Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Jade's POV

The calls had stopped.

No more texts, no more voice mails, no more anything. All contact with Lutherville had ceased. It was like I had never lived there at all. Of course, I got the occasional spastic text or call from Jack or Melanie, but really that was about it. They had given up, just like I had.
It was a little bit into February by now, and school was almost over, February vacation approaching quickly and boyfriends and girlfriends getting extra clingy towards each other.
That could only mean one thing.

Valentine's Day.

I groaned, looking around the hallways of the school as a couple walked by, clutching the others hand like their lives depended on it. Rolling my eyes, I shut my locker with a resounding slam, gripping the strap on my backpack a little tighter and leaning against the cool metal, waiting for one of my friends.

“Hey, stranger.” I smiled, turning around to face Mandy and Bryan, small smiles on their faces. I gave each a quick hug before attaching my hand to Bryan's and the three of us began to walk toward our first period class.

“Valentine's day,” Mandy sneered, grimacing at a couple sucking each others face off in front of a math classroom door, “I swear, it makes couples even more grotesque.”

Bryan and I nodded, swinging our hands back and forth. Mandy looked down at our intertwined fingers, rolling her eyes, “I swear, you two make me feel like the third wheel.”

“Well, you are.” Bryan stated, smirking over at Mandy who jokingly pushed his shoulder, chuckling under her breath. “Did any of you actually do the homework?” He asked, looking between the two of us.

Mandy and I shook our heads, “Nope.” We said in unison, laughing.

“That's what I thought.” Bryan laughed, shaking his head and slinging an arm over Mandy's shoulder.

We walked into the history class, taking our usual seats in the back of the class, myself in the middle, Bryan on my right, Mandy on my left.

“I hate this class.” Mandy whined, resting her head atop her arms and starting to nap, which she would probably be doing for the rest of the period. I sighed, pulling out my notebook from my backpack and placing it on my desk along with a pen.

“You gotten any texts from lover boy recently?” I shook my head, placing my hand over the bulge in my pocket where my cell phone rested, like a safety blanket. I kept it on at all times now, just to make sure that I wouldn't miss a call from one of my friends in Lutherville, though I knew that they wouldn't call. I just wanted someone to call or text, just to tell me to come home, because I was more than ready, I just wanted one of them to ask me once more, and then I would be on my way back to Maryland.

“I haven't gotten any texts or calls from him in over a month. Or anything from any of them in over a month.” I muttered, doodling on the notebook paper as the teacher in the front of the class droned on. “Maybe they forgot about me.”

“I'm sure they didn't, Jay.” Bryan reassured, sketching out a drawing of what looked like a tiger.

I sighed, “Well, they should have. It's not like I made any effort to talk to them, why should they talk to me?”

“You've got a point. You're a bitch.”

“Bryan!” I exclaimed, slapping his shoulder as he laughed softly, continuing to draw.

“All I'm saying is that they wouldn't have forgotten you. You asked for space, hell you ran away, they probably just wanted to give you what you asked for: space.” Bryan clarified, never stopping his drawing for a second to look over at me.

I shrugged, leaning back in my seat, completely ignoring the notes everyone was taking from off the board, “I guess. I just wish...I just want them to still call. I mean, that was the way I still felt apart of that group, and now I'm just...”

“Lost?” Bryan suggested, dropping his pen to the desk and looking over at me, a knowing look in his eye.

I nodded, “Most definitely lost.”

“Then go back. Find yourself.”

I chuckled, shaking my head at my friend as he fiddled with his lip ring, “Since when did you get so deep and wise?”

Bryan chuckled, picking up his pen and continuing to draw the tiger that was about to eat the paragraph we were supposed to be taking notes on in class, “Since my friend decided she needed a guru to help her out with life's decisions.”

“Am I the friend?”

“Damn straight, buddy.” We both laughed, turning away from the other and doodling in our notebooks for the remainder of class.

“I forgot how boring math is.” I exclaimed, leaning on Mandy as we walked from the classroom and towards the lunchroom where the sea of students seemed to be heading.

Mandy laughed, “What, they didn't have math in Maryland?” She asked, wrapping an arm around my waist as we made our way to our lockers to drop off our books.

I shook my head, “No they did, I just...barely went.” Mandy laughed, dialing in the combination on her locker and throwing her math book inside, myself doing the same. We slammed our lockers in unison, and continued on our way to the cafeteria.

“You bad girl, you.” Mandy teased, walking with me into the lunch line to grab some food.

Piling a sandwich of some kind onto my tray, I laughed, “Well, of course. Would you expect any less of me?”

Mandy shook her head as we made our way to our table, “From you? Never. Bryan? Hells yes.”

“What about me?” Bryan asked as we sat down, half of his sandwich hanging from his mouth.

Mandy and I laughed, shaking our heads. “Never mind,” I muttered, starting in to eat my food.

Bryan took a big bite of his sandwich, opening his mouth to speak, “If you start talking, I'll beat your ass into a pulp.” Mandy threatened him, a french fry dangling from her fingertips.

