I was late. I already knew that.
So was it really necessary for the guys to bring it up every five seconds?
“What do you do after school anyway, Rosalina? “ Thomas said in between songs. He was always the first one to open his big mouth and get the rest of them going.
David, Thomas’s living shadow, was usually the next one to jump in. “Yeah. The studio’s just around the corner from the school.”
“I’m aware of that,” I said curtly; my patience was running thin.
Cooper, always the voice of reason, was also starting to get annoyed with the constant interruptions. “Come on, guys. Let’s just rehearse.”
“Yeah. Leave her alone,” Nat said. “We have to get the bridge down.”
“Hey, don’t get mad at us, Nat,” Qaasim replied defensively. It looked like everyone was against me today. “It’s not our fault Rosalina’s been late everyday this week.”
“She was even later than usual today,” added David.
“Guys, we have to rehearse.”
Things were starting to get tense and our voices were getting louder and louder. Soon, we were all shouting and it was hard to tell who was talking anymore. Thomas, David, and Qaasim were all yelling at me while Nat and Cooper were trying to get everyone back in order. Alex was always the mute during these fights, which I was slightly grateful for. I wasn’t above all the arguing either; instead, I was at the center of it.
“If you guys don’t cut it out, I’m leaving.”
“Fine, leave! It’s not like you’re here on time, anyways.”
“Come on, guys. Cut it out!”
“What, do you think you’re too good for us just because you’re in high school?”
“Thomas, David! Cut it out!”
“Why are you always defending her, Nat?”
I swore that if my bass didn’t have a strap, I would have thrown it at Thomas’s face. “Just stop it, alright?”
“What are you getting so defensive about, Rosalina? Were you flirting with a bunch of hot high school guys or something?”
Maybe if I had thrown the bass at Thomas then I could have thrown the strap at Qaasim for that last one. I then realized that I had missed a critical moment for a comeback and everyone was looking at me, including Nat. I could tell by the slight narrowing of his eyes that he was a bit suspicious of my silence. It was a mistake on my part, and I did the only thing I could.
I left.
I didn’t even bother to look back to see if they were trying to stop me. I simply put my bass down, grabbed my backpack, and left. It wasn’t the first time I walked out on them, which was probably the worst part about it. I knew that I would come crawling back to them tomorrow, only to get made fun of once again.
It sucked being the odd one out.
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There was one thing about Nat that always got on my nerves at the worst possible times. Whenever he knew I was angry, he always needed to talk it out, even if he wasn’t the cause of it. I lost count of how many times my phone rang with his name lit up on the screen. Cooper had also called me a few times, but ended up text messaging me instead. Practice tomorrow had been cancelled, and I didn’t need to ask why.
I sat on my bed, staring at the ceiling when my phone rang once again. I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to any of the band members at this point. Resisting the urge to throw my phone across my room proved to be worth it when I suddenly received a text message from Richie.
“I’m bored,” it read.
Smiling in amusement, I contemplated answering it. It had been such a random message and the timing was perfect. It took a while for me to type the message; I was more used to talking than texting. “What are you doing right now?”
The response was also delayed a bit, which meant that he wasn’t very good at this either. “Nothing. That’s why I’m bored. Are you free to talk?”
“Yeah, but I don’t really feel like it right now.”
“Alright then. Call me tomorrow if you’re in the mood. Maybe we can hang out or something. Goodnight.”
That actually surprised me a bit. Either Richie didn’t feel like he knew me enough to ask what was wrong, or he was respecting my privacy. It didn’t matter, though, because the idea of being left alone was completely alien to me. He had made it seem so simple, and didn’t make a big deal about me being in a bad mood.
Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal, after all. I was being a bit sensitive about it, and I was probably taking it a bit harder than I should have.
I was already feeling a little better when my poor, underappreciated phone rang yet again. The caller ID didn’t surprise me, but I wasn’t as angry as I was a few minutes ago. He was only calling to make sure I was okay, and it wasn’t right for me to keep ignoring him. After a moment of thought, I flipped open my phone.
“Hi, Nat.”
