Stone Face

Azaliah Krimson

Jade and I danced around the stage. I always loathed dancing but it was a requirement for the band. As we danced, I searched the crowd, looking for Deolan, but he was nowhere to be found. I looked to the far end of the stage. The other band was there- three boys but only one person caught my attention. Deep dark amber eyes.

What was he doing here!?

Finally, after minutes I ended the song, as the crowd ran wild with cheers. I felt proud today. I looked back at the boy. His eyes burned into my soul. Jade then came and pulled me away from the crowd, breaking me from my trance.

'I only hope he isn't part of that band.' I cursed inwardly.

"Liah, are you even listening-" Jade snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"Huh? What did you say?" Jade crossed her arms together, stamping her foot. I smiled sheepishly at her and scratched my cheek.

"I'm sorry Jade." I poked her cheek as she pouted at me. I motioned her forward so we could take a walk around the campus. She handed me a black marker from her bag as we walked close to the sports field.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I walked towards the wall and wrote 'Azaliah~2017'. It was my second year in medical school. Just four more years to go, till I graduate.

"Is Deolan still acting weird around you?" I raised an eyebrow at her. Did she forget what we spoke about in the morning?

"Did you forget what I said earlier? I'm going to end things with him." I quietly say, but I couldn't deny the truth any longer... We walked past the cafeteria, but I halted in my footsteps as I heard the sound of giggling and moaning.

It was coming from one of the classrooms, so we just walked past it. But what I heard next, broke confirmed my suspicions. I could hear jade telling me to stop and not go inside the room. But I blocked everything out as I flung the door open.

The boy that I had a crush on for so many years was now kissing someone else. He pushed the girl away when he heard the door open. He gasped and I think hurt was written on his face.

"Wait Azaliah I can explain-" I shook my head at him and took a step back.

"There's nothing to explain, what I saw now is enough proof. Whatever we had, was it ever real for you? I don't want to see you ever again." I sighed and walked away. Jade followed closely behind me. I inhaled and it felt as if a weight was lifted from my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Was I okay? I think I was... I think I finally was free from that burden.

"Yes, I'm alright. Let's get out of here and celebrate. Today was our last concert. So let's make the most of the time we have together." I grinned and grabbed her hand marching towards the rest of the band.

Soon after, classes had begun and I was sitting in my medical class. I decided to become a doctor or researcher to help find the cure to those deadly diseases and viruses that plague this world. It was kind of boring today because we had a free period... Jade kept pinching me because I was falling off to sleep. As soon as it was done, I jumped out of my seat and stretched my body.

"Azaliah stop that." Jade pouted at me and frowned, she looked like she was going to say something to me but one girl had pulled her away.

"Azaliah?" I turned around to find Deolan standing behind me. My heart didn't pound for him.

"I'm so sorry for what I did." He grabbed my hands and his eyes were pleading to me.

"Deolan... I forgive you... but we are over, what's done is done... you cannot change the past... so please from now on, let's go our separate ways." I pulled my hands away and with my heavy heart. I walked away.

I walked backstage to pack up our instruments. My other band members were too excited to leave class that they had forgotten about the instruments. I was almost done packing when I heard arguing and the heavy sounds of footsteps.

Whoever that is, was beyond angry.

And all of a sudden, someone bumped into me which sent me crashing onto the instruments. I hit the floor with a loud thud and my arms got sliced by the guitar strings. I was angry now and I looked up to see stormy amber eyes yet again. I jumped up and pointed my finger at him.

"You! what the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see where you're walking?" I yelled at him. He was surprised by my outburst. But I wasn't done talking.

"Stop taking your anger out on everyone else." I was furious. He didn't know what to say and maybe he didn't expect that I would have been here.

"Adrian!" Two boys ran towards us and were surprised as well. So his name was Adrian. He glared at me and I challenged his glare. He had a strong jawline with defined cheekbones and a strongly built figure.

"I can already feel the tension." One of the boys said. I turned to the boy that spoke. He was a sandy-haired blonde and was a bit bulky. The other boy had light brown hair and was handsome but these two boys were nothing compared to how attractive Adrian was. Adrian was furious and he just stared at me and stormed away without answering my questions.

"I'm so sorry about Adrian. He's always been like that but this is the first time anyone has challenged his stare down." The sandy-haired boy said.

"Staredown?" I questioned.

"Anyway my name is Isaac and this is... wait where did he go?" Isaac looked around for the brown-haired boy and called out for him. He popped out of nowhere with a first aid kit in his hand.

