Gifted Connections 1

This happened several more times before I turned to Jemmy. “Who are they and how do they know me?”

Jemmy giggled. “You are so cute. Those were people that were at Jax’s party. You were a huge hit. A few of your videos, singing with Ben, went viral. I imagine a lot of people already know who you are.”

“What?” I turned on her, my jaw dropping. “And you’re just now telling me this?!”

She pulled something up on her phone and then handed it to me. Sure enough, a video of Ben and I singing the duet, “The Highway Don’t Care,” by Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift was on YouTube with thousands of hits on it. I had changed the arrangement, so it had a more alternative spin on it, and Ben had been able to pick up my changes quickly.

I groaned. “Never, ever, ever, am I letting you get me drunk again. I like flying under the radar.”

She shook her head and smiled at me. “I hate to break it to you. You are a Bell, by proxy. You would have never achieved anonymity here, phenomenal voice or not.”

I groaned once more as we entered the line for the little coffee and tea shop. I hadn’t been able to enjoy my coffee this morning, so I needed an extra pick me up as well.

“Hey, Blake!” Ben came striding up to us.

“Hey, Ben,” Jemmy spoke up, clearly annoyed that she was not included in the greeting. Especially since they had been talking for a while there.

“Oh, hey, Jemmy,” he said a bit distractedly. “So Jax wouldn’t give me your number this weekend, and I let him know you agreed to sing with the band. We have practice tomorrow night at six, can you be there?”

Jemmy started reciting my phone number before I could tell him I had been tipsy that night, and unable to make lucid decisions. Before I could chastise her and correct him, she said, “She’ll be there.”

“Great!” Ben said with excitement. “See you tomorrow night!”

“What did you do?” I rounded on Jemmy.

Jemmy smirked. “You have an impressive voice, you need to get it out there. It’s not like you have anything better to do, plus it’s a good way to make some extra money.”

“Money?” I asked, suddenly interested. I hadn’t forgotten that I had every intention of paying Will back one day.

She looked at me like I was dense. “Uh, yeah. He said he does gigs at restaurants. Don’t you remember?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “I barely remember anything about that night. You kept feeding me booze. How much does he make typically?”

She shrugged. “It depends on the venue and the crowd they bring in. I know he made four hundred dollars on their last gig, so a hundred dollars apiece for the guys. Not bad for two hours’ worth of work with a twenty minute break.”

She finally got to the counter. “I will take two large frozen mochas,” she stated.

We waited a few minutes for the drinks. I took a sip. “Mmm, this is good.” Then I looked at her sternly. “You’re lucky that it sounds like they make decent money. Otherwise I think I would have had to kick your butt for volunteering me and giving out my number.”

“Don’t tell me you have never had a frozen mocha,” she looked at me amazed.

“Jemmy, I was poor, I was lucky to get normal coffee when I could,” I said in exasperation.

We started heading to the school.

“Blake, hey, Blake!” Jax’s distinctive voice called from behind us.

“Do you want me to take you to the college?” he asked as he drew near, putting an arm around my shoulder.

I smiled looking down at my watch. I still had twenty minutes before my audition. The bell for Jace and Jemmy would be ringing soon. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’m going to catch the trolley. I might as well get used to it. My next two classes are over there as well.”

He shook his head. “I still can’t believe you are starting some of your college courses already. What possessed you to take physics and calculus already? Chemistry and Algebra II was enough for me.”

I shrugged. “Call me an overachiever.”

“She’s trying to make us look bad,” Jemmy sighed dramatically. “Pops is going to start asking us why we haven’t signed up for college courses. Try to convince us that study hall and nutrition is a waste of the day for me and study hall and agriculture science is a waste for you.”

I interrupted her tirade, “Nutrition? Really? You hate most vegetables and live off chicken fingers, French fries, pizza, hot dogs, and macaroni and cheese.”