The Hybrid (31 page)

“So go and get to know her!” Chris said, giving Declan
a tiny shove toward her.
“We’ll go pick up the pizza,” Tyler said.
Declan uncrossed his arms as he moved toward the
stairs. “Okay. I’ll see you guys in a few.”

When Tru was done with the streamers, she sat down
on a lawn chair tucked inside the gazebo, and began
blowing up the balloons. She had only filled about twenty,
but as she finished tying off the yellow balloon she had in
her hands, she felt slightly lightheaded.

“Are you okay?” Declan said as Tru leaned back in her
chair and rubbed her forehead. She silently watched him
as he walked up the steps of the gazebo, and leaned
against one of the posts that held up the roof.

“Yeah, just a little dizzy,” she replied.
“Do you want me to help you with those?” he asked,
pointing to the untouched bag of green balloons that Tru
had placed on the seat of another lawn chair.

Slowly, Tru rose from her chair
⎯ hoping she wouldn’t
fall over ⎯ and grabbed the roll of tape from her back
pocket. She didn’t want to leave him, knowing he was only trying to make small talk, but Tru had to step away and
take a few deep breaths before she could speak to him.

As she walked out of the gazebo, she grabbed a couple
of yellow balloons, and then gradually made her way
around the backyard, placing them in random places. Tru
casually glanced over her shoulder, and saw Declan blowing up the last of the balloons. And when she looked back
at the stage full of instruments, she could see that the rest
of his band was nowhere in sight.

“They went to get some lunch,” Declan said as he
walked up behind her. The grass crunched loudly under
his feet. He must have noticed who she was looking for.

But affirming that they were completely alone made
Tru somewhat tense. Quickly, she bowed her head, in an
attempt to hide her pink cheeks.

Tru looked up as he motioned to the balloons that
filled the floor of the gazebo behind them before quickly
turning back around to face her.

“Uh,” Tru paused, pretending to look for open places,
“I guess anywhere that looks too plain.” But just as she
was about to turn around to look at him again, her eyes
landed on Bethany bouncing through the open screen
door on the other side of the yard.

