Secret Notes by Angely Cruz (red white and royal blue hardcover TXT) 📖

The music store I applied to finally called me this morning. They said I should be there by five in the afternoon tomorrow or I could forget about the job. Dear Lord, they could have atleast tried to be nice.
All my life I’ve been told I would make it to Yale; even Harvard if I tried harder. Summer started two days ago with me filling an application to Jonah’s Music Ball downtown. But mom found the acceptance letter to Harvard before me and oh, let me die. You see, when I was in seventh grade all I wanted to do in life was go to Harvard. I thought all the teasing for being intelligent could be worth it. Now those dreams were left behind and I wanted to stay in Cincinnati and go to university and make my life here. Though I never told mom before and now, here I am.
The past days, mom had been working nonstop on her new book. The publisher called yelling at her for not having a book for summer.
“I’m working on it, Tommy,” she said.
This situation meant her room was off limits and Louis and I had to deal with our crap on our own. Louis was two years older than me and wasted most of his time playing the drums for a band I didn’t know the name of. He slept for hours and hours and when he woke up, he was cranky as hell. With this, I felt the woman of the century. I washed the dishes, cleaned the house, fed the dog and unsurprisingly ran behind Louis to make him get the smell of rotten pizza out of his room.
I picked up the cup of coffee and took a small sip. I saw a woman outside running behind two toddlers who yelled and laughed maniacally. Rodrigo sat in front of me and seemed relaxed as he sipped on his smoothie. When I called him and said I had an interview at Jonah’s, he yelled with me because he knows me and my appreciation for music really well. He knows how my walls are full of The Beatles posters and a box in the corner of the room is full of vinyls and old CD’s. But really working at a music store isn’t really music appreciation. I would sell CD’s of artists I have never heard of and help people decide between AC/DC or Metallica. I still looked up to it, though.
“What were you thinking when you received the call?”
I smiled lightly. “Nothing, really. My mind went blank like always.”
He nodded and took another sip of the smoothie. Strawberry banana. “You know Marla, you could really be something in the music industry if you tried.”
“Yes but mom wouldn’t approve of that even if I paid her. Do you think,” I drank some coffee, “she would want that when she is a New York Best Seller?”
“No but it’s your life, Marla. You’re eighteen now, you’re not mommy’s little baby anymore.”
He was right. I had let my mother control me for so many years and I was tired of it. I knew it could be a complete disaster but what Rodrigo said is true. I’m eighteen now and I’m not a baby anymore. She made me model for four years when I asked for piano classes instead and then, when I asked for swimming lessons she sent me to my grandma’s all summer. She wanted me to be some role model but honestly I don’t want to be.
“Rodrigo! Your break is over,” the woman behind the counter of the coffee shop we were in yelled. “and come on, I want to leave.”
Rodrigo stood up and picked his half drank smoothie. He sighed and looked at the woman who had made her way to us after she finished talking. “Table number five wants a moccha, two sugars and a lot of whip cream.” She chucked a handkerchief at his hands and left through the transparent door on the left.
He looked at me and shrugged. “I’ll see you later, yeah?” he started walking away but then stopped and turned around, “Think about what I said.”
I nodded and picked up my cup of coffee. I drank the last components of it and stood up. I walked over to the garbage can and threw the cup inside then I turned around and left the coffee shop without looking back at Rodrigo.
Outside the air was cold for being a summer morning and I wished I had brought my black cardigan with me. People were rushing out of stores and walking around with a busy aura. I watched as two girls around my age walked down the street and into Jonah’s Music Ball. One of them wore a red skinny jean with a stripped shirt and the other had jean shorts and a black t-shirt that read ‘ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE’ in big red letters. I found myself following them and walking into Jonah’s with a goofy smile on my face. Once I was inside, I smelled coconut and chocolate in the air. I looked around and in the back corner was the mini coffee and sweets shop I saw the day I came to fill the application. In the center of the room were different sized tables with lots of boxes with CD’s and vinyls in them. To the right was the cash register were a man around his thirties hanged around with a bored expression but to the left was the ‘ROCK/INDIE & UK’ area I liked so much. A black curtain divided the real music store from what was inside and just like every day, I went into the curtain and inside a magic world. The walls were orange and black and in a corner all lined beside each other were this computers with headphones where you chose the CD you wanted and rocked to it at a high volume.
This place was empty today except for a boy, I guessed, with his back to me and a beanie on his head. His shoulders were covered with a black cardigan and black jeans adorned his legs. I looked him over once again and saw the combat boots on his feet and the tattoo on the back of his neck. He didn’t hear me coming in considering he had the huge headphones around his head, covering his ears. I walked around the center table and to the one that was labeled ‘THE BEATLES’ but I had a record of being clumsy and this was no day to hide it; I hit my foot with the table and went crashing to the floor bringing with my self a big box full of posters. I fell with a big crash and the posters all around me. Uh-oh, I thought. I could feel my cheeks getting red with embarrassment and I didn’t dare open my eyes. I moved my hand around and my fingers grazed the posters box. A humilliating sound, like a donkey moan, came out of my mouth.
“Are you okay?”
I opened my eyes in a second and they roamed to the direction the voice came from. The boy from before was now around, his front to me. I studied him intently; dark hazel eyes, light brown hair, amazing jawline…
I shooked my head and snapped out of whatever I was getting into. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. He opened his eyes a little more in a ‘go on’ kind of way. I closed mine and sighed.
“This is humilliating,” I blurted. I automatically closed my mouth and my eyes widened. Ah, this couldn’t get any worse.
I heard a laugh come from the boy’s mouth, “Oh, this is the poster I’ve been looking for everywhere!” He reached down and grabbed the rolled up poster beside my thigh. He took the rubber band out and opened it, holding the top with his right hand and the bottom with his left. His eyes looked bright and the smile that graced his lips was undeniable happiness.
I decided it was time to stand up and pick up the mess I made. I expected to meet the guys gaze when I was up and steady but I was wrong. He was nowhere to be seen. I looked around once then twice but he vanished, the poster gone with the wind too. I sighed and picked up the box, putting each poster inside carefully. Once I finished, the box was neatly in place and I walked over to the curtain and smelled fresh coffee and cake but the guy was nowhere to be seen. I smiled lightly. This place was the one I’ll be working at if I passed the interview. Not really pass but ace. I liked this place. The guy at the cash register looked me over and back to the magazine he was flipping through. I smoothed my shirt and walked to the door and was hit in the face with hot air. Smells like business.

It was 2:30 pm. I brushed my hair and straightened my bangs. I picked up my small messenger bag and made my way downstairs. Mom was in the kitchen drinking some coffee and I tried my best to pass unnoticed but it was no use.
“Where are you going, Marla?”
I stuttered, “I-I uh, I’m going to town with Rodrigo,” I sighed. “Yeah, with Rodrigo.”
She looked me up and down and narrowed her eyes. “Have fun.”
I reached the door at light speed and opened the door to my car. Dad had