Page 24 of Sing Your Heart Out

I blow out a breath and drop onto my back, putting my arm over my eyes.

Fuck. Did I really just mess up? It definitely feels bad, as if I did…

When I finally make it down for lunch, my eyes go to Sarah. She’s there all right, looking withdrawn and sullen.

She also looks like she’s been crying very recently.

Shit. I definitely didn’t mean to make her cry… I was just trying to tell her what my priorities are in this house…

Mellie sits down beside me when I’m eating, sliding me a look. I bite my lip, expecting her to tear into me.

But she doesn’t. She doesn’t even seem to know about my little indiscretion.

“You get any work done?” she asks, tearing a chunk of bread into pieces.

I shake my head. “No, not really.”

“I’m off today for some reason,” she sighs. “Nothing sounds good.”

I nod, but my gaze travels back to Sarah. She’s all puffy faced and sad. But still, she kept my confidences. That’s not something that I am used to, that’s for sure.

For the rest of the day, I try to keep Sarah in my eyeliner as I work. Plucking at the strings of my guitar, I try to start over and create something new.

Something fresh, something I haven’t ever sang about before.

What haven’t I written about?

I don’t know why, but I settle on a song about being happy as my premise. What do I know about being happy?

I know it’s the opposite of what I feel most of the time. So maybe I should just try to write the opposite of what I’m feeling.

Sunshine, rainbows, all those hearts and stars and shit.

I start by picking the happiest chords possible. Keeping it simple, I stick to three chords. And then I change it slightly for the chorus, going up a note on each chord.

That sounds pretty good, so then I go about trying to add my lyrics to it.

“Happy, I’m so happy,” I sing. “I’m never bored, I’m never sappy…”

I write down a few lyrics, mainly words that rhyme. (Insert words that rhyme)

When Dwayne comes into the middle of the room and claps his hands together though, I am glad.

“This is the end of day seven,” he says, looking around. “You will have tomorrow morning left to write a song with a partner of your choosing… and then we go straight into eliminations. Okay?”

I swallow. A partner of my choosing?

My gaze slides around the room, trying to pick out anybody besides Sarah that I want to work with. Everybody else seems mostly excited. But as I consider working with a partner — with anyone at all — my stomach flip flops.

I don’t trust anyone here. Well, anyone but Sarah, I guess. I don’t understand it, but I know that she’s earned my trust.

Maybe it’s because she stayed quiet about what happened when I asked her to. I’m not sure.

I notice Mellie eyeing Sarah. Shooting straight up from my seat, I walk directly over to Sarah.

“Can we talk?” I ask, my heart in my throat. “Outside, maybe?”

Sarah looks at me for several long seconds and then sighs. “Yeah, okay.”

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