“Are you guys hungry?” Bethany asked, seeing the two
of them awkwardly backing away from one another.
Tru began walking toward her, relieved. “Yes!” she
shouted.
“Well, the guys just brought back pizza, and I’ve got
chips and things like that ready inside.” Bethany pointed
her left index finger over her shoulder toward the open
door to the family room.
Tru ran around the edge of the pool, shoving past
Bethany as she sprinted through the open sliding door,
and into the house. When she reached the kitchen, she
stopped at the table, and looked at the six or seven bowls
of different kinds of chips. Shortly after, Bethany was
standing next to her, grabbing a handful.
“So,” Bethany
paused,
crunching
on
a
chip
in
her
mouth,
“anything
interesting
going
on
outside?”
She
smiled playfully as she chewed.
“Nope,” Tru smiled, biting into a chip of her own. Suddenly, Tru could feel her back beginning to tingle, like a
small trail of ants dancing across her spine. “Uh,” she
paused, feeling her shoulder for a brief second, “where’s
your bathroom?”
“Oh!” Bethany responded, almost like she had been
startled. “I completely forgot to show you!” She then
quickly walked to the kitchen door, near the front entryway. “It’s just there, down the hallway.”
When she reached the bathroom, Tru quickly shut the
door
behind herself,
pausing only to
make sure she
wouldn’t slam it before she turned the lock and secured
herself inside. Tru slowly looked up in the mirror above
the freestanding, porcelain sink, and was immediately
relieved. Her wings were still hidden, tucked under her
skin and sports bras between her shoulders.
Tru waited a few minutes before flushing the toilet and
opening the bathroom door. She knew Bethany would
have thought it were strange if she had asked for the
bathroom and didn’t actually use it.
When Tru walked back down the hall, and into the
kitchen, Declan was the first person she saw. She stopped
dead in her tracks.
After cancelling on their date, things had seemed to
become extremely awkward between the two of them.
And it didn’t make it any easier that Tru could hardly
read his body language. It made her curious to know if he
was feeling the same way.
“Hey,” he said, looking up from the bowl of chips he
had just put his hand into. He smiled at her, and then
alluringly placed a single chip in his mouth.
“Hi.” Tru bit her lower lip and looked at the ground.
“So,” she hesitated, slightly blushing as she tried to think
of something to say, “you’re in a band?”
“Yup.” Declan didn’t hesitate to pull a chair out from
under the kitchen table. The wood squeaked as it scooted
across the smooth floor. Tru continued focusing on the
ground as he took a seat.
“How’s that working out for you?” She walked a bit
closer, slightly looking up at him from under brow.
“Well, pretty good, I guess. We’ve got a gig almost every weekend.” He leaned back in the chair, placing a hand
casually behind his head.
“Do
you
guys have
a
name?” Tru
leaned
her
seat
against the outlet of granite countertop that divided the
kitchen into a cooking area and a dining area, and crossed
her arms over her chest.
“One Subject.” He crunched another chip between his
teeth.
“Where did you come up with that?” Tru didn’t mean
to, but she giggled as she asked the question.
“A notebook.” Declan smiled, moving his hands in
front of his body to imitate the opening and closing of a
book.
Tru laughed a bit louder, as Declan stared at her. “I’m
sorry, it really does sound
inventive
.”
But she truly did feel bad for laughing. She had never
heard of a name like that before. Most bands she had
heard of came up with their names from certain moments, or experiences they had. Sometimes they even got
their names from significant people in their lives, but Tru
had never heard of a band coming up with their name
from something as simple as a book found in a backpack.
“Wide, or college ruled?” Tru added, trying to sound
nonchalant.
“College, of course. It helps us use less paper for writing song lyrics.” Declan laughed slightly, catching on to
her joke almost immediately.
Tru laughed a bit more.
Declan and Tru continued talking in the kitchen until
the sun began to disappear behind the trees that lined the
fence around the backyard. Tru felt herself becoming
more and more comfortable as she learned about him and
his family and the types of things he liked to do. She felt
calm talking and laughing with him. It seemed so easy. In
those few hours, Tru came to realize that she and Declan
had more in common than she had originally thought.
They enjoyed the same types of music. They liked the
same activities. They even enjoyed the same types of
books. Even better was the fact that Tru didn’t feel like
she had to try and be someone else around him. She was
completely herself and Declan seemed to like that.
Around six o’clock, Declan rose from his seat at the
table and headed for the backyard with the rest of his
band. Tru watched as he followed them out of the kitchen.
But as he reached the doorway, he stopped suddenly, letting the rest of the boys continue on without him.
“We’re going to go warm up. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
he said, turning to look at Tru.
“Okay,” she replied, smiling up at him from her chair
at the table. Then he was gone.

Right around seven-thirty, people began showing up at
Bethany’s house. And by eight o’clock, it seemed like the
entire school had heard about the party. People were arriving by the truckload. The entire house was packed full
of people, with hardly any room to breathe. It was beginning to feel stuffy⎯ even though the house was huge ⎯
but going outside wasn’t going to help much seeing as it
was just as crowded as the inside was.

Bethany’s friends had gotten all the food beforehand,
but it quickly became evident that there was nowhere
near enough. It seemed as though everything was going to
be gone within the hour.

Tru walked through the kitchen, squeezing her way
through the crowd, trying to get to the backyard. Her feet
had been stepped on more times than she could count,
but it was expected at a party of this magnitude.

“Hey everyone! Thanks for coming tonight!” Tru could
hear Bethany yelling into the microphone on the stage
just outside. The noise of the cheering crowd filled the
house, but even over the screaming, Tru could clearly
hear Bethany as if she were standing right next to her.

Tru tried to move quickly through the living room,
pushing against people the way they pushed against her,
as they clumped closer together trying to get as close to
the stage as they possibly could.

“Tonight, we have a really great band performing!”
Bethany’s voice continued echoing through the air. “And
of course, you guys probably all know them, but I’ll introduce them to you again, anyway!”

Tru reached the sliding glass door to the backyard and
saw Bethany, and the instrument-wielding band, standing
on the stage. Tru pushed harder through the sea of students, feeling as though it was never going to end.

“Give it up, for One Subject!” The crowd went crazy as
Bethany quickly handed off the microphone before making her way offstage.

“Thanks, Beth, for that intro,” Josh said when he replaced the microphone in its stand. “We’re going to kick
things off with everyone’s favorite song! And for those of
you who don’t know it, it’s called
Hype
.”

