nice to meet ya

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Song for this chapter: Nice To Meet Ya

- Niall Horan

I decide to stay round Lydia's for tonight, just because I don't want to go home and face the obvious onslaught that would be coming from both my dad and Connor for fighting.

We get ready quickly, to account for the fact we woke up late. I barely even brush my hair as we fly down the stairs, grabbing two chocolate muffins each and running out the front door - the hairbrush still in my hand.

As usual, Lydia puts me in control of the music and I very happily choose her One direction playlist, their music always succeeds in lifting my mood. Listening to them clearly lifts Lydia's mood too as a massive grin encompasses her features when she hears the song that is currently playing through the car speakers.

"Sing it for me, baby girl!" Lydia screeches, taking her hand off the wheel and picking up the hairbrush that's I had placed under her radio. She holds it underneath my mouth and raises her eyebrows, clearly egging me on to sing.

"I said can you give it back to me,
She said never in your wildest dreams." I sing quietly, while glaring at her.

"And we danced all night to the best song ever
We knew every line now I can't remember
How it goes, but I know that I won't forget her
Cause we danced all night to the best song ever." We sing together, well more like scream together.

"I think it went oh oh oh." Lydia shouts into the hairbrush and then holds it to me to sing the next part.

"I think it went yeah yeah yeah." I sing.

"I think it goes ohhhhhh." We sing together and then rock our heads to the beats after like rockstars.

Just as the song finishes, we pull up to school.

"Hell here we come." Lydia sighs and then jumps out her car, I follow her. Lydia connects her AirPods to her phone then gives me one.

More one direction.

She starts getting really into the song and starts swaying, I already know where this is going and I'm ready for her to completely embarrass herself.

"You and I." She suddenly screeches, drawing everyone's attention to us. "I don't wanna be like them." She points to a random couple and puts her hand to my face as she sings to me. "We can make it till the end. Nothing can come between you and I. Not even the gods above, could separate the two of us." She makes hand signals as she sings and I swear it's the funniest thing I've seen in my life. She grabs my hand and spins me around, not realising her brother and Reece watch from a distance with their mouths wide open and their phones out and recording. Just like everyone else.
"No nothing can come between you and I." By the end of it, I have tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks. She's the light of my life. Everyone starts clapping and she suddenly realises she has an audience. "Thank you, thank you." She says and then bows, a huge grin making its way onto her features. "I'd like to thank my beautiful bestie Layla, because her angelic voice is what inspired me to become a musician. She's performing tomorrow, good day!" She says, making my eyes widen.

"No I'm not." I screech, but the crowd has already dispersed and I find myself glaring at the back of Lydia's head as she saunters over to Reece and Myles, who both look so shocked. "Lydia." I growl and run after her.

"Who are you?" Myles asks in awe at his sister, who just giggles at him before turning her full attention on Reece who's looking at her so intensely it's crazy. Oh Lydia, he really fucking fancies you.

Myles grabs my hand and pulls me away from them. I furrow my eyebrows at him.

"She's never like this, only at home. She has always been too scared to be herself at school. Scared that everyone will think badly of her. She's been this shell of herself for such a long time, but she's finally coming out. And it's all down to you." He says and hugs me. I smile widely.

"It's not on me, it's on her. She's amazing." I say once he's released me from the hug.

"She is. But you brought out her confidence to show everyone." He says and then walks back to Reece and Lydia. I speedily follow, but slow down when I see Grayson from afar making his way over. Reece and Lydia are now hugging and a huge grin makes its way into my face.

But I then remember Grayson is making his way over to them and rush forward, grabbing Lydia's arm and pulling her away.

"What the fuck-" she starts, but when she realises it's me, she stops and just looks at me confused. I dart my eyes in Grayson's direction and she follows my gaze, her own eyes widening at the sight of him. "Ew, lets get out of here. Bye Reece, I'll see you at 8." She calls and I whip around pushing her and as a result of my uncontrollable excitement. She falls into a bush.

Shit.

That was an accident.

I cringe and then hold out my hands for her to take hold of.

"You fucking bitch!" She spits, but takes my hands anyway. I hear Myles and Reece's laughter behind us and watch as Lydia flips them off. I turn around and smile sheepishly, noticing that Grayson is staring directly at me. I make eye contact and flip him off, then turn around grabbing Lydia's hand again and walking towards the school building.

"So what's happening at 8?" I ask her, eagerly.

"Date night." She sings and then sashays a little in front of me. "I got a hot date tonight!" She shouts down the corridor and I die of embarrassment, but she doesn't seem to care at all.

"What is up with you today?" I question her and her smile brightens.

"Feel happy, and free." She says and I widen my eyes in awe.

"That's amazing." I tell her and then we both walk together to get to our lessons.

I have music. How exciting!

I hear the strum of a guitar at the end of the corridor, before I even enter the music room, which is suddenly picked up by the beats of a drum. Then the distinct hum of a voice sings along softly to the lyrics of the song. As I walk through the door, I notice that it's Amber, the girl I met yesterday, singing. She has a beautiful voice. My eyes drift to Reece, who's passionately playing the guitar. I don't know the girl on the drums.

