The roar of the crowd was only heard, as the only people I could see directly in front of me were in the very front row, the rest blocked out by huge stage lights and the sun that beat down on me.

Sweat dripped a line of nervousness down my back, breaths coming in quick spurts as I attempted to calm my racing heartbeat.

Searing, the late summer Florida sun was bearing down upon us as song after song, we didn't let up one single moment.

Thankfully, my inner ear piece that allowed me to hear my own vocals through it as well as the music instead of the blaring sound system at the front of the stage, my performance was in line with how we'd practiced, and there were no accidental mess ups, I didn't fall on my ass in the middle of a song, and my voice didn't crack on a high note embarrassingly.

Surprisingly, we'd made it through the entire performance without incident, and soon it was all over and the main band was ready to take over, Bea gleefully announcing their entrance while the crowd screamed its approval of the changeover. I didn't take it personally, we were unknown and the headliner was the real reason for the amount of those lining the stage, but at least our band had received some much needed coverage.

Sweaty, sore, and still half numb and nerves zipping with adrenaline, we were alive and overzealous in our celebration of a near perfect first show.

Leo and Hazel, seemingly a couple after their steamy performance on stage together, decided to take a ride share back to the school, and the moment I decided to join in the carnival fun with Bea, my phone rang, my father's ID flashing on the screen.

"Hey dad, what's up?"

"Virginia, I need you back home right now."

His tone let me know that he wasn't kidding in the slightest.

"Oh, okay. What's wrong? Is it-"

"I said now! We will talk more when you get here."

And then the line went dead.

In all my years with it just being the two of us, he had never spoken to me like that. Something was seriously wrong.

"I'm sorry Bea, my dad just yelled at me to get my ass back and I think something's wrong."

"Okay, I'll drive you in my car."

"Thanks," I told her, remembering the fact that my previous ride had left me high and dry. I wondered if Jared or Sara had anything to do with the way my father had been acting on the phone.

Phone buzzing yet again, I was surprised to find an unknown number flashing on my screen.

I'm sorry about what happened earlier today. Everything I said came out wrong, and then I had a family emergency come up. I hope you had a good show.

Oh, so somehow Eli had found my number and was apologizing for his behavior, again. I knew better than to fall for that act a second time. If he wanted a good word from me to my dad, he shouldn't have been so obvious about it.

I didn't respond, and I definitely didn't input his number into my phone. We were pulling into my circular driveway just as I noticed his SUV parked front and center. Family emergency, my ass. So he had time to come and receive extra coaching from my dad, but abandoned me at the carnival? Something definitely wasn't adding up.

"Bea, can you keep my keyboard? I don't feel like lugging it to my car, plus I need it at school anyway."

"Yeah of course, girl. I hope everything's okay with your family."

"Thanks. I'll see you Monday."

Eyes heavy, I trudged to the front door with my purse considering I left my equipment bag with Bea as well and had barely made it to the doorknob before it was swung open wide, Kara's angry stare meeting my exhausted state and stepped aside only slightly for me to walk through, making sure to brush my shoulder not-so-gently as I moved past her.

Her icy bitch glare followed me all the way into the foyer when my father's voice reached me.

"Virginia. Come into the study."

"Sir, yes sir," I mumbled under my breath sarcastically, though Kara was directly behind me and heard every word.

"You'd do well to mind your tone right now. Your father is in a mood I've not yet seen from him before."

And that was my fault...how? I didn't voice my question, knowing it would only anger my aunt more.

I didn't want to think too much about how my father's study was his favorite place for punishment. I still had PTSD from when he'd taken my phone from me for an entire week. It was spine chilling what went on in this study, terrifying, even. A teenaged girl, stranded without her cellphone? Pure blasphemy. (Please note my sarcasm.)

Upon first inspection, there was a sniveling Sara in the corner of the room curled up in a ball with Jared consoling her, a very uncomfortable looking Eli standing at his full six foot whatever in the complete opposite corner, and my father sat behind his dark cherry oak desk which had been proportioned specifically for his wheelchair.

It was more of an office than a study, but dad always liked to make things more dramatic than they really were.

One fateful step into the 'study' and I was left with the couch on the back wall with Kara, so I begrudgingly took a seat and was vaguely reminiscing of my short time in the principal's office, this scene an extreme comparison to that visit.

"Do you know why I called you in here Virginia?"

I so wanted to be sincere and compelling, but all that I could think of was, "No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

Strike one. I could see it in my father's withering stare, those aging eyes teeming with yellow around the edges and fine lines turning deeper, the indents becoming wrinkles whereas before they were barely there ridges that noted the passage of time on his skin.

He emitted his famous exasperated dad sigh, and I snuck a peek at Eli before the bashing began. He was damn nervous, and probably for good reason. Knowing Sara, she had probably told on him for ditching us at the carnival, not that I cared too much about that. If my dad wasn't his coach, I didn't have to see him every day.

Then why did I have the sudden urge to protect him from whatever she had been saying?

"Sara here told me everything that happened at the carnival, and Jared backed up her story. Do you have anything you want to say for yourself?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at my father's question and turned my gaze towards Sara.

"What do you mean? We got there, Eli left, Sara and Jared said they were leaving and then my band performed and then you called me to come straight home. What am I missing?"

"Don't act all innocent. Jared already told us everything, he was right beside Sara and heard every word you said."

I was not prepared for my aunt's vehemence. Her words spat out of her mouth with such anger that I genuinely felt like I had been missing time. Did I get in a verbal sparring match with my cousin and not remember it?

