24th ♬

"From the top, and then we'll call it a night." Jace wiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead.

It was seven in the evening and the temperature was still as humid as it could possibly be, with no signs of cooling down. I found myself grabbing the bottle of water beside me, taking a sip and chilling myself just in time before Fritz took the lead.

We were in our final rehearsal, on the stage that would be used tomorrow. The place was still empty. No one was allowed to go near the venue due to all the crazy preparations going on. Aside from the ones who were setting up things, we were the only ones around. Lucas was standing on the sidelines, with Hayley beside him, two seats away.

"Hey, Luke, we sound all right from there?" asked Jace, after performing one song.

He gave us a thumbs up and a slight nod. Well, that was a relief. I guessed all those practices really paid off. My hands were already sore from it all. But the feeling was something that I wouldn't trade for anything else, even if all my fingers got blisters now.

I was reminded of a thing that I'd loved doing from before, how I was given the chance to play the guitar again, and in front of a crowd to top all that. Even if I was doing all this for the sake of making it up with them all, I felt like I was lucky enough just to be here myself.

With every crazy thing that had happened to me, I could almost say that this summer, really, wasn't officially that bad. Not at all. In fact, it was even better than what I could imagine, even if it was not the perfect package, with no happy ending like what Claire had expected. But then as I scanned the small group surrounding me, with smiled painted on all of their faces, everybody was already happy. And deep inside, I felt it too, that feeling like your heart could burst from bliss any moment soon.

Jace ended the last song with the final strum of the guitar, and our little audience—in the form of two souls and a poodle dog—stood up and clapped their hands in response. I put down my guitar beside me, grabbing the bottle of water again, only to find it empty.

"Here you go," said someone from behind, pressing a cold bottle of water on my forehead.

I tilted my head back, seeing one familiar face, but doubting if I was seeing right. "Mason!"

"Yo," Mason said, waving his hand a bit and showing off his signature move.

"You're back," I shouted with excitement, wrapping my sweaty arms around him.

"And you're gross. How can you sweat like a guy?" Mason playfully replied, patting my head a little.

"With all those lights on my face, sweating should be expected," I answered convincingly.

"Summer's not complete without it anyway," Mason said, laughing.

"Got that right." Then I suddenly thought, if Mason was here, then Claire was supposed to be around also. She told me that she went to the airport this morning to pick him up. I wasn't able to come with her, since I had to work and then I had to be at the rehearsal tonight. Looking around him, I suddenly asked, "Where's Claire? I thought she was picking you up."

"She did. And she's right over there." Mason pointed out behind me.

I swiftly turned around because the direction where he pointed to wasn't the place I expected Claire to be. And as soon as I spotted her, my eyes widened in absolute shock. I saw Claire's right hand went up in the air, aiming for Jace's perfect face. With her super strength—that unfortunately, she wasn't aware of—I had a clue what harm she could possibly do to his face.

And then the world ticked in slow motion as I attempted to run toward her, trying to prevent Claire from creating a scene, setting aside the fact that she already did. Or rather, I wanted to prevent her from damaging him, not before the show!

"Cla—" I was trying to call her attention, but was stopped when Mason's arm grabbed me and his hand landed on my mouth, shutting me up and making me stay in place.

"Just wait a while," Mason suddenly told me.

"Wait a while?" I repeated. But since his hand was still on my mouth, it came out as a breath instead.

But the years of friendship had paid off. He completely understood what I said and replied, "As we were driving back here, we came up with some theories."

I tried talking again, but seeing how I barely sounded coherent to myself, I forcefully removed his hands from me. Then I asked, "What are you talking about?"

"You and Jace. You two are the town's hottest topic after all." Mason grinned.

"We're not!" I retorted. "And why are you talking about us?"

"About Jace's girlfriend," Mason answered steadily, his eyes still on Claire's direction, probably watching out what she was up to.

Snap.

I totally forgot that she was about to hit Jace. Turning my head in their direction again, I saw her hand slowly went down as Jace was telling her something. Whatever he told her, it sure did calm her a bit.

"What is she doing? I'll drag her from there," I said, taking a step forward only to be held back by Mason again.

"Just wait a while. You'll find out later on," he told me.

"But what if she—"

And then there was that one hard hit directed to Jace's face. She did slap him the next second. Ouch. I quickly studied his face, and saw that the damage wasn't that much. Though his right cheek was a little reddened, visible even from where I was standing. And not to mention that he was sweating from the summer heat.

Double ouch.

And then Jace began saying something again to her. I couldn't make out what they were talking about, since Claire obstructed the view, and Mason was holding me from behind. But it was definitely quite a scene, with all the audience staring in disbelief. They all... I meant, we all couldn't believe that this was even happening.

I took one quick glance at Fritz and Drake on the other side. They were probably wondering if they should involve themselves or not. Lucas and Hayley were both stunned, in their own little way. Lucas had one hand over his mouth. Surprisingly, Hayley wasn't actually going on in an all out war with Claire.

