Chapter Twenty Two

A week and five days later...

I can't take it anymore. We wasted half an hour of our practice yelling. When I say we I really mean they. They won't shut their mouths for two seconds. They keep bickering back and forth over nothing. The musicians thinks the singers are out of tune and the singers say otherwise. The dancers are arguing with each other about the choreography and I'm the only one here trying to stop the fight. Mr. Dean, Mr. Logan and Mrs. Ray doesn't know about the schedule practice because they didn't think we needed another practice. Only if they knew....

My hands grips my hair and I pull it. I had enough of this.

"SHUT UP!" I yell over their arguments. "Everyone be quiet."

The voices dies down and they stare at me crazy. They probably didn't think my voice could be so loud.

"The performance is tomorrow and all of you are wasting time, my time, arguing over something stupid and pointless. I'm in charge of this. If someone was out of tune, do you not think I would have told you?"

Ava crosses her arms. "Well apparently, you can't hear cause obviously someone was out of tune."

I exhale, angrily. "You're the one not in tune. So I advise you to be quiet unless you want to be embarrassed."

She heeds my advice and I face the dancers.

"I don't know much about dancing but I can count. Rick if you pop out on five, you won't bump into Dave, coming out on four. Becca you're spinning too early so that's why you finish way before Heather. Slow down and count."

They nod their heads before working on their dance and the argument begins again with the choir.

"Don't tell me what to do." Ashely is saying. "I don't need your help."

"I'm trying to help you." Sophie tells her.

"And like I said, I don't need it." Ashely snaps.

"I thought I told you to stop arguing." I say. "Why are you still arguing? If you're not going to listen to me, then why are you here?"

No one answers me. They continue to stare at me. My question hangs in the air, waiting to answered but no one speaks.

I look each one of them in their eyes, daring them to say something, anything.

"Are we going to practice or are we going to agrue some more? It's up to you guys. I don't care."

Lucas is the one to answer a moment later. "We're gonna practice."

Everyone nods their head, agreeing with him. I sigh in relief.

I lift my arms up. "Okay from the top. One, two, three." I signal them to start.

It's near eight when practice ends and Hayes is walking me to my room. Sophie walks with us.

"So Hayes, how's guardian life treating you?" Sophie asks.

"It's going. Nothing interesting happened yet." He answered, in a bored tone.

Nothing interesting? The voice repeats. Did he forget he dated you, the princess of Arsyn? Or how about his whole summer he spent with you? I wouldn't say it wasn't interesting.

This is bad but I talk back to the voice. I don't know why I keep doing this.

Sophie means fighting wise. I think. He hasn't got in a fight. Well except for the time he fought Eli. That doesn't really count.

Yes it does. He was protecting you. The voice argues.

I ignore her and I'm glad she doesn't say anything else.

"Oh really? I mean the way Mom and Dad speaks about it, it sound adventurous and dangerous."

"They have a different job from me. They work wherever their job sends them." Hayes says.

"Speaking of Mom and Dad, have you heard from them? They usually send me a letter by now. It's been almost four months since I heard from them"

Hayes shakes his head. "No. I haven't."

Sophie gets worried. "You don't think something bad happened to them, do you?"

"They're fine. They're highly trained guardians. They can take care of themselves." Her brother tells her.

Sophie stays quiet and I look at her. Her face is pull into a deep thoughts. She's thinking about them. I probably would too. They were the only family she has, beside Hayes. They adopted her and if she lose them, it's like she's losing her real parents all over again.

I touch her hand, lightly. She looks up and I give her a small smile.

"Don't worry about it." I say. "They're fine."

"How do you know that?"

I don't know but I know if Abe's guardians were in dangerous or trouble, Hayes would know by now. Abe would have sent an army out for them.

"My father has a huge filing cabinet. It has all the Arysian people's name in there. Abe keeps tabs on his people and I'm pretty sure I can find your parents and assure you they are okay."

"You would do that for me?" She asks. "Can you do that?"

No. I think.

But I think I can manage to sneak in and out before anyone will notice. I just need help. I look at Hayes. He could help me but then again he probably won't.

I smile at Sophie. "What my father doesn't know, won't hurt him."

Sophie grins. "Oh! Thank you, Millie!"

She throws her arms around me and hugs me tightly.

