Chapter 7 #2
The guys had their food already, and the girls went up to get in line and returned with a chef’s salad for Kenzie and turkey sandwiches for Sarah and Lily.
Lily ate quietly as Kenzie entertained the table with nonstop chatter and funny stories.
She noticed that Kenzie barely touched her salad, and as Lily scanned the room, she realized, while people kept stopping by their table to say hello to Kenzie, that she’d somehow befriended one of the most popular girls.
Most of the other tables were groups of girls or guys.
Theirs was one of the few mixed ones. She also noticed girls glancing at the guys when they were talking to Kenzie.
They all looked at Lily curiously, and Kenzie introduced her to everyone.
Lily tried to remember all the names. She was sure they were wondering what Lily was doing at Kenzie’s table.
Lily, who was generally quiet anyway, found herself struck silent and intimidated as she realized how popular Kenzie was.
Kenzie didn’t seem to mind that Lily was quiet though, because she didn’t stop talking the entire time.
She appeared to have recovered from her earlier heartbreak.
Until the lunch break was over and they stood to head to their next class.
A tall dark-haired boy with a serious expression walked by their table, and Kenzie instantly turned her back and walked in the opposite direction.
The boy wasn’t alone. There was a cute short girl with him looking at him with adoring eyes as she chatted and he stared off into the distance, nodding occasionally.
Lily instantly understood that Kenzie hadn’t just been dumped; there had been another girl in the picture.
That made it even worse, as Lily well knew.
She caught up to Kenzie, and they walked to their next class.
Kenzie’s good mood had evaporated. “Part of the reason I moved here is because one of my best friends started dating the guy I had a crush on. It might never have gone anywhere with us, but she knew I liked him, and it was hard to see them together,” Lily confessed.
Kenzie stopped for a moment and nodded. “It’s so hard.
That was Hunter just now. The one I avoided.
And the girl he dumped me for—Morgan. We seem to compete for the same things.
She got the lead role in this year’s musical.
I’m determined to get it next year. And we’re both on the cheer team.
I don’t hate her, but we are not good friends.
” She grinned. “Obviously or she wouldn’t be with Hunter now, right? ”
“Right,” Lily agreed.
They disappeared into different classes. The rest of the afternoon flew by. Lily’s last class of the day was music—musical poetry, to be specific.
The teacher’s name was Mr. Washborn, and Lily guessed that he was about her mother’s age.
He welcomed Lily to the class and then told a funny story about his three-year-old daughter, Ellie.
He liked country music and had been listening to Lady A earlier in the day.
He went out to dinner later that night with his wife and daughter, and while they waited for their dinner, Ellie grew bored with coloring and started singing at the top of her lungs: “It’s a quarter after one, I’m all alone, and I need you now… ”
“She looked at me, asked what came next, and wanted me to sing along. I knew the words, but I told her I didn’t remember.”
The class laughed at the thought of a three-year-old singing the suggestive and very catchy song.
“My daughter knew she liked the melody. But the lyrics are just as important, and that’s what we study here. Lyrics are musical poetry.”
Everyone nodded. Lily grabbed her pen and leaned forward in her chair.
She was sitting in the front row this time, because she didn’t want to miss a thing.
For the rest of the class, they focused on two Taylor Swift songs, looking at the meaning behind the words and discussing how the melodies amplified the messages.
Lily loved Taylor Swift but had never studied her lyrics so closely, and her admiration for the singer-songwriter deepened as they talked about how she put her words together and constructed the bridges and refrains.
Ideas came to her as Mr. Washborn talked, and she jotted down words and phrases in her notebook. She was so into the discussion and busy with her scribbling that she didn’t notice the boy next to her glancing at her page full of notes.
When the class ended, she closed her notebook and felt a buzz of excitement.
She couldn’t wait to play around with the words in her notebook later and see if she could build them into something interesting.
She stood to leave, and the boy next to her introduced himself. “I’m Teddy. Do you write music?”
The question surprised her, though she supposed it shouldn’t have, given the class.
“I’m not sure. Maybe I’m starting to a bit. Do you?”
He grinned. “Yeah, all the time. I’m better with the actual melodies though. The words are the hard part.”
