Ky
I just saw this photo of Bella on IG. I think they're SUPER cute together. No wonder Beau ignores Marhly so much! She's gonna drop when she sees this!
Beau was awesome. His voice was definitely Grammy-worthy.
The way he sang, the lyrics of the song, the way he glanced at her momentarily, that smileâall of it was making her chest swell with emotions she had never felt before.
The feeling was different, but in a good way, and she was sure she was staring at him. Throughout the song, she could only focus on one thing: the tingling sensation in her stomach every time he glanced in her direction.
When he was done, the place filled with screams, and he went backstage. She headed to the entrance, pushing past overexcited people. They agreed to meet outside before he went onstage.
"So, how'd I do?" he asked when they met, and she smiled.
"A hundred out of ten. Your voice is amazing! I mean, I'm in my own world right now."
"Maybe you and I could do a duet sometime."
Her eyes widened, then she gave a nervous laugh. "I'd definitely blow up your sound system."
He chuckled. "You sing that bad? Come on, you're just messing with me."
"Seriously, I wish I was."
"Well, seems like not all math geniuses sing that well."
She pointed a finger at him, causing him to laugh. "I see what you did there."
"I didn't do anything." He lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Was just pointing out an observation."
"Mhm. And for that, calculus will make you suffer." She did a fake war cry voice, shaking her right fist above her head on her last sentence, and they both laughed.
"Hey, easy. It's just first semester. I'm having enough of math right now."
"Beau." The deep, booming voice came from behind them. They turned to it and saw Lars approaching them, his muscled arms making him look like he wanted to give one of them a punch in the face.
"Hey," Beau said.
"There's this dude outside asking for," he gestured to Bella, "her."
"Really, did he drop a name?"
"Yeah. Says he's Cody."
Bella's eyes widened, and, immediately, the pain in her ribsâcaused by her rebellious act that nightâreturned. "Oh my God! How did he find out I came here?" she blurted before realizing it, and Beau looked confused for a second.
"He sounded kind of mad, so maybe you should go see him before he blows up," Lars said, chuckling, but Bella didn't get the joke.
Her brotherâher big brotherâwas standing outside, mad, waiting for her, after she snuck out of the house. What was funny about that? When Cody was mad, it wasn't funny. In fact, it was scary.
She wanted to ask Beau if there was another door she could take, when he said, " Thanks, Lars. We'll be right there."
"No, we won't!" she exclaimed, then slammed her palm over her mouth. That was what nervousness did to her when there was no sugar around.
Beau looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Bella, are you okay?"
"Yeah," she answered sharply, then scratched the back of her head through her hood. "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Then let's go."
"I can't." At that, Beau's confusion visible increased, and Bella realized she hadn't seen him look that confused beforeâwhich was kind of cute.
"Why not?"
She shut her eyes, but only for a brief second, before saying, "Beau, I'm not really supposed to be here. Iâ" She paused, not sure she wanted to say the next part. Mentally putting on her big girl pants, she continued, "I snuck out of the house because my mom told me I couldn't come."
"You what?" Beau sounded different that time; he sounded puzzled, disappointed. It made her feel guilty. He turned to Lars. "We'll be out in a while."
Lars gave him a chin nod, then walked away. "Teenagers and their drama. God, I love my job," he mumbled.
Beau turned to Bella, smile and confusion gone, now replaced with something else. Sadness, maybe. "Bella, why did you sneak out?" he asked softly.
She didn't know how to respond to that. She snuck out because she wanted to come to his gig, and it was that simple. But he looked so disappointed.
"I would've been fine with it if you'd told me, really. You didn't have to do that."
"IâI'm sorry, I guess." She looked down at her low tops and heard him let out a breath.
"Come on. Cody's waiting."
He waited for her to move, before following. They walked in silence, and she couldn't help the guilt that overwhelmed her. Her side hurt as she walked, but she ignored it, telling herself it served her right.
Her rebel side quickly dissipated, and she silently agreed with Beau. She should've just told him. But she had a bad day on Wednesday and wasn't thinking straight.
"There you are." Cody looked really mad, and his voice was colder than winter. "You're coming home with me. Now!" He took her hand immediately Lars unhooked one end of the stanchion rope and pulled her to the parked car.
"Oh my God, it's her!" a girl gushed to her friend as they walked past them, looking shocked, but the good kind of shocked. She then raised the phone in her hand, as if to take a picture, and Bella realized she was staring.
She quickly looked away, then said through gritted teeth, "Cody, you're humiliating me."
"I don't care. You shouldn't have come here," he replied, opening the passenger door for her. "Get in."
She did as she was told, and he slammed the door shut, before walking around the car to the driver's side. Bella took that moment to look back to the stanchion, but found her heart missing a beat when she saw Beau gently pushing past a group of guys to get back in. His black electric guitar reflected the blue lights as he moved, and her chest tightened. How was she going to face him after that?
That was somehow worse than not showing up at allâleaving after one song.
At home, it was worse. Mrs. Quincy was in full blown Mom Mode. Scolding wasn't something she did often, because Bella was usually a sweetheart and Cody usually just didn't get in trouble. But today, Belinda crossed all boundaries.