I mean, she was supposed to be mad, seeing that her guy was just slapped like that. But then, was she? Hayley was more like staring at the two, watching out what else would happen. What kind of girlfriend was that? She couldn't even stand for him.

And then Leandra, the dog, got out of Hayley's grasp and dashed forward, up on stage. Barked. Yes, she did bark ferociously at Claire. Claire was startled and so was Jace. And that was the moment when Hayley finally got the sense to go up on the stage herself.

"Here, girl. Be nice to them," Hayley said, hushing her pup.

Mason let go of me, and I walked toward Claire, grabbing her arm. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hi, Reese," Claire said to me, surprisingly in a more alleviated up mood. It was the opposite of what I had expected.

"Why did you..." I muttered under my breath, forcefully dragging her away.

"I was so angry a while ago. Sorry about slapping his face," Claire murmured. "It came out too soon."

"But why? It's not his fault that he has a girlfriend," I reasoned out, lowering my voice.

"And it was not your fault that he made you fall in love with him," Claire said flatly in response.

I looked around, thinking if anyone had heard her. Gladly, no one else seemed to be listening to us. All of them got involved in another conversation after. I did not dare look at Jace's direction, knowing that Hayley was at his side now.

"But that's not the point. You shouldn't slap someone out of the blue," I gnarled, pulling her down the stage with me and leaving the band behind. She really had a lot of explaining to do and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't interested in what they had talked about. I mean, aside from the part that I was agitated about what Claire did, I was also curious.

Dying of it, actually.

"Reese! Don't forget the party later," reminded Lucas as we walked past him.

"I'll be there," I said, looking back to face him and forcing a composed smile.

As I recall that there would be a party tonight, the happenings of this afternoon came into my mind once more. Eleven. At the fountain area. Jace asked me to meet him there. What again? Now, I was confused all over again.

Honestly, I had forgotten all about it for several hours, as we were having our last rehearsal before the event. Maybe it was because I was so preoccupied with what I was doing that it had slipped my mind. Now that I was reminded about it again, I was actually relieved that Claire had created a scene and we had to walk away from the venue. Somehow, I wanted to clear my head and possibly take the chance to ask myself the rotting question of why all over again.

Stopping midway from the venue to the entrance of the beach, I held back Claire's right arm and said, "There's something that I haven't told you."

Claire knew everything that had happened ever since Hayley had arrived, before I came to our band practice at Fritz's place. She quizzically asked, "What?"

"He sort of did something a while ago," I stuttered, nervous all of a sudden.

"Did you two..." Mason was the one who suddenly implied something, catching up with us.

"No, I mean, he did..." I paused, "kiss me. But it was only on the forehead. Nothing special."

"Nothing special?" Mason repeated.

"I think... I mean, why would he do that? I'm also asking myself why he would do such a thing."

"Well, thinking about what he said a while ago... he told me something about a surprise for you," Claire started saying.

"What?" I instantly asked.

"And the thing is, you dragged me before I even got the chance to hear it out myself," Claire said wearily. "You really have the worst timing."

"Told you, my theory is correct," concluded Mason in the most Einstein manner.

"And what theory was that?" I asked them both.

"Well, he said that maybe Hayley was not really Jace's girlfriend. He was actually convinced about it," explained Claire, looking oblivious at the thought.

I laughed a bit, in the most sarcastic way. But they didn't join in, probably because I wasn't in the least convincing enough. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would they create such a show?"

"And I also have the answer for that," said Mason, snapping his fingers.

"And what's that again?" I asked him.

"I guess it's better if you hear it from him. We don't want to ruin what he has in mind. But we can ask around if you want. There's always the other band members, who seem to know who she is," Mason suggested.

"Come to think of it, they all know her. But it's because she is his girl," I said, unconvinced of what Mason had concluded.

"But what if she is not?" Claire suggested.

"And they did not act suspicious a while ago? Not even a bit? Surely, there must be something weird that had happened," Mason told me.

I tried to recall the moment when Hayley had appeared in the practice room a while ago. Aside from Lucas, the other two seemed to be surprised to see her, even asking her why she was here. From what I had seen, I told him, "Well, there was Fritz, who acted out of place. Drake even said weird things. That it was not really needed."

None of those words played correctly in my mind after, especially after what Jace did, which added more confusion to the matter. I wasn't even myself until this moment.

"Time check, eight thirty. We should get changed and go to that party," Claire reminded us.

"Can I borrow one of your clothes? Mom might suddenly change her mind if she'd see me. She let me off a while ago. But you know, she might take it back," I said to her, talking about my mom's sudden change of moods.

"Sure, no problem with that. And we have to make you pretty tonight," Claire replied happily.

"Why? Is there a need for that?"

"Hello? Did you forget about the surprise?"

"Do you think he'll break my heart with that surprise? I mean with him telling me to get going with my life alone or something like that?" I suddenly asked her; my apprehension about the Hayley matter was still winning the battle.

"After he kissed you? I don't think so," Claire answered.

"Maybe he did it for fun," I shrugged. "Or friendly kiss on the forehead?"

