Tenney in the Key of Friendship

An Unexpected Ally

Being in a fight with a best friend is bad enough, but it is worse when that friend sits one row over in every class. Tenney and Jaya cannot avoid each other at school on Monday, and when Ms. Carter partners the class into groups, the two end up together anyway, both too proud to speak first. Part of her wants to apologize and tell Jaya how much their friendship means to her, and part of her wants Jaya to understand why her music has to come first. The impulses tangle, and by the end of the day, Tenney still has not said a word.

At lunch, Jaya sits with Holliday, leaving Tenney alone with her songwriting journal. Her thoughts scatter too much to land on the page. She flips instead to the lyrics she has already started for a new song, “Where You Are,” a page of brainstorms and scrawled chord notes. Reading them over, she notices how much anger crept in, the same anger she felt after arguing with Jaya. She pushes aside the thought of Logan and the brunch and focuses on missing her best friend. She thinks of Mina, and the hope Mina’s own song carried, and something in her clears. She turns to a fresh page and lets a new lyric come, built out of regret and hope.

Writing helps Tenney feel a little steadier, but it does not fix anything with Jaya. Only one person can help with that.

At the end of the day, Tenney spots Jaya hugging Holliday goodbye by the doors. Once Jaya is gone, she works up the nerve to sidle over to Holliday’s locker, its door covered in lavender wrapping paper hiding a miniature sparkly chandelier inside. She asks for a minute to talk. Holliday agrees, though she admits she has already talked a little to Jaya, and she’s still pretty mad.

It feels strange getting personal with Holliday, someone Tenney has only worked alongside on the book drive and the Jamboree, but Holliday’s tone stays gentle as she explains that Jaya has felt overlooked lately, like Tenney cared more about her music than about her or the book sale, and that missing the sale altogether was the last straw. Holliday offers to smooth things over with Jaya, since she knows how much the friendship means to her, and notes the disappointing total raised might not have stung so much if Tenney had shown up. Jaya’s heart was not really in the sale, because she missed Tenney being there.

That stops Tenney cold. She admits she assumed Jaya and Holliday did not need her, since the two seemed to run the project fine without her. Holliday, a little embarrassed, admits she tends to take charge without meaning to and never meant to push Tenney out. Tenney apologizes, too, for not fighting harder.

Then Holliday suggests maybe it is not too late to show Jaya how much she matters, and the comment sparks something in Tenney. Mina’s school still needs $1,900. What if Tenney raised it herself with a benefit concert at Dad’s store, selling tickets, lining up a performer like Portia, and taking donations? She could save the school and prove to Jaya how much their friendship means to her, both at once. Holliday hesitates at the amount, but as Tenney talks through the idea, her eyes brighten. She catches herself saying “we,” and quickly admits she only meant she could help if Tenney wanted her to. Tenney beams that there is no way she could pull off the concert without her.