Music Of The Wind

By:Madelyn C.

Prologue

 

Hello, my name is Marianna Khelsey. I am 17 years old, and I go to the college of Natary University in Texas.

I love music, music is my everything. I’ve been listening to music my entire life, and I love all types of music. Country, Hip Hop, Rock, Metal, Jazz, and many more, but my favorite in particular is anything on a music box. I’m also a writer, what do I write? I write music of course.

I’m in a small group with six other people. my best and closest friends. They are, Karen Marlona, Haden Sary, Natasha Hemfire, Evylynn Barim, Sionatta Verilyn, and Carson Mist.

We’re all actually in our own acoustic band (and  it’s a pretty good one too, don’t mean to brag) called ‘The Sound Of Sparks’. We all sing, I play piano, Karen and Evylynn play guitar, Carson plays drums, Sionatta plays the violin, Haden plays xylophone, and Natasha plays the harp.

We’ve been doing this since elementary school, and man have we gotten good over the years.

We all met in third grade and started the band two years later, we’ve all been best friends ever since. We all went to the same schools all of our lives, and by some miracle, all ended up in the same college together. Wow what a stroke of luck.

Life was going great until that one awful day.

 

Chapter 1: Butterflies In My Stomach

“I still think we should add in your solo Natasha,” Carson said. “It just makes sense, it sounds better, you sound better than most of us here, uh, no offense,” he added.

“Carson, I can see why you’d say that, but remember it’s not up to me, that decision is up to Mari,” Nathasha responded calmly.

“Why does Mari have to make all the decisions?” Evylynn asked grumpily.

“Because, she’s the boss,” Haden said.

“No, we’re all equals, she’s just the one that instructs us where to go and when we’re playing,” Natasha said.

“Yeah, she’s the boss,” Haden repeated.

“Wait a second, where is Mari?” Carson asked dumbly.

“She, Karen, and Sionatta, are meeting with the mayor to talk plans about the wedding we’re playing at in two weeks,” Evylynn said, as she was tuning her guitar.

 

* Meanwhile*

 

We were on our way to the mayor’s office, and I had this slight feeling that something just wasn’t right about this visit.

“Do you guys think it’s weird that the mayor asked to see us about the performance two weeks before the actual thing?” I asked.

“Mmm, a little, but I mean, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Sionatta said.

“Yet it is, I just feel as though something’s wrong,” I mumbled.

When we got to the town hall, we went inside and up to the mayor’s office. I hesitantly opened the door and then I saw the mayor….. pacing back and forth?

We walked in and called out to him, “Mayor Stoneheart?” It was easy to tell we snapped him out of concentration. He snapped his head at us with a worried look on his face. Now here’s a little something about the mayor, his name may be Stoneheart, but he is the most generous, warmest, positive person I could think of. He rarely ever gets worried about anything.

“Girls!” he said shakily. See I knew something was up. “Uhh please have a seat” he said a bit more calmly. “Ladies, I must be frank with you, I didn’t actually call you here to talk about the upcoming wedding,” he paused for a bit. I couldn’t stand the suspense, my stomach started to knot up. “Look do you girls know the business agency of the F.C.E.A.?”

I shot up out of my seat, immediately knowing what was going on. After I shot up I almost yelled the name, “The Federal Community Eradication Association!?”

Then I noticed Sionatta and Karen copied me right after, and Sionatta said sternly, ”the business that wipes out cities for money?!”

Then I was surprised Karen did it too (since she’s the quiet one) and she yelled, “and all that money goes to that shady business man, Charleston Black!”

The mayor was shot a bit back in his chair. Then we exchanged glances knowing that what we did was disrespectful, so we sat back down and apologized. The mayor sat back forward clearing his throat and putting his hands cupped on his desk, and said “Yes, and you are forgiven. So I did want to let you know that our city will be wiped out, so I was wondering, if you and your band could perform at our ‘farewell’ party.”

I was completely taken back at this, so I said, “With all do respect sir, but we can’t let this happen, no, I won’t let this happen.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing else we can do,” he said.

So we un-happily agreed to perform. On our way back I thought, ‘who knew our butterfly song would be our last, because for all I know, once this happens, I’ll never see my friends ever again.’

Chapter 2: The Great Idea

            We got back to the school, and we went up to the top (and the biggest) dorm, which was ours and I opened the door and stood in the doorway. Karen and Sionatta said they were going to the band room next door to practice.

I stood there with a broken heart and I looked at my soon to be former best friends. After a small moment I ran off to my room and started to cry. I couldn’t help myself, it hurt so bad to know my whole life will be over.

I heard a knock at my door, it was Haden, he asked if I was okay, I didn’t know how to respond. Haden was always a sweet, loyal, and caring guy, I didn’t want him to worry. I began to think about my little crush I had on him. I then looked in the mirror, and noticed how I started blushing, and right on cue, Sionatta and Karen entered, and asked the same thing, but to everyone else. That’s when I was immediately reminded of why I was crying and started again and I screamed and wailed and I was practically dying inside.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

“Should we go in there?”Natasha asked.

“Nah, let her cry in there like the baby she is,” Evylyyn said.

“EVYLYNN!!!” everyone shouted.

“What, does nobody else think she’s a huge pain when she gets like this, you guys don’t know how to be real about things,” she said.

“Ugh, Evylynn, what do you have against her, she’s the one that helps you the most, and all you do is treat her like dirt,” Sionatta said furiously.

“She’s got a point, and you know it,” Haden shot.

“What did she even do to deserve all of this, she’s the sweetest thing, sure, she may get a little emotional, but she only gets like that for important reasons and to show that she cares, she’s got a good heart,” Carson said.

“Yeah, and this time, it’s more important than ever,” Karen said.

“Alright then, what is it?” Natasha asked.

“It’s um…. It’s uh….umm, Charleston Black is coming to Natary,” Karen said solemnly, with a sad look and her head hung low.

