Fake It (The Keswick Chronicles Book 1) by Victoria Kinnaird

Author:Victoria Kinnaird [Kinnaird, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Encompass Teen
Published: 2016-01-20T22:00:00+00:00

“Flicker, Fade”—Taking Back Sunday

Christmas and New Year passed quietly, which was a surprise, as I spent most of my time with Jess, JJ, Ash and Dylan. We practiced a lot, hung out at the shop and generally annoyed Aunt Rose. In the biopic of our band, it would have been the montage segment, rosy and faded round the edges. We baked cupcakes (or something vaguely resembling cupcakes) for JJ’s eighteenth birthday after he insisted he didn’t want a fuss. The soft smile on his face before he blew out the candles kept me warm as the nights grew colder.

We’d fallen into a rhythm, the five of us. It was like Jessica had said—we were friends first, bandmates second. I found myself enjoying our movie nights at JJ’s house just as much as I enjoyed our weekly performance at Howie’s. The awkwardness between JJ and I seemed to have passed. I smiled at his jokes, rolled my eyes at his bragging and frowned when he fell quiet.

He kept his distance when we went back to school after the winter break, but it didn’t seem as cold as before. When we passed in the hall, he’d start whistling the intro to Fall Out Boy’s “The Kids Aren’t Alright,” and I’d be left smiling into my locker like an idiot.

My mystery note-leaver (or romantic DJ, as Jess had taken to calling them) was seemingly in a reflective mood after winter break, the hastily scrawled suggestions ranging from nu-metal anthems to pop-punk classics. Oddly enough, the tediousness of my school days had increased as the band got better, so the song suggestions were one of the few things getting me through the day.

Of course, something had to pop up and throw a spanner in the works.

Mikey White had died in the last week of January. He’d slipped my mind, the ghost that lingered at the edge of JJ’s dark gaze. JJ had been doing so much better, had been smiling a bit wider and laughing a bit longer. He seemed so focused on looking forward, I had completely forgotten that there was something just waiting to pull him back.

I didn’t realize JJ wasn’t at school until Tuesday afternoon. We didn’t always cross paths between classes, so it wasn’t unusual for me to go a day without seeing him. He usually texted me though, on the nights we weren’t hanging out, to ask me a silly question or to tell me what he’d done instead of going to class.

By Wednesday morning, I was officially worried. Jessica was frowning as she clambered into the van when I picked her up before school, which just confirmed my suspicions. If she felt uneasy about JJ’s sudden absence, then I definitely had cause of concern.

“Have you spoken to him?” I asked her as I navigated the icy streets.

She was glaring at the busted heating vent on the dashboard, her breath misting with each little huff of barely contained rage. “He called me last night . . .”

“And?”

She flashed me her best I’m-innocent-really wide-eyed stare.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.