Chapter 2! My first chapter published as a 16-year-old! =)

I hope you all enjoy it!

Sam's POV

"If life were a musical, everything would be perfect," Cathy said staring with a blank expression at the board.

"Except for the really over dramatic heartbreak scenes where the characters sing the tragic love ballads," I pointed out.

"Well, yeah, I guess you're right. But the big group numbers would be sooo much fun!" Cathy agreed, sitting back in her chair and looking over at me. "Sam, it's Wednesday. It needs to be Friday. I'm not even kidding."

"I understand. I feel the same way," replied with a sigh. "It's just one of those weeks that drag on and on."

"And you know what would make this week a lot better?" Cathy asked. There was a shine to her eyes. I knew exactly what she was going to say.

"If life were a musical?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes!" Cathy exclaimed.

"Well choir's next period. If you can survive through math, you'll make it," I responded, getting out my homework.

"Oh no! Sam, I'm drowning in the quadratic equations! They're pulling me under! The parentheses have me by the feet and I'm getting lost in all the variables! Help! I'm not gonna make it!" Cathy exclaimed over dramatically, pretending to be dragged under by imaginary math equations. I laughed.

"No! Cathy! Think of the melodies! Think of the melodies! They can save you!" I said in reply. Then we collapsed into a wave of giggles.

Cathy's POV

"We're auditioning today?" I heard Julia Conway ask from behind me as we stared at our choir director in post news shock.

"Yeah. I won't be here tomorrow or Friday and I want to be the one that decides who'll be singing the solos for my concert," the teacher, Ms. Carpenter, explained. She was young, probably about 21 in human years, and she really loved music. And I had to be honest, I'd much rather get the auditions out of the way now with her than with our extra advisor: the music theory teacher from the high school Mr. Brighter.

"That makes sense," Julia said with what I can assume was a nod. Ms. Carpenter smiled and pulled out a notepad with blue paper.

"So, who wants to try?" she asked, looking around at all of us. "There are eleven…"

"Eleven?" someone asked.

"Yeah. Two in Defying Gravity and seven in Don't Stop Believing'," Ms. Carpenter clarified. "The two in the Wicked song are written for girls, but the other ones I plan to mix up. So let's start with those. Who's first?" We all sat there quietly for a minute, looking around at each other.

"No one wants to volunteer?" Ms. Carpenter asked, looking around at us again. "Then I guess I get to choose… How about Miss Fiorini and Mr. Mahoney."

"No, those two aren't allowed to go first or together. They're too good," Mark spoke up.

"Then why don't you go, Mark?" Ms. Carpenter asked. Mark looked like a deer in headlights. "Come on, you just volunteered yourself. Pick any girl you want." Mark sighed and stood up. As he was walking past Chris and Danny, I saw Danny lean forward and whisper something that got him an evil glare. As Mark walked away, Danny and Chris high-fived. Boys.

"Wendy? Come join me," Mark said, then gave Danny a look. My brunette friend returned the look as his girlfriend walked down to join his archenemy.

"Alright you two, give it all you got," Ms. Carpenter said encouragingly as she hit play on the CD player. They sang the first few lines of the song, the lines that had been designated for the audition for every solo part in the song. They didn't sound bad. We all clapped at the end.

"Very nice," Ms. Carpenter said, nodding as she wrote note down on her notepad. She brushed her short, curly blonde streaked bangs out of her eyes before looking up at us again. "Next?"

"I'll go," Bridget Hirzel volunteered. "Erik, let's go." Bridget nodded forward and the sandy blond boy sitting next to Jeremy walked up to the front with her. Ms. Carpenter started the track. Both of them were really good. As they sang, I stared at Chris until he returned eye contact.

You should go next, I mouthed. He shrugged and nodded. I nodded back as we clapped for the other two.

"Next?" Ms. Carpenter asked. I saw Chris raise his hand at the same time as Sam. Yes!

"Alright. Mr. Mahoney, Miss Thomas, the floor is yours," Ms. Carpenter said as my two best friends took the 'stage'. This was going to be something.

Sam's POV

"Oh, hold on guys. I accidently turn the whole system off," Ms. Carpenter said apologetically. "My thumb slipped and hit the power switch. Give me a minute to reboot it." As our teacher fixed the music system, I turned to my partner with a smile.

"Nervous?" he asked, returning my smile.