Bryan swallowed, “As I was about to say before I was so rudely threatened-”

“Don't try to speak with your mouth full. It's gross.” Mandy said, dipping the french fry in ketchup before eating it.

“Well, you could have said it nicer than that!”

“Fine. Bryan, please don't talk with your mouth full, or I will beat your ass to a pulp. Happy?”

“No.”

“Bryan,” I exclaimed, stopping Mandy from furthering the argument, “just go on with what you were going to say!”

Bryan sighed, placing his sandwich back on his tray, “Have you gotten anything from lover boy or your other Lutherville friends?” Bryan asked, Mandy placing her food back on her tray as well, both turning to look at me.

I shook my head, pulling my phone from my pocket and placing it on the table in front of myself, “Nothing. Not a single...nothing.” I finished, picking up a fry from off my tray and throwing it back down, splattering it in the ketchup.

There was a loud vibrating sound and all three pairs of eyes shot to the phone on the table, staring at it in awe.

“Do you think...?” Bryan said, exchanging glances with Mandy and myself.

“Could it be...?” I murmured, looking between my two friends.

“Check it out!” Mandy exclaimed, picking up the phone from off the table and thrusting it into my hand.

I sighed, flipping open the device and looking at the screen.

One New Message:
Jack

A small smile fell on my face, looking around the table at the faces of my friends, all of them showing almost identical facial expressions.

“Lover boy?” Bryan guessed.

I shook my head, “Jack.”

“Oh,” Mandy started, rolling her eyes though the smile was still on her face, “Crazy boy.” I nodded, letting out a small chuckle before opening the message and furrowing my eyebrows.

“What does it say?” Mandy asked, trying to look over my shoulder at the print on my phone.

I paused, trying to decipher exactly what it said, “It says, 'ah'.”

“Ah?” Bryan asked, collecting his eyebrows together in as much confusion as myself.

“Yeah. Ah.”

“That's it?” Mandy asked, grabbing the phone from my hand and looking at the message itself.

I nodded, “Yup. Just 'ah'.”

“Really?” Bryan, trying to grab the phone from Mandy's hand but she pulled her hand away so he was snatching at nothing but air.

“Yup. He wrote 'ah' in all capitals with multiple 'h's.” Mandy rolled her eyes, handing the phone over to Bryan who looked over the message, “He's probably under the influence.”

“Knowing Jack,” I said, taking my phone away from Bryan's outstretched hand, putting it back in my pocket, “he's probably hyped up on sugar or something.”

“If you say so.” Mandy rolled her eyes, getting up to throw away her tray. I nodded, picking up another fry and putting it in my mouth, chewing slowly.

“If one of them calls you, asking to come home again, will you?” Bryan asked, munching on another fry, finishing it off with a gulp of milk.

I sighed, shrugging my shoulders as I looked around the lunchroom. Brit and Laura, the other girls in the group were sitting with their boyfriends, exchanging kisses and gifts because of the holiday. I rolled my eyes, continuing to look around the room. Sitting at a table with a group of gossiping girls sat Bailey, mindlessly pushing the fries and sandwich around on her tray, picking at the food before placing a few spare fries into her mouth. She was just about as happy as me. She would force a smile on her face every so often, but it seemed to satisfy her vulture friends. I couldn't stand that I had done this to her and I wanted so badly to be able to fix it.

“Yes,” I answered, turning back to Bryan who had finished his lunch, “Without a doubt, I would go back.”

“The second you hung up the phone, you'd be in the car?”

“Yup.” Bryan smiled, picking up the phone and throwing it towards me.

“Why don't you just go? Why don't you just stop waiting and go back home?” He asked, leaning his head on his hand, resting his elbow on the table.

I thought for a little bit, sighing before answering, “ Because I'm prideful. Because I wanna feel like they still care about me, that they haven't forgotten about me.”

“Maybe they think you've forgotten about them.” Bryan suggested, getting up from his seat
and walking to throw away his tray.

Sitting in the living room again that afternoon after school had let out, I kept the phone in my lap, Bryan's words ringing through my head as I watched the infomercials on the television.

But it was just background noise for my thoughts once again; they seemed to swarm me more and more nowadays. I thought about Lutherville, about the friends I had left behind, about Sam, about my aunt Clara, about the band and the shows I had been missing since I left, but mostly, I thought about going back. I wanted to go back, believe me, I missed everyone. According to Bryan's logic, I should have been on the highway by now, driving back to the place that held everything I had left behind, but, according to my logic, which wasn't much, I needed to stay here. Or at least, I thought I did. Now I was a big disbeliever.

A door opened in the background, someone walking in before the door closed once more. Shoes were taken off, a coat unzipped before my sister walked from around the corner into the living room. Bailey plopped down next to me on the couch, dropping her backpack by her feet, leaning back as she looked at the infomercials on the screen.

“Bored?” She asked, not looking at me for a second.

“Yup.” I answered, continuing to look at the screen, though I wasn't interested in ever buying some cooking utensils I would never use.

