new year's —
22. revelations

same day, 10:12pm - charleston time

"Let's give a round of applause everyone! Another great performer from The Blue's."

Everyone clapped the jazz band that was getting off the stage. It seemed they were a very popular band around here and everyone knew them; the cheers didn't stop for awhile.

"Wow, they are really famous around here." Rudy exclaimed.

"They were good and i'm not a jazz fan." Madison replied.

Everyone agreed, jazz was very specific however Kira thought that it was a gender that somehow everyone managed to like secretly. For example, everytime that Kira heard jazz, she thought about her abuela - she was a huge jazz fan and her dinners or lunches were always filled with jazz music. Kira missed her a lot, she missed her grand lunches on sundays and her colorfull house back in Spain, she didn't know when she would see her again.

"Hey, everything okay?"

Kira snapped back from her thoughts and focused on the voice in question. It was Drew and she smiled a little.

"Yeah, just thinking about some stuff." She shrugged.

"Happy or sad stuff?"

"Happy, for sure."

Drew smiled and gave Kira a squezze on her shoulder. It was these small gestures that made Kira's heart go wild and she didn't know how to feel about that, it was a dangerous territory. She smiled back and looked at the stage again where the owner of the restaurant was starting to speak again.

"And now it's time for anyone who wants to sing, play, recite poetry, whatever you want, to come foward and give us a good night! Don't be shy, let's hear you!"

And in that precise moment, Kira just heard someone behind her getting up and utter words that made her heart stop.

"We can go first." Flynn exclaimed and then, more quietly. "And you're singing, Kae."

Kira didn't move for a second, afraid to turn around and those words be in fact, directed at her - which it was, but she was too afraid to admit that reality. Here's the thing, Kira doesn't sing - at least since she was 14. Her friends and family say she needs to go back to singing, but she couldn't. She also thought her voice was not the same since that time. That was one thing she was very insecure about, at least since her mother died when she was only 14 years old. Well, yeah she had a stepmother since she was 16 whom she now called her mom, it was so easy to love her, she was a perfect mother.

It was really easy to call her mom, she was always there for her and her brother and soon enough, they asked her to adopt her legally the next year, when Kira was 17. So basically, when Kira says her mother, it really is her stepmother, Olivia and it feels strange to call her anything but that. So, when her biological mother died she couldn't sing for awhile, it reminded her of her too much; Kira's recitals, their sleepless night singing Disney songs, however, over time, Olivia helped overcome that fear of hers. Nowadays, Kira can sing normally with friends, in the shower, everywhere, however it came this insecure feeling in singing for everyone. She thought she wasn't good enough.

"Kae?" she heard someone say.

She snapped from her thoughts and dared to look behind her, to her friends. They were all looking at her expectantly, they knew what was going on her head. They knew her to well, to well for her own good.

"We know that it's hard for you, but think of this as like, a new year's resolution." Lucas replied and reached across to grab Kira's hand. "You can do this."

"Lucas I-" She tried to argue.

"People here don't know you and you have such a beautiful voice. " Flynn smiled. "You have to accept that, I think everyone would be very happy to hear it."

He reached for her hand too, colliding with Luca's. She looked at them, they didn't like talking about this to her a lot. Of course, they listen to her sing in the car, at parties but they knew this was different, but they also knew it was time for her to shine and let go of this fear.

"I don't know, I know this is stupid but-" She tried again.

"She is always gonna be apart of you and you need to finally let go of this fear, for her." Marcus replied next. "She would love to hear you sing for an audience again, c'mon."

Marcus was the next one to grab her hand and they all were now holding hands with her. Her thoughts were all over the place, she knew that it was time to let go, just like Olivia said one day. Kira thought this whole thing was stupid, fear to sing in public when she was singing in concerts almost every weekend when she was young and singing with friends in parties? Bullsht, but it is what it is.

"I would like to hear your voice."

Kira turned around and looked at Drew. She stayed silent.

"Let's go Kira, let's hear what you are made off." Madelyn replied next.