Declan, standing on the right side of the stage, holding
the black Gibson, walked slowly to the front of the stage,
placing a single foot on the amplifier in front of him as he
started the song off with a mellow guitar solo. As he
played, he was soon accompanied by a steady beating of
the drums and Josh behind him on the bass. The song
appeared to be too relaxing to be called
Hype
. But then,
without warning, the song suddenly turned into an all out
rock frenzy.

Declan jumped up onto the amplifier, spinning around
swiftly on one foot as he strummed harder against his
guitar strings. Tru craned her neck over the crowd, hoping to get a better look. And as she made her way to the
center of the mass of students, she could see Declan
jumping off of the amplifier to run to the other side of
their platform.

As Josh began singing into the microphone, the crowd
went crazy once again, singing every word of the song.
Tru felt embarrassed that she seemed to be the only person in the crowd that had no clue what they were saying.

Then, Declan’s voice picked up the next verse. And as
he starting singing where Josh’s had left off, Tru realized
how melodic it truly was, making it hard for her to focus
on the words, let alone the music that accompanied it. He
sang like he was in his own world.

The crowd pushed and shoved against Tru’s fragile
body, as she watched Declan strum against his black guitar. But she didn’t care. She just continued watching as he
left the microphone, engaging with the crowd at the edge
of the stage while Josh began singing again. After a few
seconds, when it was his turn again, Declan went right
back to his spot at the microphone.

Eventually, Tru found herself closing her eyes, listening to the noises around her. And without realizing it, she
began dancing. She danced as if she were in a room ⎯
completely alone⎯ with only the sound of the music and
Declan’s voice, echoing loudly in her head.

The boys had played for about an hour by the time the
last song came to an end. Everyone around her began
clapping their hands together, showing their support. Tru
stopped dancing, and opened her eyes just in time to see
Bethany walking up the stairs to the platform. The band
put down their instruments, waved at the crowd, and
slowly made their way down the stairs Bethany had just
walked
up. Bethany
quickly
grabbed
the
microphone,
yanking it off the stand so she could pace around the
stage with it.

“Thanks guys! That was awesome!” She pointed to the
band once again and the mass of teenagers cheered and
hollered. “So, while the band takes a break, the girls and I
put together a bit of a club mix for you. I hope you enjoy!”

As Tru watched Bethany walk off the stage, she could
see Declan⎯ out of the corner of her eye⎯ pushing his
way through the crowd, shaking the hands of almost everyone he passed. He appeared as though was heading
straight for her. Tru’s heart was still racing from all the
dancing, but part of her wondered if it was just that, or if
it was beating so loudly in her ears because of the fact
that she was looking at him. Instantaneously, her feet and
hands began to shake.

“Yo, Declan! Great job!” someone in the crowd yelled
as he walked past them.
“Thanks, man!” he yelled over the sound of the club
music, waving in their direction. Tru casually looked at
the ground, and then back up at Declan, noticing that his
eyes had been focused on her the entire time.
“Hey,” he shouted when he was standing just inches
from her. The music was blaring, making it hard to hear
him.
“You were really good up there,” Tru replied, leaning
closer to his face so he could hear her over the earsplitting
techno music behind them.
“Thanks,” Declan said with a smile. He looked around
at the crowd dancing. “Listen, do you want to go somewhere a little bit⎯ quieter?” He looked back at Tru with
the same gorgeous smile. His teeth were pearly white
against his somewhat tanned skin.
“What?” Tru shouted, looking at him as she leaned
even closer. She could still feel her hands shaking as she
folded her arms behind her back.
Declan pointed at himself and then at her, before
glancing back at the house. Tru nodded her head in
agreement, smiling up at him. As Tru nervously tried
shoving her fingers into the pockets in her jeans, Declan
grabbed her hand, and led her through the crowd and
into the house. But, as they reached the sliding glass door,
someone grabbed her other hand.
“Gertrude!” Bethany shouted.
“Oh, hey!” Tru replied ⎯ slightly upset that they had
been interrupted ⎯ as she turned around swiftly to look
at her.
Just then, Declan leaned in close to Tru’s cheek, taking
a slow deep breath before whispering, “meet me out front
on the porch,” gently into her ear. Tru nodded toward
him again, looking over her shoulder to watch as he
walked into the house, disappearing into another dense
sea of people.
“Are you having fun?” Bethany asked loudly, peering
over her own shoulder and into the house. She looked at
Tru with a playful looking grin. “I think he really likes
you.”