It was the first day of school, and twenty or so sleepy teenagers were shuffling their way into the choir room. "Good morning!" Trilled Mrs. Becks, the choir teacher, smiling a bit too brightly at them. "Who's ready for their first day at Mt. Caramel high? I recognize a few of your faces, but some of you are new. So what do you say? We can take a few moments to get to know each other! It will be fun!" There was a collective groan as the class looked around. They were here to sing, as far as most of them were concerned, not to play happy family. In any case, it was seven o'clock in the morning, not the best time. But teachers always insist on these things.

Patrick was just about to step forward to take the first blow when the door slammed open. "All right, pear tree. I gave you your five minutes. I don't need to know their names. Half of them won't make it through the first day with me." A murmur went around the room.

Elle leant over to a boy to her right. He was a scrawny looking thing, his eyes set in glasses. "Who's she then?" Shawn blinked at her. "How the hell would I know?" "Scarecrow. Sweet cheeks. Yes. You two. Shut it. I don't want to have to kick you off the club before it's been started." "I thought we were in choir class." There were a couple of snickers as Louis tried to figure exactly what had been so funny about what he had just said. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe this is a club. We'll get the t-shirts tomorrow." Natalia was sitting on the piano, staring at Louis as if he had just asked if the sky was pink. "Sweet! What sort of t-shirt?" Echo was smiling at Natty, his glasses slowly making their way down his nose and off his face. She rolled her eyes. "Sarcasm." Celeste caught herself giggling, but stopped before anybody noticed. Natty was exactly the sort of person who could topple you off the brink of popularity.

The woman who had burst in looked around. "If the peanut gallery has finished talking amongst themselves, I can answer all your questions and more. First off, you have to sing. You two!" She pointed at Louis and Elle. "Sing something for me. And it had better be good. All right? I cannot be bothered to learn your names at the moment, so the brick wall will be Cowardly Lion, and the little girl can be Dorothy." Elle smiled lightly at other. She barely reached to his chest. Right I can do that." Louis nodded, grunting. "You know Rent?" She nodded, and the rest of the room grinned. "Without you. Natty? You can play it, right?" She grinned, and winking, slipped off the piano. " 'Course I can."

It was a beautiful song, there was no doubt about it, but there was no connection between the two singing. Whilst Elle was happy enough to look at him, he didn't glance down even once, rather singing to a person who wasn't there.

"Without you." She tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Without you." He refused to look down at first, but slowly, his head lowered.

"Without you…" The last line trailed off, and he was smiling at her. Louis didn't smile often, as he rarely had the time, but when he did, it was wonderful. As if somebody had turned the light on inside his head.

Silence followed, as the mysterious woman finished writing something up on her handheld device. "Very nice, and all that crap. Could you do it again, with emotion? I was bored. I've never been so bored in my life." Louis' face fell slightly, but Elle's smile remained. "Sure…Natty, was it?" She shot her glowing smile in the direction of the piano. "Gotcha." She played the first note, and then jumped back, shouting. The woman had slammed the piano cover down, and Natty had narrowly missed being hit. "I said could they, not would they. Next. You two. Piano girl and Tin man." She was pointing to Natty and Patrick. "Sing me something. And it better have emotion this time, understand." Natty growled, and deciding it really wasn't worth it, stood up, smiling. "Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say ma'am."

"No need to be so formal, Piano. I am Doctor Frey." The woman peered over her glasses at Natty. "And I would appreciate it if you dropped the sass." "And I'd appreciate still having the use of my fingers by the end of the day." "What was that?" "Oh. Nothing. Right, Patrick. What are we going to sing?" She shot him a devilish wink, laughing inwardly as he flushed slightly. He wasn't really her type, but all the same, it was fun to tease him. "Ah, this is a duet, right? So…umm…we've already had a Rent song, so we can't do that…" Natty sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm guessing I'll have to pick, if we don't want to be here all day?" Patrick nodded, clearly appreciative that she was the first one to take action. "I trust you know a Very Potter Musical?" Another nod from Patrick. "Right. I'll be Voldermort, You'll be Quarrel. Try to keep up." "Like that'll be hard." "That's what I like to hear." Patrick found the wind knocked out of him as Natty quickly spun him around, and leant against his back. "Does anybody know the piano part?" There was a collect shaking of heads, and she sighed. "Acapella it is."

"You won't sleep on your tummy." Patrick felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach. He was a performer. He shouldn't be nervous.

"You won't sleep on your back." Natty kept her back straight. He really needed to relax a bit. This was a fun song. She just hoped he could have fun with it.

"We're quite a kooky couple, you'll agree." She hoped nobody thought there were a couple.

By time the song was finished, Natty was smirking, and slightly breathless. Patrick looked a bit green, and nervous.

