Saturday, April 7, 2018, 6:30pm

(Alba is 16)

Alba: The next time I saw Pete was at a charity event mom was invited to. It was a concert-slash-art-exhibit being held to raise funds for children with cancer. Mom would be showing and selling her painting by day then at night we would watch the charity concert. In the hotel room I ran over the list of performers, there were a bunch of washed up singers, children's choirs and my eyes spotted the name: " Nantucket High School Glee Club with a solo by Peter Hale" I was fidgety the entire day. Freaking out if he'd see me, then I'd tell myself how stupid I sound since I'll be in the audience and he'll be onstage. I stood with mom and helped her sell a couple of her paintings.

And then there he was. Well…there they were. There were about six guys, Pete included, looking at the paintings. It was kinda obvious they were in some kind of group, as they were wearing matching suits. The girls were standing on the other side of the room, wearing matching sea green dresses, giggling to themselves. I quickly moved behind one of the potted plants and watched as him and his friends moved around the hall looking at each work intently. They stopped at my mom's area. Then one of the guys, he had curly strawberry-blonde hair, smacked Pete on the shoulder and whispered, rather loudly, "Dude…that dude in the painting looks like you. What the hell's up with that?" Pete looked at the painting and shrugged "Coincidence." One of the other guys looked at it and nodded "Yeah. Hey, what if this lady is like…psychic."

Pete looked fed up, and I would be too if I was surrounded by this many idiots, he rolled his eyes and said, with beautiful sarcasm reeking from his voice, "Maybe, she's a crazy stalker-lady who sits outside my window with an intense camera."

"Like Lindsey." The curly blonde guy chuckled.

"This is stupid." Pete muttered "Look, Ron. It's food." He said grabbing the arm of another guy and dragging him to the buffet table. The rest of the male glee club followed along. I wasn't sure if Pete hated art, or hated the name that was attached to the art "Abshire-de Tamble."

I moved away from my cover and watched as the guys began picking at the food, avoiding the sweets. Though Pete didn't touch anything, he just stood by and watched them.

One of the chefs was sharpening his carving knife, preparing to cut into some kind of meat. I'm not really sure what happened, maybe the guy's arm slipped or something, but next thing I know a sharp cry is heard and the guy's wrist is bleeding. But he's got in under control, picking up a towel and pressing hard on the wound then excusing himself from the hall. Everyone is frozen for a second then they begin buzzing about what just happened, but Pete's frozen. I watch as he watches the other chefs begin to clean up the bloody station and prepare to throw away the spoiled meat. It's then that I notice the blood spattered on Pete's face. One of the waiters, apologizing the entire time, begins to hand him a towel. The guy I figure to be Ron, reaches out and touched Pete's shoulder.

He smacks Ron's hand away and I can hear him say "Don't…Don't touch me." The rest of the male glee are watching, there was something in their eyes. Pity, sadness. The waiter makes a move to try and towel the blood of his face, Pete does the same thing. He smacks the waiter's hand and says "Jesus Christ! I said don't touch me! Just…" he's breathing is heavy, and his hands are shaking. Almost everyone in the hall is looking, everyone else is pretending not to. "Please…just…just leave me alone. Okay?" Pete says, wiping the blood of his face and quickly walking out of the hall.

The guy with the strawberry-blonde curls apologizes and says "He has a…strong aversion to blood. Sorry." The entire glee club is ushered out by a middle-aged lady with salt-and-pepper hair. The next thing I know mom is standing beside me.

"What do you think?" she asks.

"About?"

"The kid. Either he's a prima donna or some traumatized soul."

"I'd like to think it's the second."

"Me too."

(Later)

The Nantucket glee sang three songs, they opened with "Day by Day" from Godspell and sang a cappella versions of "Seasons of Love" and "True Colors" They were really amazing. I watched Pete as he sang. He wasn't watching the conductor, the lady who escorted them out earlier, like everyone else, like he should've been doing. He stood starring up at the lights, like he was lost in the music. The yellow stage lights made his sapphire like eyes sparkle even more. When the applause died after they had finished "True Colors" Pete stepped forward gingerly, in his hand was a wireless microphone.

He watched as the conductor moved her arms, you could hear the people begin to whisper. They recognized him as the kid who 'rudely' yelled at the waiter. But their whispers suddenly stopped as he sang the first note, the lyrics slid effortlessly from his mouth as he looked up dreamily into the burning stage lights. The song was simple enough to recognize, "Somewhere over the Rainbow" It was a cappella once more, and it made the song even more beautiful. There were no harp frills, or the sound of the dramatic violins. It was just him and his perfect and beautiful tenor. And he didn't even try to sweep the audience off their feet using by using vocal acrobatics. He just simply sang it. Their conductor stopped conducting and stood watching him sing. The entire auditorium was silent.

"If happy little blue birds fly…beyond the rainbow

Why, oh, why can't I?..."

His last note echoed for several seconds before the entire audience was on its feet clapping and cheering. He smiled bashfully, took a quick bow and returned to where he was standing in the formation. The people around him shoved him forward so he could take another bow, which he took awkwardly. People began screaming "MORE!MORE!" or "Bravo!" The conductor called him forward whispered something in his ear, he nodded and began saying something to the choir covering the mic with his hand. The rest of the choir nods and they all resume their singing positions. The audience becomes silent again. The conductor signals them to prepare, Pete brings the mic towards his mouth, the go signal and he sings "Imagine there's no Heaven…" there's a slight applause then everyone is silent. I smile to myself. I could listen to him sing for the rest of my life.

Thursday, October 3, 2019, 2:00pm

(Alba is 18)

Alba: "Holy cow. If it isn't Alba de Tamble." I flip my math book shut and look up. Standing in front of me, with his hands in his pockets and sly smile etched on his face is "Peter Hale." I say, smiling. He looks exactly the same as he did when I saw him a year ago at that charity convention. "You remembered." He says.

"How could I forget?"

"Sooo…we're both in Yale."

"I guess so."

"Freshman?"

"Yeah. Sophomore?"

"Yeah. Course?"

"Electrical Engineering and Computer Science."

He makes a face.

"What?" I say chuckling.

"My brain stopped functioning for a fraction of a second."

"Sorry, I'm a nerd. Let me guess…Literature?"

"Close. Humanities."

"Ah."

"You wanna make a TV you can watch, don't you?" he asks suddenly.

"Did I tell you that?"

"No. I'm just good at guessing. Its how I passed math." I laugh and he looks at his watch suddenly. "Oohhh…"

"What?" I ask

"I have to be somewhere in ten minutes. Hey, I'm the in Duke's Men, a cappella-"

"I know the Duke's Men." I say smiling.

"Okay. We're having a mini-show later. You should come and watch."

"Sure."

"Great…well…I gotta dash." He says adjusting the messenger bag on his shoulder. "See you then." He begins to leave when I have the urge to say "You're not mad?" He turns to me and asks "About?"

"The wedding?"

He shrugs "Thing of the past."

"Great. See you then." He smiles and walks off. I smile to myself. So this is how we become great friends.