In the basement

It clocked 11:30 am. I was still hiding in the basement sulking like a lost puppy.

Mandy and Mckayla were seated at the cafeteria munching on spaghetti tacos. The cafeteria was quite noisy, there was humming in the air, and it was quite packed.

Kenzie and Sam who are Mckayla and Mandy's friends, approached their table grinning excitedly from ear to ea

"Girls guess what?" Kenzie said impatiently.

Mckayla rolled her eyes and groaned, "you know I don't like guessing. Just spill it out."

"Okay, Jake is heading towards the school's basement."

"And he's alone." said Sam energetically.

Mckayla and Mandy gasped feeling stupefied, "What!" and sprang up to their feet grinning from ear to ear. They dropped their tacos and grabbed their handbag.

"Come on, let's go hurry to him." Mandy said and they walked out of the cafeteria.

Jake was singing as he was walking through the stairs towards the down floor. The girls spotted him walk past the library and they increased their pace towards him.

They swarmed him. Jake was startled and looked at them, he leaned against the wall as he got pushed and Mandy laid her hand on the wall. She shook her ponytail and laid her hand on her waist staring into his eyes, "Jake we heard you're looking for a female singer who will join your musical band, so we want you to interview us."

Jake looked at each one of their faces. He saw that they were beaming in excitement and he nodded, "okay."

"Let's go to the theater room." Mckayla held his arm, "let's go?"

Jake nodded and replied, "sure."

They reached the theater. An army of seats filled the room. Jake approached a seat in the first row, and the girls sat behind him.

He glanced at them, "who's going first?"

Kenzie quickly sprang up to her feet, "I will go first."

She stepped into the stage and Jake stared at her feeling eager to listen to her voice and as she started singing, he felt irritated listening to her husky voice. He gawked feeling quite disappointed. He couldn't take it anymore and he shouted, "please stop! Next!"

Kenzie paused and she turned to him, "what's wrong?"

"It's terrible, it's quite bad I'm sorry." Jake tried to catch his breath.

Kenzie looked at Sam, Mckayla and Mandy and noticed from the looks they had that they weren't impressed, and she quietly stepped down from the stage approaching her seat.

Mandy laughed silently and energetically walked to the stage in her pair of pink sneakers.

Kenzie sat besides Sam, and Sam whispered to her, "that was embarrassing."

Kenzie sighed and furrowed her eyebrows, "whatever."

Mandy stood on the stage and she tapped on the screen of her phone and a loud beat started playing.

Jake got excited. Mandy threw her pony tail and was singing melodiously, Jake nodded his head smiling wildly.

The beats stopped playing and Mandy walked down from the stage.

Mckayla sprang up to her feet, and she walked up to the stage.

"Now, it's my turn!" She said energetically.

Jake sprang up to his feet, "girls, I don't have any more time to interview you all. I gotta go to the basement to get my wristwatch and head out to the band. I'm supposed to meet with them by 11 and it's almost 12. Gotta go."

Jake walked out of the room approaching the doors.

Mandy and Mckayla stared at each other feeling dissatisfied.

"What're we gonna do?" Said Sam

"We cannot just let him leave." Mckayla added.

"Let's stalk him." Mandy said firmly.

Jake reached the school's basement. He clenched the doorknob and he was almost pushing the door open when Mandy and Mckayla approached him.

"Wait Jake!" Mckayla yelled.

Jake turned to them and he moaned, "ugh! What do you girls want?"

"We won't let you be till you tell me that you pick me to join your band." Mandy furrowed her eyebrows.

"You have a good voice Mandy but it's not captivating. I can't feel any emotion, I just feel entertained. No offence but, you can't join my band."

Mandy felt bittered, and sighed.

I was starting to feel bored just sitting and sobbing. Miley Cyrus's music, Wrecking Ball started playing in my mind.

I got excited and started singing it in a high-pitched tone.

"Oh, come on Jake, reconsider." Mandy stroked Jake's arm grinning at him.

Jake tried to speak, and he was hearing my voice. He got quite ecstatic, he smiled wildly, "do you girls hear that?"

Mandy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Yea, does it matter?" Mckayla said.

When it got to the chorus of Wrecking Ball, I sang so loudly and agilely as images of my course mates laughing at my face flashed through my mind.

Eager to see who the singer was, Jake pushed the door open and walked in. Mckayla and Mandy followed.

I was deafened by my voice, I did not hear their footsteps.

Jake got surprised that he saw no-one. Mandy and Mckayla looked around the room.

"Where is she?" Mckayla said.

"She must be in here." Jake said firmly.

I heard voices, I got nervous and covered my mouth. I did not want to be spotted. I did not want to be scoffed at by anyone anymore.

"She has stopped singing. Pay no attention to her and let's go somewhere else." Mandy held Jake's hand and was almost pulling him with her.

Jake took his hand off hers and he walked past her.

I slightly parted my hair off my face to see who was in the basement and I saw Jake. He was walking towards the lanky curtains.

I panicked, "oh my gosh! It's that cute boy!"

He parted the curtains open hoping to see me there, he peeped in, and he got confused, "where could that marvelous singer be?"

He turned from the curtain and he spotted a pair of my sneakers sheathed in my foot which was sticking out.

