• By the end of the day, my eyes were tired from reading so much. I'd never had to work so hard to learn. I liked the idea of knowing what I was doing. It was nice.

    I stepped on the bus and sat down by myself. It was quiet and peaceful until my phone rang. “Cheyenne!” Joe's voice screeched urgently into my ear. I sighed.

    “What? You don't talk to me before first bell but now you feel free to call me after school?” I was confused and annoyed by his change in moods. And affections.

    “Look, I'm sorry about that. But Nick is gone-” Joe continued. My heart stopped.

    “I'll be right there,” I told him, then shut my phone. “STOP THE BUS!” I boomed, and the dumbfounded bus driver halted and let me out. “Thank you.”

    I darted as fast as I could across the parking lot to the familiar black car with tinted windows. “What happened?”

    Joe was freaking out. Kevin just seemed aggravated. “I can't believe I lost him. I can't believe it! How could I be so stupid?”

    “Joe!” I yelled, and he looked up at me. “When did you see him last?”

    “When the last bell rang. I swear he was right behind me. I made it all the way to the car before I looked to make sure he was still there. And he was gone. Gone,” he jabbered. His voice rambled on so quickly I could barely make out the words.

    “And you searched the whole school?”

    “Every inch,” he nodded. I didn't know what to do. Nick was just this kid I had a crush on and who kinda hated me for no reason. I didn't know him well enough to predict where he'd run off to.

    “What about Amber? Do you know where she is?” The thought just occurred to me. They were going out, weren't they? Joe shook his head, and I booked it back to the schoolyard. He followed close behind me.

    There they were, the lovebirds themselves, sitting in a tree making out. I wanted to start singing that song, but instead I felt tears sting my eyes. It just wasn't fair that he loved my best friend and not me.

    “Are you okay?” Joe asked suddenly, touching my shoulder gently. He was one of the few people that really cared about me.

    “Yeah, I'm just so happy you found him. I'm going home,” I announced, hiding my face in my sweatshirt. I balled my eyes out on the way back to the place where I lived. Nobody noticed when I walked inside with red eyes and makeup all over my face.

    “Mom?” I asked the lonely house, “Mom? Am I off punishment yet?” I wandered around in search of her, but I didn't get a reply. “Mom, I really need my canvas. I'm having a bad day...”

    But she still didn't come to my rescue, even when the tears poured down my face once more. I fell against the canvas and just cried for a long time. Not one member of my family stopped to ask if I were okay. My mom didn't look twice at me when she rushed inside and instantly to her office in the basement. I felt abandoned. And boy, did it hurt.

    Tap. Tap. Tap. Crash! A rock came flying through the window. Through the window!

    “What the hell do you think you're-” I screamed out the hole in the window, “Joe?” I was very confused what he was doing at my window.

    He looked kinda sad and lonely. Down in the dumps. I didn't know why, but I figured I'd let him in at least. Even though he broke the window. “It's called a door,” I told him. He ran to the front and came in.

    Then I noticed the guitar on his back. “Yeah, sorry about that. I'll give you the money to fix it,” he said. Not even a hello? Or a thank you? “I need a favor.”

    Oh my god. Was he joking? Who was he to ask me a favor? What gave him the right? Was he the same kind of person that figured he could get everything he wanted just because he was famous? If he was, I was going to kick him out.

    “Okay,” I replied, sitting down on the couch confusedly.

    “The word on the street is that you're pretty good at writing songs,” he told me. “I found this on the ground after the bell. I figured it was yours.” He handed me a piece of paper folded into a triangle. One of those things you flick across the table to a person who holds up field goal posts with their hands.

    That was what I spent most of my class time doing. It was more interesting than the lectures. Kyle Reese enjoyed it as well. He never missed a field goal. I don't think I made it through his hands once. Mostly I hit the desk, table, chair. One time I hit the smartest kid in the grade. He just shrugged and kept on studying vigorously. Kyle and I laughed for the rest of that period.

    I'd actually been writing songs in place of painting lately. It was a newly found talent. With all these emotions, I had to have some way to let them out. On most days, I wrote one song. Sometimes two, but never more. I never showed them to anyone, just folded them into triangles to play football. And I always made sure I knew where every single one was. I didn't know how I could've possibly dropped one.

