"Yeah... really?... Oh, yeah let me ask... of course... alright, bye!" I said as I got off the phone with Lana. We were arranging a sleepover. I got through an entire week of school and was feeling great. "Mom," I shouted as I walked upstairs.

"Yes, what is it?" She said as she typed a message on her phone.

"Can I go to a sleepover with a friend tonight?" I asked rocking back and forth on my feet.

My mom looked up from her phone. Her eyes were wide open. "A friend?" She asked, baffled.

"Um... yes? Why the shock?"

"Uh... nothing. Um... who is the person you are going to hang out with?" She asked as she turned off her phone and gave me her full attention.

"Her name is Lana," I said as I kept rocking back and forth on my feet.

"Aw... sweetie you made a friend!" My mom said as a big smile spread across her face. I gaped at her.

"What? You think I wasn't going to make a friend?" I didn't think I was going to make a friend either, but... my mom is so surprised it hurts.

"What? Of course, I thought you were going to make a friend. It's just..." She started thinking about something better to say. I shook my head and looked at the floor.

"Yes or no?" I asked with an angry tone.

"Abby—"

"Yes or no?" I repeated.

"Yes, but Abby—"

"Thanks," I mumbled as I walked downstairs. I walked into my room and started packing my bag. My mom came in.

"When are you leaving?" She asked as I swung my book-bag over my shoulder. I grabbed my guitar and walked past her into the living room.

"Right now," I said as I opened the front door and walked out of the house.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Hey, gal!" Lana called to me from her spot on the patio steps to her home. She got up and ran over to me and gave me hug. "I am so, so, so, excited!"

"Me too!" I said as she led me up the patio steps and up to her front door.

"I made a huge list— oh, you brought your guitar, perfect— for things for us to do, and it involves a lot of music... and your guitar just made the list ten times better!" Lana screamed as she slammed open the front door and ran up the stairs. I followed her.

"Alrighty, welcome to music-bop-worldo!" She yelled as she turned on rainbow twinkly lights dangling from random spots on her ceiling.

I laughed, "Music...bop...worldo? Am I even saying that right?"

She laughed and plopped onto a beanbag chair in the middle of her room. I sat down next to her on the floor. She smiled and then got back up and dragged another beanbag chair out of her closet. I smiled and sat down in it. She then ran over to her dresser and grabbed a speaker and set it in between us.

"So... you love singing, right?" She asked energetically. She turned the speaker on and grabbed her iPod and started scrolling through the settings.

"I don't like where this is going..." I murmured. I hate singing in front of people.

"But?" She asked as she pressed her finger against her iPod.

"But... yes," I said as I looked at the speaker. Lana squealed.

"What songs do you sing?" She asked as she pressed something else on her iPod.

"Um..." Should I tell her I write my own music? A bead of sweat ran down my back as I sat thinking.

Lana looked at stared at me and her jaw dropped, "Don't tell me! You write your own music?" She asked.

"How'd you know?" I asked as my eyes darted around the room.

"Um... because you are so skeptical about singing, you never let anyone look in your notebook, and because you seem like the type of girl to do that," She said as she plopped her iPod down in front of her. I gaped at her my eyes wide. She smirked and grabbed my guitar and handed it to me. "Play... and sing."

I shook my head, "No..." I said as I shoved my guitar away.

"What's the point of bringing the guitar if you aren't gonna use it?" Lana asked as she pushed it toward me.

"I was going to use it... I'm just not singing," I said as grabbed my guitar and set it down next to me. Lana frowned.

"It's just me here, Abby... you can't even show your musical talent to your friend?" She asked as she looked at the ground. I looked away from her and looked at the lights on the ceiling.

"Its not you, Lana. I don't even show my own parents my voice..." I said as I put my face in my hands. Lana put her hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, its okay. I am 'pressure-pastry' anyway... you don't have to sing if you don't want to," She said as she slouched in her beanbag chair. I started laughing.

"Pressure... pastry?" I said between laughs. "Oh, the crazy things you say, Lana..."

She smiled and turned and pressed a button on her iPod, making the music play on the speaker.

For the rest of the night, we listened to music. After each song, I felt like I wanted to play my guitar and sing more than ever. But no... I can't.

Not ever.