“WAIT WHAT!!!?” everyone screamed.

“Hold on guys, before we panic we wanted to know if you guys have any ideas on how to save the city, like you know, raise money,” Sionatta asked.

“How about a bake sale?” Evylynn said sarcastically.

“C’mon be serious this is a big deal here,” Karen said.

“Rummage sale?” Haden asked.

“That’s not a bad idea, but what would we sell?” Siontta asked in response.

“Good point, good point,” he responded.

They all hummed as they thought for ideas. “I’VE GOT IT!” Natasha screamed. “Oh sorry, I just got a little too excited,” she said clearing her throat embarrassed. “Anyways, what if we threw a concert, with all new music and souvenirs, then we could use that money to drive him out of Natary, maybe even enough to stop him from doing this whole ‘wiping out cities’ deal for good,” she said excitedly.

Everyone exchanged glances and then Haden said, “I think that’s just what we need,”

“Yeah but uh, heh, how are we supposed to do that, we don’t even have or make souvenirs, and nobody in this room even writes songs,” Evylynn pointed out.

“You’re right Evylynn we don’t have or make souvenirs, but need I remind you, we have two friends on the farm who could make some, and as for new songs need I remind you that Mari-” Sionatta was cut off by Evylynn madly chanting.

“Mari, Mari, Mari, why does Mari have to be the center of everything, I’m sure she’s not the only one here who’s written songs in this band, right?” she said angrily

Once again, everyone exchanged nervous glances, then Carson said, “well, none of us have ever written a song except Mari, but you know Evylynn, I’m sure I’m not the only person here that’s sick of your bad attitude, so if you wanna turn yourself around, I’d suggest it’s about time you go in there and apologize.”

She sat there taken back in shock, as if she was remembering something that she wanted long forgotten. Then she yelled, “FINE, FINE, but only to make you shut up!”

Chapter 3: Apples and Apologies

I layed on my bed with dried tears, and red eyes, with my head on a soaked pillow. I was giving myself a flashback of my entire life. I thought about my older brother, Dakota and how we got along so well, until one day he ran away from home and how my father passed away due to cancer. I was only four when my mother abandoned me because she couldn’t take care of me, and she didn’t like me very much. I thought about my couple of months in the orphanage, and how miserable I was, and how I always wrote notes….no….wishes, wishes of dying, wishes of friends, and wishes of finding a family who loves me. Yet still, to this day I still have those wishes in a brown music box on my desk.

That music box means the world to me, because that box was given to me by Dakota on his eighteenth birthday. Can you believe it? It was his birthday and he gave it to me, well I guess you now know why I love music boxes so much.

Sometimes I look at it and wonder if he’s alive somewhere out there, looking for me.

I walked over to my desk where the box was sitting and I wrote another wish, ‘I wish my brother Dakota was alive and looking for me’ I wrote down. I turned the little spicket on the side and opened the box, I then sang along with the song that was playing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey.”

I couldn’t help it, tears came back. I continued where I left off in my flashback. I thought about the the only family that adopted me, you may not believe me when I say this but it was Evylynn’s. I thought about how Evylynn and I were so close but I never really considered her a sister because what we had was never like what I had with Dakota. To this day I still wonder what I ever did to make her hate me so much, because it was her idea we keep our story a secret from all of the others, and make it seem like we’re just friends.

I was cut from my thoughts when the music box stopped, so I turned the spicket so the song would keep going and I kept singing. I closed my eyes and zoned out, until a knock came at my door and then it was busted open, I screamed and fell out of my chair, it was….Evylynn? She barged in with an annoyed look on her face, but then she turned to see I was on the floor and the music box was still playing, then I noticed her face looked worried or rather sad. Which was a look I hadn’t seen in a long time. Then she asked quietly, “you are my sunshine?” I stood up right away and slammed the box shut, knowing she wouldn’t be impressed.

“EVYLYNN!!! Uh what are you doing here?” I was so scared for some reason.

“I uh, need to talk to you Marianna,” she said firmly.

“Uh yeah, sure, t-t-t-t-take a seat,” I stuttered, while taking a seat at my desk again. “What do you need?” I asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about, umm, well, everything, me, you, us, everything, and to start, I just wanted to say, (sigh) I’m sorry.” I was taken back at those two words,‘I’m sorry,’ I didn’t know how to respond, she’d always despised me, at least, ever since we started high school, and yet I never EVER knew why. I opened my mouth to respond, but she continued.

“I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk and stopped acting like a good sister, and I know you don’t consider me a sister, but I do and, and,” she went crazy and started crying. Shocked, I quickly grabbed a tissue and handed it to her. She thanked me and I sat back down.

“Hey Evy, I know I don’t consider you a sister, at least not a real one, but do you know why?” I asked, she said no as I expected, so I told her my entire life story and I was surprised when I saw her look down in regret for being so rude. “Look Evy I forgive you for everything, I mean it’s basically my fault for you hating me right, I mean I’ve always been the controlling one right?”

I was expecting a yes, but she just sat there, head hung low, so I walked over and sat on my bed beside her and rubbed her on the back. That’s when something crazy happened, she looked up at me in sorrow, and then she clung onto me and started crying again, and whispering, “I’m sorry, you’re the best big sister anyone could ever ask for.”

I then hugged her back saying, “It’s okay.”

We sat there for a little while, then I pulled back and asked if I could show her something. She said sure, so I grabbed her hand and sat her down at my desk and put the music box in front of her and said turn the spicket and open the box, then look and read what’s inside. She opened it and looked inside and then read all of my wishes, and was wowed at what they said.

“This is my latest one,” I said when I picked up the one I wrote about Dakota looking for me. “Look Evy, let’s stop this and be good friends again, ok?” I said putting my hand on her shoulder. She nodded and then got super excited about something, so I asked her why and she told me all about this concert idea she and the others came up with, and then I immediately jumped up and got just as excited. So we ran out and I screamed, “get ready guys we have a concert to perform!” and we all celebrated.

