Chapter 28

Monday I still couldn’t get what happened out of my mind. No matter what I did on Sunday, I kept coming back to Rhonda.

It wasn’t her talking to Aaron, although I didn’t love that. She was her own person and I wasn’t so jealous that I couldn’t deal with her just talking to guys, although I wished she’d picked someone who hated me just a little less to have a conversation with.

It also wasn’t how certain I was that she’d lied to me when I asked how the football players ended up at the party, and why I wasn’t so sure her conversation with Aaron had been as innocuous as she said it was.

My real problem was that I wasn’t entirely surprised that she’d lied to me. Deep down, I knew I didn’t trust her. It’s why I knew we weren’t destined to last. I didn’t love Rhonda; we hadn’t even known each other that long. I really liked her though, and enjoyed the time we spent together, and it hurt knowing that she’d do something that would end up breaking us up, and she’d probably do it soon.

She wasn’t a bad person, she just couldn’t see past her social status and how others saw her. It was just who she was, and in the end, that’s what was going to break us up. While I knew it was coming, I wasn’t in a hurry to hasten it. She was my first girlfriend and when it happened, it was going to really hurt.

So when lunchtime rolled around, I took the cowards option.

“I know we were going to go sit with your friends today, but can we rearrange things and sit with my friends? They asked for an update about how playing at the party went and when I was playing with Willie out of town again. I promise we can sit with them tomorrow.”

“Sure,” she said, not sounding thrilled.

Again, it wasn’t that she disliked Hanna and the rest of the lunch group. She actually seemed to like Hanna when we all spent time together outside of school. It was the social climber in her again. No one at the lunch table was part of any popular clique and some of that unpopularity rubbed off on her each time she sat with us.

“How’d it go on Saturday?” Peyton asked when we sat down.

“Pretty good.”

“It went better than pretty good,” Jordan said. “I was there for the first hour or so before I had to take off, and he killed it. The first song was kinda off, but when he just started playing without trying to go along with a playlist, or whatever that first thing was, he killed it.”

“Yeah, one of the guys who play at the Blue Ridge suggested it as an option when playing solo. He said he sometimes plays off a backing track with everything but lead guitar and vocals, so you still get the feel of a full band. I should have tried it out first before I got there, but Saturday was so busy I didn’t get a chance to. I knew how much it sucked after the first song and bailed on it.”

“It didn’t suck,” Jordan said. “It just wasn’t as good as anything else you played that night.”

“Well, it sucked for me. It’s no fun to play like that.”

“What really rocked was after that though,” Jordan said, continuing his report. “He played a song from a rock opera that most of us knew, and everyone started singing along. After that people started calling out requests and it became a whole thing.”

Not everyone at the table seemed sold on Jordan’s description. Jordan was in choir and hoped to one day sing on Broadway, which explained why it was right up his alley. Normal people would probably not be into that as the entertainment at a party, where they’d rather just dance.

“It was the right party for it.”

“You guys would a’ had fun had you been there,” Jordan said.

“We’ll take your word on it,” Megan said. “So, I hadn’t heard; how’d the thing in Asheville go?”

“Really good. The bar was twice as big as the Blue Ridge and they had tables on two floors, looking down at the stage. Willie introduced me separately and had me take over for a little while. The crowd seemed to get into it, and the owner said it went well.”

“Maybe you’ll be able to go back there sometime, like on your own,” Fatima said.

“Maybe, although not anytime soon. He liked me, but it’s not like I know him, and I can’t imagine a bar owner being crazy about having a minor on stage by themselves. If I screwed the pooch, he still had Willie there, which is who he hired in the first place. Besides, they have people like Willie play so they can bring in more customers, but for that to work, the musician needs enough of a fan base to make that a selling point.”

“You’re getting there,” Rhonda said.

“Just at the Blue Ridge. It’s not like people are driving in an hour to catch a show. If they’re in the area they might stop by, but most of the crowd is locals, and they’d be there even if I weren’t playing.”

“Charlie’s being modest,” Hanna said. “I know Chef tells him the numbers, and we can all see how much business has picked up on nights you’re there to play. You don’t see how much the place empties out when you head out for the night. The last set has about the same business as it had before you started playing, maybe a little less. It isn’t locals just looking for something to do. People are coming out to see you.”

“Maybe,” I said.

She was right, but I still wasn’t comfortable with a ton of praise. Chef had been showing me the numbers, and they’d discussed just scrapping the set after I left. The reason he was keeping it was because I left so early and he didn’t want to upset the people who were used to music going several hours later than I could play.

“Maybe we should try and go to Asheville to catch your next show.”

“I think Willie said it’s also at a bar and isn’t eighteen plus.”

“I have a fake ID,” Joseph said.

“Of course you do,” Megan said, rolling her eyes. “I bet it looks nothing like you.”

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s a lot more blues and a lot less pop and modern stuff, since all of the locations are places Willie has played before. Unless you’re into that, you’re better off just going to the Blue Ridge.”

“How many more do you have,” Jordan asked.

