Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
ATTICUS
PAST
Who. Is. She?
I’d been hanging out in Cassius’s basement for two years and had never seen that girl before.
A mysterious girl with long, black hair lay on the old tweed couch, watching us practice. She was officially the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen—with the biggest eyes and the rosiest, full lips.
Cassius had a lot of female friends who came down here to hang out and watch us jam. But she’d definitely never come around before. I would’ve remembered.
After all, this basement was pretty much the main place I hung out. Cassius sang while I was on drums, and Julian played the electric guitar. I guess you could say we’d formed a band, although we didn’t have a name or anything.
People were always coming in and out of the basement, listening to us practice, but never had I been stopped in my tracks by any of them, never had I worried about messing up or whether I was performing well. It was rare that anyone or anything could pull my attention away in the middle of a jam session. But not today. This girl was distracting.
When Cassius’s dad called him upstairs for something, Julian asked me if I wanted to go for a smoke. I followed him out of the house. He handed me a butt and held the lighter out.
I took a puff. “Who’s that girl on the couch?”
“Cassius’s cousin.”
“What’s her name?”
“Nicole, I think.”
“How come I’ve never seen her before?”
“She’s hot, right?” Julian blew out some smoke. “Cassius said they just moved back to Monksville. Her father had a job out of state, but now they’re back.”
I was afraid to ask. “How old is she?”
“You mean, is she eighteen?” He smirked.
At nineteen, I was the oldest of the group. Cassius was eighteen, and Julian sixteen. They were both still in high school while I’d graduated a year ago.
He shrugged. “I actually don’t know how old she is. I haven’t seen her at school, so maybe that’s a good sign?”
That didn’t mean anything. There were private high schools, including a prominent all-girls one the next town over that many of the girls from Monksville attended.
I threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. “We should head back inside.”
The girl was sitting in the same spot when we returned to the basement. My eyes met hers for the first time. I nodded and smiled. Her cheeks immediately turned pink.
Damn.
Vowing not to be distracted, I did my best to focus on our next set. At one point, she got up and left, and I was actually relieved because I no longer had to give a shit about how I was playing. Ironically, she was the distraction causing me to play like crap today.
Not long after she disappeared, though, Julian said he wanted to head home, and Cassius announced that he needed to study. So we ended for the day.
When I got to the top of the basement stairs, I wasn’t expecting to see his beautiful cousin sitting at the kitchen counter.
“Hi,” she said.
The sound of her gentle voice startled me. She hadn’t said anything all day.
“Hi.” I swallowed. “You’re still here…”
“I am. This is my uncle and aunt’s house. Not sure if you knew who I was.”
“Julian said you’re a cousin?”
“I’m Nicole.” She nodded. “Cassius’s dad and my mom are siblings.”
“Ah.” I cleared my throat. “I’m Atticus.”
“I know.” She smiled. “But it’s nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” I nodded, unsure what to do. I wanted to talk to her, but the whole thing made me nervous. What if Cassius came in and thought I was up to no good?
“You’re heading home?” she asked.
“Yup. Everyone bailed on me. Can’t exactly jam on my own.”
She stepped down off the stool. “I’ll walk you out.”
Um… “Okay.”
When we got to the front of the house, she asked, “Are you walking?”
“Yeah. I don’t live too far from here.”
“Where do you live?”
“On Maple,” I said.
“I live on Chaste. Not far from you.”
She started walking, so I followed. I guess we’re walking home together now?
“You’re really good on the drums,” she said after a moment.
“Thank you.”
“I hope you realize I’m not just saying that. The other guys—they’re playing around. But I feel like you could really do something with this. I hope you do.”
“Well, thank you. Not a lot of people tell me that. Certainly not my family. Even if they think I’m good, they’d never encourage me to go for it. My parents and sister think it’s completely stupid to pursue music seriously. They think it’s even stupider that I chose not to go to college.”
“Not everyone goes to college.” She shrugged.
“I haven’t decided what I want to study, other than music. So it kind of felt like a waste of money right out of high school if I didn’t have a clear path. Couldn’t afford Berklee College of Music, which was the only school I might’ve wanted to attend.”
“Well, college will always be there…”
“That’s the way I see it.” I sighed. “Anyway, if the music thing doesn’t pan out, I’m thinking I might become a plumber. So that would be more vocational school.”
She nodded. “They make a really good living. My uncle on my dad’s side is a plumber. You should see his house.”
“I’m hoping for a future as a musician, though. It would be nice to do what I love for a living. But that’s not always possible.”
“You have to learn to tune out the naysayers. But also, don’t tell others about your dreams. Keep them close to your heart where no one can shit on them.”
“That’s interesting…”
“My grandmother taught me that. She says there’s a lot of power in belief. And when other people get in your head, it feeds the doubt. If you don’t tell anyone, that can’t happen. They can’t ruin it for you.”
“That makes a lot of sense. I’ll try that. Although, I just told you about my dream. Does that jinx me?”
“You got lucky with me.” She winked. “Just don’t tell anyone else.”
This girl gave me a strange feeling—in a good way. Like a ghost or an angel that only I could see, even if I knew she was real. From the moment she entered my line of sight, it felt like she’d been put there for me. That was probably delusional. I didn’t understand it, except to say that no one else had ever given me this feeling.
We fell into easy conversation, talking the entire way to my house. All I wanted was to see her again, but I couldn’t entertain anything if I didn’t know her age.
“Well, this is me,” I said as we stopped in front of my house. “Thanks for the walk.”
“Yeah. It was nice talking to you.” She fidgeted, blushing a little before she walked away.
Just ask, you moron. I called after her. “Hey, I never asked. How old are you?”
She turned. Her face grew redder as she walked backwards a few steps. “Sixteen.”
Well, damn.
Talk about dreams getting crushed.
Game over.