He smirked and was walking towards me.

I noticed his legs approaching me, and I shook my head biting my nails, "no, let him not find me, he should not come closer." I muttered.

My heart raced and I tightly shut my eyes shaking like a frightened cat.

Mckayla and Mandy stood staring at him wondering why he was heading towards there.

Jake pushed the huge cartons aside, and he peeped behind the karaoke machine and saw me. I was bowing my head and my hair was laying on my face

"Gotcha!"

Mckayla and Mandy realized that it was me, and they were astonished.

"Trina?" They exclaimed.

Jake noticed that I was reluctant to step out and he took a few steps towards me and squatted besides me.

"Hey, why are you hiding behind the cartons?"

His voice was delicate not rough, nor thick.

I was tight-lipped. I wanted him to leave but I wished for him to stay.

Jake got impatient, and eagerly wanted to see my face, he gently rolled my hair off my face, and my heart thumped thinking, "oh no, he's gonna feel so irritated."

Jake looked at the several red spots on my face. Mckayla and Mandy cackled loudly and Mandy stroked her hair.

I glanced under my lashes to notice if Jake was looking at me.

"Oh no! He's silent, he's probably so disappointed. Trina Parker, you are never gonna be Jake's girlfriend. I'm a zombie." I said loudly in my mind, and my heart sank.

Jake stretched his hand to me and I was quite confused, I lifted up my head and looked at him and he smiled at me, "give me your hand let me get you up."

"What!!" I muttered feeling surprised that he'd still want to talk to this zombie. I mean, isn't he seeing the many ugly spot on my face? Or, am I hearing things. I thought.

Mckayla and Mandy were astonished.

"What's he doing? Why is he still talking to her?" said Mandy.

Am I going to give him my hand or am I just gonna keep staring at him like a statue? I wondered.

"Come on." He nodded and smiles tilted the corners of my lips that he was not kidding. I held his hand and he pulled me as I tried to stand.

"I am in a band. It's called the Jackson Fellas and I want you to be a member so the band will be complete."

Preta Parker sat across an European dining table with her husband, Dave Parker. Preta's lips were painted with purple lipstick. Her hair was neatly combed and tied to a ponytail. A pair of big glowing diamond earrings dangled down her ears.

A maid approached the dining table. The silver plates seated on the table sparkled as the glittering chandeliers dangling on the ceiling shone on them.

The maid slightly bowed, "Miss Preta, you sent for me."

In a fit of rage, Preta sprang to her feet, grabbed her plate of food, threw it harshly towards her and it splashed at her.

Dave's brows furrowed and his eyes widened in shock. The maid trembled.

"You dumb idiot, why did you prepare my dish so salty? Even a kitten is gonna suffer from indigestion with such a meal." Preta's voice banged her ears.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? You're so stupid. I pay you a huge salary yet you can't commit to feeding me properly? Get out of my sight and make sure to tidy up this mess."

The maid nodded and walked away.

Preta sighed.

Dave sprang to his feet, "what did you do that for? Why scream at the maid the meal is pretty good, it did not taste bland to me." He argued.

"It did to me."

"Are you being serious?"

"Nine solid years, our daughter Lily is still not with us. I keep waiting and hoping patiently that I will get to see her and hold her in my arms, " tears rolled down her eyes, "but all because of that evil witch, Ana we can't. Who knows how our daughter is doing? If she is okay or sick? Could she be hungry?"

"Try to calm down, I know Ana won't let our daughter fall sick."

"Don't you try to defend her. Have you forgotten that she was our wretched maid? Just because she got pregnant with our baby does not mean she is that capable to take care of her. If only I knew she would escape with our baby, I would have used someone else for the surrogacy." She sniffed.

Dave advanced to her, he pulled her into a hug, "don't be upset. Let's keep hoping that we're gonna find Lily soon."

********

It breathed a fluorescent morning the subsequent day. Ana stepped down from a cab parked at the sidewalk clenching an enormous leather bag. She was in a pair of blue pants and a pink blouse. Her feet were wrapped with slim brown sandals and her lips were painted with colorless lip gloss.

She specked a spacious grocery store and proceeded there. The street was quite noisy, a lot of vehicles were honking the horn of their car as a large truck stood in the middle of the road.

Dave parked his Porsche truck by the grocery store. He yanked the car door open and he stepped down and shut the door gently.

Ana was almost reaching the store and she immediately halted looking at Dave and she looked so frightened as if spotting a ghost, her heart drummed loudly against her ears and she breathed high.

Ana's hands shivered, "oh my god! It's Dave."

A taxi tried to move straight up the road, it halted. The cab driver blared the horn of the car but Ana was still froze. The driver waved at Ana and was screaming, "hey! Get out of the way, hey!" He frowned tightly.

He honked the horn so loud, it banged Dave's ears. Dave turned to look at the other side of the road and he was aghast looking at Ana, "Ana?"

Ana panicked looking at him looking at her, "oh no, he's seen my face." She turned and scurried.

Dave got anxious and he tried to run after her, he screamed her name and halted as the taxi stood in his way. The taxi shifted to the road and Dave quickly walked up the road staring hard hoping to spot Ana. He looked around and sighed, "where did you vanish to Ana?" Tears gleamed in his eyes.