"Yeah but who's to say I won't tell him."
Hayes says, raising his eyebrow.

Sophie lets go of me and clasps her hands together. "Please, please, please, don't tell." She begs.

"It's against the law." He says.

I roll my eyes. "That never stopped you before." I mutter but he hears. I look at him. "Please, Hayes."

He looks at us for about thirty seconds before giving in. "I won't say anything but if Abe finds out, you're on your own." He tells us as he walks away.

I sigh and Sophie hugs me again, squealing. I hope I didn't make a huge mistake. We reach my room and like always, Hayes checks my room before he leaves. I take a long shower before changing into comfortable pajamas. I crawl into my queen sized bed and I pull out my notebook. I open it and flick to the page I'm writing my bash song on. I study it. It can be better. Way better. But this says everything I've been keeping inside of me. No one's going to know it's about him except Lucas, Lily and Sophie. And I guess Hayes as well.

It's a betrayal song. It explain how he hurt me in the worst way possible. I can take physical pain but I can't handle hurtful words, especially if it involves my heart. Love is my weakness. It's my kryptonite.

***

We pile in the bus ten minutes before three in the afternoon. Mr. Dean has a clipboard with all the names written on it. He marks of each names as we walk onto the bus. Mr. Logan is driving and Mrs. Ray is sitting behind him.

"They said it's good to go." Hayes informs them, holding his ear piece.

A group of guardians left four hours ago to scout the area to make sure no Morches are lurking nearby. Abe wanted to ensure our safety and assure us nothing will hurt us.

This is a big deal. If one of us gets hurts, it can ruin everything. Mrs. Kovok wants to make this an annual thing but if we somehow get attack, that would be the end of it. I really don't want that. They deserve to get a chance to leave Arsyn High more than once a year. Everyone, during winter break gets to see their family. If it goes as plan, then the rest of Arsyn High will join us next year.

The gates opens and we begin our two hours trip to a nearby town. I rest my head against the seat behind me. The bus fills up with many conversations and sounds. Sophie plops down beside me.

"I'm so excited." She says, smiling. "I can't wait until we get there."

"Me either. It'll be worth it."

"How many people do you think will show up? They never heard of us before." She says.

I shrug. "I don't know but I know if it has to do with cancer a lot people will show up."

"Do you wanna a play a game?"

"If it's I spy with my little eyes then no thanks." I tell her.

She rolls her green eyes. "It's not that. It's called Never Have I Ever."

I sit up. "That game can turn dirty really fast. I don't think Hayes would want you to play that game."

"I'm not a little kid anymore, I can handle it. Beside, I think it would be funny to see the face on Hayes' face when he learns what I've been doing."

"Do you want every guy at our school to end up six feet under?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"It'll be okay." She waves me off. "Lucas! Hayes!" She calls out.

The guys looks our way and Sophie motions for them to come over. Once they get here, she asks. "Do you guys wanna play Never Have I Ever?"

"I'll play." Lucas says.

We all look at Hayes. He doesn't look interested.

"Come on, Hayes." Sophie says. "Just play. You're nineteen."

Hayes sighs. "One round and nothing dirty." He warns us.

Sophie smirks. "No promises."

Our game begins. It starts off simple with never dating a girl named Lily or never have I been a boy. Things like that before Sophie changes everything.

"Never have I ever kissed a boy named Kyle."

I glare at her before dropping one of my fingers. Yeah I kissed him. It wasn't like we made out or anything. It was just a quick, shy kiss. Kyle surprised me the day I left to go visit Abe. It was week ago and I can feel Hayes' eyes on me.

"Never have I ever..." I trail off. I think of something. "Had sex before."

I was mainly focusing on Sophie but she isn't the only one who put their finger down. Lucas and Hayes does also. I knew Hayes did it before but Lucas he was different.

Hayes shoots draggers at his sister. "Who's the guy?"

"I'm not telling you." Sophie says. "You're just gonna beat him up."

"No. I just want to talk to him."

I roll my eyes. "With your fist. Sophie don't tell him."

"I wasn't."

Hayes and Sophie begins to argue and I face Lucas.

"I can't believe you're not a virgin." I tell him.

"Well I am a guy and I have needs, too."

"Wait until Lily finds out." I cross my arms.