"Well, why don't you tell me what you think happened, so that way we can clear this all up," I said to Jared, since he was the only one who could actually corroborate what had actually happened.

"Um..."

His eyes darted from Kara to his crying girlfriend in his arms, to my dad, then to Eli, then to me, then finally back to Sara as she placed a finger on his chin directing him to stare right back at her.

"Tell them again, tell them what she s-said to me!"

I was tempted to roll my eyes, but that definitely wouldn't earn me any points.

"Um, well, we told Virginia that we were going to leave, and she got really mad. She wanted us to stay and watch her band perform, but Sara and I already had plans today. Virginia called Sara a bitch, and said that she stole me from her and-"

Jared cut himself off and looked to Sara again who sniffled once and dabbed her eyes, ever the actress.

"After she said that, I grabbed her arm and we walked away from Jared, because I didn't want him to think bad of me if I had to yell. Then Virginia said that she was going to make Jared jealous with Eli Shepherd to make him want to get back together with her, and she said that she didn't care if it made her dad not agree to be his coach, all she cared about was taking Jared back from me."

The study was silent after that last bombshell that Sara had dropped. All eyes turned from her simultaneously to me, though I wasn't sure what kind of look they'd find on my face.

Rage, confusion, shock, more rage, more confusion, and finally, incredulity at the entire situation.

"Well, Virginia? What do you have to say for yourself and your actions?"

I turned to my father, sure that he'd see through all of this but the second our eyes connected, I just knew deep down that he wouldn't believe me.

"We got to the venue, Sara and Jared stepped out. Sara said 'This is so annoying, Virginia! I didn't even want to be here in the first place! Me and Jared are getting an Uber. Have a good performance'. I said 'I will' and that was the last thing we said to each other the rest of the night. I have no idea where all of this came from, but I have no part in it."

"You're lying! Why would I be so upset if what I said weren't true? You want to steal my boyfriend!"

I had to take a few deep breaths for that one, compose myself and tell myself that it was all just a big joke before I could answer her.

"Sara, I am sincerely sorry if you feel like I have wronged you in any way. You're my cousin, and I've loved you like a sister since you moved in after my mom died, but the way you're acting is unacceptable. I don't want anything to do with your boyfriend, I can honestly say that I have moved on and closed that chapter of my life. As for everything else, it was all blatant lies and I refuse to sit here and be lectured on things that have never come out of my mouth, nor will they ever. If you'll excuse me," I said with as much calm and composure as my mother taught me, but the second my feet were on the ground my father spoke up.

"You sit down right now, young lady."

Young lady, my ass.

I didn't sit back down but I did level my father with an even stare.

"Was there anything else you'd like to accuse me with that I didn't do?"

"She's making fun of me, mom! She-"

"Sara, that's enough," my father cut her off. "Virginia, you are not to have any contact with Jared or Eli from this moment on. I won't have you using my new player in a part of your vendetta against your cousin and Jared."

I huffed out a short laugh, but there was no amusement in it.

"Okay? Is that supposed to be a punishment? I never had any real contact with them before anyway, except in this house where you welcomed them in. I could care less if you banned me from having contact with them. Is there anything else? I've had a long day and would like to go to sleep."

I contemplated adding 'sir' at the end of my sentence, but I was afraid it would send my dad over the edge. I had no idea what was going on with him, but since his illnesses he had been acting more and more aggressive.

"Go to your room."

"Gladly."

I stopped at the door, turning to face Eli who's face was a ghostly shade of pale except for his cheeks.

"I'm sorry they tried to rope you into this, too. You didn't deserve that."

Green eyes locked on mine like we were the only two people in the room, I completely forgot about the 'no contact' bullshit my dad had been spewing, and it was just us and this real, intangible and invisible current that ran between the two of us.

I'd never believed in such feelings upon first sight of someone, but was that what this was? When I could barely breathe in his presence, could barely think of anything else unless it was a ludicrous attack on my character?

"Thank you," he said, that low reverberation of his voice settling in between the cracks of my tattered emotions from the night and stitching them back together, and suddenly it was like none of what had just happened even existed, like he chased away all the pain and replaced it all with spine tingling and mind numbing pleasure.

"Virginia!"

"Huh?"

My eyes snapped immediately to my father, noticing that the rest of the room had watched the two of us have a heated, intensely nuanced stare down, and I had no idea how long it had gone on for. Apparently Eli was just as bad with zoning off as I was, except I wasn't zoning off that time. Was he? Or was it something else, like he felt that connection too?

"Oh, right, right no contact. Whoops. Guess that starts...now!"

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm."

"Wait. When you say 'no contact'...am I not allowed to look either one of them in the eyes? What if, hypothetically speaking, we were all trapped in the house when it was on fire, and my only options were to jump out of the second story window or-"

"Virginia, this is not a damn joke! Leave, now!"

Oh, but it was a joke to me. And wasn't he just begging for my presence only minutes earlier?

I shook my head with a slight soft laugh and did as my father said, shoulder checking Kara on my way out, but this time it was me who initiated it. Her cold snake eyes were such a drastic change from only a few days ago. What could have changed so quickly? What was I missing?

I had no clue what was going on with my family, but later that night when Eli texted me asking if I was okay, I knew that my father's 'no contact' rule bullshit with Eli wasn't only going to be broken, it was going to be broken repeatedly because there was no way I was going to be able to stay away from him, no matter how many times I convinced myself he was just some dumb doucehbag basketball player.

There was something between us, and I owed it to myself to find out what that was. I only hoped that he felt it, too.