Chapter Fourteen: 

 

I sat on my bed, swaddled in my covers, wearing an oversized Levi’s shirt and my most comfortable pair of jeans. My windows were covered by curtains, only allowing little slivers of light to shine through. I had my earbuds in, listening to sad classical music. I hoped it would ease my own sadness. So far, nothing has cured me. 

As of right now, I had been grounded for one day. Tonight was the concert and I was going to miss my duet with James. I hadn’t left my room for a full day. As soon as Mom and I got home yesterday, I stormed upstairs and I stayed put. I didn’t feel like eating: I didn’t feel like doing anything. I wanted to be at the school, on stage, singing with my friend. 

It would be so easy to sneak out of this house and attend the concert. But, I can’t stand the thought of confronting my mom. Not after yesterday’s events. Plus, if I were to sneak out, I would anger her even more, damaging our once strong bond. We used to be so close and tied together. Now, I ruined our relationship. 

I had told my mom I hated her. Was that true? Or, was it the mixture of anger and sadness building up inside of me? Either way, I don’t know if I regret those words or not. I feel bad that I spoke that bitterly to her but she was being ridiculous! She was only worried about my academics: not what I actually enjoy doing. 

It was her decision for me to attend school in the first place. None of this would have happened otherwise. 

I turned up the volume on my phone, blaring classical music in my ears. I knew the music wasn’t going to help anything, but it was somewhat fun to believe it possibly could. My phone buzzed and I got notified about texts from Annie, Lissa, and James. Each of them was separate. 

 

Annie: Where r u?? The concert starts in 2 hrs!!!!!

 

I sighed. If only I could be there. I scrolled down further through my messages. The next text was from Lissa: 

 

Lissa: Are u ok? Annie and I have been worried ab u. We hope u can still make it 2 the concert!!

 

Another sigh. Finally, I dared to open the message from James. 

 

James: Hey I hope ur doing ok. I gotta say it’s a lot different at school without u. It’s weird not having someone beating me up every second LOL. 

 

I laughed a little at his text and I continued to read. 

 

James: I know this is a weird question but do u still want me to perform? The teachers keep asking me what I’m going to do.

 

My small moment of laughter ceased. I yanked out my earbuds and threw them on my bed as I sat upright and unswaddled myself. Gnawing on my lip, I tried to decide how I wanted to respond. In the end, I came up with nothing. I turned my phone off and left the message as read. 

 

I took a small nap in the meantime. I was awoken when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Immediately, I shouted, “It’s locked!”

“Halo, please let me in,” I heard Mom’s muffled voice say on the other side. 

“Why should I?” I yelled. “You’ve ruined my life!”

After some scraping on the opposite side of the door, Mom twisted something into the lock and opened my door. It opened wide, exposing what I’ve first seen of my mother in a day: she was in her scrubs and her hair was down, showing her dark but graying color. 

Her face was blank like yesterday. She wasn’t mad; she wasn’t upset; she wasn’t happy either. She was just…expressionless. 

“What do you want?” I scowled under my breath. 

Mom raised her chin all regal-like. “All I came up here for was to give you some lunch. It’s been a day since you’ve last eaten.”

“I’m not hungry.” She sat the plate of grilled cheese down on my dresser anyway. 

Mom walked over and sat down on my bed beside me. I scooted away from her as soon as she set herself down. My mother rolled her eyes at me. “Halo, stop being ridiculous! This is immature. All I’m trying to do is salvage your grades.”

“You’re right,” I muttered. “All you’re trying to do is salvage my grades. You could care less about what makes me happy.”

“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “Singing didn’t really make you happy. If anything, it was a hobby you thought you were over the moon talented at.” Mom scooted closer to me. “Singing wasn’t going to help you graduate or get into a good college. You have to understand that, honey.”

“I understand that you don’t care about my happiness,”

“Halo, trust me, this is for the better.” Mom placed her hand on my shoulder: I shrugged it away. “Even if I hadn’t found out about all this…singing drama, how were you going to get to the concert? What, were you going to drive yourself?”

My head perked up at the mention of that. I slowly turned my face in her direction. 

“Well, the law is the law. You have to be at least sixteen years of age to drive,” I said coolly as I burst into a full-on sprint downstairs. 

“HALO ELWINE NELSON!” my mother shouted. “Get back here right now! You better not grab my keys!”

Too late. They were already in my hands.

“HALO!” Mom screamed again. 

I ran outside and got into Mom’s car. Quickly, I turned the keys into the ignition and tried to remember how to back out of a driveway. Okay, put the car in reverse, then look back as you press down on the gas. 

Mom appeared on the driver’s side window, pounding on the glass. I heard her say, “Don’t you dare leave!”

I slammed my foot on the pedal. “I just did!”

And just like that, I had stolen my mom’s car, lied to her, and said I hated her in more than twenty-four hours. I’m a terrible person. 

 

I just barely arrived at the concert in time. I was such a bad driver: I ran past several red lights and almost caused a wreck, but it was worth it. I hastily parked Mom’s car in the parking lot and ran behind the school to the huge stage set up for the concert. There was a massive crowd of spectators watching below the stage, all of them cheering for the current performers who were a band playing a Guns and Roses cover. 

I ran backstage and saw James sporting a blue dress shirt and pants. His black hair was all ruffled at the top: just the way I like it. I came up to him, breathless, and looking like a complete wreck. I was wearing an oversized shirt, jeans, and I can only imagine the distress my hair was in. 

“Halo?” James asked when I appeared. “How in the heck did you get here?”

“I drove,”

His eyes almost bulged out of his sockets. “Good Lord! Halo, you don’t even have your permit!”

“I know. But I had to get here.” James pressed his hand to his forehead. I can imagine how much stress I’m putting on him right now. I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked at me impatiently. “Let’s just sing our duet,” I said, forcing a smile. “That’s all I want to do right now. I don’t care about what happens afterward: all I care about is getting on that stage and singing the best song ever with my friend,”

He forced a smile too. “Alright,”

The crowd applauded the band as they walked offstage. I heard the announcer say as the spotlight shone on him, “Next up is James Middleton and Halo Nelson singing a duet.” The crowd clapped once more just hearing the mention of our names. 

James turned to me. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,”

“Wait!”

I whipped around and saw my mother. She ran up and grabbed me by the arm. “Halo, I can’t believe you! You stole my car! What were you thinking? You could have gotten killed! And for what, a concert performance?”

I tried to shrug out of her grip. It was no use. I frowned and looked at James who was obviously uncomfortable in this situation. 

 “Come on, we’re going home now!”

“No!” and I tore my arm from her. “I am going to sing. I don’t know why you can’t just accept the fact that music makes me happy! Maybe once you hear me, you’ll think otherwise,”

James and I began to walk onstage. Mom called from behind, “If you walk on that stage, I will withdrawal your enrollment at East Valley,”

Not even turning around, I continued in the direction of the stage. The crowd screamed when the spotlight shined on us. James waved at the spectators like he owned the place and grabbed his guitar. I, on the other hand, just stared into the audience as James played the chords on his instrument.

If being happy meant dealing with consequences, then I was ready for whatever fate decided to put in my way. I gave James the nod, signaling our entrance.