shattered•1•hearts

AUDITION

I noticed the whispers the moment I stepped foot inside Greenhall Academy. The halls were much more clustered today, the bright green uniform seemingly swallowing the cream walls of the school building as students huddle in individual circles.

My own uniform started to feel itchy, as people merely glanced at me before returning to their conversations. I've never been a fan of attention yet I somehow always seem to attract people who love it.

This school is exclusively for the rich, talented and children of famous parents. I am only here because I got a scholarship paying for my education in full.

There's nothing unusual about seeing everyone so whispery, but today they also seem excited. I know it makes no sense to ask anyone in this hallway what's going on because they will not even acknowledge me. To them, I am the scum of the earth. I learned that on my very first day.

I'll just have to wait until my best friend arrives and spills all the tea.

Jaqueline Mayers; that's her name. She's the daughter of gold medalist, Jaime Mayers, L.A.'s number-one female track star.

The girl loves her mom but she hates her for the name she was given. She always says Jaqueline is a name for 'old Mabels' and for that reason, she prefers to be called Jackie.

She's always late for school, on purpose might I add, arriving just before our first-period teacher walks into class. That is not all, she will then proceed to talk to me throughout the entire lesson and complain when I'm actually paying attention.

The girl gets straight A's, and I have no idea how. Somehow she always understands the more complex subjects and often she is my tutor.

I slid between bodies, continuing my way down the hall to my locker cringing as my nose is accidentally pushed into a student's arm. That was not fun, he smelt like rotten onions.

Once I make it behind that crowd, I sigh in relief and I look up, surprised to see my best friend leaning against my locker. Her big brown eyes shine as they landed on me. Her beautiful dark skin glowed with excitement as she bounced on her heels anxiously signaling for me to come closer.

Her waist-length curly hair which is usually flawlessly done was hurriedly put up in a huge messy bun atop her head. As for her usually decorated face, it was bare of all traces of makeup.

I can tell with just one look that something interesting must be happening. Jackie is integrated into most social groups in our school so if anything is going down, she definitely knows.

"You will not believe who's here!" she screeches as I stop in front of her.

"Who," I retort plainly trying not to sound interested. I gestured for her to step aside and cracked open my locker. As I started grabbing all the books I needed for the first four periods, I freeze, my brain registering Jackie's next words.

"London Morse!"

London Morse?!

"Yes!" Jackie exclaims, bringing me to the realization that I thought out loud.

I pivot on my heels and grab her shoulders excitedly, "Like the guitarist from Crash Course Rebellion, London Morse? London Morse that went to this very school London Morse?!"

Jackie nods quickly and I feel my heart stop in my chest. London Morse is by far one of the most handsome men to ever grace this planet we call Earth but above all he is so talented and so cool.

He is the son of multimillionaire, Julius Morse and deceased heiress Darlina Governor-Morse. It is said that his family is one of the most influential in America, seeing as he has noble blood running through his veins.

He attended this very school and graduated with a music label already in progress. Of course, there was speculation that his father had something to with it but then reports came out that he paid for the label with his own hard-earned money.

Just the thought of a socialite like him bringing himself down to working level is unheard of. He accomplished something on his own, without the help of his rich parents.

His voice is like no other, his charm dark and mysterious and that's what a lot of girls find intriguing about him.

No one knows exactly how tall he is but tabloids have settled on 6 feet 2 inches. He is not very muscular either, more on the lanky side but just enough muscle to do some damage if anyone chose to square him up. His eyes are a peculiar shade of dark blue and his hair is jet black, skimming his shoulders with overgrown bangs.

He clearly took after the heiress, sporting her black hair and blue eyes, reminding everyone of his noble blood.

He has gained a huge fan base over the past two years, as a singer that is, which makes me wonder why he's back.

"Why is he here?" I ask, now interested in today's turn of events.

"Well, it's kind of a bad news, good news situation," Jackie rambled. I raise an eyebrow at her and she sighs, "You remember Jessica Leviathan?"

How could I not?

Jessica Leviathan, offspring of Gage and Stephanie Leviathan. She quickly gained fame as a child star and then a commercial model. Her hidden talent was a voice that only angels can bless one with.

She was not a very approachable person and to put things lightly, she looked down on people like me, or anyone she deemed too low class to be in her circle.

I've never known her personally but from the horror stories I've heard, you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of this blonde-haired, green-eyed monster.

She was always taller than most girls and she'd set her eyes on no other than London Morse.

They got together in their junior year and she became the lead singer of their band.

"What about her?" I muse quietly. Is there some gossip about her that I don't know about? I make it my business to know everything concerning Crash Course Rebellion. If it's something I don't know about it must be serious.

"Well," my best friend drawls, "the bitch just upped and left in the middle of the night a few days ago. Last night  London got a letter in the mail from her."

My eyes bulged as I let the information sink in. Did my ears deceive me? The infamous power couple that had once been admired by the very students of Greenhall is now split up?

"What did the letter say?" I urged, determined to know the cause of the breakup.

"Well that's the thing," she replies in a frustrated tone, "The content of the letter wasn't released!"

"What?!" I squeak. The whispering in the hallway stopped as everyone turned their attention to me. I suddenly felt exposed. Curse my big mouth. I'm sure they all know what we're discussing.

I grab Jackie by the wrist and hastily march us to an empty class which I yanked her into.

"I can't believe this," I whisper in disbelief, "Okay, if that's the bad news, what's the good news?"

Jackie gave me a sly smile that I know only spells trouble, "They're looking for a new lead singer."

"And how is that good news?" I sigh exasperated.

She wiggles her eyebrows at me, "We're gonna audition."

Ice suddenly hits me in the gut and I let out a whoosh of air, "Absolutely not!"

"Come on!" she insists, "I hear you in the shower all the time. You're perfect for this, you know all their songs and everything."

Groaning, I pushed the classroom door open and started scurrying down the hall. I know Jackie is right behind me, taking my silence as an indication of approval.

She always gets us into the most ridiculous situations. Last time we almost served jail time. Mrs. Mayers was less than impressed, to say the least when she found out that Jackie had actual assault charges against her.

"Oh Melany, you are probably the only true friend my Jaqueline has."

Her words ring in my ear as I remember the faithful day, Jackie and Henrietta Jones got into a brawl.

Henrietta Jones is basically, a female dog, for lack of a better word. Since the day I got here, she's been like a thick in my butt.

Her parents are Cornelius and Barbara Jones. They are both congressmen in the White House and are strict, to say the least. She also has an elder brother, Oliver Jones.

Oliver is the opposite of his younger sister and sometimes fixes her messes. He's a sweetheart at best but even his employees know not to cross him. He can be ruthless when he wants to.

He'd made her drop the lawsuit when it was found that she instigated the fight. He then apologized to us personally.

And who am I, you may ask?

I'm Melany Reecher, daughter of unknown parents. My sister, Danielle Reecher is the only parent I know, and she works in one of the companies owned by the Jones Family.

I'm basically plain with curly dark brown hair that stops in the middle of my back and large chocolate-colored eyes. My sister shares my features except that her hair is shoulder length and whereas I am 5 feet 4 inches and have a slightly chubby body, she is 5 feet 6 inches with a slender body.

I live a mostly boring life, as if being friends with Jaqueline Mayers is boring and everyone else besides her basically ignores my existence. I don't hate being completely invisible, on the contrary really.

"So you are coming to the audition, right?" Jackie pushes as she catches up to me.

"Do I have a choice?" I retort boredly, already knowing the answer.

She gives me a cheeky smile and I sigh, face-palming myself, "Of course, not."