The next morning, we all woke up with a smile on our faces and we started to plan things out after Evylynn and Karen made everyone breakfast.

“Alright well first, we’re going to need the mayor’s permission,” I said.

“Right, but we have time and we don’t need everyone to ask him,” Evylynn said.

“Correct, and we need to visit Mabel and Caroline on their farm for souvenirs, just in case the mayor agrees. So how about, half of us could see the mayor, while the rest head to the stables,” Haden suggested.

“Then it’s settled, how about, Natasha, Carson, Haden, and I go to the farm, and then Sionatta, Evylynn, and Karen can go talk to the mayor,” I said.

“Alright guys, here we go!” Natasha yelled. We all got our things and headed out.

 

Chapter 4: Saddles and Souvenirs

   As we drove over to ‘Sierra Saddles,’ farm to Mabel Lennie and her best friend (who works on the farm and considers her as a sister) Caroline Pencott, I noticed everyone was being very quiet until Carson asked, “Mari, what did you do to Evylynn?” I was really confused as to what he meant.

“What do you mean?” I asked him back.

“I mean, yesterday she was being a big jerk like usual, so we told her to apologize, you guys were in there for a while, then the next morning she acts like the sun of the earth, so how, how did you do it?”

I thought about all of the tears that were shed last night, and how I was so unsure on if I should tell them or if Evylynn still wanted me to keep it a secret, so I just said I’d tell him later, and he said that was fine.

We arrived at the farm and saw two horses racing around the fields, and Mabel and Caroline were resting up against some hay bales with straws of wheat in their mouths, cheering on their horses, Conrad (which was Mabel’s) and Kenai (which was Caroline’s).

We walked up to them, and greeted them.

“Sparks!” they both said excitingly.

“Heya, it’s been awhile, where y’all been?” Mabel asked.

“Well you know practicing, performing, all that kind of busy junk, along with bad news,” I said gesturing side to side.

“Wait, what do ya mean bad news?” Caroline asked.

“Charleston Black is coming to Natary, and we need your help,” Natasha said quickly.

The two took back in shock, and then looked at each other and nodded, “whaddya need?” they both asked at the same time, these two have always been in sync.

“Well we’re holding a concert, hopefully to raise money to stop him and we need you guys to make us some of your famous souvenirs,” Haden said.

“Well that’s a mighty tall order to ask,” Mabel pointed out.

“Yeah, and we haven’t made souvenirs in a while,” Caroline said.

“Please guys, we need the money to save Natary, you don’t even have to make a ton, just enough to sell to a small crowd,” I begged.

“Well, have ya talked to the mayor yet?” Mabel asked.

“That’s what Evylynn, Karen, and Sionatta are doing right now,” Carson said.

“Look here partners, we’d be more than happy to, but only if you get a yes from the mayor, and one of you fellers have to help for a few days,” Caroline said taking the wheat from her mouth and pointing at us.

“Of course, we’ll tell you as soon as we get the answer, and I’m sure Sionatta or Evylynn could help out, no problem,” I responded.

“Well then that settles it, one of you fellers wanna take ol’ Bucky out for a little test ride?” Mabel asked.

“Ooh, I could!” Natasha said excitedly.

So she did and we stayed there until the others told us they were on their way home. I was so excited for this, if it was going to happen.

 

Chapter 5: Decisions and Due Dates

    The three went to the mayor’s office and when the guards stopped them, Karen noticed the mayor was drinking tea outside today, and when he noticed them, he came over and told the guards that they could pass. The girls were grateful for that, since it was critical.

“Ladies, how may I help you?”

“Well, first, may we ask, when is Charleston coming here?” Sionatta asked in response.

“Oh well, exactly, two and a half weeks, why do you ask Ms. Verilyn?” he asked.

“Well, we need your permission on something,” Karen said politely.

“Yeah? And what is that exactly?” he asked, leaning forward on his desk

“We wanted to throw a concert to raise money to drive him out of town, and maybe even enough to stop him for good,” Evylynn said firmly.

“Well, you know, I’m not so sure, because, WELL IT’S THE GREATEST IDEA I’VE EVER HEARD!!!” he shouted with a big grin on his face.

“Really?” Sionatta said.

“Yes, of course, I’d love to hear anything to save Natary, you have my stamp of approval, please call or email me if you need any of my help, ok?” he said, shaking their hands.

“Of course, thank you so much,” Evylynn said,

“Bye ladies.” He soluted

“Bye mayor Stoneheart,” they all said as they waved goodbye.

“Well that couldn’t have gone more perfectly,” Karen said.

“I can’t wait to tell the others,” Evylynn said.

“Yeah but just remember, we only have two and a half weeks and we’ll have a lot to do,” Sionatta pointed out.

“Well, I’m sure we’ll do our best,” Evylynn said, as they headed back to the school.

Chapter 6: You Are My Sunshine

    “Hahahah, ok, do you remember when Johnny was tending to the cows, and that earthquake happened and then the hay roll got loose so it started rolling down the hill and it was chasing him. So he stopped running and he tried to stop it, then it rolled over him,” Natasha reminded Mabel.

We were all telling funny stories that had happened on the farm, until I got a text from Evylynn telling me that they were on their way back.

“Oh sorry gals, but we have to go, we’ll text you as soon as we get the answer,” I said as we started to leave.

“Aww, alrighty then we’ll see you guys later,” Caroline said.

“Bye!” we all said as we headed back to my car.

“Well that went well, now we just gotta get the answer from the others and I guess we’re all set,” Carson said.

“Yup!” Natasha squealed.

Once we got back to the university, we walked in and saw the girls sitting on the couch with big cheesy grins on their faces.

