Love Songs (Secret Songbook #1) (9 page)

Georgie was sitting on the lounge watching television. She jumped on her straight away.

“It’s late, Kaley. Where have you been? Your text was rather vague on the details.”

It was done like that on purpose, so she didn’t have to explain where she was, Kaley thought that was quite clear. “We hung out with some friends after the game.”

“Was it a party?” Her questions were unrelenting, they also didn’t sound like they were going to stop anytime soon.

“Yes, it was a party.” Kaley was too tired to make up a lie. “But I didn’t drink or do drugs, or do anything wrong. You have my word.”

“You went to a party?” Georgie waited to see the nod of confirmation, making certain she heard right. Then she did something completely unexpected, she hugged her daughter. “My baby went to her first teenage party! I’m so proud of you, you’re finally getting out there and doing normal teenage things. Did you have fun?”

Kaley was almost lost for words, her mother never ceased to amaze her. Where normal parents would have scolded her for going to an unauthorized party, she was actually happy about it? Now she really did need some sleep, just to make sure she wasn’t imagining it all.

“The party was kind of loud and boring, actually.”

“Were there boys there?”

“Of course there were boys there, we aren’t five years old anymore.”

Georgie pulled her over to the lounge so they could both sit. “Did you see the boy you like there?”

Kaley gave in, she was too excited about Eli to hold it in. Especially when she was too tired to lie. “Yeah, he was there. He asked me out on a date.”

“Tell me you said yes.”

“I said yes. He asked for my phone number and is going to call me sometime.”

The look on Georgie’s face said she was about to explode with excitement. Kaley couldn’t help feel it rub off on her. It was sweet the way her mother got so excited any time she did something normal. Perhaps she didn’t give Mother Barbie enough credit in the mom department.

“We’re going to have to go shopping for something special to wear,” Georgie went on. “Where is he going to take you? Will it be a dinner date? Perhaps a movie? Or bowling, do kids still go bowling these days? Oh, this is so exciting.”

“Calm down, Mom. I don’t know what we’ll be doing. I guess he’ll let me know when he calls.
If
he calls, I’m still not convinced I didn’t dream it all.”

“He’ll call if he knows what’s good for him. He wouldn’t want to let a catch like you slip through his fingers.”

Kaley extracted herself from the happy bubble surrounding her mother and insisted she needed to go to bed. She left her on the lounge, practically planning her wedding, and went to her bedroom. All she could think about was having a shower and collapsing into bed.

As she found her pajamas in the chest of drawers, Kaley noticed Harvey’s light was on in his bedroom. She looked into his room, he was still up even though it was past midnight. He was on his computer but was turning around, probably distracted by her light coming on. He waved, she returned it and closed the curtains.

Chapter 8

The only good thing about Biology class was the way the teacher, Mr. Prescott, liked using alternative methods to teach. Sometimes he would dress up in costume to match the lesson. Other times he would act out scenes from the textbook – which wasn’t easy using a biology book.

Today, he had decided to set up a scavenger hunt. Giving each student a list of items they had to find, they were let loose outside and told not to return until they were finished. If they found everything before class ended, they could enjoy the sun and do as they pleased.

For Kaley, the hunt was easy. She teamed up with Harper and they ticked off the items relatively quickly. They still had twenty minutes of free time before the bell was due to ring.

Biology class was the last one of the day and it had been a long one. Thoughts of Eli clouded all lessons and it was even worse in the ones they shared. She had to force herself not to look at him during those classes, she didn’t want to seem like a foolish lovestruck girl.

Even though that’s what she was.

They found a particularly grassy part of the ground and sat, watching the other students as they started to panic when the time was ticking away too fast. It was pretty funny.

Harvey hurried over, one of those with cause for concern. “Thyme. Where on earth do I find thyme around here?”

“In the kitchen garden, go that way until the building ends.” Kaley pointed to her left.

“Thanks, you’re a genius.”

Harper waited for Harvey to leave before she could ask the question that had been burning in her throat. “So tell me all about your date with Eli. Has he called yet? Don’t leave any detail out.”

“He hasn’t said anything. I hope he wasn’t just really drunk and doesn’t even remember talking to me.” A part of Kaley was really disappointed Eli hadn’t even acknowledged her presence all day.

When she had walked to school that morning, she had been bursting to see him so she could confirm it wasn’t all a dream. She was still waiting for that confirmation. “Do you think it’s a bad sign he hasn’t spoken to me yet?”

“He’s probably just playing it cool.”

