Page 3 of Disharmony

While most of my peers are preparing to go to college in the fall, a long summer stretches ahead with no end in sight. It was my choice to postpone college. Dad never asked me to, but what choice did I have? Even though I’ve been counting down the days until I can leave town, I can’t bring myself to leave him alone so soon after… what happened. Besides, what would I study anyway? I don’t want to study music theory; I want to be living and breathing it.

“Come on, Ash. At least say you’ll think about it.” Brick reclines in the booth. The waitresses’ eyes almost pop out of their sockets at the size of his flexing muscles. Working in the construction yard and playing football has given him a body that attracts women’s attention wherever he goes, but he is oblivious to it. “What’s so bad about being here? You can work with me at my dad’s place until you decide what to do or where you want to go to college.”

Even though Brick has the grades and the potential to land a sports scholarship, he never considered getting a degree. Meadow Springs is his entire world, and he wants to keep it that way. He’s a creature of habit and likes living in a familiar bubble. I mean, he’s eaten the same lunch every day for as long as I can remember. How many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can one person eat until they want something new? The jury’s still out.

“Not everyone wants to stay in town, Brick,” I remind him. “I don’t want to be stuck here forever. You may be happy going along with what your dad wants, but I want more than that. I need more than that.”

“Does that mean we’re not good enough for you now?” Brick’s face falls. Shit. He’s too nice for his own good, which means upsetting him feels like kicking a puppy in the face. “Is that it?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” I insist. I stop to think of the right words before digging myself an even bigger hole to crawl out of. “But getting into Camp Harmony was about more than having a summer break. It was everything I’ve ever wanted, and now? I don’t know what to do next.”

I might as well accept I’ll live and die in this town, just like my mom. She had dreams of her own once too. Dreams that were shattered because she couldn’t get out. Camp Harmony wasn’t just about me… it was about her. I wanted to do it for both of us, but I failed. I’ve let her down.

“There will be other chances,” Brick says. He has an unnatural knack for looking on the positive side. Usually, I like how his optimism balances out my gloomy outlook, but right now, it’s a fucking pain in the ass. I don’t want him, or anyone else, trying to fix my problems. Is it too much to ask for someone to listen and let me wallow in my misery? “Maybe there’s another way?”

“Not for me. My voice isn’tcommercialenough,” I say, quoting the rejection letter. “Let’s be real, I’m not a cute blonde who sings about her ex-boyfriends. I don’t fit what they’re looking for.”

“You have an amazing voice, Ash,” Brick says, then pauses. A mischievous smile spreads over his face. “Well, when you’re not singing that Basilisk stuff...”

Brick has heard me sing some of my originals. I don’t have the range to do full-on screamo like Zed, from the Basilisks, but I can do a mean cover.

“Hey!” I flick my soda at him. No one can say a word against them on my watch. “Don’t mess with my guys, okay?”

“See?” Brick says. “There’s the Ash Cooper I know. The one who doesn’t take shit from anyone, and who isn’t going to let words on a piece of paper get in her way.”

Yeah, we’ll see about that.

* * *

My pinging cell phone wakes me up. I squint through the darkness at the fifty notifications lighting up the screen. As I look, more keep coming. Again and again. One after the other. Ping. Ping. Ping.

What the actual fucking fuck?

I don’t have a big circle of friends. I have Brick and a few others I used to hang out with in the music rooms to rehearse, but I’m mostly a loner and like it that way. Being different in Meadow Springs doesn’t exactly do a lot for your popularity, and I’ve never been interested in friendships with shallow assholes, anyway.

I click on a notification.

Holy shit.

I sit upright in bed. Suddenly, I’m wide a-fucking-wake as a video of me singing fills the screen. A video I didn’t know existed. A video I never gave anyone permission to take… let alone share all over the fucking internet.

I refresh the page.

This can’t be happening.

No. No… NO!

I blink to make sure I’m not dreaming, but the vibrating chains me to reality. This is no mistake. I hit refresh again. The views keep climbing. People are seeing this. Real fucking people are watching me sing… like this.

I don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out who was responsible for this stunt. There’s only one person on earth who could have done this, and I’ll strangle him when I get my hands on him.

I jump up, throwing my comforter to the floor, and race downstairs, taking two steps at a time. Thankfully, Dad is a heavy sleeper and the snoring coming from his room confirms there’s no way he’ll be waking up soon. He works the late shift on Friday nights and hasn’t been home long.

As I leave, I close the front door gently and sprint over the lawn to the house next door, still in my SpongeBob pajamas. The wet grass soaks through my bed socks, but I’m too angry for that to bother me.

When we were kids, Brick and I snuck over to each other’s houses all the time. The trellis on the side of Brick’s house makes a damn good ladder to his room, even if I have to trample his mom’s morning glories in sacrifice. I climb to the top like a spider monkey and hammer on his window. This is far from a Romeo and Juliet scene.

The curtains pull back to reveal Brick rubbing his eyes. It may be five a.m. on a Saturday morning, but he’s not sleeping late today.

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