“Do you ever talk to the guys?” By the guys, I'm one hundred positive she was referring to the Lutherville friends.

“They stopped calling,” I looked over at my sister, twiddling her thumbs in her lap, “What about you? Do you talk to them?”

Bailey shrugged, looking up from her lap into my eyes, “Occasionally. But its nothing special. I got a weird text from Jack today though. All it said was 'ah'.”

“In all capitals and multiple 'h's?” I asked.

She nodded, “Yeah, did you get it too?”

“Yeah,” I answered suspiciously, turning to look at my sister, “What do you think it meant?”

“Too much sugar.” Bailey muttered, a small smile on her face. She always seemed to smile more when we talked about Lutherville, I did too. I hated that I made her so unhappy.

I wanted to go back, I wanted to make Bailey happy. I wanted to make my friends happy, if they still thought about me or remembered me at all. I wanted to make myself happy, because Essex wasn't making me happy like I thought it would have.

The phone in my lap began to vibrate out of control. Without thinking, I opened up the device, bringing it to my ear.

“Hello?” That's when it dawned on me that I had finally broken the barrier between myself and Lutherville. My eyes widened and from the looks of it, Bailey's eyes had widened a great deal in surprise as well.

“Rian?” I questioned, my voice rather quiet from the surprise of it all. Bailey motioned for me to put the call on speaker so she could talk to her friends as well, which I did quickly as Rian began to speak again.

“Jade? Jade! Guys, she answered!” There were choruses of cheering from behind him, which I could only conjure up that Rian had also put the call on speaker after I had answered.

“Bailey's here too.” I laughed, a giant smile on my face.

“Bailey!” Everyone cheered. Looking over at Bailey, an identical grin on her face as well. “We miss you guys.” Melanie yelled.

“Same here,” I found myself talking into the phone, the smile never leaving mine or Bailey's faces.

“How's Essex?” Matt's voice rang through the speakers on my phone. I looked over at my sister, both of us exchanging a look before going to speak into the phone.

“Shitty.” We said at the same time, looking up at each other and laughing.

“Wow, that bad huh?” Zack laughed into the phone.

“Your friends there aren't as sexy as me, right?” Jack yelled causing Bailey and I to laugh.

“Well, some of my friends are sexier than Bailey's but-”

“Wait, you guys don't have the same friends in Essex?” Kara asked, speaking up on the other end.

“Nope,” Bailey spoke up, getting closer to the phone, “Our friends are completely different. For instance, mine are prissy and gossipy-”

“And mine are bad ass.” I finished, the contagious smile never leaving my face. I hadn't smiled this hard since I left. I don't think I had smiled since I left.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Kaylie said, speaking up since the phone conversation had been initiated.

“Yeah, well, this isn't what we called to tell you!” Jack yelled, the sound of someone hitting something, followed by a low 'ouch' following close behind. I could only assume it was Melanie hitting Jack on the back of the head.

“Oh, this conversation had a point?” I snickered, Bailey giggling beside me.

“Yes, it did. And I see you haven't changed much, Jay Bird.” Alex laughed into the phone, and from the tone of his voice, I could tell he probably had a huge smile on his face, shaking his head as he spoke.

“Well, get on with it!” I exclaimed as a short countdown from three began in the background before a chorus of four voices yelled into the receiver of the other phone.

“WE GOT SIGNED!”

My initial reaction was silence. I sat there, looking at my phone, just staring at it, my mouth hung open slightly. Then my eyes widened as the shock started to fill in and then I was screaming along with Bailey, both of us jumping up from the couch and bouncing up and down as the boys on the other end began to scream along with us and I'm sure they were dancing as well. I ran around the living room, screaming and congratulating the boys as I did so, Bailey doing a little dance in her spot on the carpet. I shouldn't have been surprised that they would get signed, I knew they would, but I was just so happy because they deserved it. They deserved to get recognition for all the hard work they had done. They were good, really good and now people would know about it.

“We did it, Jay Bird.” Alex's voice whispered through the phone, the voices behind him still yelling in excitement, I grabbed the phone off the coffee table as Bailey continued to celebrate for the boys all the way in Maryland. I smiled at the sound of his voice, wishing that I could be there to congratulate them in person. That's when I realized that I could. I could go back and congratulate them in person. We could do it.

“I knew you would, Alex. You guys deserve it.”

“I wish you were here, Jay Bird.” I smiled, looking over at Bailey as she continued to dance around the living room.

“Listen, Alex, I've gotta go. Give each of the guys a big hug for me and Bailey, okay?” Before Alex could respond, I hung up, smiling over at my sister as she slowly stopped dancing, turning to face me.

“What?”

“How would you like to go back to Lutherville?”

Bailey collected her eyebrows together in confusion, “For a visit?”

I shook my head, my smile slowly creeping further up my cheeks, “Permanently.”

Bailey's face lit up in a huge smile, the happiest I had seen her since I had answered the phone a few minutes previously, “Are you serious?”

I nodded, walking toward her, placing my hands on her shoulder, looking deep into her identical green eyes.

“Bailey, let's go home.”