It was the Monday back to school, and classes went the same as usual. Sam
and Nikki were finally starting to feel comfortable in Glen Oak. They were
really happy about the move. It was Chorals class with Mr. M. He was just
about to tell them about their new project.
~Chorals Class~
"Okay. So, now you know the guidelines and the different possibilities that you can do your project in." Mr. M said to his students. "Now, you can do it either ways. You and your group members can sing a song, compose music, perform a song with instruments, dance if you want to!" he heard his students chatter about the different choices. "Okay okay class. Don't get so excited just yet. There is one catch to this project. You all MUST choose 2 songs to perform any way. You shall type up a 2 page report on this artist of the songs you've chosen. And what you all thought of the songs, and why you chose it. Once you've decided the types of songs, come to me and tell me what the genre is. And I shall place all the groups with that description to go on the same days. So, you need to think of your songs somewhat quickly. All members of the group must contribute to the project. One of the songs you shall perform needs all members to be performing. The other, not everyone has to perform in it. This will be present orally to the class. So be prepared to show your presentation in front of everyone!" He said as a student passed out a rubric form with everything they'd need for the project. Some moaning went around once they found out it needed to be presented orally instead of in a report. "On the list, if you're planning on singing a song, those are some ideas of songs that you could sing. If there songs not on the list that your team would like to do, please come and see me first." He told everyone. "So, now I'm going to assign you your groups. Stand in a circle and I'll go around the room and point to where you all shall be sitting with your groups. Once I'm done with one group, those members please take a seat. The rest wait until your name is called." He started to move around the room and direct students to their new teams. Some were happy with whom they would be working with, and some were not. He went through about half the class when he came around to where Sam was sitting.
"Nat, Logan, Matt." Mr. M said as he showed them their new seats. Then he called out 2 more groups. His next group to call out was, "Tatri, Sam." he paused to check his clipboard. "Simon." As the 3 of them took a seat, Logan leaned over to talk to Simon.
"You must be happy man." Logan told him.
"What do you mean?" Simon asked as he took out his notebook.
"Dude, you get to work with 2 girls! You gotta be excited!?" Logan said.
"Nah, I'm only excited about one girl." Simon smiled as Logan turned away and shook his head.
"So guys, what do you think we should do for the project?" Tatri asked.
"Hmm. Good question." Sam said. "Well, do you guys feel up to singin?" Sam suggested and looked @ the both of them.
"I guess I wouldn't mind, but it's seriously not my strong part!" Simon said with a smile, trying to agree with Sam.
"Well, it's nice you'd do anything for Sam," Tatri told Simon. He shot a friendly, 'I can believe you said that' look towards her. She replied with a 'you know it's true' look. "But, I on the other hand can't sing to save my life!"
"Come on Tatz. Everyone can sing. You just have to put your mind to it." She opened her mouth and sang this, "I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign." In a lovely heaven like voice. "See, it's simple." Sam said while both Simon looked @ her in amazement.
"You're voice is beautiful Sam." Simon said to her gently.
"Thanks." Sam smiled back.
"Yea, like I'm gonna sing like that." Tatri snickered.
"Come on, it's not hard. I swear, we can pick a song that you can sing." Sam said as she put her arm on Tatri's shoulder.
"Yeah, we can think of songs tonight that we all can do something to, and we'll come back tomorrow. Share our ideas, then chose 2 songs, from all of them." Simon told them his idea.
"Yeah, that'll work." Tatri said as she nodded her head.
"Great idea Simon." Sam said as they both smiled.
RING RING RING
As the class got there things and left, Simon, Sam and Tatri agreed to go with Simon's idea. So they all went off to lunch.
~Lunch~
"So, you excited about workin with Simon?" Tatri asked as she lingered when she said Simon.
"What, me excited.no no no. Why would I be excited." She hit her fork and sent mashed potatoes flying into the air and landing on the guy in back of her. "Oh, sorry."
"Yeah you're not excited @ all." Tatri said smiling.
"So, who you workin with on the Chorals project?" Devon asked Simon and Logan @ lunch. Devon told them who he was working with. The same with Logan. But Simon wasn't really paying attention.
"Simon? Are you okay?" Logan asked.
"Oh yea fine." He answered.
"So who you working with for the project?" Devon asked again.
"Tatri and Sam." Simon told them.
"Figures." Devon said. "I understand now why he wasn't listening to us. He's been thinking about 'you know who'." He said in a teasing voice while he and Logan laughed.
"Ha ha, very funny guys." Simon told them.
