Chapter 5: Highlight of Life
5 days left until the Celebration.
Just as I had expected, I didn't sleep soundly at all. I had so many thoughts wandering through my mind it was impossible to lay still even for a few consecutive minutes. I'm not sure what I have to worry about the most these days, the fight with Blair, the stress of the performance, the stress of DA's entrance exam, Meredith's problems.. Right now, though, I have to make sure everything is ok with Meredith.
I hear a soft ringing sound coming from my desk, it's my phone. But it's not my alarm, someone is calling me.
"Hello?" I answer with a right-out-of-bed voice.
I hear Matt on the other line, "Jaden, where are you? We have been waiting to practice for a few minutes."
I look at the clock, "What?! It's 10 already? I overslept! I'll be there in a second!"
Even though it's Saturday and people are usually free on Saturday mornings, I have to run to school to practice our routine. The performance is Thursday. Thursday!
"Classic Jaden." Matt sighs. I can feel the smile through my phone.
"Hey! Don't judge ME, mister I can't do anything without my girlfriend by my side." I continue as I get dressed.
"At least I have a girlfriend." He laughs
"You sure about that? Me and her have been spending quite a lot of time together lately."
I start to brush my teeth.
"As if you are any competition. By the way, do you know if Meredith is alright or if she overslept? Unlike you, it's unusual for her to be late."
I remove the toothbrush from my mouth, "She hasn't told you?" I spit and clean my mouth with a towel, one of those cute pink fluffy towels mom has lying around everywhere.
"Told me what?" Matt inquires.
"She and her mom have to move out because her dad went berserk yesterday.."
"Wait, what?! Is she alright?" –what's going on?- I hear people mutter in the background.
"I have no idea, I was calling her yesterday evening but she suddenly hung up on me. I'll try to give her a call on my way to school!" I put on my shoes and dash out.
"Aight, see you in a few, Jay."
I hang up the phone. I'm already late for practice so I can't allow any delay by taking the bus. I grab my bike and start cycling as if I'm in one of those prestigious, yet boring, races on tv. Luckily, practice on Saturday exists solely of students, so even if I'm an hour later there won't be teachers to give me detention or yell at me for 'not being able to be punctual for once'.I'm getting closer to school, but Meredith's house is in my course to school. I pass it and I see a big moving truck standing in front of it. Both her and her mom are packing their stuff. Their dad must be at work and they saw this as an opportunity to get out without him trying to stop them. Should I go over to her and ask her if she's ok? I mean, I'm already an hour late anyway, those few more minutes aren't going to magically turn into hours.
This has priority.
"Meredith!" I yell as I cycle closer to them.
She turns to me surprised, "Jaden? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at practice?"
"I was on my way, I overslept. I didn't expect to see you moving out." I look at the truck.
Her mom overhears our conversation and walks up to me, "It's nice to meet you, Jaden. I'm sorry I have to take Meredith away from here, but we simply cannot stay."
"Is it really that bad?" I look at Meredith's mom, then at her.
She turns pale and I notice both her and her mom being reluctant to really tell me what the deal is.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't meddle myself into your business like that." I apologise.
Her mom puts her hand on my shoulder, "It's not that Jaden. I just don't want Meredith's friends to worry about her. Let's just say that by moving, she will be safe."
~Safe~ That's a powerful word. This means that if she were to stay here she would be in danger. It's one thing to be afraid of a beating of your father or husband, but to actually be afraid of your life, that's a whole other level.
"Well, can't you call the police and ask them for help? If matters are so serious that you have to move out of safety precautions, wouldn't the police be able to help? He should be the one moving, not you!"
Meredith shakes her head, "It's not that easy Jaden."
Her mom follows up, "They have to have 'serious' evidence before they decide to even bother
checking up on malfunctioning families. And because they haven't taken our pleas seriously, we decided to take matters into our own hands. I know it's hard for Meredith and I personally don't want to move either, but there's pretty much nothing else left to do."
"I.. I had no idea the police were that stupid.."
Meredith replies, almost defending the police for not bothering, "It's not stupid, Jaden. They can't simply believe everything they hear."
"But what if he'll follow you? Or find you, and try to hurt you? How can I be sure you're safe?" I look Meredith in her eyes but she looks at the ground, tears are in her eyes.
Her mom continues putting boxes in the truck, "That's exactly what I'm going to avoid."
"I really hope so, Miss Kazumi," I hug Meredith, "We will miss you girl, you are a talented dancer."
She hugs me back, "I'll miss everyone too." Suddenly she pushes back, "But, the year was about to be done anyway. And next year I'm going to a secluded university for arts so I'd have to start over anyway." She takes a box and puts it in the truck.
"These days are the best ones of high school, though, it's sad to see you having no other option."
"I've had enough good days of high school to make up for these last few." Not once has she looked me in the eyes.
"Now, we have to continue loading the truck, and you have to go to practice, young man." Her mom says.
"Sorry for the trouble, I guess I'll see you around." I grab my bike and start walking towards the road.
"Goodbye Jaden."
I cycle down the road, the wind blowing through my chestnut-coloured hair.
~goodbye~ how can she say that. Goodbye. Just like that. Goodbye.
I arrive at school and instantly headed towards the cafeteria.
I enter the room.
"Dude, what took you so long?" Matt asks.
"We can't do this without you Jaden!" Luana adds.
"Guys, I'm sorry, ok. I saw Meredith on the way here and I'm worried about her."
Ella looks up, "Worried?"
"Yea," I reply, "something just doesn't seem right to me. They are moving out this moment."
"Do you think it has something to do with her father?" Erin inquires with a worried tone in her voice, somethin that's fairly new to her, emotion in her voice.
"Yes, do you too?" I look at her
"Ever since he hit her I haven't been able to trust the guy. He's scum."
