Page 62 of Starstruck

The whirlwind of how she’d gone from a stranger to a friend to agirlfriend, a fake girlfriend, made me blink, if only to clear out the tangled timeline in my head.

I angle my head at him as he hobbles his way towards the bathroom,playing my fakest smile. “I’ve got no idea what you’re on about.”

His head falls back as a laugh erupts out of him. “C’mon. White skirtand angel eyes? You might as well write ‘this song is about Goldie Moore’ at the top of the page, just like the rest of them.”

My brows drew in. “How did you know—”

“You can’t hide jack shit in a room this small, Tristan. I didn’t evenmean to find them and they were just… there.” I think he saw the look on my face when he dropped his head, rising it a second later with the faintest hew of guilt across his red cheeks. “I won’t say anything, I promise.”

I nodded at him, as my hands idly fiddled with the guitar. “Cheers.”

As Finn headed into the bathroom, I turned my head out thewindow, following the dueling raindrops that slipped down the glass. I used to love the rain. It was the perfect weather to draw a songout of me. But now, all I feel when hear the melodic tapping of the raindrop against the window, or the pavement, is fear. Cold, dark fear.

In a heartbeat, I’m on my back in the middle of the road, a screamso painful tearing its way out of my body.

Just as my breaths begin to hitch and my fingers start to feel numbaround the pick in my hands, my jeans buzz, breaking the tension. I set the guitar aside and quickly fished my phone out of my pocket, my heart racing at the sight of my dad’s name flashing on the screen. Without a moment’s hesitation, I hit answer.

“Alright, Dad?” I asked, trying my best to disguise whatever panicwas radiating through me.

“Hey, mate.” Dad chirped. “How’s it all going?”

I paid no attention to his accent, or at least I tried not to. Evenhearing my own was enough to remind me of the place I didn’t want to be.“Fine.”

Static crackled in my ear before he muttered, “Just fine?”

I huffed. “Well, what else do you want me tosay?”

“Something better than ‘fine,’ Tristan.” His sigh sent a chill down myspine. “You can’t blame us for wanting to know how you are after… everything.”

Everything.

The word felt painfully small. It couldn’t begin to encompass theweight of that time in my life, the chaos that still lingered in the shadows.

A wave of memories crashed over me, each one sharp and raw,pulling me into a darker time. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block them out, but they surged forward—faces and moments and rain and screams flickering like a broken film reel. I took a deep breath, calming myself as the past wrapped around me like a wall of fog over Tower Bridge.

april, 2023

What sounded like roars from the crowd boomed in my ears, as Itried to keep my hands as steady as possible, not wanting to breathe too heavily and disrupt the lines I’d only just straightened. I shook my head, letting out a small grunt, before gunning down and snorting all three of them, arching my back when I’d finished to meet the dilated stares of my friends.

Friends. The word sounded foreign as it got lost in my head. Thiswas all I’d ever wanted. Granted, I hadn’t envisioned it unfolding quite like this—connections born in the shadows of chaos—but I didn’t care.

I wasn’t the loser kid anymore.

I reached out my hand to Roland, who I still labelled Frosted Tips inmy head, lazily handing him the rolled-up sheet music I’d torn from my notes earlier.

“Who’s it from?”He asked, tilting his chin at me, barely pausing foran answer before he leant down and cleared two lines in one clean breath.

“Harry,”I said, wiping my nose.“He’s back now so we don’t have togo to Bradley anymore.”

Dressed in a denim mini skirt and a black strapless top, Jem comesbounding over, hopping onto the speakers that we’d manifested around.“Good. He scares me. I think it’s the accent.”

I grunted a laugh.“I think it’s the drug empire but whatever.”

Quick as anything, she plucks the paper from Ro’s hand and steals aline. She flips her hair from her face as she leans back up, before gracing us with that bright, slightly giddy, smile. “You owed me anyway.”

“And you still owe me.”My lips twisted into a smirk. I was toopre-occupied with trying to remember my lyrics to ask myself whether I should stop looking at her like that after last week.

Typically, she wasn’t this perky. Only gets this way after herevening blunt and a couple of Molly’s. Come tomorrow morning; she’ll be moody and distant and everything we were used to seeing.

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