by Lucy Connell
He shakes my hand. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Nancy, and of course, Jimmy, we’ve met before at school. Good to see you. Haley was just filling me in about Nina’s Guildhall place. It’s brilliant news. I couldn’t be happier for her.’
‘She kept it secret from you, too?’ Jimmy asks, amazed.
‘Oh, yes – but, knowing Nina, that doesn’t surprise me.’ He chuckles as we all nod in agreement. ‘I’m looking forward to hearing about her audition. It’s so wonderful to see her growing in confidence and going for these opportunities. I think we have you to thank in part for that, Nancy.’
I stare at him. ‘Me?’
‘She mentioned it was you who encouraged her to enter the school talent show last year and I believe you were the one who set up that outdoor concert at New Year in Norwich,’ he explains. ‘Nina is a very talented pianist, but she’s always suffered from stage fright. I’ve been trying for a long time to get her to play in front of an audience and she was always too afraid. Things are changing now. I couldn’t be happier that people are starting to take notice of what she can do.’ He puffs out his chest proudly. ‘I’ll be telling everyone I know that my star student has got a place on a Guildhall course.’
‘Everyone will know after tonight.’ Haley grins. ‘Nancy is throwing Nina a surprise party here to congratulate her.’
‘Ah, well, she deserves it.’ He smiles warmly at me. ‘It was very nice to meet you, Nancy, and tell Nina I look forward to hearing all about it in our lesson next week. I’ll see you soon, Haley.’
He gives us a wave and heads towards the door. Just as he’s about to leave, I stop him.
‘Uh, Mr Rogers, wait,’ I say hurriedly, a thought suddenly popping into my head. ‘You should come to the party here tonight. If you’ve got nothing on, I mean.’
‘Good idea! Nina would love that!’ Haley exclaims, clapping her hands together.
‘Yeah, she would. She’s always going on about how you transformed her piano playing and stuff,’ I say, Jimmy nodding beside me. ‘I think she’d want you here to celebrate her achievement with everyone. Without you, it might not have happened.’
‘And since you’re here already, Max, you can stick around and help us with the decorations,’ Haley points out, nodding at the bags by the door.
Mr Rogers looks so taken aback at the invitation that he doesn’t say anything for a moment, standing stock-still in the doorway.
‘Well, that’s very kind of you, Nancy,’ he says eventually. ‘I’d love to.’
A few hours later the shop is decorated with bunting and balloons, and a large CONGRATULATIONS banner hanging across the back wall. The aisles are bursting with people from our school year chatting excitedly, admiring the cake sitting on the counter and enjoying Jimmy’s home-made fruit-juice punch. Haley is at the counter looking pained as Layla pesters her to change the music playing from a Beatles album to the current chart.
Jimmy comes to stand next to me. ‘You know, I have a feeling that Nina is going to really hate this,’ he says with a chuckle. ‘She’s never been one for surprises. I still don’t think she’s forgiven us for setting her up to play the piano to an audience with no preparation at New Year.’
‘Yeah, she may not have been happy about that surprise at first, but in the end it was a total win,’ I point out. ‘The video of her and Chase playing together went viral and she became the hottest new music talent out there. If she was a bit more media savvy and let me create an Instagram account for her, she’d be getting music deals left, right and centre. It’s like Mr Rogers said: it’s about time people started taking notice of what she can do.’
‘Looks like she’s doing just fine without social media,’ Jimmy says. ‘I can’t believe how many people are here tonight, last minute! And, speaking of Mr Rogers, I think it’s really nice that he could stick around for tonight.’
‘Yeah,’ I say, spotting him chatting to Mum on the other side of the room. ‘He’s so proud of Nina. When he was helping me tie up the banner, he asked me if I wanted to take up piano lessons because, if I had even a smidge of her talent, he’d want me to give it a try.’
‘Oh, really? And what did you say?’
‘The truth: that I don’t have ANY talent. So he should give up on that one.’
Jimmy laughs. ‘You never know. I can see you in an orchestra. The cymbals perhaps? Or tambourine?’