    “Wow,” I said, twisting the figure around in my hand. “Thanks.”

    “Could you, um... could you help me with this?” Joe asked hesitantly. He then revealed another piece of paper. More sheet music. But this one wasn't completed, just a collection of lines here and there.

    I got a rep for breaking hearts
    Now I'm done with superstars

    Now I see everything I'd ever need
    Is the girl in front of me

    I wanna fly with you
    Tear up the sky with you
    I wanna fight with you
    Make up tonight with you

    Now I've got some enemies
    And they're all friends suddenly

    I believe that the road that people lead
    Helps you find the one you need

    I wanna fly with you
    Tear up the sky with you
    I wanna fight with you
    Make up tonight with you

    Those were some pretty intense lyrics. Slightly stunned, I turned to Joe and informed him, “You need a catch phrase.”

    “Catch phrase?”

    “Yeah, like the part of the song that you repeat and stuff. Like, in,” I paused, searching my brain for an example. I didn't know any songs by him, but there was definitely something I could use. Then I remembered back to Amber walking around my house, singing one of their songs. “Right! Like in Just Friends, it goes, 'there she goes again, the girl I'm in love with; it's cool we're...'”

    “Just friends!” Joe finished excitedly.

    “Yeah. That's what this song is missing,” I explained. “But it has to be different, so, like, you could put the catch phrase after every two lines of the chorus, and then after the second set of two lines in the verses. And after the first set of two lines in the verses, you could put something that rhymed.”

    “Oh, okay. I get it.” He paused. “Just kidding. I don't,” He joked.

    I smiled. “So, let's say, for example, the catch phrase is something like: so something, or much something, or a lot something. Uh..”

    “Better!” He chimed in.

    “Perfect! After 'Now I see everything I'd ever need is the girl in front of me' you say, 'She's much better.' And then you put 'She's Much Better' after every two lines in the chorus, and after 'I believe that the road that people lead helps you find the one you need.'” I said.

    “What about here?” He asked, pointing to the space after the first two lines of the song.

    I got a rep for breaking hearts
    Now I'm done with superstars

    “You need another line. Something cheesy. Say, a Taylor Swift reference?” I suggested.

    He smirked. “And all the tears on her guitar.” I snickered.

    “Genius. And then you throw in something that rhymes with 'much better.' How about, 'I'm not bitter?' I said. “And then at the other verse, in that space, put something like 'BFF's eternally.' It's simple, yet it works.”

    He nodded, writing in all the new additions. The song was coming along great.

    “How should it end?” Joe questioned.

    “Just mess around with the chorus a bunch of times. That always works,” I replied. He then pulled out his guitar and started playing the new and improved song.

    “I get a rep for breakin' hearts
    Now I'm done with superstars
    And all the tears on her guitar
    I'm not bitter
    But now I see
    Everything I'd ever need
    Is the girl in front of me
    She's much better

    You
    I wanna fly with
    You
    Tear up the sky with
    You
    You're much better
    You
    I wanna fight with
    You
    Make up tonight with
    You
    You're much better

    Now I've got some enemies
    And they're all friends suddenly
    BFF's eternally
    But I'm not bitter
    I believe that the road that people lead
    Helps you find the one you need
    You're much better
    Yeah

    You
    I wanna fly with
    You
    Tear up the sky with
    You
    You're much better
    You're much better, girl
    You
    I wanna fight with
    You
    Make up tonight with
    You
    You're much better
    Ooh, Yeah”

    Here, he improvised a guitar solo, and it was amazing. I never knew he was so talented on the guitar. It shocked me completely.

    “You
    I wanna fly with
    You
    Tear up the sky with you
    You
    Oh, You're much better
    You
    I wanna fight with you
    You
    Make up tonight with you
    You
    Oh-oh, You're much better
    You're much better, girl

    Ooh-ooh-hoo (You)
    Yow
    You
    I wanna fight with you
    You
    Oh-oh-oh (You're much better)
    You're much better, girl
    Oh

    You
    You
    You
    You're much better
    You
    You
    You
    You're much better”