“Bye mom, I’ll see you later.” I slammed the car door shut and picked up the hem of my dress as I stepped onto the curb. I spotted Olivia, a soprano next to Jeanine, walking in front of me, calmly.

“Olivia!” I ran to catch up with her.

“Sonya! Why are you in a hurry?”

I laughed. “Nerves I guess. Also I was trying to catch up with you.”

“Touché. Why are you nervous?”

I shot her a glance. “Do you forget the amount of solos we have in choir?”

She groaned. “God, don’t remind me. I start trembling every time we reach that part. I’m surprised Mrs. Hairston doesn’t call me out on that part.” She tried a door, but it was locked.

I reached for the central door, which glided out easily. “This door seems to be magical-it always opens.” I waved her to go in first.

“Haha, thanks.” Olivia hurriedly walked through.

“No problem. Anyway, don’t you hate these dresses? They literally show off every curve I want to hide.”

“Pshaw, you’re not that bad. It’s me who has to worry, being fat and all.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you’re fat, this school is a birdhouse.”

She looked at me and giggled. “You have an interesting mind, Sonya.”

“Thank you Olivia. Who would want a boring mind?” We were now in the choir room and reached for our choir folders.

“GUYS! Guys!” Mrs. Hairston called out, making the room quiet down. “Okay, we will be going out to the bus. Concert Chorus first, than Chamber choir, okay?”

I glanced across the room, where the guys had gathered and saw Onew’s face.

But today was not about my dreams. Today was about succeeding and showing off the work we had done since January.

On the bus we went, and arrived at the school, still groggy. I mean, I wake up at 9 in the morning on Saturdays usually. Right now we had arrived at 8.

Bleh.

Throughout the morning, I nervously eyed my solo in the second piece. Solos were great in the sense they allowed the singer to take musical creativity in hand. On the other hand, if you messed it up, there was no one to cover for you.

“Ready?” Jeanine asked me as we stood up.

I smiled. “Yup. You?”

“Same.” She her dress.

On stage, I just looked at Mrs. Hairston and it felt like rehearsing at school.

By the time it had gone to my solo, I let my voice fill the still air as Mrs. Hairston smiled encouragingly at me.

Then disaster.

In our third piece we read from our choir books, and the piece was third page. At school, we would be spaced so there was enough space.

Today, we were too crowded. We could barely fit two pages of music so that they wouldn’t overlap.

I peeked over at Onew’s music. He had folded his so he couldn’t see the first page, and I knew for a fact that his solo was on the second page.

I followed suit. I figured that when the rest on the first page for us altos and tenors came about when the sopranos had a soli, he would turn his pages to fold out in three pages. There was still music on the first page.

Everything was going well until he turned pages. Onew had flipped the pages so that he could only see the second and the third page. I stared at him, until he uttered an “oh” and went back to the first page.

Ooh. Not so good. There was no other time or rest he could flip the pages without disturbing his singing.

As the altos and basses dropped out for the soprano and tenor duet, I flipped my music. Onew had memorized the notes and words of his part, where it was scale running up and down in half notes. I quickly flipped his music for him so he could see his part when he got the harder part.

Hey, that’s what we do as ensemble members-we help each other out. After all, it’s not us competing with each other to be the best singer. And we were being judged as an ensemble, not as soloists.

After the piece ended and we all bowed to the applause, Onew turned to me with a grateful grin on his face. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” And although he knew, and I know he knew, I felt something inside of me finally be acknowledged. Maybe it’s because I never tried hard enough to be that friendly with a crush before, trying to build good memories instead of preventing them.

Maybe Onew was the change in me that would lead my life in a new direction.

*

Sorry guys, this chapter probably wasn’t correct among choruses/choirs with the music and all, but this is what literally happened to me. The reason why it’s this way is because I’m actually in band, and not chorus.  “Onew” and I play the same instrument for you curious readers, and he sits right next to me.

Awkward much?

I'd like to see if anyone can guess what instrument I play. Bonus points: We first met (well technically second time) during high school in this ensemble that prepares during the summer: ______________