"Wait what? He's hurt Meredith before? Did he actually hit his own daughter? How low can you stoop as a father." How can you stoop so low as a father, as a man, as a human.
"I know, she hadn't told anyone but me and Ella." Erin looks at Ella
Ella intervienes, "I can't stand that guy, if he ever hurts her again I will.."
Chazz, who, even though he's not participating in the performance, likes to come and watch our practices, stands up and interrupts her, "You won't do anything. None of us have a say in what happens between their closed walls. That's just how life goes."
"You're a jerk!" Ella turns her gaze from Erin to Chazz.
Chazz rolls his eyes, "You can insult me in every way you like, you know it's true."
Ella sighs, "You're right. I don't like this."
"Whether we like it or not, when it comes down to stuff like that, we're as powerless as ever." Chazz sits down.
I don't want to be powerless. I want to help.
"She is our friend, we can't just let her go through this! Even if they move, they will still live in fear! How is that going to help anyone?" I exclaim.
Chazz looks at me, "Listen, Jaden, I know you mean well but honestly, there's really nothing we can do. We can't possibly force them to stay here, because they must have a solid reason to move out this abruptly. We have no idea what happened in their household and nor will we ever. It's just not up to us to get involved. We have other things to worry about."
I think for once in my life I understand Chazz and I can respect his point of view on the situation. Maybe it is a rash and naive idea to believe I could actually make a difference in their lives.
"You're right. We've already lost 2 hours, let's start rehearsing!" I walk up to the front and get ready to practice.
The day went by really fastly, we ended up rehearsing until 18:00 and then all went for dinner together, even Chazz was there. I'm starting to think my little outburst a few days ago affected him in a positive way. Maybe now he realises that he wasn't going to end up with any friends had he not changed his behavior. If so, I'm incredibly happy that I am the one who could make him realise that. Not simply for the reason that I despise this Chazz, but also for the fact that I am a people's person and I want everyone to be happy and experience the happiness that is having friends. And I know Chazz is better than how he is acting. He isn't scum, he is just another insecure young student.
THURSDAY
Today is the day. Celebration. The performance. It's all getting as real as it can possibly be. We haven't heard much from Meredith besides the occasional 'How are you guys?' and 'I'm fine, really' texts but she promised she would be at our performance, which is a really nice thing considering everything that's been going on with her lately.
I am incredibly excited for today. I wake up and start singing while getting ready in my room, it's 7:30 at the moment.
Suddenly my mom opens the door, "It surprises me that you're this happy at 7 o'clock, you know." And laughs.
Well I can definitly agree with her statement. I used to hate waking up to go to school, as a matter of fact, I used to just hate waking up. I wanted to stay in bed all day and not have to worry about condescending puberescent teens. But now that all has changed. I want to wake up, I want to get ready, I want to get to school. The mere thought of having a group of people waiting for me to arrive at school is so heart-warming. I don't have to worry about having no one to talk to, no one to help me, no one.
I laugh, "That makes the two of us."
"You will do amazing at your performance today, sweetie."
"Thanks mom! I'm so nervous and excited and scared, what if something goes wrong and I end up…"
"Jaden." She stops me in the middle of my sentence so I break off and look at her. "You will do amazing." A hug follows her motivation. "I love you so much mom!" I whisper while hugging her back with all my abilities.
"I love you too."
Before I can run off to the bus stop my dad walks up to me.
"Jaden, your mom and I are incredibly proud of what you have accomplished so far, you are starting to grow and become the man you are supposed to be. Nothing makes me happier than seeing you like this. Now you get to your school, you get on that stage and you show them what a Yuki can do!"
"Luckily all of those things are on my agenda for the day! Thank you dad, I love you!"
Just like the emotional hug I received from my mom a while ago, I now find myself hugging my dad and softly tearing up.
"WELCOME TO OUR HIGH SCHOOL'S ANNUAL CELEBRATION!" :are the 8 words that chime through our re-vamped cafeteria. Me and my friends and classmates are all nervously waiting behind the giant cardboard walls that were set around the stage to create some sort of backstage-area. A few acts have passed.
"NOW IT'S TIME FOR 6S TO PERFORM THEIR ACT, CUE APPLAUSE!"
6S is the name of my class, 6 stands for the year I'm in and the S is short for Sciences, like chemistry and physics, because that's what I'm studying. This means it's our turn. It's my turn. I have to get up on that stage, and perform the best that I can.
Luana looks at me and outstretches her hand to grab mine. "Come on Jay, we got a performance to ace." And smiles.
"Let's do this." I reply and take my first step towards the stage.
The crowd is filled with people. I can only tell the amount of people sitting in the crowd, there's no way for me to identify anyone actually in the crowd because of the huge spotlights directed towards me and Luana.
I take the microphone, I can do this.
You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody's lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
She meddles into the background dancers and I take over.
Nothing's gonna hurt me the way that words do
And they settle underneath my skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if I
This is it, the part where our voices come together and I feel the energy streaming through my body.
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave Everybody's been there,
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
everybody's been stared down
By the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
And Bowed down to the mighty
Don't run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there's a way out of the cage where I live
Maybe one of these days I can let the light in Say what you wanna say I'll say what I want to say
I'll Show you how big my brave is
And let the words fall out
Honestly I've never seen you this brave
And let the words fall out
Honestly I've never been this brave.
The aplause we get is immense. This is one of those feelings I will cherish until the day I die.
"GREAT JOB GUYS!": a scream in such a distinctive voice it can only be Meredith.
I hold my hand over my eyes so I can block the spotlight and look for Meredith in the crowd.
Not only do I spot her, I also see another familiar face. But this is one I did not expect seeing here. It was Blair's.