Soon enough, everyone at the table was saying encouraging words to her and in that moment she never felt so loved. These people met her today and somehow she never thought she would be so close to them, it felt like she knew them her entire life. How the universe worked in mysterious ways.

Kira made up her mind. It was time to finally let it go.

"Let's do this."

Everyone cheered and her friends hugged her. She wasn't alone. She got up with them and her friends started to go to the stage but before she managed to take step towards it, someone grabbed her hand. She looked down and saw that it was Drew pulling her back.

"Good luck, you can do this."

Kira smiled. How could this human being know her for like, one month and be like this to her? Support her like this. Oh the territory was so dangerous, she could burn in there.

"Thank you, handsome." She managed to say and stepped away, towards the stage.

Now that she was on stage and looking at everyone, she realised how nervous she was. This was a bad idea. She felt someone tug her arm.

"Feel the music." Marcus said.

She looked at her friends and they were all at her side, Flynn having a microphone in his hand.

"Hi, we're Sonic Stars and we are actually a band from California." Flynn exclaimed and the public started to talk among themselves, excitedly. "Our girl friend, Kira, isn't apart of the band, her brother actually is but since he's not here today, she is joining us."

Flynn passed the microphone to Lucas, who was asking for it and while they were doing that, the public clapped for a bit.

"And we're switching places too, her brother usually plays the drums but Marcus here..." Lucas placed his hand on Marcus's shoulder. "...is going to replace him. He usually plays the guitar but we need a drummer, so." Everyone laughed.

Marcus grabbed his mic. "We're gonna sing an original from us. Hope you like it!"

The public cheered and her friends went to their respective places, Flynn grabbing the bass, Lucas the guitar, Marcus went to the small set of drums and Kira stood in the midle, with the main microphone right in front of her. This was getting too real for her.

"Hey." Flynn got close to her, whispering. "We're playing Pumpkin. You can do this."

Flynn squezzed her hand and got back to his place. Kira dared to look at the public and saw everyone looking at them, waiting for them to start, waiting for her to sing. Her friends were just tunning in the instruments and while they were doing that, she looked ahead, to her table. Drew and his friends were all giving her a thumbs up and started to cheer, making everyone to look at them. She saw some people recognizing them too.

"Go Kira!" Jonathan exclaimed.

She smiled and took a deep breath. She heard their friends starting to play the first chords of the song. It was time for her to sing.

( pumpkin by sonic stars (the regrettes) )

We're heavy lifting, but we're feeling fine
We think it's funny when we look at the time
...

The first part came and something stirred in Kira's heart. She felt something come alive. She tried not to look at the audience for a bit, trying to focus the music ahead.

...
I used to think that Romeo was full of shit
And The Notebook was just my favorite chick flick
But now I get why Sara was so hard to forget
Is this feeling that I'm feeling, I need more than it

She finally looked at the audience, everyone was moving to the beat of the song. The chorus soon came and Lucas and Flynn soon joined her. She never felt so good singing, she really missed this feeling.

Pumpkin, pumpkin
You're gonna kill me
Pumpkin, pumpkin
La-da-da-da-da-da
Pumpkin, pumpkin
I need you to feel me

She managed the courage to look to the person she was thinking while singing this chorus and what a stupid decision it was because she felt like she could choke on her words. Drew was looking right directly at her, almost at her soul she felt.

When she started to sing, Drew felt almost hypnotised by her voice like something was pulling him into her. She felt like sunset on a warm day of summer and he just wanted to keep that sunset forever in him, never letting it go. This feeling was so foreign to him, he never felt something so strong with someone and it scared him that this quick feelings would be something that could destroy him or both of them.

They started right at each other and Drew was certain of something. He likes this girl, a lot and he would do anything to keep her in his life.

author's note.          this chapter was probably one of my favs, especially the awakening of drew's feelings and kira letting go of her fear.
however, this quick feelings and attraction of both could be something that can be good or bad, you just have to wait and see.

the music is pumpkin by the regrettes.

thank you so much <3 i love u all