He grins. "Who do you think I lost it to."

My eyes widen. "You didn't."

He laughs. "You should've seen your face. Priceless!" He stops laughing. "I didn't sleep with your sister and she already knows."

"You're done playing." Hayes says. "Game over."

He gets up and takes a seat somewhere else. We look at Sophie and she shrugs like it isn't a big deal.

"What can I say? Brothers. They're overprotective."

Only if she knew....

***

We reach our destination and Mr. Dean stands up.

"Everyone listen up. I'm only going to say this once." He says. "When we get in there, behave. If you misbehave, you will be punished. Do you understand?"

We mutter a chorus of 'yes' and we pile out the bus and head inside the building. We had an hour before we had to perform and they use the time to set up.

I catch a strand of dark hair from the corner of my eyes. I turn my head and I see Lily and her protector, Reid.

"What are you guys doing here?" I ask.

Lily shakes a silver camera in her hand. "I'm recording."

I brought up what Kyle said about everyone else not able to see the performance and I guess Abe figured out a solution.

"Mrs. Kovok said we can watch the video in Mrs. Garner's class on Monday." Lily says.

"That's good. I know they'll be happy to see it."

"Is Abe here? Is he coming?" I ask.

Lily shakes her head. "He wanted to come but he got stuck in another meeting."

Every since Abe found out about Monica and Nathan, he's been keeping his eyes on everything. The council has been having meetings to get to the botton of this and to find out what Ramadi is up to.

The hour passes by and before I know it, I'm standing on the stage in front of a huge audience.

I hate the fact that they made me the speaker. I didn't even know I was the speaker until they told me, ten minutes ago. I grab the mic and spoke in a clear voice that echoes throughout the room.

"October is the month of breast cancer awareness. Many people can relate to this. It could be a friend you know, a family member or it could you, who has or had it. Breast Cancer it's not something you can get through without support and faith. You don't just get through it but you survive because that's what you are. You're a survivor. You will survive. This song is dedicate to everyone who has been or is being a survivor. We will survive this together. The fight isn't over with. Remember to stay strong and stand up to cancer."

I finish my short,unprepared speech and the crowd claps for me as I place the mic place in the mic stand. I take my place and Mr. Dean motions for us to start.

Everything will be alright yeah
Alright yeah, alright yeah

[Ava:]
The heart is stronger than you think
Like it could go through anything
And even when you think it can't
It finds a way to still push on though

[Ashely:]
Sometimes you want to run away
Ain't got the patience for the pain
And if you don't believe it look into your heart
The beat goes on

[Sophie:]
I'm telling you
Things get better
Through
Whatever
If you fall,
Dust it off,
Don't let up

[Xander:]
Don't you know you can go be your own miracle

[Sophie:]
You need to know!

[All:]
If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you don't give up
Who are we to be questioning, wondering what is what?
Don't give up, through it all, just stand up

[Lucas:]
Ooh, it's like we all had better days
Problems getting all up in your face
Just because you go through it
Don't mean it got to take control, no oh oh

[Zach:]
You ain't got to find no hiding place
Because the heart can beat the hate
Don't want to let the mind keep playing you
And saying you can't go on

We sing the chorus again and I watch the audience. They're loving the song so far and I can't help but to smile.

[Ava:]
You don't got to be a prisoner in your mind
If you fall, dust it off
You can live your life

[All:]
Yeah

[Lucas:]
Let your heart be your guide

[All:]
Yeah yeah yeah

[Sophie:]
You will know there's a good if you trust in the good

[All:]
Everything will be alright, yeah
Light up the dark, if you follow your heart

[Kelsea:]
And it will get better
Through whatever

[All:]
If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you don't give up
Who are we to be questioning, wondering what is what?
Don't give up, through it all, just stand up

The chorus is repeated twice before we get to the end. The part I sing.

You got it in you, find it within
You got it in you, find it within yeah
You got it in you, find it within
You got it in you, find it within yeah
You got it in you, find it within
You got it in you, find it within yeah
Find it within you, find it within

[All:]
Through it all, just stand up

Before we finished the song, everyone in the audience was standing up. Tears are in their eyes and I smile. This is why we came here. We gave them hope. We're giving them a reason to continue to fight and to beat this. I look around me and I get the sense everyone feels the same way I do.