“Well, what’s the answer?” Haden asked.

“Well, I mean, he you know…. SAID YES!!!” Evylynn shouted.

We all jumped up and down, yelling and celebrating.

“Ok, ok, ok guys hold on, Charleston is coming in two and a half weeks, so we need to get to work,” Soinatta said.

“Right, right, uh, Natasha text Mabel and tell her it’s a yes,” I said

“Oh yeah, how’d that go?” Karen asked.

“Oh, they said they’d do it but they need to get some help in making them, so Evylynn or Sionatta could one of you two take care of that?” I asked.

“Yeah, I could,” Sionatta responded.

“Oh, Evylynn I need to talk to you,” I said.

“Oh ok,” she responded. We walked into my room.

“So, what is it?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking we should tell them you know, about the thing, but it’s up to you, so is that ok?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine go ahead,” she said turning to leave.

“Wait!” I said, stopping her in her tracks. “Umm, I was wondering if you wanted to help me write songs too,” I said.

She looked back at me with a shocked look on her face, and then it immediately melted into a big grin. She immediately jumped up and hugged me screaming yes over and over.

“Woah ok, then better start writing.” I said, hugging her back.

“Ok, yeah, I’ll go do that,” she responded, calming down.

“Oh wait, one more thing, I want to tell them now, but like together, is that ok?” I asked.

“Alright,” she responded.

So we walked out and called everyone into the living room and told them the whole story. When we were done I saw that Natasha had tears in her eyes, and the whole room went silent, until…. “Well that sure explains a lot,” Carson said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, but then again, I expected way worse,” Haden responded.

“Well now you know,” I said.

“Well, that’s it everyone, back to work,” Evylynn said.

“Yeah!” everyone shouted. I headed back to my room to start writing the songs, so I lit my candle, grabbed my materials and turned on my music box, and got started.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

The whole dorm was silent, because everyone was either resting, or working, until there was a knock at the dorm room door. Sionatta (being the only one in the living room) ran to the door and opened it up. In the doorway, stood a tall man with black hair and blue eyes, saying his name was Dakota and he was looking for his sister.

 

Chapter 7: Oh My Melody, Where Have You Been?

    It was 9:30 when I started to feel really tired and a bit dizzy and so I started to drift off and then I woke up right away and looked down at my work, apparently I had wrote three songs within the three hours I’ve been working. I put my music box back on again to keep me awake and like always, I sang along, “you are my sunshine,” I continued to only hear a male voice chime and I looked straight towards the doorway to find a man standing there, I hesitated and thought ‘who is this stranger’ then it hit me, because I’d recognize that face anywhere, “Dakota?” I asked whispering.

“Well I think I’m Dakota,hold on let me check, uh, ahah, here’s my confirmation Dakota granola bar,” he said pulling a Dakota bar out of his pocket.

I slowly stood up from my desk and then looked down to see a song I wrote that was just right for this moment, and then I whispered, “oh my melody where have you been all this time?” I hesitated to say anymore, this is the first time something like this has ever happened to me, had another one of my wishes really come true?” I was mixed with emotions of overwhelming joy, and indescribable, fueling anger.

“I….I….I thought you were dead,” I said choking on my words.

“Not dead, just gone, and searching,” he said with a sad look on his face. I noticed how a tear started to fall down my face.

He started to walk towards me and I just got the urge to back away since I was so terrified, and once I was against the window he came up to me, and put his hands on my shoulders, and straight away, he pulled me into a hug,

“Oh my little sunshine of a sister, I’m so sorry, I promise, I’ll never ever leave you again,” he said crying.

I pulled away from him and whispered, “you should’ve thought that before you almost made me bite the dust,” I stood there crying even more than before, “I was miserable after you left, you literally have no idea of the kind of pain I went through without you there,” I said a bit louder.

“Mari, I know what I did was wrong but please help me fix my mistakes, trust me I know I hurt you, and that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, please I’ll do anything,” he begged.

I began to think about how he always knew a lot about lights and engineering and also thought about how much help he could offer for the concert, and that no matter what, I still love him more than anything, so I forgave him and told him my entire plan, and he agreed to help. Now this show is really gonna be something.

Chapter 8: The Wishes That We Make

    I let Dakota sleep in my bed since it was too late to keep writing. We didn’t want to tell everyone that night because I’m sure none of us want any more surprises for today.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

Evylynn was sitting at her desk looking at her songs. She then groaned and started hitting her head on the table. “This *bang* will *bang* never *bang* work *another bang* ugh, I’m so frustrated!” She took her shoe and threw it at the door right when Sionatta walked in, so it nailed her right in the head.

“OW!!!” Sionatta screamed after the shoe hit her face. “Evylynn what the heck, I’m not going to rob you!” she yelled.

“Oh, oh my gosh I’m so sorry Sionatta I didn’t mean it, I’m just super stressed,” Evylynn said looking down at her songs.

“Are you ok?” Sionatta asked.

“What, uh, yeah I’m fine, sorry again,” Evylynn responded.

“It’s ok, uh hey some guy just showed up. He said his name was Dakota and he was looking for Mari, do you know who he is?” she asked, pointing behind her.

Evylynn started to think about what Mari had told her about her brother, and her wishes of him, Evylynn then ran past Sionatta and said, “I need to see something,” she ran up to Mari’s room.

Then Sionatta stopped her and said, “wait, she could be sleeping, it’s been a long day for her,”

Evylynn looked at Sionatta and sighed, “you’re right, look I’m tired, I’m going to bed, goodnight,” she said walking back to her room.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

The next day, I woke up and I got up off of the floor and rubbed my back because I was sore from sleeping on the floor. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen and got myself some cereal, and then I noticed Evylynn had gotten up as well.

“Hi Evy,” I greeted, she waved.

She then asked something strange, “uhh hey, is your brother here?”