"The lyrics could do with some work. I preferred you at your piano, but your voice isn't the worst. I don't know what Tin Man's issue is. He was stiff, lifeless. The voice was good, but his part was almost as emotionless as the auto bots over there. She glanced at her watch. "We have time for one more performance. You two. Oz and Glinda." She was pointing at Skyler and Echo. Echo smiled at Skyler, but she rolled her eyes and feigned vomiting. "Can't I have a better partner?" examined Skyler. "No. I'm sorry, but I get to decide. This is for my club, I make the rules. Understand me, honey?" Skyler glared. "Fine. I better get the solo. Don't drag me down, tubby." Echo nodded, pushing up his glasses. "I-I'll try not too. I'm sorry I'm your partner." "So am I. Piano girl play something amazing." Natty looked at her, smirking, and started to play chopsticks. "Something I can actually sing to, Natasha." "Natalia." "Look, we're the last duet, and I don't really care what your name is. My first kiss by 3OH!3. You better not mess this up." "All right…I'll try not to."

"My first kiss went a little like this…"His voice was wavering, quiet. It didn't suit the song, but it wasn't a bad voice.

"My first kiss went a little like this…" She winked at Louis. Out of the dweebs in here, he had the best potential. He was tall, not bad looking, and best of all, he wasn't fond of talking. She might be able to use this.

The never made it to the end of the song. stopped them somewhere into the second chorus. "What a terrible song. It's crude, and it does nothing for his voice. However, you, girl. Your dancing, not too bad. I'll use him somehow. You can dance." Skyler looked at her. "Who said I would be in your stupid club?" smiled like a cat that has caught the cream. "Because you'll be kicked out of honours choir if you don't. And I happen to know your GPA could do with a boost. So, you behave, and dance, or have terrible grades. How does that sound, sweetheart." Skyler glared, but bit back her retort. She did need to get into college. "I better get a solo." "We'll see." Dr. Frey's voice was light, as if she was laughing at her. Skyler had already decided she hated her. The bell rang, and they grabbed their bags, slightly less ready to start the day than they had been before.


"Hey! Louis. Louis! Wait up!" They had just gotten out of second period, and Elle was chasing after him. He was walking with Natty. They were not really friends, but it was convenient. Her locker was next to his, and they shared a calculus class. He stopped, but did not look back. "Hey. I wanted to ask you something, Louis." He nodded, glancing down at her for a few seconds. "Well, I was wondering, did I do something to upset you?" He shook his head. "It's just, back there, in the choir room, you didn't want to look at me whilst singing and-" "Uncomfortable." He murmured the word, still not looking at her. "Uncomfortable, I make you uncomfortable?" He shook his head. "Singing a love song with a girl." "So, you were nervous?" Another headshake. "Didn't feel right." Elle sighed. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but-"

"But I do!" Elle blinked, amazed, as she turned around to face Leanne. "Look, Elle, I really like you, but you have the worst choice in boys. Honestly, this one isn't too smart." Elle flushed. "Oh. I haven't seen you in forever, Leanne. It's so nice to see you again. He's not my boyfriend. His in my choir class." Leanne smiled wanly, tapping her foot. "Listen. That's great, and I'd love to catch up on what you did, but could you please move this brain-damaged lump out of my way? He's kind of a health hazard, standing in the middle of the hallway like that. So, if you could get him to move." Louis didn't look down, but stepped back, trying to let her past. He accidentally trod on Leanne's foot. "What the hell, loser? Get your shovel feet off me!" She shoved him, and Louis stepped forward. "Sorry. Didn't mean to." "Good. Because, my boyfriend is the quarterback, and he can…" Elle smiled sweetly at Leanne, thanking the gods above as the bell run, cutting her off. "You have first lunch, don't you, Louis? We better get to the cafeteria if we don't want leftover surprise from last year. It's being lovely seeing you, Leanne. I'll catch you at cheer practice." She grabbed Louis' arm, and dragged him towards the lunchroom with great difficulty. "I didn't mean to." "You didn't mean to what, Louis?" "Step on her foot." Elle sighed, and was about say something when Skyler called her. "Hey! Elle. Drop the brain damage and come sit with us! Jake's going to show us his pictures from the cruise, and I got the cutest outfit over the summer."

Elle turned back to Louis, smiling again. "I'll catch you later, all right? Look." She grabbed a piece of paper napkin from the side of the cafeteria counter, and scribbled her number down. "If we're going to be in the Doctor's club together, we might as well be friends. See you then." She ran off, with another quick wave. Natty wandered up to Louis, playfully tapping him with her combat boots. "Somebody's got a girlfriend." Louis raised an eyebrow, smiling at her. "You know I don't like girls." "That never stopped anybody before." He shrugged, and followed Natty back to the lunch table. The Talent and the freak had always been friends.