‘I’ll think about it.’ I smile, before checking the time on my phone and craning my neck to look around the shop. ‘Do you think everyone is here who should be? Nina and Chase will be home soon.’
‘I think so.’
‘Are you sure? There might be some last-minute arrivals.’
Jimmy looks at me curiously. ‘Are you hoping for some last-minute arrivals?’
‘Don’t know. I just don’t want anyone coming in late or at the same time and ruining it. Maybe I should text some people and check if they’re coming or not.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Jimmy nods, giving me a knowing look. ‘And exactly which people are you going to text and check to see if they’re coming?’
I shrug, checking my phone for messages. ‘No one in particular.’
‘You’re not going to text a certain drummer of a certain band to see if he’s dropping by?’
My cheeks immediately start burning. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean Miles, the drummer of Chasing Chords,’ he says with a mischievous smile. ‘Don’t think I didn’t see that spark between you two at New Year. And you’ve been talking about him non-stop ever since.’
‘WHAT? I have NOT.’
‘Yes, you have. I don’t think you even realize you’re doing it, but every now and then his name will crop up into conversation.’ He puts his hands on his hips and makes his voice high-pitched, launching into a ridiculous impression of me. ‘“I like your shirt, Jimmy; it’s a bit like the one Miles wore in that Chasing Chords music video.” “I don’t understand how anyone can not like Jane Eyre. It’s my favourite book and I think people like Miles, who say it’s boring, need to read it again because they’re clearly deluded.” “Jimmy, do you think Miles will be coming to the party tonight? I hope so because I loooooooooove him.”’
‘Firstly, that was a terrible impression of me. And secondly, you’ve made all that up. I never speak about Miles and I do NOT love him. I barely know him!’
‘Tell me again what you said earlier when we were choosing the cake flavour at the bakery?’ he asks, wearing a smug expression.
‘What does Nina’s cake have to do with this?’
I suddenly feel very warm. I need to ask Haley to turn the heating down in here.
‘I suggested the carrot cake and you said no, we should go for the Victoria sponge because everyone likes that and not everyone likes carrot cake … like Miles,’ he says triumphantly. ‘Admit it, you’ve got Miles on the brain.’
‘I will not admit it. And, anyway, I have no idea if Chase invited him tonight; I just said that he should ask the rest of the Chasing Chords members in case they were around and they wanted to come along on the off-chance,’ I tell him casually, flicking my hair behind my shoulders. ‘Clearly they were all too busy as none of them are here. Which is fine. I don’t mind. I didn’t even notice.’
Suddenly, my phone vibrates in my pocket with a message from Chase.
Walking down the high street
now …
‘QUICK!’ I yell. ‘THEY’RE COMING!’
There’s total chaos as everyone scrambles to get into position. Haley turns off the music and Jimmy rushes to get the lights so Nina won’t be able to see into the shop through the window. I quickly grab the cake from the counter and hold it up proudly by the door, while Jimmy loudly whispers for everyone to get ready with the party poppers he handed out earlier.
We hear Nina’s voice just outside the door.
‘I told you it would be closed, Chase. Look – all the lights are off. Come on, we can come back another time. I’ll ask Haley to hold whatever re
cord you want.’
‘I think we should try the door and check, just in case.’
The door creaks open, ringing the old bell above the shop door.
‘That’s weird,’ Nina says, stepping into the darkness. ‘Haley must have forgotten to –’
‘SURPRISE!’ we all chorus as the lights switch on, making her jump about ten metres in the air.
‘WHAT THE –’
‘Surprise, Nina!’ I cry, stepping forward with the cake. ‘Congratulations on getting on to the Guildhall course. We’re all very proud of you!’
‘Nancy!’ she gasps, looking so shocked that I can’t stop giggling. ‘I can’t believe this!’
‘You should have seen your face!’ I say as I pass the cake to Chase so she can give me a hug. ‘Priceless.’
‘You organized all this?’ She has tears in her eyes as she takes in all the decorations, before waving at Haley across the room. ‘How did you do all this in one day?’
‘She had plenty of help,’ Jimmy says, nudging me with his elbow and throwing an arm round her. ‘It was all Nancy’s idea to have it here at Neptune, though.’