I froze in my place and almost dropped my bowl, “uhh,” I swallowed hard and choked on my words, “well umm….uh yes?” I was so scared of what her reaction was going to be, but she just stood there staring at me and right on cue Dakota entered the room, stretched, and yawned. Well at this point I couldn’t be more at lost for words and explanation that I felt like I was a ship in a storm being pulled into a tide and out to sea, I was….stuck.

“Mari, who’s this?” Dakota asked.

“I’m Evylynn, Mari’s adopted little sister, (by a few days) I’ve heard a lot about you Mr. Kehlsey, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said walking over to him with a stretched out hand for him to shake.

“You took care of my sister?” he said in a low voice.

“Umm yeah,” she responded nervously.

He then grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug and said, “thank you for taking care of her,” my jaw dropped at the scene and that’s when I dropped my bowl, the glass breaking snapped me out of my shocked expression and I looked down to see all the pieces of glass, milk, and cereal scattered all over the floor and, and right away I cleaned it up.

“You alright sis?” he asked.

I started to look at everything around me and I knew exactly what to do next, I woke everyone up after I cleaned up everything. Once everyone was in the room, I introduced everyone to Dakota, and then I said in a quiet voice with a small smile creeping up my cheeks, “you know, all my life I’ve been wishing for, friends, family, my brother, and looking at all of you right now, I realized, fate itself is a wish that we make.”

 

Chapter 9: Lights ,Camera, Parks, and Tickets

    “Alright guys listen, Dakota is a master at light engineering and he’s agreed to put on quite a light show at the concert,” I said, clapping loudly.

“Yup, I mean c’mon Natary’s my home too, I definitely wanna help, and besides it’ll give me a chance to see you guys perform,” Dakota said.

“You could see us perform right now dude,” Haden said.

“Really?” he questioned in response.

“Yeah, is that alright Mari?” Natasha squealed excitedly.

“Uh sure, that’s fine,” I responded.

That day all we did was play for Dakota, after about five songs we took a break and Evylynn pulled me over and asked, “Hey, ok so first, how many songs do we need for the concert?”

“Umm about twelve if that isn’t too much,” I responded.

“Yeah that’s fine I already got four, what about you?” she asked shrugging off the amount.

“I got three,” I said thinking back to my songs I wrote last night.

“Alright, cool, second, can we play a couple of my songs for practice please?” she begged.

“Yeah, sure that’s fine,” I said.

She jumped up immediately, yelling thank you. So we played two of her songs and two of mine and after, we took another break, a knock at the door. “Come in!” Sionatta shouted.

We were surprised to see who entered our band room, it was Mayor Stoneheart, Caroline, and Mabel.

“Hey y’all,” Caroline greeted.

“Hi, umm, ok I can understand why you two are here, but with all do respect sir, but why are you here?” I asked politely.

“Well, I wanted to speak with Mrs. Marlona about her email,” he said, gesturing his hand towards Karen. I immediately looked over to see she had a face that had totally lit up, she then yelled and ran over to the mayor. I watched them walk out and then the two farm girls walked over to us.

“Do y’all know what that was all about?” Mabel asked.

“No, but, uh didn’t you say you needed one of us for the souvenirs?” Sionatta asked.

“Yeah, do you guys know who’s gonna help?” Mabel asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Sionatta said.

“Well then c’mon, we gotta get started and there’s a lot to do,” Mabel responded.

Right when they were about to leave, Karen and the mayor entered again, and they both looked very happy.

“Ok, what’s going on?” Carson asked.

“You guys know the ‘Falling Stars’ park, right, you know the one where popular bands play shows?” Karen asked bouncing up and down.

“Yeah?” Evylynn responded a bit questionable.

“Well, the owners of the park, Mary and Jacob Starr, are letting you ladies play since they’re so familiar with your band,” the mayor said.

We all stood there, taken back at this amazing news, two seconds later, we all celebrated yet again, then I stopped everyone at a sudden thought, “Uhh guys, how are we gonna sell the tickets?” I asked.

“Hmm I could hang posters and uh oh Lilly can go around selling them and could sell them at the show,” Haden said.

“Great idea,” I said. Alright, we’ve got our plan.

 

Chapter 10: Hope From Horses

    It’s been a few days and we only got twelve tickets sold, maybe this won’t turn out as well as we hoped.

“(Sigh) I don’t understand,we’re trying to save the city and only twelve people want to help, what are we missing?” I asked out loud.

“Hmm,” Mabel thought, then took a big deep breath and had a big smile on her face, “I’ve got it, Caroline and I could do a horse race before your guy’s show to promote you, don’t mean to brag but we are legends, we could totally get you guys an audience,” Mabel suggested happily.

This actually wasn’t too bad of a plan. I looked around to see that it looked like everyone else was on board, “let’s do it,” I said.

“Alrighty then, and girls, I can help you set up,” Haden said.

“Cool thanks,  we’re gonna head out, Haden you wanna come?” Caroline said pointing to the door.

“Yeah, just lemme go get my stuff,” he responded.

As I watched them leave I let out a sigh with a smile on my face, and I started to blush again. Then I noticed everyone started to look at me with cheesy grind on their faces.

“What?” I asked.

“You like him,” Natasha said childishly.

“What, no, no I don’t,” I said sheepishly.

“Your face is so red right now, so you do, you love Haden,” Sionatta said putting her arm around me.

I started to pull my hood up and I almost screamed.

“Ooh, ooh, you should confess at the concert,” Karen said, excitedly.

“No, no, nody, no, no, no,” I said standing up throwing my hood back.

“Aww c’mon, he might really like you too,” Evylynn said fluttering her eyes.

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized I shouldn’t deny myself anymore with this whole crush thing, “Fine, fine, you got me, I kinda, sorta, like Haden, ok,” I said blushing a bit more.

“I knew it,” Natasha said.

“Confess, confess, confess, confess, confess,” they all started to chant.