"I can't believe you snuck out when I told you you couldn't go. Was it so hard for you to stay home?"
Bella said nothing, just directed her frown to the innocent floor.
Her mom placed her hands on her hips in exasperation. "Why are you so quiet? Have nothing to say for yourself?"
She shook her head, not in the mood to talk.
"Well then, great! Hand me your phone, then go to your room and get me your laptop. You're grounded."
Her head shot up at that, and her eyes widened. "But, Mom, I need my phoneâ"
"No buts. Hand it to me!"
"Pleaseâ"
"Belinda!"
She couldn't believe it. Apart from it being the first time she was grounded, it was also the first time she was being denied of technological privileges.
With a heavy heart and a strong urge to run to her room and lock herself up forever, she pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her pants and gave it to her mom.
"Cody."
"Yeah," he answered from the kitchen.
"Follow your sister to her room and get her laptop for me."
Immediately, Bella stormed off, up the stairs, not caring if Cody followed her or not. Her phone was the cloud to her sky, the Brie to her Nancy, the Elena to her Avalor. How could it be taken from her?
She walked into her room, seeing the mess on her bed first, then the sticker-clad laptop on the study table. She grabbed it, then walked back to the door with the aim of keeping it outside for Cody, but when she opened the door, he was standing there. She carelessly shoved the laptop into his hands. "I hope you're happy now," she said, after which she slammed the door in his face.
That weekend was a nightmare. Breakfast on Saturday was like sitting in the middle of a fire. Her mom talked about her sudden interest in catsâwhich wouldn't've bothered her on a good day, but what made her mom think she could sound so chirpy when she was obviously mourning a temporary loss?
Cody made approving sounds at the cat breeds she suggested getting, but was more interested in giving Bella awkward glances between forks of waffles, and Bella focused on drowning her poor, poor waffle in vanilla syrupâsuch cruelty!
She wasn't allowed to leave the house, so that afternoon, while Cody went out, seemingly to meet with Kyra, she binge-watched old episodes of I Am Frankie, slouched in the sofa like her life was over.
She was bored and didn't know anything that was going on in the world of social media, and was considering going to have a nap in her room, but couldn't really do it.
Sunday seemed like it would be equally boring, and she felt like she was falling sickâlike she was drowning in a deep sea of boredom. She also couldn't talk to Beau, and it was killing herâliterally strangling her and making her gasp for air. They didn't part ways the way they should've that Friday.
She thought back to the first conversation they had in the gym and how awkward it had been at first, but how it got better. They just seemed to have a connection apart from eye-locking at school sometimes. What if he had texted her? No, it was a horrible nightmare.
The doorbell rang that evening, when she was in the middle of her fifth chocolate chip cookie, and she literally jumped off the couch. Anything to get a glimpse of the outside world. She took the cookie to her mouth as she opened the door, but paused when she saw who it was. Her hand stopped mid-air, halfway to her mouth, and she stared at Beau, unblinking.
The half-eaten cookie almost fell out of her hand, making him give an amused smile. "You gonna eat that?"
That seemed to snap her out of her Beau-filled daze. She blinked several times before stuttering, "Uhâum, I wasâit's..." She paused, took a deep breath, then tried again. "What are you doing here?" The question would've sounded rude, if not for the breath she let out with it.
"I... came to see you."
She felt the corner of her lips slowly tug upward. "You did?"
"Yeah. I talked to Cody yesterday and he told me you're grounded," he softly said.
"Yes. I would've texted to apologize, but my mom took away my technologyâwell, my texting technology." She didn't get why she didn't just say phone.
He gave a lopsided grin. "Not the best punishment, is it?"
"It's the worstâ" She paused, realizing that he was still standing outside. "I'm sorry. Come in."
"Don't worry about it. If your mom's anything like mine, she wouldn't like you having a friend over when you're grounded."
Bella nodded. "Yeah, you're right. That's like my mom, even though I can't be completely sure about that since I haven't been grounded before."
"Are you serious?" His eyebrows lifted in amusement. Bella was a park full of it for him. When she nodded, he said, "How do you feel?"
She stepped out, gently shutting the door behind her. "I've never felt worse. Seriously, it's terrible."
"You'll be really good for a long time, I'm guessing."
"Ding-ding. You just won the grand prize."
He chuckled. "I just came to say hi. Was feeling a bit guilty about you getting in trouble because of meâ"
"Okay, no. No, no. It was all my fault, don't say that."
"Okay, I won't say itâ"
"Good."
"âbut I'll think it."
She gave him a blank stare. "Seriously?"
"That's how it goes."
"You have no right to think whatever happened on Friday's your fault. It was clearly mineâI snuck outâso let me take the blame, okay?"
He didn't say anything, and she waited for him to point out how ridiculous them almost squabbling over who would take the blame was, but he studied her eyes for a few seconds, then said, "Thanks for coming. I really appreciate it."
"You're welcome, Beau. And thanks for stopping by. Means a lot."
He nodded in response, then glanced over his shoulder at the bike she was just noticing. "I should go before you get into any more trouble. Take care of yourself, okay?" He gave her a light pat on the arm, and she nodded a little too much, making him give a small laugh before saying, "Your cookie's really missing you. Maybe you should finish that up, too."