‘The best idea!’ Chase grins at me. ‘Where could be cooler to have a party than a record store?’
‘Thanks for keeping Nina busy, Chase.’
‘It wasn’t too tricky in the end,’ he says, running a hand through his messy hair. ‘I suggested that we go to some cool places so she could do some photography. I’m guessing she’ll have to put that hobby to one side for a bit while she focuses on her music. Turns out there are a LOT of cool places to photograph in Norfolk. Who knew that one tree in one field could look so different to another tree in a field very far away?’
I laugh. ‘Poor you! Where did you drag him, Nina?’
‘Hey! You said you were enjoying seeing the beautiful countryside!’ Nina says, as he kisses her on the head. ‘I took him on that walk we used to do with Mum when we first moved here – do you remember?’ She reaches for her camera that’s in her bag. ‘It’s still just as beautiful, Nancy – you should come with us next time.’
‘There’s going to be a next time?’ Chase says under his breath to Jimmy, who stifles a laugh.
‘As much as I’d love to look through the endless photos you got on that camera of a bunch of trees and cows, you should probably go say hi to all your friends,’ I point out, winking at Chase as I take the camera from her hands.
She smiles. ‘Oh, yeah. Seriously, Nancy, I can’t believe you organized this. Thank you.’
She gives me another hug and then goes to say hi to a group of girls from our year behind me who are waiting to congratulate Nina and also stare open-mouthed at Chase. I notice it happens a lot as the two of them make their way through the room and wonder how Chase is so good at acting completely normal, pretending that people aren’t just openly gawping at him. As I watch him, I think that it’s probably a good thing that the other band members of Chasing Chords couldn’t make it, because that may have been a bit much for a lot of our school friends. If one of them is causing this amount of staring, then all the band here would have been disastrous.
‘Well done, Nancy – this is great!’ Sophie smiles, bopping next to me. ‘Such a good surprise! Do you think Chase would mind having a selfie with me?’
‘Ugh, don’t be so embarrassing, Sophie,’ Layla says, rolling her eyes and flicking her glossy brown hair behind her shoulder. ‘Try and play it cool. He must get so bored of all that.’
I smile to myself, knowing that if Chase offered up selfies, Layla would be first in line. Last summer, back when Layla and I were best friends and did everything together, I thought I saw one of the actors from High School Musical walking down Oxford Street when we were there doing some shopping. As soon as I said it, Layla squealed, ‘Hold my bags!’ and hurled her shopping into my arms before sprinting down the road after him.
It turned out not to be him but some random guy who looked a bit like him. Layla was so annoyed she’d wasted such energy on a nobody that she was in the worst mood for the rest of the day.
It was worth it for me though, just to witness that extraordinary reaction.
‘Nina has done really well,’ Sophie says, still bopping absent-mindedly to the music. ‘She’s like … going to be a famous musician, right? Like Chase? I mean, she must hang out with music people in the industry all the time! SO cool.’
I shrug. ‘I think she’s more into classical music.’
‘Do you get to meet anyone through her and Chase?’ Sophie asks eagerly.
‘Yeah, course,’ I find myself saying. ‘I’m quite close with all of Chasing Chords now.’
I don’t know why I still feel a need to try to impress Layla and Sophie. But, for some reason, I don’t want them thinking I’m completely irrelevant. Yeah, Nina is the one dating the famous pop star, but when it comes down to it I know more about Chasing Chords than Chasing Chords know about Chasing Chords.
Seriously. Ask me anything.
And anyway, technically, the whole I-know-people-in-the-music-biz thing is not a total lie. I have briefly met Mark, the band’s manager and Chase’s uncle. I’ve got his contact details from when Nina was in a coma after our car accident and Chase was worried I might not be able to reach him at any point, so he gave me Mark’s number.