“Shut up, ok, I’ll do it just not now, ok?” I yelled.

They all still had the same cheesy looks.

“Ok, well, I’m gonna go practice,” I said, grabbing my music, and exiting the room. When I got to the band room, I sat down at my piano and started, to play note after note, thinking about what I had gotten myself into. “Ugh, it’s hopeless, there’s no way Haden will like me back, there’s just no way,” I said sadly.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

“This way,” Caroline said pointing to another barn once the three got out of the car.

“Hmm, this isn’t your guy’s farm,” Haden pointed out.

“You’re right, it’s not, it’s Johnny’s, he’s gonna help us out, he always does,” Mabel said.

They walked into the barn and saw a young man with, ripped jeans, cowboy boots, a blue plaid shirt, and a brown cowboy hat, tending to his pigs.

“Heya Johnny,” Mabel greeted.

“Well howdy there sis, hello Caroline, and heya Haden, is there something you guys need?” he asked tipping his hat forward.

“Actually, yes, we’re going to do a horse race to boost their band’s sales since those aren’t going too well,” Caroline responded.

“Yeah, and seeing how you’ve always helped us in the past, would you be willing to help us now?” Mabel asked, clapping her hands.

“Well sure sugar, anything for my big sis, and her friends,” he responded, he then started to drink his water, ”Where’s it at?” he asked still drinking.

“The Falling Stars park, downtown,” Haden responded.

Johnny spit out his water and started to choke, “*Cough* It’s *cough* where *cough cough*,” she said coughing.

“The Falling Stars park,” Haden repeated.

“That’s amazing, I’ve been trying to get these two in that parks for years,” he so said with a lot of hope in his eyes.

“Great, c’mon we gotta get started,” Mabel said gesturing towards the car.

They drove over to the girl’s farm and picked up their winning horses, and while Johnny and Haden were still in the car, those two had quite the conversation.

“So uh, Haden, umm, are you seeing anyone?” Johnny asked.

“What, no,” Haden responded quickly.

“Aww c’mon, those girls you hang out with are pretty cute,” he smirked.

“Ok, what does that have to do with anything?” Haden shot back.

“Huh, y’know, I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed that one of them has got a thing for you,” he responded.

“Wait really, uh who is it?” Haden asked desperately blushing.

“Oh c’mon, it’s so obvious,” Johnny said rolling his eyes.

“What, who is it?” he yelled.

“Mari man, Mari’s had a crush on you since the eighth grade,” he said banging his head on the wheel laughing.

Haden started blushing, and then two seconds later, the girls came over on their horses.

“Ready to go?” Mabel questioned while stopping next to the car.

“What, oh yeah, let’s get going,” Johnny said wiping the tear from his eye.

They got to the park and surprisingly, Lilly had gotten there before them.

“Hi Lilly,” Johnny said softly, Johnny has had a crush on Lilly since they first met, he loved everything about her, how she was so open about everything, how she can be so optimistic and how she always loves to make people laugh. How her pretty, coco brown hair was always pulled back into a droopy ponytail, and how her crystal blue eyes matched the pure white lily she always had in her hair, but the most importantly was how kind she was to everyone.

“Hi guys, Mari texted me saying you guys were going to be here, so I just came to see if you guys need any help if that’s ok,” Lilly said.

“M-Mari?!” Haden said blushing.

“Yeah,” Johnny said, nudging him in the side.

“Are you ok?” Lilly asked.

“Yup!” Haden responded quickly.

“Ok, well it’s alright Lilly, we’ll need all the fast help we can get,” Caroline said smiling.

“Well, hey my cousin works with Mary and Jacob in this park, I know this place from corner to corner, I’ll show you where, Haden, you guys will be playing, and Mabel and Caroline, I’ll show you girls the track and stables, where you can keep Kenai and Conrad here to practice,” Lilly said gesturing inside the park.

Lilly showed the four, birch wood stables, and the gravel track to the left of the crystal stage, then Mabel and Caroline dropped off their horses.

Haden took some pictures and sent them to Mari. Even though Haden was taking pictures and following everyone around, he started to think  how he was always extra nice to her for some reason, and he didn’t realize until just now, how she always blushed whenever he did something nice for her, like one time, Haden was walking home from school on a rainy day and he saw Mari had forgotten her coat and she was waiting for Evylynn to pick her up, so she was sitting by herself on the wet, cold, sidewalk, so he walked over to her and gave Mari his jacket and then offered to her walk her home, knowing Evylynn would probably never pick her up, so then she gladly accepted.

When the tour was over, Haden said he could walk back to the university. When he walked in, he saw only Sionatta, Karen, and Evylynn sitting on the couch watching t.v.

“Uh hey gals,” he said.

“Oh hey how’d it go?” Evylynn asked turning off the t.v.

“It uh went fine, and uh where is everyone?” He asked.

“Oh, well Dakota went back home, and Natasha and Carson are on a date, and then, Mari’s in the band room, she’s actually been in there all day, why don’t you go check on her,” Sionatta said with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah sure, I’ll go do that,” he responded, turning to leave.

He walked over to the band room and heard a beautiful melody from inside, so he then walked in and there, sitting at her piano, singing a solo of hers, was Mari.

“You get me out of my seat, it’s like I’ve been in bed for a week, I’ve been slipping and sliding all over the place and nobody cares, I’m such a disgrace, you get me out of my mood, it’s something that only you can do, cause I feel like I’m home when I’m in your arms, and that’s why I need you to cheer me up, come and dance with me, and you take my hand, oh cheer me up, oh oh, even if we’re the only ones dancing.”

“Hey,” Haden said, Mari snapped her head towards him.

“Uh h-h-h-how long have you been standing there?” She asked stuttering.

“The whole time you were playing that song, it sounds nice,” he said putting his hands in his pockets.