"Ah, our new student. Welcome! Welcome!" A voice startled me out of my inquisition of the people in front of me, who have all now stopped what they were doing.

"Sorry for interrupting you." I apologise to them, but they all smile reassuringly.

"Take a seat." The teacher tells me, smiling kindly at me. Only once I'm sat, does she tell them to continue.

Once they're finished singing Misery by Maroon 5, she turns to me her eyes drifting over me in curiosity.

"May I ask you a few questions about your musical ability?"

"Of course!" I smile.

"So you sing, right?" She asks and waits for my nod, once she gets it she hums and then continues with her questioning, "do you play any instruments?" She asks.

"Yes. The piano, guitar, violin, flute and a little bit of drums." I answer her, "but my ability is best on guitar and piano." She looks impressed.

"Wow. Well, would you like to show us what you can do?" I nod nervously, as I fidget with my hands, but stand up nonetheless. I'll play the piano, but I will not sing. I can't. As my shaking fingers reach for the piano cover, another presence makes their way into the room. Grayson.

He looks over at me, confused, before he apologises to the teacher and sits down. He carries on staring at me, it makes me restless.

My fingers start the notes automatically of a song I've played relentlessly for the past year of my life. I play the intro, not even having to look down at the keys, I just close my eyes. Sucking in a deep breath, I begin playing the melody in time with the song being played along with me on the stereo.

"I'm jealous of the rain
That falls upon your skin
It's closer than my hands have been
I'm jealous of the rain
I'm jealous of the wind
That ripples through your clothes
It's closer than your shadow
Oh, I'm jealous of the wind"

I smoothly transition between the ones of the keys, nothing yet going wrong. But I don't sing, I could never sing.

"Cause I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me."

My mind immediately switches to Cleo and how well she just be getting on up there in heaven. My own little angel in human form. I never appreciated the pureness her entire existence brought into my life. I do now.

I continue through the song and the room remains completely silent, all of them focused on me and my performance. But it doesn't faze me, not when I'm playing the piano. It never has, my dad taught me that.

"As I sink in the sand
Watch you slip through my hands
Oh, as I die here another day, yeah
'Cause all I do is cry behind this smile
I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me" I play gently, praying for no tears to escape from my tear ducts. This heartbreak for her loss will never leave me.

"I-I-It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me." I play the outro notes, being careful not to mess up. I don't. The whole song went smoothly, I can't say I'm surprised. This song has been played about five thousand times this past year, I would hope to make a perfect job of it.

I play the final note, and look up to see everyone's eyes wide and a few open mouths. I smile slightly, making eye contact with everyone in the room.

They all suddenly start to clap, and I feel a deep blush rise to my face. Oh no. Go away.

Miss Evans walks slowly up to me, her hands still clapping.

"You're more than welcome here. You're gonna go far." She tells me, resting a hand on my shoulder, comfortingly. "Class, come and introduce yourselves to Layla!" She orders and everyone scrambles up from their seats.

"Hi, I'm Jess." She introduces and I smile at her, she then pulls her friends forward, who's a lot taller than me.

"I'm Cara." She tells me excitedly and I laugh then tell them my own name. They're both very pretty and I come to the conclusion that they must be close with Amber as she comes forward to us and rolls her eyes at them playfully before focusing her attention on me.

"Why weren't you here yesterday?" She asks and my face pales as I look in Grayson's direction, remember the events of yesterday on poor Lydia.

"I had to go home, wasn't feeling well." I reply.

"What was wrong?" She asks, worriedly.

"Major headache." I reply and she nods her head in sympathy.

"Well, are you feeling better?" She smiles.

"Yeah! Much better actually, thanks for asking." I say to her and she beams at me.

"Hey, Layla," Grayson starts and I focus my attention on him, curious at what he's going to say. I'll listen because I don't want to cause a scene. "Wow, I didn't realise you could play the piano! I'm impressed. If you'd have told me, I would've let you hang around much more, given the fact you're gonna be famous." He tries to joke, but my lips remain in a hard line, his smile drops and he lowers his head. I feel so much guilt, but he doesn't deserve my friendship after he shut Lydia down so quickly yesterday, after all of the torture she's been out through because of those girls. "I told Kenzie she was wrong. I'm sorry."

"Don't talk to me, talk to Lydia. She's the one that deserves the apology." I mumble, then walk past him to sit back down on my chair.

As long as Lydia doesn't forgive him, I won't either.

"Grayson! As you came in late, get up. You're song is A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton." Miss Evans says to him and he immediately scowls.

Reece snorts and then hums the opening riff loudly.

"Reece! You can join him." She says and he frowns.

"Miss!" He squeals, but begrudgingly makes his way to the front, standing next to Grayson. "Kill me now." He grumbles.

I'm so filming this and using it as blackmail for when Reece next tries to steal mine and Lydia's candy.

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