I’ve hung out with Miles a few times now, too, if you count New Year’s Eve, the time I barged past him to get into the Norwich studio, and also that time a while ago when he thought I was a crazed stalker claiming to be the one Chase was talking about in the #FINDTHEGIRL campaign. (Well, I was claiming to be her, but I really did think he was talking about me. Hello, I’m ‘Miss N. Palmer’ too and I’d been at that same concert where he and Nina met. And also I was obviously NOT a crazed stalker. Just an enthusiastic fan.)
‘That’s awesome that you are friends with the best band EVER.’ Sophie beams. ‘Do you think we can all hang out some time? I have, like, a hundred of their T-shirts I want them to sign.’
‘Maybe,’ I say, nodding. ‘Now Nina will be on her course in London at the weekends, I’m not sure how often I’ll be seeing Chase and the band.’
‘So, what are you going to do, Nancy?’ Layla suddenly asks, taking a sip from her drink.
‘What do you mean?’
She looks at me as though I’m really slow. ‘You just said it. Nina will be off every weekend in London on this amazing course, so it’s not like she’s going to have that much free time. Don’t you guys do everything together these days?’
‘Yeah, but I’m sure I can survive a few weekends,’ I say confidently. ‘I’ll see her in the evenings.’
‘But any spare time she does have, she’ll want to spend with her pop-star boyfriend, right? Or doing her music practice. This course is a big deal; it’s a proper London music school. She’s going to be off in London being successful and you’ll be here. I don’t know –’ she pauses and shrugs – ‘if it was me I’d feel a bit …’
She searches for the right words and Sophie finishes her sentence for her.
‘Left behind?’
‘Yeah,’ Layla agrees. ‘Left behind.’
‘I … well, I hadn’t really thought about it like that,’ I answer quietly, watching Chase and Nina laughing together on the other side of the room.
‘Oh well, they say that change is good,’ Layla says breezily, before waving at someone behind me. ‘We’ll see you in a bit, Nancy. Great party, by the way.’
When the party has finished and after we’ve helped Haley clear up, I get home and lie in bed trying to sleep but I can’t get Layla’s words out of my head, which is ridiculous. I’m not being left behind. I’m really happy for Nina. She deserves to go off and be successful. You can’t stay in the same place forever; things are always going to change. That’s just life.
And it’s like Layla said. Change is good.
Right?
CHAPTER THREE
Nina
As soon as the taxi pulls up at Guildhall, I fe
el like I might throw up.
Nancy offered to come with me on the train to London and help settle me in for the first weekend of the course, but I told her not to be so silly. I didn’t want her to waste a chunk of her weekend holding my hand and, anyway, Chase is meeting me, so it’s not like I’ll be on my own. But, now that I’m here, I wish more than anything that Nancy was with me, calming my nerves and making me laugh.
I pay the taxi driver and lift my bag out of the car, staring up at the brick building with ‘GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DRAMA’ written in bold white letters across it. I can’t believe I’m here. I can’t believe I got a place on this course. I’m so lucky to be able to spend every weekend for the next few weeks in this very building. Others would kill for this opportunity.
So, WHY do I just want to go home?!
‘Come on, Nina,’ I say to myself, taking a deep breath. ‘You can do this.’
I check my watch. Chase should be here by now. He said he’d meet me outside, so I put my bag down and wait at the side of the building, people-watching to pass the time.
I’m pleased that there are no paparazzi here at least. Chase had warned me that there might be, as they’d easily be able to track down what time the course started on the first day and be waiting for me to turn up. Even though we’d managed to keep my audition secret from the reporters, the fact that I’d got a place on the course had somehow been leaked to the press.
None of us know how they found out, as I made sure to tell Nancy not to put anything on social media about it. While I wait, I have a momentary panic when I think I see someone with a camera pointing the lens in my vague direction, but when people move out of the way, and I’m able to get a good look, I can’t see anyone.
A few minutes later a tall boy around my age with short brown hair, wearing skinny black jeans and Wayfarers even though it’s a cloudy day, walks towards Guildhall, a bag slung over his shoulder. He does a double take when he notices me standing there, as though he recognizes me, but if that’s the case then it doesn’t look like he’s all that happy about it. Unimpressed, he raises his eyebrows and does a small shake of his head as he passes me, heading under the archway and through the glass doors into the school’s reception.