“Oh that song, that one’s not good I was just thinking that one could be my solo,” she said blushing.

“Well I think it sounds great,” he said smiling.

That night, everything and everyone was quiet, and Mari was scared.

 

Chapter 11: Concert Crazy

Well, two and a half weeks past and I was going crazy, ‘what if this doesn’t work’ I thought.

We were on our way to the park, and when we got there, Lilly was standing at the entrance looking super excited about something.

“Hi Lilly, what’s going on, you seem more bouncy than usual,” I asked.

“Oh Mari, this is the best day of my life, Johnny Lennie asked me out,” she responded happily.

“That’s great Lilly,” Natasha said.

We walked in and it looked like everyone was there all set up.

“And guess what?” Lilly squealed, “we sold 140 tickets this week, 96 last week, and 55 today.”

We all got excited now, everyone went to go set up, but I stayed behind, then Evylynn came up to me and put her hand on my shoulder, “Hey, everything will turn out and I bet you anything he’ll say yes,” she said softly.

I was still nervous as ever though, because I definitely don’t want to say good bye.

After about four hours of setting up we all decided to get some lunch, so we went to a little sandwich shop called ‘Molly’s’ which was just down the street from the park so, we went in, ate, and discussed plans for just about everything.

“So we’ll start out with these three songs and then we’ll take a short intermission, then after mine, Sionatta’s, and Haden’s solo, Natasha and Carson will do their duet, then Mari and I will do our duet, then Mari’s solo will finish off the concert,” Evylynn announced.

“Sounds good, and the horse race will go for about two hours,” Mabel responded.

“And I’ll announce concert plans shortly after, but long enough for people to go to the bathroom, get food, and souvenirs,” Dakota said.

“Okay then, it’s settled, and Lilly and Johnny will be selling tickets and handing out schedule pamphlets then we’ll announce the amount at the end,” I said smiling.

When we finished eating and planning, we payed and left to go back to work.

It was finally time to start the show, it was 4:30 when I saw Mabel and Caroline getting ready for their show, and people started to show up after about twenty minutes, then the show started.

I was backstage, getting my makeup ready while I was waiting for Natasha to give me my outfit. I had just finished brushing my fluffy dark brown hair, then I looked in the mirror and noticed how my make up almost makes my dark ocean blue eyes sparkle in the light, and they almost looked like stars. I then saw Natasha walking up to me in a sparkly scarlet red dress and black heels with her blondish brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and her heart locket drooped and swung back and forth on her chest.

“Hey I got your outfit,” she said, showing me a sparkling blue dress and blue heels with black tights, “I wanted to make sure the color matched your beautiful eyes,” she said.

“Aww thank you,” I said taking the clothes and hugging her.

“Oh wait, here,” she said handing me the golden flower that was in her hair.

“A buttercup? Those are my favorite, thanks again,” I said.

“You’re welcome, I’m gonna go help the others, I’ll see you on stage,” she said turning to leave.

It took me a while, but I finally managed to get fully dressed, I once again, looked in the mirror and then put the flower in my hair, I then faintly noticed that standing in the background, was Haden.

“You, umm, look very pretty tonight,” he said sincerely.

I turned around and I noticed how he paused after I turned, “umm thank you, you uh look nice too,” I said, Haden was wearing a black tux just like Carson’s, and his tie matched his green eyes.

“Huh, oh thanks,” he responded.

Someone was recording the race so I was watching while I was waiting. I kept thinking about my solo, and I started to shake a bit ‘I can’t believe this is going to happen’ I thought.

 

*Meanwhile*

Haden was looking in the mirror, trying to fix his tie, until, suddenly Carson entered wearing a tux with a yellow tie, and his long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

“Woah, Carson, nice get up you got there,” Haden said smiling.

“Shut up, dude,” Carson scoffed.

“Aww, c’mon Natasha is going to love it,” Haden said nudging him in the shoulder.

“Oh really, then what about Mari?” he smirked.

“What, uh well I don’t know about that,” Haden said nervously.

“You know she wrote her solo for you, right?” Carson said smiling a bit bigger now.

Haden just stood there thinking. Then Sionatta came in saying they were going on in five minutes.

 

*Meanwhile*

 

“It’s time,” I sighed.

Chapter 12: It’s All Okay

    I peeked out from the curtains and I saw a full audience, and I even saw people standing and sitting on top of their trucks. I then saw a black limo pull up, and the wretched, Charleston Black, stepped out, and then I had noticed the Mayor had walked over to him, and I saw them shake hands and sat down.

“It’s time,” I said sadly.

“Don’t be sad Mari, it’ll work,” Natasha said putting her hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah,” I responded.

I heard Dakota making the announcements, “ladies and gentleman, welcome to the ‘Sound Of Sparks To Natary’ concert, my name is Dakota Kehlsey, and to start off this concert, here’s the whole band playing a song called, ‘Butterfly Love’,”

We went on stage, played the song, then I announced the rest of the songs, then we played those.

After the three songs, I went up to the mic. again, “alrighty, how was that Natary?” I asked, they all cheered. “Alright, alright, so we’re going to have a shorty intermission so you can do what you need to do and we’ll be right back with more songs, and uh please if you haven’t already, please go buy a souvenir, and keep the money going,” I said.

I then exited the stage with everyone else, then for about ten minutes, I talked with everyone to see how they were all feeling and surprisingly, they were just as nervous as I was.

The concert felt like it was taking forever, I listened to all the solos going on and I played Natasha and Carson’s duet backstage, and they sure did a great job, and I faintly heard them singing.

“Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound.”

It was definitely a beautiful piece that I did like playing.

We went on for our last few songs (including mine and Evylynn’s duet) that we had to do, then came my solo.

Man, I can’t describe how scared I am, I looked out upon the crowd, and I saw Charleston looking down at his watch, most certainly not impressed.