“I hope so,” she sighed. “Even if he does ask me out, I’m going to be so nervous I’ll probably end up babbling like a fool. I don’t know what to do on a date. Especially not a date with Eli.”

“Just be yourself.” Harper patted her on the back, trying to calm her down. “Eli is just a regular guy that happens to be popular and extremely good looking.”

“Reminding me how great he is doesn’t help.”

“What do I know? Don’t listen to me, I can’t even get my future boyfriend to know my name.”

“Cooper still isn’t cooperating?”

Harper shook her head sadly. Cooper Sutton, from the same grade as them, was a god amongst the band crew. For the school band, he played the cello and the drums. At every other opportunity he played the guitar in his own band – The Ravens. They regularly played at local hangouts and clubs all around Sandyridge.

His talent made him stand out like a star, he was going to be famous one day, everyone thought so. None more so than Harper, she had been in love with him since they were in kindergarten and he had stolen her skipping rope.

While they both played in the string section of the band, she could never get his attention. Not even if she accidently poked him with her violin bow – which she did quite often.

“Nope. So you can see why I need to live through you and Eli. It gives me hope,” Harper said. “You’re going to be great together, I just know it will all work out.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I am. Am I ever wrong?” She was, quite regularly, but Kaley didn’t point that out. “Although, I think you’re going to have to decide what to do about Harvey. He’s not going to like hearing you’re going out with Eli.”

“Will you stop that, Harvey and I are friends.” Kaley rolled her eyes with the thought of it. “I swear neither of us think any differently. We’ve known each other forever. He won’t have a problem with it. He might even be happy for me.”

“So why haven’t you told him about it then? You walked to school together this morning, didn’t you?”

“Because it’s a girl talk thing. I wouldn’t gush to any guy about another guy. They would stop listening after two seconds.” Kaley was convincing herself just as much as Harper.

Ever since she had initially brought it up, every minute she spent with Harvey she found herself analyzing his words and actions. It was driving her crazy. Why, after all these years, would Harvey suddenly see her as anything but the nerdy next door neighbor? It was ridiculous.

“Whatever you say,” something in Harper’s tone of voice betrayed the fact she didn’t believe her.

“Whatever you say, what?” Harvey’s voice behind them made both girls jump.

“Just Harper being Harper.” Kaley smiled, wondering how much he had heard. She quickly changed the subject. “Did you get everything on the list?”

“Thyme was the last thing and it was exactly where you said it would be. Thanks for saving my grade.”

“You’re welcome. We’d better get inside and hand over our finds before the bell rings. He might disqualify us, you know how Mr. Prescott likes to make up the rules as he goes along.”

They nodded, knowing exactly how Mr. Prescott liked to keep them on their toes. Once during his class he pitted them all against each other as they had to locate one tiny little plant in the school yard. Whoever returned first with one of its leaves got an A grade.

The twist was that he stripped all the leaves beforehand so there was literally only one left. There were no rules, if you found it and someone stole it from you, then it didn’t matter. It was pandemonium for the entire class, similar to that of a terrible reality show.

They delivered their bounty back to Mr. Prescott who checked their goods and put a star next to their names in his grade book. They had no idea what a star meant, it could be code for anything. If Mr. Prescott was anything, it was unpredictable. At least his classes were interesting, you could never fall asleep in them even though they were always in the afternoon.

The bell rang as the last few students raced in to meet the deadline. Harper hurried off to band practice while Kaley and Harvey started their walk home.

“So you want to tell me what you were really talking about with Harper before?” Harvey asked casually, with a hint of a smile on his lips. “I noticed you changed the subject pretty quick.”

“Just stuff, you know, girl stuff. Nothing you’d find interesting, I’m sure.” She tried to shrug it off, hoping he would drop it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

“You and Harper don’t normally keep secrets from me.”

“We’re not, it’s nothing.” Kaley stole a glance to judge his reaction. He didn’t look happy, he looked a little hurt actually. She took a deep breath and dived in. If he wanted to know, then she would tell him. After all, it wasn’t going to mean anything to him. “Fine. We were talking about Eli Stone. He kind of asked me out… like on a date.”

Her confession was met with silence. Harvey nodded but didn’t say anything for a very long time. “You like Eli Stone? I didn’t know he was your type.”

“I don’t really have a type. He seems like a nice guy and I like him so I guess we’ll go out. It’s no big deal or anything.”

She couldn’t be sure, but Kaley thought Harvey had started to walk faster, like he wanted to get away from her. She shook her head, telling herself she was just imagining things. She wished he would say something, anything. She had never known him to be speechless. She wondered when everything had gotten so complicated.

