Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han Read Free Book Online

he doesn’t want to ask me anything about the shit Rennie was screaming at him about Reeve and Lillia. If Alex wants that scoop, he ain’t getting it from me.
    But I pick up anyway. I’ll always pick up the phone for Alex.
    Tentatively I say, “Hello?”
    â€œKat! Dude! I got in! Well, not exactly in, exactly, but I’m close. I mean, they didn’t reject me!”
    I hold the phone a few inches away from my ear. “Fool, what are you talking about?”
    â€œUSC! I applied to their songwriting program, and they e-mailed and asked me to send in a demo! They call it a remote audition.”
    â€œWait. For real? You sent in an application after all?” The last I’d heard, Alex had been too chickenshit to apply to a music school. He was going to either Michigan, because of his dad’s connections there, or maybe Boston College.
    â€œWhat can I say, Kat? You’re pretty persuasive. So will you help me figure out which songs I should send them? Which ones are good, which ones suck? I want your honest opinions.”
    It’s a tempting proposition. I’ve always wanted to hear Alex’s music. I mean, there were those few songs or poems or whatever in that notebook we stole from his car back in September, but I bet there’s more. I could just say yes right now, but I wantto draw this out. I’m not above fishing for a compliment or two. I’ve been so down in the dumps lately.
    â€œWhy would you care what I think?”
    â€œBecause you know music. You’ve seen so many bands play. You know what’s good and what’s not. There’s no way this is happening for me unless I have your help.”
    â€œAll right, sure. I’ll try.”
    â€œAwesome. Oh, wait up. I’m a self-absorbed dick. Have you heard anything from Oberlin?”
    I would tell Alex the truth, that I got pushed into the general pool, but I can’t. Not with Pat here. He and my dad still think I’m already accepted. “Hey, Al, I got to go. I’ll talk to you at school, okay?”
    I end the call as Pat pushes that last perfectly cut red onion into a bowl. Then he holds up his hand. “Taco time?”
    I slap it back. “You know it.” And for a second I think, if I don’t get into Oberlin, it will suck, but it won’t be the worst thing in the world.
    *  *  *
    Later that night I’m in my bedroom, working my way through a box of old CDs that I haven’t listened to in years. I’m pulling aside ones I think will be up Alex’s alley, mostly stuff I was into freshman year.
    Listening to this old music is like being in a time machine.I remember each CD I bought from Kim at Paul’s Boutique. I concentrate on finding songs I think he’d do well to emulate—kind of folksy guitar stuff but with an edge.
    I’m leaning back, eyes closed, listening to a song, when there’s a knock at my door. I say come in, expecting to see Pat, but it’s not him. It’s Lillia. And she looks upset.
    â€œLil. What happened? What’s wrong?”
    She starts pacing around my room, literally wringing her hands like a lady in a Victorian novel. “Paige just caught me and Reeve hugging. And she basically told me off.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Lillia flops down onto my bed and curls into a ball. “I promise you, we’ve barely said two words to each other since Rennie died. We were both over there today by accident, and then, when Paige left the room, he told me that he got into a prep school for his postgrad year, so he can have another shot with college recruiters, and then the next second we’re hugging each other.”
    I roll my eyes. “So what? You guys hugged. Big deal.” Trust Lil to turn a piddly hug into some soap-opera drama.
    â€œIt wasn’t just a hug, okay? It’s never just a hug with us. Like on New Year’s Eve, when we were in his truck.” Lil shivers. “We