High School Secrets

Chapter One - The Choir Disaster

    "Give it to me! Mom, will you please tell him to give me the shoe! Honestly, Jason, how am I supposed to go to a choir concert with only one shoe?" I screamed. This wasn't the first time my older brother had used his height against me. Jason was 6 feet 3 inches, while I, being my short self, was only 5 feet. He waved my black heeled shoe in the air laughing.
    "Well, if you don't have your shoe, then I guess I don't have to listen to singing! This works out in my favor!" Jason said excitedly, mocking me while waving the shoe.
    "Oh, I'll show you no singing. I'll sing so loud the police will come!"
    Jason stopped and frowned, thinking through that. He shrugged and dropped my shoe, obviously not liking the idea of cops knocking on the door. I snatched up the shoe before he could change his mind. If it weren't for the fact that I was over a foot shorter then him, he would have a fat lip by now. I put on the shoe and ran down stairs, right into my mom.
    "Veronica, watch where you're going! You call out for help, then you run into me. One of these days the police will be knocking on the door... along with an ambulance and a firetruck. The police for the screaming and the ambulance and firetruck for the fact that you're a pure klutz! I swear, the next time you slip on ice leaving this house will be your last, it will kill you!" I had gotten this lecture time and again, with her finally turning around to mumble some more. This time I heard a little about what she said, something about 'accident-prone' and 'two left feet'. That didn't bother me so much, but I had to get to school before the concert for one last recital.
    "Bye, mom! Bye, big brother giant! I'm going to rehearsal!" I called before grabbing my coat and walking out the door. I got into my red sports car and drove to school. I was going a little faster then I usually would, but I was already late, and I didn't want to have to wait for stop signs, or stop lights. I found a parking spot and got out of my car, straitening my white blouse and black silk Capri's. I had to look acceptable tonight, for two reasons. A) Mr. Garner would just have a temper tantrum if I -- or anyone, really -- had one hair out of line. And B) I had the solo for one of our songs. I had volunteered for the solo, but now I was seriously regretting it. In front of people that I knew, I was fine. However, once a big crowd was involved...
    I shuddered at the thought. I had a very queasy stomach. I didn't really do well in crowds, but I sang the best in my class, and I had volunteered for it... I pushed that out of my mind and started to walk toward the building. I had to make sure that all my hair was in my black hair band -- which blended in with my hair -- before I was able to go inside. I entered the building and felt the warm rush of air hit my face. It gave me goose bumps at first, then it was completely welcome. I hadn't realized that I was cold, but apparently I was. I entered my choir room, room G-5, and melted into the crowd of people to find the boy holding my class's attendance sheet.
    "Hey, Peter, I'm here," I said.
    "Alright, Veronica, that makes everyone!" Peter got up and went to find Mr. Garner. Peter just seemed to be teacher's pet to me, but at least he got the job done. I went, ducking, turning, and squeezing, through the crowd to find Monyquee. She was shorter than me, but I always seemed to forget that. I finally found her reading a book in a corner, trying to read, wait, and avoid people as much as people.
    "Monyquee, are you still reading that book? I can't believe it! That just has to be the most boring book in the world!" I rolled my eyes at her stubborn perseverance.
    "Yes, Veronica, I'm still reading Pride and Prejudice. It's not as boring as it looks. Really, if you look at it from a certain angle, it can remind you a lot about around here. Elizabeth will judge you with one comment that you make, so will a lot of girls here. Mr. Darcy will ignore you and think of himself as better then other people. So will boys in this very room," she flicked her eyes over to a boy frowning against the wall I was leaning on. "Mrs. Bennet exaggerates too much, Mr. Bennet doesn't exaggerate enough. This book just shows that people don't change."
    "OK, I'll let you have that. It's still boring, though."
    We both laughed, her because of my bluntness, me because laughing seemed contagious around me. It didn't really matter why someone was laughing, I always had to smile, sometimes laugh. Alright, who was I kidding myself? Most of the time, I was laughing instead of smiling.
    "Quiet down, everybody, quiet down! Time for rehearsal to start!" Mr. Garner had gotten in front of the piano and now played it to get everyone's attention. Therefore, rehearsal started, ended, then to the concert.
    I was walking silently down the hall between the frowning boy, who went with the tenor side, which happened to be on alto's right -- me being an alto -- and a blond girl behind me. I don't like to say that I hate anyone, but if I did it would be those two.
    We finally entered the gym and climbed up onto the risers and I searched the bleachers. It was easy to find my family, they always sat in the same place. And Jason was standing and waving, I stuck my tongue out as soon as Mr. Garner looked away. I could see Jason through back his head and laugh, but I didn't hear anything. My father hit his leg and told him something, I guessed that he was telling Jason to sit down, because that's what he did.
    Introductions to the choir concert, the 10th grade, the accompanist, and finally the first song started. I stood there patiently, trying to calm my beating heart, because the second song would be the song that I sang a solo part in. Great. I sang the first song, which happened to be a tongue twister turned into a song. That probably wouldn't help me any, my tongue was bound to be tied without singing Peter Piper.
    "The second song this evening will be--" I started to feel sick, was the second song starting already? It was impossible. Time couldn't have flown by that fast, could it? It had to, Mr. Garner wouldn't let someone go up and say an introduction that was false. Part way, at least. I walked up to the front and sang the beginning part of the song with everyone else. My solo didn't come up until the end of the song, but my legs were beginning to get weak.
    I kept singing though. I sang, my voice normal, though I wasn't expecting it to be. The end of the song was almost there.  I sang what I was supposed to and thought about the words to the solo. I remembered it all. That, at least, was a relief. Then the piano stopped. When it started again I would be singing alone. I took a deep breath, and sang the first words of the solo. Then my voice was gone.
    It wasn't that I had forgotten the words, I was still trying to get them out, but I had no voice. I thought I heard a snicker behind me. I turned toward the choir and went pale. My eyes were on one person. The boy, that frowning boy, was smiling down at me. He was the one who had snickered. He waved, and that was the last thing I saw. I slipped into unconsciousness.