She eyed me disbelievingly.

Mason grabbed my shoulders and pushed me along. Then he reassured me, "He doesn't seem to be the type."

A little later, Claire did dress me up, all the way from head to toe. She initially wanted to make me wear a black dress, but I forced my way out of that one. In the end, she let me wear one of her sequined top and stay in my comfy jeans instead. My hair, though, didn't escape her fingers. Before I could even say a thing, Claire was already curling it. And of course, there were the ankle boots that she also made me wear.

But to do all that, Claire took up some time, an hour actually. And not to mention that she dolled herself up, too, with the black dress that she initially wanted me to wear. So with all that, we arrived a little after ten at the venue. It was a private party at one of the local bars. There were a few who were invited, and most of them were people the guys knew.

I still had time before the ultimate surprise, so I had set my mind on finding out what was the real deal between Jace and Hayley. I was secretly hoping that Mason was right, that she wasn't whom she had declared she was. But then, I would never know until I found out.

Spotting Fritz in one corner, I said goodbye to the two and headed toward him. He was talking to one girl from my class. Her name was Jane or something.

Fritz noticed me approaching them, and seemed to be oblivious to the idea. "What do you want?"

"Um... do you," I thought about what to ask, "know where Jace is?"

"Jace?" Fritz repeated. "He's not here."

I kind of noticed that a while ago. "Where is he?"

"Go figure," Fritz uninterestingly replied.

"Is he with Hayley?" I tried asking some more, hoping to get something from him.

"I don't know. Maybe. They're a couple after all," Fritz grunted.

"Oh, right," I managed.

"Anything else?"

I shook my head abruptly. "None. And hi there, Jane."

"It's Jackie," she corrected me.

"Right. Jackie." I smiled foolishly. How could I forget her name when we had been in the same class for two years?

I waved goodbye to them, not really apt to prolonging the shame of not remembering Jackie's name correctly. I should have omitted the name part if I only knew that I would be embarrassed by it. Laughing a bit about my misfortune, I looked for Lucas.

But apparently, Lucas was nowhere to be found, either. I started to wonder where he was, and what he could possibly be up to. For someone who had a broken arm, he sure knew how to be busy.

"Hey, I know you," said someone, blocking my way.

I looked at the guy who was a little older than me. He wasn't familiar. Even if I could not remember names properly, at least I was aware if a face was familiar or not. And I was certain that he was listed in the unknown category. There was nothing in his rough face and unpleasant contour that made me recognize him at all.

"Nope, I don't know you," I replied, walking over to the other side.

"Oh, come on. Have a drink with me." He held my wrist.

"Let go, sheesh, you're being a bother. Don't you know that I've got something important to do?" I yanked my arm away.

He didn't seem to be convinced. Or maybe he didn't comprehend enough, since it was obvious that he already had a few drinks himself. Letting out a sigh, I started walking again, away from the guy. But as I was a few steps from him, I didn't notice that he was still following me. Then suddenly, his arm was around my shoulders and his breath on my face.

I pushed him away.

He laughed a bit, amused at my startled reaction. Seeing that he was making another move, I forcefully pushed him back once more. But he wasn't planning to let me go, until one set of cold eyes shook him off. It was Drake's actually, and even I was surprised.

"What took you so long? We're at that table," Drake said to me, pulling me to his side. "And who is this?"

"I don't know him," I replied.

The other guy snarled before going his way, clearly displeased.

"Thanks," I said to Drake.

"It must be the dress," he commented. "Or maybe the shoes."

"What?" I asked, puzzled about what he was talking about.

"The one that attracted that guy. I'm kinda figuring it out," Drake muttered, looking at my black boots.

"And you're complementing me," I observed.

"You're part of the band now. Guess I should talk to you every once in a while," Drake told me.

"Right," I laughed. "So you actually talk."

Taking a seat beside him, he asked if I wanted a drink. I said no and told him I would be fine. Instead, I asked him where I could find Lucas. Actually, I believed that Lucas was the only one who could tell me things. And I could probably convince him if I tried.

"Lucas," Drake gave it a thought.

"Yeah, do you know where he is? Isn't he supposed to be here?"

"I think he's helping out Jace," Drake answered, quite direct to the point.

"With what?" I said.

He turned his gaze to me, a set of dark brown eyes stared at me. He smiled a bit, more like a sudden laugh. I immediately wanted to ask why, but he cut me off as he said, "I think you'll find out in a while."

"Oh, the eleven thingy? Jace also told you that?" I suddenly asked, astounded that Jace had opened up the matter to everyone else.

"Not really, but I got the hunch when I saw Hayley a while ago. And then, I asked Lucas," Drake told me without any form of hesitation or brotherly pact that prevented him from uttering a word. Well, that seemed to be the case for Fritz.

"And Hayley..." I tried to ask.

"Her? She's his cousin," Drake bluntly answered. His eyes showed a grin, like he wanted me to know about this matter ever since he started considering that I wasn't just a thin-air who knew how to talk.