Chapter Twenty-Three
Evie
I hum our most popular song from Saturday night as I get ready for school on Monday.
I’m in such a good mood that I actually woke up early for a change and go downstairs to join my family for breakfast. Each one of them stares at me with surprise as I walk in and wish them a good morning, planting a kiss on Mom’s cheek and then Dad’s, then settling down at the table.
There are stacks of pancakes and waffles, courtesy of Chef Liam, and I waste no time piling them onto my plate.
“Someone’s in a good mood,” Liam observes with a chuckle.
“Can you blame her?” Lily asks. “She and the band were fire Saturday night. I can’t stop thinking about it. You guys were such kickbutts.”
“And I can’t forget how beautiful you sounded out there, sweetie,” Mom says with a loving smile. “It brings me back to my high school days when I was in choir.”
“Like beautiful mother, like beautiful daughter,” Dad says as he places his hand over Mom’s and they share a silent message. No doubt they’re thinking about the days when they fell in love.
Makes a certain kiss pop into my head.
“Ugh,” I groan as I shove it away.
My family gives me confused looks.
“I mean, thanks,” I quickly say as I stuff a pancake into my mouth. “Oh my gosh.” I sigh like I just shot up to heaven. “This is delicious, Liam. It’s like a gorgeous mural in my mouth.”
“Right?” Lily grabs another pancake and takes a bite. “Forget the syrup. This tastes amazing without it.”
“Thanks,” Liam says with pink cheeks.
“And you’ll be even more amazing once you’re done with your internship. You’re going to be this bigshot chef and prepare the most delicious dishes for us.”
“I hope so,” Liam says. “But not the bigshot part. I want to still be me.”
“Of course you will,” Mom says as she gets up to take her plate to the sink. “You can still stay true to yourself while pursuing your dreams. You don’t have to get caught up in all the fame and glory.”
“Fame and glory?” He shifts in his seat. “I hope that won’t happen.”
Dad stretches across the table to rub his arm. “You’ll be fine. Don’t stress about it.”
Lily suddenly gasps so loud that Mom almost drops her dish.
“What?” we all ask.
She’s staring at her phone with wide eyes. Then she waves it before us. “Did you see this? Your video has gone viral, Evie!”
“What video? I didn’t post anything.”
“Not you. Chloe posted a video of your performance yesterday. It got some traction, but it suddenly went viral overnight.”
“What?!” I fly out of my chair and bolt over to her, grabbing her phone and studying the screen. She’s right. The video Chloe posted on Spill It! has indeed gone viral. There are so many likes and comments that my head spins.
“Listen to this!” Lily announces as she reads some of the comments.
“‘The Rock’n Jocks are a new and upcoming band that definitely has my attention! The lead singers are such a dynamic duo, and the music is spot on! When’s their next performance?
I want to hear them live!’” She swallows and reads the next one.
“‘Love this new band! They’re so fresh and their sound is great!’ ‘What’s the guy’s name? He’s soooo cute!’”
“As if,” I mutter, even though a part of me can’t help but agree. Noah does look good up there. In fact, he looks very…sexy.
The kiss invades my mind.
Ugh! I shake my head, once again tossing the memory away.
“Look, Evie! A comment about you. ‘The girl’s name is Evie and she has such an amazing voice! And she’s so pretty. I love her. Totally obsessed with her style.”
My cheeks warm up. “Oh, wow.”
“Look at that.” Liam grins. “I’m related to a famous person.”
I playfully roll my eyes. “If anyone will be famous in this family, it’ll be you, Chef Liam. You know we’re only a band until after the summer. Maybe Elliot and Noah will form a new one together, but the rest of the guys and I will be gone.”
As the words leave my mouth, I feel a slight pinch in my chest.
Lily frowns. “That’s a shame.”
I shrug. “We’ll need to move on with our lives. I want to pursue an art career.”
“Can’t you do both?” Liam asks.
“And be tied to Noah Barrington for the rest of my life? No thank you.”
Lily frowns again. “I thought you guys were getting along. You know, friends make the best romantic partners—”
I groan. “Oh my gosh, Lily! Don’t even try to play Cupid on me. You guys need a ride to school?”