"Yeah. But I want to get it out of the way," I answered. Did it really show how nervous I was?

"You're gonna be fine," Chris said, lightly putting his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. I felt my stomach flutter with butterflies all over again, but for different reasons this time. Yeah, I kinda had feelings for Chris. Just like I kinda had feelings for Danny. It didn't help that I spent almost all of my time with both of them.

"And we all know you'll be great. This solo is as good as yours," I replied, being completely honest.

"Not necessarily. There are some guys with seriously good voices in here," Chris said in response, but he wasn't convincing me. He had the best voice of the guys in this class. I knew it. The class knew it. He knew it. "But competition shouldn't matter. This is all just for fun, anyway."

"Right," I said with a nod.

"All righty, we're set to go," Ms. Carpenter announced. "Ready?" she asked Chris and I. We nodded and she started the track.

I have to admit; it felt pretty good singing up there with Chris. I felt comfortable with him; king of like the feeling you get when you're singing into a hairbrush in your bedroom in front of the mirror. Yeah sure, it was only a few lines of a song, but it was a fun few lines.

Of course, it was fun till afterwards when everyone was clapping and I saw all the color drain out of Chris' face. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Chris?" I asked, rushing towards him and taking him by the shoulders. He didn't respond. His eyes looked focused on something; something far away.

"Chris?" I asked again, shaking him a little. He blinked and shook his head, then locked eyes with me. I couldn't decipher anything in them.

"Is he okay?" Ms. Carpenter asked, coming over to us, looking back and forth between us.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chris said in a less than reassuring voice. "I'm just… tired." Yeah, he wasn't convincing me at all. I don't think he had Ms. Carpenter convinced either.

"Do you think it would be helpful to see the nurse?" she asked, now staring directly at Chris. He shook his head.

"No. I'm fine. I just zoned out for a minute," he answered. His voice was getting stronger. Ms. Carpenter sighed.

"You know yourself better than I do. If you say you're fine, okay," she said. She wasn't convinced that he was alright. I wasn't either. But I would ask Chris about that later.

Chris' POV

After school, Danny had to go to Wendy's for a science project and Cathy was helping her grandpa with something (she wouldn't tell us what,) so we decided to all just go home today. I walked most of the way with Danny until we came to Wendy's house, then we split up. I wasn't in the mood to discuss what happened in choir with Sam. I know she wanted to interrogate me about it. But I just couldn't tell her about it right now. So naturally, when Cathy pulled her along on the way to her house, I relaxed.

What happened today in choir was still freaking me out. I'd seen something, and I didn't know what it was. There were these two… things. I'd never seen anything like them before. But it looked like they were in the choir room with us. I didn't think I wanted to tell anyone about them just yet. I had to figure out what they were first. Well, maybe not no one…

"John?" I asked when I walked into the house. The elementary school had been off today due to some issue with the building. (Was it the pipes broke, or that the rood in the main hallway had collapsed?)

"Yeah?" my little brother called from the kitchen. I walked in to find him making some sort of contraption out of sunglasses and some interestingly colored materials in Styrofoam bowls.

"First of all, what are you doing?" I stopped my train of thought.

"Building Ecto-Spetacles," John answered, holing up his creation. It just looked like a pair of sunglasses covered in a rainbow of gooey paint. I told him so.

"Well of course that what they look like now. They're still in phase one," John answered. "But when these babies are done, we'll be able to see ghosts." Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that the creature we saw the other day were like ghosts. I should've known John would've done something like this.

"Does Mom know about this?" I asked as I placed my backpack on a chair away from John's project.

"She knows I'm using paint," my brother answered. Reassuring.

"John, where did you put the book?" I asked, getting back to my original question as John got back into his work.

"Right over there," John answered pointing his paintbrush over to the couch in the living room before slopping orange goo on the glasses. I walked over and found the black book with the red and gold writing sitting there. It didn't look harmed and there was no paint on it. We were good, for now.

I flipped through the pages until I came to the picture I was looking for.

"John, have you read about the Radars from planet Zevon yet?" I called into the other room.

"Yeah, why?" John called back.

"Are they dangerous?" I asked as I skimmed over the page. My eyes hit the answer just as John called back the one word I didn't want to hear.

"Yes."

So, what did you all think? Please review! All and any comments are appreciated!

Read on! =3