl" or a wave in the hallways.  Even a smile made me feel like I was floating.  Rumor was that Aaron and I would be sharing the starring roles in the fall musical "Grease".  I would have done anything to get him to notice me.

It took me a while to realize that Kat had left the room.  I was so lost in my Aaron thoughts that I was oblivious to everything else.

The door opened slowly, "Hey Kat, can ya…Liesl?"

My jaw dropped, "Colin?"

It had been a while since I'd last seen Colin, but I hadn't realized how long.  He must have eleven the last time I'd seen him.  He was seventeen now.  His shoulder-length, deep brown hair crowded his face.  His olive complexion made his dark green eyes stand out.  He also had an amazing smile.  I wasn't noticing it at the moment, though.  I was too busy gawking at his bare, paint-covered chest.

I shook myself from my thoughts.  "I'm not Kat, but I'm sure I can help."

"Okay," he said and I followed him to his room, keeping my eyes on the floor so I wouldn't reach out and touch his muscular back.  "How've you been?  It's been forever."

I nodded, "Too long.  I've been okay."

"Just okay?"  He smiled, "Kat told me you're the most popular girl in school."

I laughed, "Not quite.  What do you need me for?"

"Let me know if I've missed anywhere," he replied, "I've been looking at the walls for so long that everything looks green."

The color of the room matched his eyes perfectly.  "Great color," I told him, "I love green."

"Thanks," he smiled, "See anything?"

I glanced around and pointed out a few places before Kat entered.

"Do you two wanna get out?"  I asked, "I can take you to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard or something."

"Yeah," Kat said immediately, "Sounds good."

"Sure," Colin smiled again, "Just let me take a quick shower."

As I pulled up to Dairy Queen, I groaned silently.  Melissa's Corvette was there, meaning she, Jessyca and Katie were eating their low-fat frozen yogurts and talking bad about everyone they knew—well, at least Jessyca and Melissa were.  Katie was probably just nodding, tuning them out like I usually did.

I hurried Colin and Kat through ordering and grabbed a table as far away from Melissa, Jessyca and Katie as I could.

"I gotta ask you two something," Kat said as soon as we sat down.  Colin and I glanced at each other before telling her to go on.

"I've been talking to Jeff," she told us, "And we were thinking about starting a band."

Jeff was our Christian music loving, drum playing, soon-to-be junior, friend that Kat was quite close to—even through her move.

"So obviously we need guitars…" Kat went on, "And we all know how to play."  She turned to me, "Colin can write some sweet shit.  And we all know that I am the master at playing.  So I could play lead and you two could play as well.  And obviously," she turned to me again, "you'd sing."

"I don't know," I told her, "I've got a choir voice."

"You've got a 'musical' voice," Kat corrected, "You can be loud or soft.  And I've heard you match everything from Kittie to Christina Aguilera.  You have the perfect voice."

I shrugged.  The whole idea actually sounded pretty good to me.  I loved music.  I loved making music.  Besides that, I knew Kat, Colin, Jeff and I would make an awesome team.  There was only one problem.

"What about 'Grease'?"  I asked, "If I get in at all, I'll be rehearsing everyday until November."

"We'll practice on weekends then," she responded.

"Okay…" I said hesitantly, "I kinda like it."

Colin nodded, "So do I."

"Sweet," she exclaimed, "We're gonna have to get together with Jeff and discuss what kind of sound we're going for…I love you guys."

I laughed and let my mind wander as I devoured my cookie dough Blizzard.  Aaron would have to notice me if we became some famous band, right?

I tried to figure out why Aaron never dated.  He had girls after him since seventh grade, but he never dated anyone.  Unless there was some secret relationship that no one knew about…but with who?

Jessyca was convinced of one thing.  "He's gay," she'd always say, "Or he'd be tripping all over us like every other guy."

Sometimes I could tolerate the three of them.  Sometimes I even had fun with them, but usually I wanted to strangle them for their stupidity.  They never had a good thing to say about anyone.  Katie deserves credit, however, because she is nice to everyone.  Jessyca and Melissa were cruel and didn't care.

"Liesl!"  I heard Jessyca's whiny voice, "Like, why haven't you been around all summer?"

"Yeah," Melissa added, "We've, like, called you a billion times, but your mom said you were at Kat's house.  I, like, totally think your mom's losing it."

You know how in moves, the snotty, uptight, rich girls always say "like" and "totally" at least four times in a sentence?  That stereotype was made for Jessyca and Melissa.  They'd been saying it as long as I could remember.

I rolled my eyes, "This is my best friend Kat and her older brother Colin," I pointed out Jessyca, Melissa and Katie to them hurriedly.  They all mumbled their hello's.

"Liesl?"  Jessyca said, "Can we talk to you?"

"Privately," Melissa added.

I sent Kat and Colin an apologetic glance before following Jessyca and Melissa to their table.  Katie had already taken my place at our table and began telling Kat and Colin something about homecoming.  She took her presidential responsibility very seriously.

"Liesl," Melissa spoke up, "this is, like, totally bad for your image."

"I'll get over it," I replied, "Kat's my best friend.  I'm not going to ditch."

"But what about homecoming?" Jessyca inquired.

"Did it ever occur to you that the more people I talk to, the more votes I'll get?"  I snapped.

"Oh…" Melissa said, "So that's what this is about."

I shook my head, "No, this is about taking my friends out to celebrate us being together again.  If you don't mind, I'd like to finish my Blizzard in peace."

"Whatever," Jessyca rolled her eyes and I walked away.

"Someone's a little bitchy today," Melissa said just loud enough for me to hear her.  It took all I had no to flick her off.

"You have some great friends," Katie said as I passed her, "Did you know Kat can do a kickflip?"  I smiled, knowing Katie had recently taken up skateboarding.

"Okay, I take back everything I ever said about wanting to hang out with your crowd," Kat said as soon as I sat down, "I'll settle for a wave in the hallway."

I laughed, "I know, they're a bit overwhelming."

"How do you tell those two apart?"  Colin nodded at Melissa and Jessyca.

They did look a lot alike, but they did it purposely.  They both had bottle hair that was cut a little below their shoulders, an orange-y tan, and they always wore similar clothes.

"Melissa has a mole on her right cheek," I giggled.

"I'll never understand the blonde thing…Katie's a hell of a lot cuter than they are," Colin muttered and then blushed ferociously.

I smiled.  Katie was different.  She had curly chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes.  She stood five inches taller than Melissa and Jessyca at five feet, seven inches.  She was also much more comfortable in athletic clothing.

"Why do you hang out with them?"  Colin asked.

I shrugged, avoiding his question.  Only Kat knew of my crush on Aaron.  I didn't need anyone else finding out.  Also, I didn't want Colin to think I was shallow…even though my reason was.  "Because I adore Katie," I said quickly, hoping Kat wouldn't get angry with me for lying to her brother.  She didn't seem to be though.  She was staring intently into her Blizzard, as if willing it to move.

I stood suddenly, "Let's go talk to Jeff," I threw my empty cup in the trash, "We're gonna have to get a jump start on talking him out of a Christian band."

They nodded and we left, ignoring the icy glares coming from Melissa and Jessyca.