After they tell me that Xavier is giving them a lift, I gobble down a waffle, which is just as delicious as the pancake, grab my backpack and jacket, and make my way to my car.
Once I get in, I find the video Chloe posted and watch our performance.
I should be focusing on the entire thing as a whole, listening to the awesome music and our equally awesome vocals, but my eyes zero in on Noah.
The way he flicks his head to the side, causing his hair to fall into his eyes… why does that make him look so hot?
There’s so much light in his eyes, so much feeling and passion. I’ve seen him perform many times during practice and our previous performance at the club, but I’ve never truly studied him like I’m doing now. He’s a star up there.
This weird tingly feeling invades every part of me. Causes a shiver to run down my spine. I shake my arms, shoving that odd sensation away, and chuck my phone on the passenger seat. After starting the car and pressing on the gas, I pull away from my house.
But the video won’t leave my head. Which makes the kiss decide to take residence in there, too. Geez, what does it take to gain control over my brain?
To distract myself, I put on music—anything other than rock—and sing along with it. It helps a lot, and then I’m at school in the blink of an eye.
I’m not normally this early, so it’s a little strange to enter the building with many other students. Something’s up, though, because many of them push and shove to get inside. Are they giving away free pizza or something? Or maybe prom tickets are on sale?
As I get inside, my jaw nearly hits the floor. Because there’s a mob in the center of the hallway. A mob that mostly consists of girls, though there are a fair share of guys, too.
They’re crowded around something—or is it someone?—screeching and squealing and waving pieces of paper and phones around. It has to be prom tickets, right? I know some kids go nuts over it.
I’m about to turn away and head to my locker, but a few people move aside, giving me a clear view of whatever or whoever is the cause of the massive crowd. And my eyes almost tumble off my face. Is that…Noah?
“What the…?” I move closer, close enough where I can get a better look but not get trampled.
It is Noah.
The students crowding around him are yelling for autographs and selfies. No doubt they saw the viral video and are super happy we have a famous person at Edenbury High. Or maybe they think Noah is sexy—well, they wouldn’t be the first ones.
For a second, I wonder if I should push my way through the crowd and bail him out. Poor guy doesn’t deserve to go through this. But because he’s Noah and always does the right thing, he signs the autographs and takes the selfies, even though he looks a little uncomfortable.
I think he understands what his music and songs mean to people, and he’s grateful that they’re coming over to let him know how appreciative they are of him.
Well, his dreams are certainly coming true. He’s officially a rockstar.
“Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is Evelyn Hastings at school twenty minutes before class starts?” Hannah’s voice says.
I turn around and find her and Penny standing before me with amused expressions.
“We must have fallen into another dimension,” Penny adds with a chuckle. “Because the person standing before us is not the Evie we know and love.”
“Haha,” I say as my eyes trek back to Noah, who’s signing a girl’s cast.
“So why so early?” Penny asks.
I shrug. “Too much excitement the last two days has caused me to have some insomnia.”
Hannah is about to say something, but then her brows furrow as she watches the mob. “Is that Noah?”
“Yep.”
“Cool. I saw the video on Spill It! You guys are like famous or something.”
I roll my eyes at her. “Noah is the famous one. Almost all the comments on the video are about him.”
“True,” Penny says. “But you all were amazing.”
“Thanks.” I narrow my eyes as a girl lowers the neckline of her shirt just a little so Noah can sign her upper chest. “Do you see that? Some girls are so pathetic.” It’s obvious Noah doesn’t feel so comfortable signing there, but he can’t really say no in front of all the other people.
“They don’t even know him,” I grumble. “They just see a hot guy on stage and are suddenly obsessed with him.”
“That’s how it is with musicians,” Hannah points out. “Besides, he’s already popular at school because he was the Lions’ quarterback for four years.”
“Look at that girl.” I nod to a light-haired girl who’s whispering something in his ear. “What do you think she’s saying to him?”
“Maybe she’s giving him her number?” Penny supplies.
I snort. “As if he’d go for someone like her. She’s so not his type.”
