VII

.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖(episode 4 pt. 2 - nineteenthird week of October 2023).𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖

Bea's mission today is to find Kiley.

Despite being a small school, she can't find her anywhere - in hallways, in her classes (well, obviously both of them didn't share any classes together), and even in lunch break. Tired of looking for her, she eventually found Nathan at a table who was humming some tune, and joined him.

"Bea! Hi!" he smiled as he noticed her presence. Noticing their other friend isn't beside her, he turned his head and looked around. "Where's Phoebe?"

"She's still in the computer room. That was the last update she gave to me 10 minutes ago."

Glancing at her lockscreen, no new text messages from Phoebe popped out. She opened her bag and revealed three zip lock bags, with each brownie cookie inside of it. Early in this morning, her uncle randomly gave her cookies, saying it was for her and her friends.... or a crush, in which Bea scoffed in return.

"From my uncle," she put the cookie in front of Nathan.

"Sweet! Thanks, Bea."

Nathan put the cookie in his bag, and continued humming a tune.

"What song is that?"

His face turned instant beet-red and shyly looked away. "Oh um..," he scratched his nape. "It's nothing." Raising her left eyebrow, she's convinced she's lying and nudged at him. "Come on! I want to know."

Nathan sighed, still red and not looking at her. "It-it's a song that...."

He didn't continue. Bea's still staring at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence. Not until realization dawned upon her.

"Oh!"

Nathan has a crush!

"Who is that lucky guy?", she giggled. Shocked that she got it quickly, Nathan looked at her. "How did you get it so quick - "

"Come on! An unfamiliar tune? You, blushing? It makes sense!" She chuckled, and leaned closer to him. "It's obvious you're making a song for someone," she whispered and poked at his cheek. Nathan quickly snatched away her finger, his neck now turning red.

"I'm still not convinced, Bea."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh believe me when I say used to make a song about my crush back when I was in middle school. My glee club-mates were confused every time I hummed the tune of the song." Looking back at it, it wasn't the worst yet not the best memory she had during that time. The lyrics were too cringe, and the tune was the knock off version of Taylor Swift's Today was a Fairytale. (still, it's a shocker her club-mates didn't recognize it).

"Woah! You're a musician?"bNathan beamed, realizing that a friend of his loves music. Bea shook her head. "I wouldn't call myself that. It's just my hobby," she shrugged.

Nathan, the color of his face turning back to normal, smiled wider. Of course, he had to know everything about this side of Bea's - from her discovery of her love of music down to her favorite artists. "Okay, since when did you started - "

Bea stopped him, putting her finger a few inches from his mouth. "That's for another day, Nate. I wanted to know who is this guy." As she smirked, Nathan snatched away her finger, now turning back to red.

"Skylar."

"Skylar Summerhill?"

Who would've thought his crush would be someone from her art class? Besides, Skylar's cute and nice, albeit only talked to him once about an assignment.

Nathan nodded, which made the girl playfully slapped his arm.

"Okay, I didn't get a chance to tell you this but...," he then shared about their recent interaction, in which it happened after the second tutor session with Bea, wherein he saw Skylar washing his shirt in the sink to wash the paint off. Apparently, he was painting with Jackie and their other friend a banner for their booth in the Homecoming Huddle. He then let Skylar borrow one of his shirts and the most memorable moment, for him, is Skylar recognizing that Nathan is a musician.

The girl couldn't help but to giggle at her friend. Every time someone (especially her best friends back at her hometown) talked about their crushes with her, she'll get giddy and excited with them.

"...And currently, I'm making a song for him. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Not even a single soul, Nate."

Speaking of the devil, both noticed Skylar walking in the hallway. Before anything else, Nathan excused himself and jogged towards his crush's direction. Bea, chuckling at her friend's action, left and continued searching for Kylie, only to be stopped when the bell rang.

___________________

The afternoon classes had just finished, yet there's still no sign of Kiley.

Putting the reading materials in her locker, she sighed. There's still another day for her to find her. Besides, she can find her at Monty's. It was better for her to find her there and asked directly.

Defeated, she exited the building alone. Phoebe was with her 5 minutes ago and gave her the other cookie, but the golden girl has to go back to the computer room without giving a reason. On the other hand, she hasn't seen Nathan since lunch time. Seb was still inside, doing some extracurriculars activities

Isaac? Still continue calling her 'princess' every time they saw each other at the hallways. She thanked the universe that today's one of those days where they didn't share a class together.

As she walked towards her cousin's car to wait for him, she spotted a familiar figure walking few meters from the parking lot.

Finally, the person that she's looking for!

"Kiley, wait up!"

Kiley turned around, and spotted Bea jogging towards her direction.

"Hey, Bea. What's up?"

"You're going to Monty's, right?"

"Today's not my shift. But, I'm actually going to Lark Café right now."

Seb may or may not mentioned this café before. Well, whatever that is, there's a high chance that Kiley's working there.

"Can I go with you?"

"It's not open right -"

Bea pleaded, which made Kiley rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I mean, I guess so, if you're into construction or something." Bea thanked her, although she doesn't really pay much attention to what she's saying.

She hoped there was a vacant position waiting for her.

"But you're okay walking to the café?" Kylie chuckled nervously.

"Yeah."

________________

Since the start of their walking, none of the girls dared to initiate a conversation. This is only their second interaction, and despite the awkwardness, it felt strangely comforting at the same time.

Remembering the last cookie, Bea gets the cookie from her bag and gestured to Kiley to take it.

"This is for you."

