"Show me. What's in there that I can't see?"
"Just… It's incomplete yet, I don't like people seeing my uncompleted works." I said, and he scoffed.
"Well, I can't help it when I get curious. Why are you strongly insisting on me not seeing it?" He asked, and all of a sudden, lunged towards me, trying to get the book.
I knew what I was going to do was very embarrassing, but I didn't care, I took the book to my mouth, and tore the page with my teeth. It ripped, and I pushed it all into my mouth.
He looked at me with a look of pure shock, and retreated.
"What did you write in there that was so important?" He asked, and I cleared my throat, took out the paper, and proceeded to the trash can.
"Not my trash…!" He was saying, but I had already dumped it in.
"I'm sorry." I said, and he ran his hands through his hair.
"Whatever. Let's form a song now. I think my mum would fall in love with a song made for her." He said, and I started to write the lyrics of my song in a frenzy, using she instead of he, so I wouldn't forget it.
"Okay,
*Her eyes, so pretty;
I could stare at them all day.
Their lovely green;
Like flowers on a summer's day
And when she smiles…
I feel like the whole world's mine.
She's just got that style;
Makes my heart a butterfly
That charm, day, and night.
Her hair, so dark but still so bright
Ooooooh... aaaaaaah." I wrote, and he read it.
"Are you bi? You like girls?" He asked.
"No way!"
"Then why would you write a love song for my mum?" He said, and I swallowed.
"Oh… Uh… Well… What other ideas do you have?" I asked, not knowing what to say.
"Okay, let's do this, I say the things I like about my mum, and you turn them into lyrics." He said, and I turned a new page.
"Go on."
"Her eyes."
"Uh… Okay …"
*Your pretty eyes;
Reminds me of the forest at sunrise.* I wrote.
"Wow. How did you do that?" He asked, staring at the lines I wrote.
"Do what?" I asked him.
"You just made the lines rhyme." He said, and I blushed.
"Oh, it's just… Just a talent of mine."
"Okay. Her hair…"
*Your dark hair;
So unique, can't find it nowhere.*
"That's a lie though, there are tons of people with dark hair, like me." He said, and I stared at his hair.
"Well, do we cancel it?"
"No, leave it. Okay, I like her warmness, and kindness."
*Your kind, and warm heart.
They make mine flutter.*
"Okay, that's cool. But my mum doesn't make my heart flutter." He said, and I burst into laughter.
"Are you shy to sing a love song for your mum?"
"Shy? It's weird. Why does it have to feel like I'm confessing my feelings to her?" He said, and I laughed again.
"You laugh like something crazy." He said with a raised brow.
"That's rude…" I said, but he cut my sentence short.
"So, I want to let her know that I'm on her side." He said, and I stared at him. Were we about to exchange secrets? It really felt like that.
Then he raised his book to my face.
"Am I that handsome? Anyway, I know it already, you don't need to stare to remind me of it." He said, and I scoffed.
"You're ugly."
"Me? Ugly? Ha! Not in my dictionary. You're the ugly one."
"No, I'm cute." I said, and he laughed.
"Cu… What? It seems like the boys of Archville are already getting to you. Let me give you a tip. Come here." He said with his last two words in a whisper, and I moved my ear closer to him.
He laid his hand on my shoulder.
"Don't listen to them. They're all liars." He whispered, and I blushed.
My mind was running up its walls, screaming. 'We're this close!' 'We're this close!'
Then he smiled, and I was stunned by his smile. Then he pushed me away lightly.
"People do stare at me, but they do so with style. Don't just stare at me with that look on your face, do something about your attraction to me."
"Wh… What? A… Attraction… Att..." I was saying, but he interrupted.
"A… Attraction. I'm not… I'm not attracted… Attracted to you." He said, mimicking me, and my mouth fell open.
He laughed like crazy, pleased that his attempt to mock me had been successful.
"I don't talk like that! And I'm… And I'm… I'm not attracted to you. I'm not… I'm not like the other girls…" I said, with my face feeling hot.
With my every word, he nodded, then held my shoulders.