Penny looks at me with an amused expression. “And you know who his type is?”
“Someone with a stick up her butt?”
Penny and Hannah laugh.
“It’s really ridiculous,” I go on. “They don’t even care to know what kind of person he is.
They’re just looking at him on a superficial level.
Oh my gosh, do you see that girl? She has a boyfriend and she’s practically throwing herself at him.
Look at the way the guy watches her with sad eyes.
” I shake my head. “Why do girls lose their minds over musicians?”
“Evie, why are you getting so bent out of shape?” Hannah asks. “Why do you care if girls are going gaga over him?”
I shrug as I tear my eyes away from him. “I don’t. I just think our gender can do a little better.”
Penny snorts as my eyes return to the show. “If he wasn’t Noah, I’d be in the crowd, too.”
“Me, too!” Hannah adds with a giggle.
I groan. “You two are no better.”
“And I’m completely fine with that,” Penny says, and Hannah nods.
“The crowd is just getting bigger and bigger.”
“Evie, are you…jealous?” Hannah asks.
I whip around to face her. “What? No way. Why would I be jealous?”
“Because you sound like a jealous ex-girlfriend,” Penny enlightens me.
I snort. “Sure. Me jealous of all the girls Noah’s paying attention to? Only in his dreams.”
Hannah and Penny exchange a look like they don’t believe a word I just said.
I throw my hands up. “He’s my bandmate. I’m allowed to show disdain at the fact that girls are throwing themselves at my co-lead singer, aren’t I?”
Hannah studies me closely. “No. Something’s off with you.”
“What?”
Penny studies me, too. “Yeah. You’re acting strange.”
“I’m perfectly normal,” I argue.
“No you’re not,” they both say.
“Did something happen between you and Noah?” Hannah asks.
“No.”
“You were quick to say no,” Penny says. “Too quick. Are you hiding something from us?”
I look from one to the other. They’re my best friends and know me really well. There’s no way I can keep anything from them because they’ll prick and prod until I surrender.
So with a sigh, I say, “Okay. Something did happen between Noah and me.”
Their eyes get so wide they nearly swallow up their faces.
With a groan because I really don’t want to bring it up or think about it, I take hold of their arms and pull them into the cafeteria, where it’s empty because everyone is in the hallway trying to kiss Noah’s royal hands.
Folding my arms over my chest because I’m suddenly cold, I say, “Noah kissed me.”
“What?!” Both Penny and Hannah exclaim, then basically run each other over with their words. They’re shooting out so many questions at me that I’m starting to get a headache.
“Geez Louise!” I say as I hold up my hands, silencing them. “I’ll tell you the whole story.”
I start from the beginning, not omitting any detail. When I’m done, they stare at me like they can’t believe something like that actually happened between Noah and me. Because honestly? It shouldn’t have happened.
“How was the kiss?” Hannah asks with huge eyes.
I shrug. “It was Boring Noah, so it was like kissing a piece of wood,” I lie.
Penny frowns. “Bummer your first kiss wasn’t good.”
I’m suddenly hit with just how good the kiss was. So warm and soft and tingly.
But I shove all that away. “Bummer my first kiss was with Noah Barrington,” I lie again.
“Well, at least you’ll have something to compare it to the next time you kiss,” Penny says.
I give her a look. “I don’t plan on kissing anyone soon.”
“So you and Noah…” Hannah says. “What exactly does all of this mean?”
I shrug again. “Nothing. We’re both pretending like it didn’t happen.”
“Are you sure that’s okay, though? Did you even talk about it at all?”
“Nope. Like I said, we’re both pretending it didn’t happen.”
“But obviously you’re affected by it or you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did to all those girls going nuts over Noah.”
Now I give her a look. “Don’t look into things that don’t exist, Hannah. He and I had heightened emotions and were just caught up in the moment. Noah Barrington is the last person I’d ever want to kiss.”
Penny raises a brow. “You sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” I pick my backpack off the floor and throw it over my shoulder. “So are we going to class or what? I didn’t come to school early to get detention.”
I spin around and head into the hallway before they can say another word.