I then heard Dakota whisper from across the stage, “Mari, come on, you’re up.”

I walked over and sat down at my piano and saw an old purple vase with a beautiful design carved into it, and the carvings were filled in with a dark blue paint, I thought it was so pretty that it had to have something inside, so I decided to put my buttercup inside.

Dakota then pulled back the curtains, and I looked upon the crowd, and they all cheered.

I looked at my buttercup sitting on my shiny white, piano, I then looked up at the star filled sky, and for some strange reason I saw all on our names in a constellation form, I looked back down at my music, smiled, a tear streamed down my face.

I sighed, “This song is dedicated to a very special guy, that I love with all my heart,” I whispered into the mic. I started to play my solo on the piano, note, after note, and I started to sing, “there is no upper hand I’m giving you mine, it doesn’t have to end up wasting your time, there’s things that I could say, but hear it my way, I want to let you know that it’s all okay.” There was a small instrumental moment and I noticed Haden was standing in the audience, smiling at me, so I smiled back at him, and then I continued, “I like your smile, but even introductions need to last a while, sometimes I don’t know if I’m right or wrong, and in the end it seems like everything is worse when you’re gone, there is no upper hand I’m giving you mine, it doesn’t have to end up wasting your time, there’s things that I could say but hear it my way I want to let you know, that it’s all okay, so there you are mistakenly mistaken for a deeper scar, a hole in your heart and the same for me, is everything you touch keeping you down or setting you free,” I noticed something a little bit silly, but when I started to do the chorus again, the crowd followed while Dakota was doing some crazy light effects, “there is no upper hand,I’m giving you mine, it doesn’t have to end up wasting your time, there’s things that I could say, but hear it my way, I want to let you know, that it’s all okay, shelter my eyes from the sun, and wait for the birds to fly by, trying to reach everyone and know what you’re feeling inside, deep in my head now it’s like a dream goodbye, there is no upper hand,I’m giving you mine, it doesn’t have to end up wasting your time, there’s things that I could say, but hear it my way, I want to let you know, that it’s all okay, your broken wings could’ve been the reason that you’re down, you know I hate seeing you with a sad frown, there’s things that you could say but hear it my way, I won’t let you down, cause it’s all okay, I won’t let you down, cause, I, love,  you,” I finished the song and got a standing ovation, I stood up and bowed as the curtains closed. I ran behind stage and I saw all my friends (except Haden) running over to me, and they all hugged me, saying it was great, I then pulled back slowly when I saw Haden nearing me, my whole body tensed up again.

“Uh that song you sang was great,” he said.

“Oh thanks, umm guys, could you leave us alone please?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ll go,” Evylynn smirked while everyone left, I gave her a look that said to just stop, I then turned back to Haden.

“Uh, Haden, you know how at the beginning, I said that sarong was for the The persona that I loved?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Haden responded.

“Well, uh, um, uh,” I choked on my words, I was so scared, then I took a deep breath in and let it out, “well, you’re the person that I love,” I said confidently.

I was expecting him to slap me, but instead he just smiled at me sincerely, then he put his hand on my shoulder, “I love you too Mari,” he said.

“Really, y-you mean it?” I said a bit shakily.

“Yup!” he responded happily.

I was so overly excited and overjoyed, I was once again lost for words, then Haden leaned in to kiss me, so I did the same, but we were interrupted by Carson saying, “hey guys let’s go, we got to get on stage for them to announce the amount.”

We looked at each other and started laughing a bit, then we followed the others on stage. Dakota pulled back the curtains, and there we were, we bowed and then I walked up to the mic. and then Lilly came up to me holding a clipboard, she then handed me the clipboard.

“People of Natary, thank you so much for showing up to this event to help save this beloved city,” I said, then they all cheered, “alright, alright, so what I got here, is the amount of money we got and we’re going to see if we got enough, ok sor for selling tickets we reached, 1,526 dollars, for the horse race, we got 1,736 dollars, and for souvenirs and concessions, we got 1,901 dollars, which totals up to 5,163 dollars, which is 3,163 dollars more than our goal to save this city!” I announced happily.

There were people in the crowd going crazy and then Charleston stood up angrily and yelled, “NO!” he stomped up to the stage and came up to me, “there’s no way, you must be lying, I’m going to get my 2,000 dollars from tearing soon this rock of a city because you don’t have it,” he yelled.

I held the clipboard up to him, and then I called out to Lilly, “Lilly, bring the cash,” she then came out holding 2,000 dollars, then she gave it to me. I shoved it towards him, and I said angrily, “now get out, and I never want to hear anything about you taking out cities ever again.” I noticed he started to shake when he saw we had all been giving him death stares, even people in the crowd were getting ready for him to flee, and so he did he took his money and ran.

That night was probably the best night of life. We’re now super popular, and Haden and I are finally together, life couldn’t get any better than this.

 

Epilogue

*15 years later*

 

It’s fifteen years later and Haden and I are married and have a daughter and her name is Melody, and we still live in the one city we had saved.

My family definitely has grown since I was a little girl, like now I’m an aunt, Evylynn married a man named Jackson Barlim, and they have a daughter name Kiera and she is a wonderful niece, and Melody is always super her only cousin. Things sure have changed since that concert, and we’ve all kind of become a walking tour. We’re still playing and we’re all still friends, but a lot of us have moved on to bigger things, for example, Mabel and Caroline have become the biggest horse back racers in the country, and Lilly and Johnny got married a few months after me and they decided to open up their own park, (since a park is where they first met and got together) which is is quite popular and a lot of bands play there too, Sionatta and Karen moved on to being famous artists, a lot of their work ended up in popular museums all over the world, and as for Natasha and Carson, they and their two oldest twins Katie and Mario, work in their own business, which is an adoption center/vet and that’s going we for them.

All of us have grown so much since our years in college, and I’m excited. For the future and what it’ll throw at us.

The End!