“Do you not like Eli?” Kaley asked, trying to work out exactly what the problem was. She refused to believe Harper, he didn’t have feelings for her, it wasn’t possible.

“Eli is okay. I mean, he’s a football jock, but I guess I haven’t heard anything bad about him. Isn’t he going out with Abigail?”

“I guess they broke up.”

“I recommend you check on that point before you get too excited about Eli. Abigail is a force to be reckoned with. You don’t want to be caught up in her storm.”

Now it was Kaley’s turn to be speechless. There was so much harshness in his voice, like she was doing something wrong. Sure, she didn’t have all the answers he wanted, but it wasn’t really any of his business either. She was trying to figure it all out too, she didn’t need his judgment.

He walked faster, this time it was obvious. Kaley stood on the side of the road and let him go. She didn’t know what she had done so wrong, she let him walk off his steam.

By the time she arrived home, there was no sight of Harvey in the house next door. She took out her keys to let herself in but didn’t have to – the door was unlocked.

Mother Barbie was home.

“Kaley! I’m so glad you’re home.” Georgie gave her a hug before she could even put her backpack down. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

That didn’t sound good. “Oh, yeah,” she replied sarcastically, dreading what was about to come. Georgie’s surprises were never something to look forward to.

Once she surprised Kaley by taking her to the lingerie store for her first bra fitting – she was ten at the time. Another surprise resulted in them getting kicked out of the movie cinema for yelling at the screen because Georgie didn’t agree with the character’s decisions. While good intentioned, they always brought with them a sense of doom.

“We’re going shopping for your big date!” Georgie threw up her arms in a
surprise!
motion. If she had a streamer gun, she probably would have fired it at that moment.

“You don’t have to do that, Mom. I don’t even know where we’re going yet. I can just wear something from my closet.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. We’ve gone through your wardrobe recently. Trust me, you need to buy an outfit if you’re going to impress that boy of yours. Now, put down your backpack, pick up your bag, and let’s go.”

Kaley did as she was told, fearing it would only be more painful if she had to be led away in handcuffs. A small part of her was excited too, but she would never admit that to Mother Barbie. Or anyone for that matter.

She
did
need new clothes, something that would make her sparkle. For the first time, she wanted to stand out. If Eli could see her, perhaps others might start to as well. New clothes would just be the beginning.

Georgie drove them to the Sandyridge Shopping Mall. It boasted two hundred and twenty shops and was huge. If they couldn’t find something there that made Kaley visible, then they would be unable to find it anywhere.

They started at the clothes store nearest the entrance and worked their way around. The amount of outfits on the racks was overwhelming. It didn’t make it any better when Georgie shot down everything she pointed out.

Apparently Kaley had no taste, none at all. If it wasn’t boring, then it was too shapeless. If it wasn’t too dull, then the colors clashed. There seemed to be some unspoken rule about how to dress and only Georgie had the official rulebook.

It appeared to Kaley that Georgie really enjoyed picking out clothes for her to try on. It was like she had a real living doll to dress up. But what she chose left little to the imagination. Apparently she wanted Kaley to dress like a hooker and show as much skin as possible.

It was the exact opposite of what she would pick out for herself. Bright colors and little fabric, it wasn’t exactly the look she was going for. Not that she really thought about it much, but Kaley guessed she would consider her style to be conservative and functional. She wore what was comfortable, which wasn’t always the fashionable choice.

Mother Barbie, on the other hand, liked dressing on trend. Whatever was popular at the time was what she wore. She was such a fashion victim.

“What about this outfit? It’s quite cute.” Kaley held up a dark purple dress. It didn’t have any ruffles or lace like the ones Georgie pointed out.

She made a face of disgust. “You can’t be serious. It looks like a nana should be wearing it. Think
young,
Kaley. You’re not going to have that gorgeous body forever.”

Kaley returned it to the racks, defeated. She kept flicking through the hangers although she thought for sure she would never be able to find something deemed suitable.

What was more worrying was the pile of clothes Georgie was accumulating over her arm as they browsed. If she expected Kaley to wear any of them, she would be disappointed. There was too much pink in there for a start.

“Maybe we should try somewhere else.” Kaley finished the rack and came up empty handed.

“There’s plenty here. Don’t worry, I’ve got some for you to try on. To the change rooms, my girl!”

Kaley looked toward the exit, she might make it if she ran for it. The clothes would slow down Mother Barbie, she wouldn’t be able to catch her.

As if she had a choice.

She followed her mother to the change rooms and was shoved behind a curtain. There was no escaping now.