Fri, Dec 4, 6:46 a.m.
Galaxy Rider:
Okay, I get it. You want to be left alone. I’ll stop bothering you.
I couldn’t bring myself to respond to any of his texts.
I knew he hadn’t meant to hurt me. And I wasn’t mad at him, not really. It was just really hard to ignore the ache in my chest whenever I thought about him working with Violet.
Sighing, I picked up my empty bowl and brought it over to the sink before sorting through yesterday’s mail, which was sitting in a pile on the island. A large envelope with my name and ACM’s logo printed on the front caught my attention. I ripped the letter open, unfolded the paper, and—
Accepted. I was accepted to ACM.
I should have been happy, grateful that Sofia had pushed me to apply somewhere other than Juilliard so I had a school to attend next fall, but I didn’t feel anything. No excitement, no relief. Despite my love of SFX makeup, I was too gutted over my loss to feel anything other than heartbreak. There were other good music schools I could apply to—I was pretty sure Curtis’s application wasn’t due until December 15—but my heart just wasn’t in it.
A knock on the front door startled me out of my thoughts.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
“In here,” I called, stuffing the acceptance letter into my back pocket.
Five seconds later, a girl with cat’s-eye glasses and French braids strode into the kitchen—Lydia, Violet’s personal assistant; between creating my portfolio for ACM, practicing for my Julliard audition, and trying my best to avoid Violet, I hadn’t seen her since early October.
“Hey, Indie! How are you?” she said in her usual bubbly voice. I had to give her props; how someone could work for my sister and still be so cheerful was beyond me.
“I’m all right. You?”
“Good, just delivering some work stuff for your dad,” she said, holding up a thick folder before setting it next to the pile of mail. “Now I’m off to pick up lunch for Violet and some other people at the studio. Did you hear she’s recording a song with Xander Jones from the Heartbreakers? How exciting is that?”
Just hearing his name was enough to make me flinch. “Oh yeah. Super exciting.”
Lydia must not have picked up on my tone, because she offered me one of her sunny smiles. “Do you want to come with me? I could use a hand with all the food orders, and I’m sure Violet would love to see you.”
That was highly doubtful.
“Thanks, but I can’t,” I replied. “I’ve been home sick for the past few days, so I have a lot of homework to catch up on.” Sofia had stopped by this morning with my assignments and promised to return after school with today’s workload.
“Ugh, that sounds like the worst.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
A pair of car keys jingled as Lydia pulled them out of her purse. “Well, I hope you feel better soon. It was good running into you.”
“You too,” I replied as she headed back toward the foyer. “And I’m glad to see your leg is better.”
Lydia turned back around, her eyebrows squished together. “My leg?”
“You broke it right before Comic Con, right?”
Her frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”
I gave her a weird look. “Violet asked me to be her personal assistant for the weekend because you broke your leg.”
“No,” Lydia said, shaking her head. “She gave me off that weekend.”
“What?” I asked. “Why?”
She shrugged. “Not sure, but it definitely wasn’t because I hurt myself. Anyway, I’ve got to get going. See you around, Indie.”