“Just one more, which is Willie’s last show in Asheville. After that, he heads further south and will be staying in the towns he’s playing in. I get in enough trouble here without skipping a few weeks of school.”

“He’ll be taking over the Blue Ridge on the nights Willie’s out of town, though,” Hanna said.

“Not all of it. They’ll still have the band continue playing blues after I leave, since I can’t play as late as they need to, especially on Sunday nights. It’s hard enough to convince Mom to let me play without coming home in the middle of the night on a school night.”

“So it’ll be like Saturday’s are now, but all weekend?” Megan asked.

“Yep. We’ve already started working on extending the sets so we aren’t playing the same thing all three nights.”

I noticed Cameron hadn’t shown up yet. Since he started sitting with us he’d been one of the first people at the table. I thought maybe he was running a little slow, considering how smashed he’d been on Saturday. It was probably unlikely, since I hadn’t heard of anyone needing two days to recover from a hangover, but it was possible.

“Has anyone seen Cameron? He’s normally here by now,” I asked.

“He was in my third-period class,” Peyton said.

“Maybe he’s sick,” I said. “He was really hammered on Saturday.”

“Nah, he seemed fine. Plus, two days is enough to get over a hangover. He probably just had something to do.”

“Maybe,” I said. Not believing it.

I had a pretty good idea why he wasn’t there: I’d just been looking for other reasons first.

“I actually need to go take care of something. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay?”

Rhonda got up and started to follow me out of the cafeteria.

“Hey,” I said, stopping to face her. “Something happened with Cameron on Saturday, and it’s something I need to deal with in private. Would it be okay if I dealt with this and caught up after?”

“Sure,” she said, looking back at the lunch table.

“Go sit with your friends; it’s okay. If I get done before lunch is over, I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding relieved. “If I don’t see you I’ll meet you in the parking lot before you and Hanna leave.”

“Look forward to it,” I said, kissing her.

I had a few guesses where to find him, but I only needed the first. The Choir room sometimes had kids in it practicing during lunch, so I headed to the auditorium. It was a small room, about the size of two classrooms with a small stage on one side and an extended set of bleachers like we had in the gym, capable of seating maybe thirty people.

Cameron was sitting on one of the bleachers, looking down at the bench in front of him. He must have been pretty deep in thought, because he didn’t hear me coming until I stepped on the bleacher, and started walking up to him.

“Ohh, Charlie,” He said starting to stand up. “I was just...”

“Sit back down,” I said. “I know what you were doing.”

He seemed unsure, but he listened, sitting back in the spot he’d just vacated. I took the seat next to him, stretching my feet out to the bench below us.

“We missed you at lunch.”

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“Maybe, but that isn’t why you didn’t come to lunch. I was first thinking I should just ignore it, since drawing attention to what happened might make you uncomfortable. Now, I think if I don’t say anything I might lose you as a friend. We haven’t known each other long, but I don’t have enough friends to just let one walk away without trying to do something about it.”

“Charlie, I don’t...”

“Can I go first?” I asked.

I was pretty sure he was going to deny anything was wrong, trying to dig a hole and hide in it. I was pretty sure Cameron wasn’t out. He’d made a few comments about girls before, the kind of off-handed stuff guys sometimes do between themselves. I hadn’t really thought much about it before, but looking back, I realized it wasn’t all that convincing. It was performative.

“I’m not one-hundred percent sure if you’re just embarrassed or if you’re worried I’ll say something to someone else. The second one’s easy; I won’t, not unless you say it’s okay. I’m not sure if you’re keeping it a secret or not, so you let me know how you want me to handle it, and that’s what I’ll do. I can promise you that it doesn’t bother me or change how I feel about you. I still consider you a friend, as long as you still want to be friends with me.”

He just nodded, not looking up.

“The first one’s harder. I can tell you that you shouldn’t be embarrassed but telling someone how to feel doesn’t usually work. I know it sucks to make a pass at someone and get shot down, and for that I’m sorry. What I can tell you is it won’t change how I act towards you or think about you. I hope you can get over the embarrassment and we can go on being friends, but that’s your decision. All I can do is try to treat you the same, and hope you’ll believe me.”

We both sat quietly for a little while. The bell would be ringing soon and I’d have to go, but I didn’t want to push him. I once asked out this girl at one of the clubs who was nine years older than me. I was just a kid, which meant I never had a shot, but she was really cool about it. I wanted to sprint out of the backstage area and hide in the RV but she stopped me and told me she was flattered but that I was just too young for her. I’d always liked her because she treated me as a person and not a kid, and she kept treating me like that afterward.

I’d been mortified, but she’d promised she wouldn’t treat me any different, and she hadn’t. It was weird, for me at least, the next few times I saw her, but after a while, I got over it. I hadn’t seen her since a few months before Dad’s incident. With Mom and me living out here, it was unlikely I’d ever see her again. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to her.

“I’m sorry,” Cameron finally said. “I knew you were straight and normally I’d never do something like that but I kinda lost my head.”