Kiley was hesitant before accepted it. Recognizing the logo in the ziplock bag, she was instantly shocked. "No way, this is from Benny's Bun and Dough? This is their bestseller cookie! This always gets sold out and recently, I heard they're sold in a limited time."

No wonder he just gave the cookies to her randomly. She was already aware that it's a well-known bakery here in Silver Falls, but no thought crossed her mind that his bakery was this popular, considering a cookie was so famous it was sold only in limited time.

"Yeah, my uncle randomly just stuffed those in my bag as my snacks."

"Wait I'm sorry, your uncle is THE Mr. Bennett Jordan? That's insane," she put the cookie in her bag. "Oh yeah, you live with them, right?" Bea nodded as her reply.

"You know, I actually tried to apply at your uncle's bakery. But unfortunately, there are no available positions left, even for part-time."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Hey, that was a long time ago," Kylie laughed.

Bea glanced at her. A thought hit her - Kiley reminded her of her father, who's the same as her. Juggling part time jobs and having a full time occupation at the same time is no joke, and this made Bea admired Kiley more.

As they entered, they were welcomed with dusts and noises, from the construction down to some staff, including the tall brown haired guy who was talking to another staff.

Both of them noticed both the girls' presence. The guy said something to the staff before pecking her lips and walking towards them.

Oh so that's not a random staff, my bad.

"Kiley, thank goodness you're here! Can you help Hailey for a while?", with just a nod, Kiley smiled at both of them before excusing herself.

"Hi!" The guy clasped his hands, smiling down at Bea. "Unfortunately, we're close right now and we can't accept pre-orders as of now."

Bea waved her hands. "Oh no, sir! I-I'm not here to order or anything." Swallowing a lump in her throat, she fiddled her hands.

Here it comes, now or never.

"Can I ask if you are still open for vacant positions here?"

The man blinked, not expecting this kind of inquiry from a guest. "Um, no. We aren't open for any positions at the moment. I'm sorry, young girl," he gave her a small smile, hoping to gave her comfort amidst this news.

Well, there goes her shot. It was also a bad timing too! Clearly, something will happened tomorrow and asking that kind of question is stupid.

On the bright side, this isn't the only establishment in this small town anyway. She can try apply to Monty's..... or Benny's Bun and Dough, which is the last resort. The idea of working for her uncle who lived under the same roof as her is not something that Bea considered.

She thanked the man and was about to turn around, when suddenly....

"Yo, is this thing on?"

A man's voice boomed loudly from the speakers, which made all of them flinched from the loudness of his voice. The man quickly apologized before lowering down the volume of the speakers.

Bea turned around, and was surprised to see the man, standing on a small stage and adjusting the chords in his electrical guitar.

An electrical guitar.

That means something.

"Um, sir?"

"Yes, miss?"

"Can I ask something about the event tomorrow?"

"Oh! Tomorrow's the grand opening of this café!" he grinned, obviously proud of this recent achievement of his. "This explains all of this stuff, and that guy over there - ", he pointed the guy on the stage "- will be one of the performers for tomorrow. He and the other performers are currently rehearsing today."

Just when the hope dimmed down, it ignited again when the man mentioned "performers". Of course, there's no event without at least a performer!

And rehearsing in the middle of constructing the place? That's wild.

The last time she sang in front of the crowd was last year, during the general assembly for the new school hear.

But that was different. She was with other people, but this time she'll be singing alone.

She's definitely not throwing away this shot.

"Is there a chance I might get to perform tomorrow?"

He was visibly caught off guard by her sudden request. "Um..," he stammered, not knowing how to respond to her inquiry.

"You can sing?"

"I mean, I was a glee club member before. So yeah, I guess."

Bea felt this was a mistake. It was, after all, a last minute thing for the man to decide whether she'll perform or not.

"Well, you can rehearse today. Have you -"

"Will! Someone needs you here!"

A voice was heard from the kitchen. Will heavily sighed and rubbed his temple. "Um, I can squeeze you between the last performer and the closing remarks. You're okay with that?" He grabbed his phone and type something. "The flow of the program haven't finalized yet, so it's good." He then muttered something about 'Mato will be okay with this'.

"Y-yeah, I guess."

"You sure you can sing? This is a big event for me."

"I am sure, sir. I won't let you down."

"What's your name so I can type it here?"

"Bea Taylor, sir."

"Ah!" He snapped his fingers before continue typing . "Nathan's friend! Yeah, he mentioned you sometimes. And Isaac, too."

It was not really a surprise that Nathan mentioned her, since it's normal for a friend to mention another friend.

But Isaac? That's.... unexpected.

"Oh, where are my manners? I am so sorry," he chuckled and put his phone back in his pocket. "I'm Nathan's brother and Isaac's cousin, Will Walter." Both of them shake hands and gave each other a small smile.

Oh, a Walter. That explains why.

"Well, I better get going. Both of us know this is a last minute decision, but I trust you, Bea. There'll be a last rehearsal tomorrow at 3pm sharp. See you!" He gave her a small wave before heading to the source of the voice that called him earlier.

As Bea exited the café, she finally let out a couple of giggles, excitement and anticipation filled inside her.

But the mini celebration didn't last long when a thought hit her.

She hasn't picked a song, and she got less than 24 hours to practice it.

She quickly get her phone and frantically scrolled down her contacts. As she reached the comtact of the person that she knew is capable of helping her when it comes to music, she dialed their number.

"Nathan, I need your help."

___________Surprise! A double update :D

I hate school argh