Adlewood Academy

The whole time Zayn and Mia rehearsed together, she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. There was something about working with him that just made the music so much better, and that made her mood so much better. It just seemed like everything about Mia was better when she was with Zayn.

“What do you think about this?” Zayn asked, passing a piece of paper across her guitar. It was some rap lyrics he said he’d spent the entire night writing up, and Mia couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she read them.

There were several words crossed out and scattered writings all over the place. It was obvious he’d worked hard to get perfect, and she honestly didn’t think there was anything that would match the song better.

“I think it’s perfect,” she said, smiling at him as she handed him the paper. He smiled back, looking more confident than before, and stood in front of her for a moment before moving back towards his computer.

She couldn’t help but admire the look of happiness on his face as he looked down at the paper, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that way about something she had written.

“What do you want to work on next?” Zayn asked as he set the paper down next to his computer.

Mia shrugged, because at that point it seemed like they had gone over just about everything. The Finals Showcase was still a while away and they had a lot to practice, but it was obvious they were both beginning to get burnt out. They needed a break, and if there was anything that Zayn was good at it was coming up with a distraction.

“Let me see your hands,” Zayn said as he walked over towards Mia, a curious look on his face. She knew he was up to something, but she didn’t know what, so she reluctantly held her hands out to him. He took his hands and wrapped them around hers, pulling her up from her stool.

Her eyes were tight and her lips were pursed as he looked down at her with a wicked grin on his face.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice letting out the small laugh in her tone.

Zayn smiled back at her, tilting his head. “Just trust me.”

The last thing Mia ever wanted to do was to trust anything that Zayn was doing, but for some reason she couldn’t help it. All she could do was smile as Zayn took one of her hands and placed it on her shoulder, while he set his hand on her hip.

Before Mia knew what was happening, Zayn was forcing her to dance the most ridiculous ballroom dance she had ever seen, and she could hardly stop laughing to breathe.

“Well, I see why you’re not a dance major,” Zayn said as he spun Mia around. She laughed at him, rolling her eyes.

“You’re not the best dancer yourself,” she giggled, her smile stretching out to cover her cheeks.

Zayn glared at her, as though he was actually hurt by her words, and that just made her laugh harder. There was something about the combination of his smile and his eyes that made her stomach ache to see them more.

Mia was about to apologize for fake hurting his feelings, but a knock on the door tore both of their attention away, and it opened just a few seconds later, revealing one of Mia’s friends from class. Both she and Zayn knew Cassidy well, and Zayn greeted her with a quick hello, while Cassidy offered them each a smile.

“Mia, I need you,” Cassidy said, ushering Mia towards her with her fingers. Mia looked from Cassidy to Zayn and at the small smile on his face. If she was honest, she really didn’t want to leave him. In fact, she wanted to practically strangle Cassidy for walking in when she did. When Mia didn’t move, Cassidy continued speaking. “It’s important.”

Zayn gave Mia a reassuring smile, and she knew she had no choice but to leave with Cassidy.

“I’ll see you later then,” Zayn said, smiling at Mia as she began slowly walking away.

She gave a soft nod of her head and smiled back. “See you later.”

When Cassidy and Mia had walked out of the rehearsal room, leaving Zayn to close things up, Mia turned to Cassidy. “What is it?”

Cassidy rolled her eyes, chuckling at her friend. “You don’t honestly think I needed you for anything, do you?”

Of course, leave it to Cassidy to pull Mia away for no reason at all, and at the worst time, too. Mia hadn’t told Cassidy much of anything about her rehearsals with Zayn, especially the fact that she looked forward to them.

“Why’d you pull me away then?” Mia said, tossing her hands on her hips as she looked at the redheaded girl.

“I had to get you away from him,” she said simply, shrugging her shoulders. “He’s bad news you know.”

Mia knew that Cassidy knew nothing of Zayn outside of his major, so she knew any reason Cassidy had for thinking he was bad news was going to be dumb, but she never expected anything as stupid as what she ended up saying.

“How on earth is he bad news? He’s going to help me win the Showcase.”

“Right,” Cassidy said, barely able to hold back her sarcastic laughter. “Like that’ll happen.” Mia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, shocked at the words coming out of Cassidy’s mouth. “Everyone makes fun of you for working with him, you know? You’re the laughing stock of our entire major. If you ever plan on making it out of this rut that you’re in, I suggest dropping beat boy before he brings you down any more.”

Without further explanation, Cassidy turned on her heels, walking down the hallway in the opposite direction. All Mia could do was stand there and watch her friend walk away, while her mouth was hung open.

She didn’t know if anything that Cassidy had said was true, but that didn’t stop it from taking away the smile that she’d had just moments before.