"I hate it when you stutter, so can we shut up, and go back to what we were doing?" He said with a fake smile.
"I'll write the lyrics on my own." I said, and started to write.
The next few minutes went by with us adding, and taking away lines, deciding on the tone, and how the order of the song was to be.
Then he took a green guitar, and beckoned on me to follow him.
We went outside his balcony. The stars were already out, and the breeze was cool.
"So, we're going to record it because I'm not about to sing like a boy in the choir for an audience. We're going to make a video." He said, and sat on the floor.
I sat next to him, leaving a little distance between us, wondering why it had to be a video.
"You sing four lines, I sing six, and we sing the rest together." He said.
"Why do you get to sing six?" I asked, and he scoffed.
"Because I want to?"
After setting up the camera, he pulled the first strings, and it let out an angelic sound. I was so stuck up in it that I forgot it was time for me to sing.
I sang, and he nodded his head to the rhythm. I loved how my voice blended in sweetly with the guitar, but I was awestruck when I heard his voice.
It was light, sweet, and gentle, unlike the porcupine he was. I fell for that voice, and found myself smiling once more.
My romantic journey had begun, here I was, with the evening breeze rippling softly through my clothes, under the sky blazing with stars, with a guy so handsome, and happened to have an ethereal voice.
Then he stopped.
"Hello?"
"What? Why'd you say hello? I'm right here with you. I wasn't staring at you, I was staring at those leaves."
"Who said anything about that?" He said, giving a tired look.
"Uhn?"
"It's time to sing together, and you kept staring like I was a movie."
"Oh, uh…" He said, and my cheeks turned red. "Let's take it again."
We sang the song over, and over because it felt wrong, and I was sick of singing the same thing over, and over.
"Okay, one more." He said, and I gathered back my strength.
We sang the song again, and this time when we both parted, it gave a beautiful sound, and at that moment, it felt right to put my head on his shoulder, but I knew if I did, I was dead meat.
He'd see me as a weirdo.
But still, the thought of that was quite funny.
When our hour was up, the others didn't waste time in calling us down, and I tried to hide my smile, but couldn't help it.
What was wrong with me? Why was I smiling? Nothing happened.
"Why are you smiling? Don't make this look weird. You want them to think I did something to you?" He asked, staring at me like I was an alien, and I laughed.
"I don't know. I'm just smiling. This is just me. I smile a lot."
"You're creepy. You know that. And stop blushing, please." He said, and I giggled hard, frustrating him.
We got down, and everyone noticed me smiling.
"Woah, what happened up there?" Shawn asked, in a loud voice, making me blush.
"Nothing idiot." Freddie said, throwing a cushion at him.
"Her face says the opposite." Bianca said with a laugh.
"Not you too, mum. Really? Her?" He asked, waving a hand at me.
"What's wrong with her?" Poppy asked.
"She's not my type." He said. "Okay, let's start." He said, with a smile.
"Let's see what you've got contestants!" Poppy exclaimed in excitement. "Who gets mum's credit card for a whole day?" She asked.
"I don't like the way Freddie's smiling." Bianca said, with a laugh, and Freddie laughed out loud.
"Was I? I was just wondering about the things I needed to buy." He said, and everyone laughed.
"Alright. Liam, and Hudley, our first couple, show us what you got." Poppy said to them.
"Don't call us that. Yuck." Hudley said, and everyone laughed.
"Alright, alright everyone, I know you're super excited, but we're going to blow your mind." Liam said.
"Calm down, fellas, this is the real deal. We knew you expected big from us, and we're going to give it to you big." Hudley said, and they laughed.
"Can you just go on, and save the talking for later?" Freddie asked, scratching his ear.
"Alright. You didn't have to tell us. We were about to move on. Hudley, set the stuff up." Liam said, and Hudley went to the TV, and connected it with his tablet.
They messed around with the TV for a while before a portrait of Bianca showed up.
The amazing thing about it was that it seemed to be drawn by them. They seemed to have drawn it themselves.
"Wow!" Bianca exclaimed.
"How is this possible!?" Poppy asked.