"And this is Daniel." He swung his hand over Daniel's shoulders. Isaac had this bright grin on his face and Daniel shyly smiled at me.

"It's nice to meet you both, unlike stone face. My name is Azaliah." I grinned at the nickname I kept for Adrian. His face did remind me of a stone.

"Azaliah... That's an unusual but beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Isaac was a charmer and was a bit playful. It made me giggle at his childish antics.

"I think we better bandage that wound." Daniel finally spoke and that's when I realized that the wound on my arms was still bleeding. So that's why he brought the first aid kit.

"Thank you."

After a few minutes, Daniel bandaged up my arm. It was a bit painful but I could manage. They helped me to pack up the instruments and in no time, both mine and their instruments were ready to leave. While packing the instruments, the three of us talked about music and ourselves and we got to know each other better.

They also loved rock music. And they were the band that played before us but the lead singer of their band was a stone face and I had to admit that even though his face was like a stone, he had the voice of an angel. Isaac played the drums and Daniel played the piano while Adrian played the guitar and vocals.

"Both of our bands should do a duet sometime. Plus the metal scream for the song you sang was wicked and the show rocked." Isaac complemented. The three of us were just sitting backstage talking so many stories. I was having fun and they didn't seem like bad people. My phone began to ring and I excused myself and checked the caller ID. It was Jade.

"Hello?"

"Azaliah, where are you? We were supposed to meet at the carnival. Everyone is here except you. So hurry up."

She didn't wait for me to reply and the call ended. I felt so bad now. I had completely forgotten about that. During class, we spoke about it. I hurried back to the boys. Jade did want to meet this band so I thought of a great idea.

"Would you guys like to go to the carnival? My bandmates are waiting there. You see, we decided to meet there because today was our last day and they also wanted to meet your band." I asked.

"Sure, that's fine. It's not like we had anything better to do tonight. I'll text Adrian to meet us there."

Just great… stone face was gonna be there...

I quickly texted my dad to tell him that I was going to be late. And thereafter, the three of us went to the carnival. When we arrived, I spotted Jade and she called us over. I introduced my band to Daniel and Isaac. Both bands had hit it off and we enjoyed each other's company. And after an hour, stone face appeared. The little happiness that I had was replaced with annoyance.

"Liah, please don't murder anyone tonight." Jade squeaked out as she saw my expression. She grabbed my arm that was bandaged and I stop the gasp that almost escaped me. I didn't want her to know that I got hurt. Then she would have gone all out protect-best-friend mode. I stole a glance at Adrian and his glare had softened. He didn't seem angry.

"Why would I murder anyone?"

"Because you have that expression on your face only when you get pissed off at someone. So who was it this time that brought your monster side out?" She asked amusingly. When she said monster side, she meant my angry side. Apparently to them, when I get angry, I go full outrage mode.

I gave her a small smile and she shook her head, "I feel sorry for whoever made you angry." She said patting my shoulder.

Daniel and Isaac shared a glance at each other and then turned to Adrian. He rolled his eyes and turned the other way but I caught the smile that formed on his face.

After a while, we went on different rides and played a lot of games. But for each game, both Adrian and I challenged each other to see who would win. It was like a silent game between us that was never spoken but in every game, it ended up in a draw. Thereafter we went to go get something to eat. While Jade and the others ordered food, I decided to take a walk around the carnival.

It was around midnight and there weren't a lot of people. I sat on a bench and looked up at the night sky. The stars were blazing and the moon had risen. At least for a while, I had forgotten all of my troubles. I felt a presence next to me and I noticed that stone face decided to grace me with his presence.

"The food is ready, they are waiting for you." There was no anger in his voice.

"I'll go in a while."

"I'm sorry about your arm." I perked up at what he said.

"So the stone face has a heart." I smiled

"Stoneface?" He looked at me bewildered.

"You've had this angry look on your face ever since we met in the forest," I answered chuckling.

"Whatever you say, Kitten."

"Kitten?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You have a fiery personality that reminds me of a little kitten." He replied moving closer to me. I rolled my eyes annoyed with the pet name.

"It's Azaliah, not kitten." I seethed.

"And it's Adrian, not stone face." We both had an annoyed look on our faces and because of that, we both laughed loudly.

"I'm still calling you stone face-"

"I'm still calling you kitten-"

We both answered at the same time which made us laugh even more. I was glad that tonight I could get rid of all of my worries even just for a moment. I was happy and content, spending time with friends and making memories with new friends. But that was too much to ask cause a second later. My phone rang and it was a deadly call that ended my happiness.