“It’s the opposite for me. I can’t imagine how to put the music together. That’s like another language entirely. How do you do it?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just sort of feel my way through it. Fiddle around with stuff until it sounds cool. Do you play any instruments?”
“Piano but just for fun. What about you?”
“Guitar mostly. Where’d you move from?” He watched her curiously.
“Manhattan.”
Teddy had a very different look from the football players she’d met at lunch.
They’d been in preppy Vineyard Vines button-downs or rugby shirts.
Their hair was uniformly short. Teddy’s was wild, a tangle of long dark curls rioting around his head.
He wore a purple long-sleeve tie-dyed T-shirt with the band Pearl Jam’s logo emblazoned across the front.
He noticed her looking at it and smiled.
“It’s my dad’s shirt. I snagged it. Do you know them?”
“I’ve heard of them, but I’m not familiar with their music.”
“You should check it out. They have some killer lyrics. Their stuff ranges from hard rock to slower tunes like ‘Breathe.’ That’s one of my favorites. ‘Black’ is pretty cool too.”
Lily couldn’t help but see how energized Teddy was, and it made her smile. “Thanks. I’ll look it up.”
“Cool. See you tomorrow.” He headed toward his locker, and Lily did the same. She grabbed her coat and the books she’d need for the night’s homework assignments in math and English. She spotted her grandmother’s navy blue Volvo and walked toward it. She slid in the front seat.
Claire looked at her expectantly. “How was your first day?”
Lily smiled. “It was pretty good.”
Lily was somewhat surprised when Kenzie waved her over to their table the next day at lunch.
She’d entered the lunchroom hesitantly, not wanting to assume she was welcome at the table just because Kenzie had invited her to sit with them the day before.
She sat next to Kenzie, who was in the middle of telling a story.
Lily was still a bit intimidated by how popular Kenzie was.
Everyone seemed to hang on her every word, and she never ran out of things to say.
Unlike Lily, who often drew a blank when she felt nervous around people and sometimes struggled to come up with things to talk about, Kenzie could chat for hours with anyone about anything it seemed. And she was interesting and funny too.
“So he already realizes he made a mistake. He called me last night and apologized and wants to get back together…” Kenzie paused dramatically and looked around the table.
Luke didn’t seem enthused by this news. “I hope you didn’t say yes. He doesn’t deserve you.”
Kenzie flashed him her most dazzling smile. “You are the sweetest. And you are so right. I told him absolutely not. He’s pretty much dead to me now, as he should be.”
The others all nodded in agreement, Lily included. She didn’t fully understand the dynamics of what had gone wrong with Kenzie’s relationship, but she wouldn’t have been happy if someone had dumped her for another girl and then immediately changed their mind either.
Kenzie reached for a french fry and dunked it in mayo before taking a bite. “I’ve decided I want to be single for a while. Especially with the dance coming up.” She glanced at Lily. “Do you know about the dance? You have to come.”
Lily shook her head. “No. What is it?”
“It’s put on by the school. They do them every so often, and they’re held at the yacht club. It will be a great chance for you to meet a ton of people. I’ll make sure to introduce you to everyone.”
Kenzie’s excitement was contagious. A school dance at a yacht club sounded both extravagant and Nantucket-like at the same time.
“That sounds fun. What’s the dress code like?” Nantucket was pretty casual, but in Manhattan, they’d always worn cocktail dresses for similar events.
Kenzie grinned. “Anything goes really. I’m going off-island this weekend with my mom, and we might do some shopping in Boston. I hate all my clothes, and she said I can get something new.”
Lily wasn’t in love with anything she had either, but she knew money was tight at the moment.
If she had to, she could make something work.
It would be fun to go shopping though. She and her mother used to love going to the designer sample sales in Manhattan.
They’d gotten some great deals that way.
They’d also paid full price regularly too.
Lily never had to even think about money until now.
Later that afternoon, after an interesting session studying lyrics from Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran, Lily ended music class with several pages of notes and lots of inspiration to play around with new lyric ideas.
Once again, Teddy noticed, and this time he studied her for a moment.
She couldn’t read his expression. He looked as though he was weighing something.