"We're going to make this a portrait, for you to hang on your wall, it was drawn by people who love you." Liam said, and winked at Bianca.
"You must be nuts, who are you to wink at my mum?" Poppy asked.
"At least, she's a lot prettier than you." Hudley said, and they laughed.
"There's some trick to this. You guys did something." Shawn said.
"Yeah, I refuse to believe that."
"What are you? Aren't you supposed to be the judge? It's not your time to interfere." Liam said.
"Ibis paint, or clip studio." Freddie suddenly said, with a smirk on his face, and Liam, and Hudley's face went pale…
"They took a picture of hers, made an outline, reduced the opacity, and started to color it up. Might have truly taken them an hour, but it's still cheating, it's not genuine, it's not something you made." Freddie said, and they looked at Bianca.
"Yes, it's Ibis paint but, we…"
"Boo!" Poppy said.
"Next!" Shawn shouted in excitement.
"That's you dummy." Freddie said.
"Oh, it's us?" Shawn asked.
"It's fine. I like it. If I'm not too pleased by the others, you still have a chance to win." Bianca said.
"Yes! That's why I love her, see!?" Hudley said.
"Sorry to say, Bianca, but your kids are nothing like you." Liam said, and Freddie hit him with another cushion.
"Idiot. I'm totally her." He said.
"Okay!" Shawn said, clearing his throat, and he, and Calby went to Bianca.
"Here." Calby said, handing a parcel to Bianca, and Bianca smiled, wondering what was in it.
She opened it, and her mouth fell open.
Everyone immediately went over to her to see what was in it.
They were beads, lovely necklaces, anklets, and bracelets made of beads.
"Oh my! You made these?"
"Mum! That's a fake." Freddie said, and Shawn went to him, pushing him away, and trying to shut him up.
"You're against everyone, bro. Shut it." He said, laughing. "We spent an hour doing that."
"Oh my God, Shawn… Poppy, take a look at those beads very well." He said, and Poppy gasped.
"Oh my!" She exclaimed, and she, and Freddie, burst into laughter.
"Shawn, aren't those the beads I hung in the next room? Mum, you don't remember? Freddie got me these beads two Christmases ago." She said, and Bianca burst into laughter.
"Oh you children! You're all con artists!" She said, and everyone laughed.
"It's was his idea. He wouldn't listen to me." Calby said, and everyone laughed once more.
"Alright, it's our turn." Freddie said, and I giggled.
"Let's see what you guys cooked up, a kissing video?" Liam teased, and I went red.
"Do I look like you?" Freddie asked coolly as he connected the TV to his phone.
"So it's not a kissing video?" Shawn asked, smiling.
"Why not wait until you see the kissing video, before you start blabbering?" Freddie said, without looking back at them.
Then it began to play, and he left the living room.
"I'll be getting some water. Tell me if it's done." He said.
Wow… The video was actually nice. It looked really cool, and everyone's eyes were fixed on it.
"And your eyes, oh … The look of it.
The look of love…
Oh, it's so warm.
And I'm standing…
Unable to say.
What I really wish to say….
That… I… Love you!" I sang along with the TV.
It was the part where I and Freddie parted, and everyone started to clap.
"You made this song for me?" Bianca asked, as she stared at us singing on the television.
"Yes."
"Wait. Search Google for those lyrics. They might have taken from there." Shawn said, and they google searched it.
"It's an original." Liam said, in amazement.
"Oh my God! A song written for me. Where's Freddie!" Bianca squealed, and came to hug me.
"I love it already! I love it, your voices, make the lyrics even more special." Bianca said, and everyone clapped.
"I guess we know the winners, right?" Poppy asked, and I couldn't stop blushing.
"Freddie! The results are out!" Hudley said.
"I'm busy!" He replied.
"Leave that jerk!" Poppy said, with a scoff.
"Okay, I've thought about it, and the people who gave me something that touched me deeply, are none other than…" She said, and stared at everyone, one after the other.
Everyone stared at me, and I could feel my face getting hot.
"Liam, and Hudley!" She said, and my smile faded, turning into one of embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, Scilla..."