~Chorals class~
The next day during their Chorals class, Mr. M said that they could just work on their projects. And that by the end of the class, they needed to tell him what their two songs were going to be. Tatri, Simon and Sam talked about their different ideas that they came up with. They shared all of their ideas to each other and then they each picked 2 songs from their lists that they wanted to do. They finally came around to a decision.
"Okay, so we all agree on doing "Grease" by Frankie Valli?!" Tatri asked them. Simon and Sam both nodded their heads in agreement.
"So, then what is our second song gonna be?" Sam asked looking through all the papers. "This one, not everyone has to perform. See, the Grease song, we can all sing a section of the song. And do the chorus' together. Then this song, not everyone has to do it. Seeing that Tatri doesn't want to." Sam said teasingly.
"Hey, can I help it that I don't have a great voice like yours." She said.
"Hmm, well, maybe you can choose one Sam." Simon asked. Sam looked through her papers and looked like a light bulb just popped up over her head.
"I know. I can sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland!" she said. "See, I've always loved this song. But never sang it in front of anyone. And since not everyone has to perform it, I can do the singing to it." She suggested.
"Hey, I know what I can do." Tatri started to say. "I took lessons on sign language. And I can do that off to the side as you sing it." She said happily.
"Oh, and my older brother used to know how to work this projector for school. I can get some pictures for your background and run the projector as you sing." Simon said to them.
"Great, then that's what we'll do!" Sam said as they all smiled @ each other.
"Cool, I'll go tell Mr. M." Simon said getting out of his chair and walked over to the teacher.
"This is cool. I think we're gonna have fun with this project." Sam said.
"Oh yeah, I know you are." Tatri said with a big obvious teasing wink to Sam. Simon got back to the table and they began discussing the 2 page reports.
"I can do the Frankie Villa one. See, my mom used to like him before. So I can get lots of info from her. So it'll be easy for me to do that." Tatri said to them.
"Cool. Then I guess Simon and I will work together on Judy Garland." Sam said in Tatri's direction and turned to Simon to see if it was okay. She assumed it was because he was smiling when she turned. "So Simon," Sam continued to say. "Do you wanna meet after school in the library to start on the report?" she asked him.
"Sure, why not." He agreed. For the rest of the period they talked about ways that they could do their project. It seemed to be a fun project that all the kids liked doing. It was easy to see that they were going to enjoy dong this project. Working together, and having fun @ the same time.
The next day was like any other. Nikki and Sam was driven to school by there mom this time. Went to school like all the other days. Did their work in class. And finally it came down to when Simon and Sam were supposed to meet after school to do their report. Although they were in the same class together during the last period before school ended, Sam went to her locker before heading off for the library. So when she got to the library, Simon was already there waiting on one of the tables with some books stacked up.
~Library~
"Hey Simon." Sam said sitting down across from Simon.
"Hey Sam. So, I grabbed some books for us to look @ today. I skimmed through this book so far." He said placing his hand on the book. "So, I thought that we could just quickly look through the books today. And find some interesting facts about her." He said as she took out her notebook to jot down notes on.
"Okay." She said politely. They started reading through the books and talking @ the same time. It was about an hour and ½ later when they started to get their things together.
"I'll ask my mom and dad if you can come over to my house tomorrow. So we can work on the report more. And, plan more of the details of presenting it." He suggested with a hopeful face on.
"Sure, I'll ask my mom tonight." Sam said.
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then." He said starting to walk off.
"Yeah, see ya." She said bye to him.
Later that night, @ dinner she asked her mom and dad if she could go over to her friends' house to work on the project. They said that it would be okay. As long as she was home by dinner time.
~~Meanwhile~~
At dinner, Simon also asked his parents that night after dinner about tomorrow.
"Hey mom, dad." He said opening their bedroom door.
"Yes." Mrs. Camden said.
"I was wondering." He started off. "I have this Chorals project for school. And if it'd be okay, it I bring my friend over after school to work on it. It's Sam. The new girl I've been talking about." He said fussing with his fingers.
"Oh yes, who could forget Sam that you talk about all the time." Mr. Camden said.
"Eric." Mrs. Camden nudged him.
"Come one mom. We'll be doing work. And you can even supervise is to make sure." Simon said.
"Why, why should we supervise you guys?" Mrs. Camden asked.
"Well, when one of us wants to bring a friend over from school and dad doesn't want us to, it usually means that he's thinking we won't be doing our work." Simon admitted. "It's been like that from Matt." He said again.
"Okay, okay. But as long as everyone in the house gets to meet her, then okay. You can bring her over." Mr. Camden agreed.
"Great, thanks dad. Thanks mom." He said hugging his mom and dad.
"Hmm." Mrs. Camden said going back to her magazine while her husband went back to his book as well. "Think he's serious about her?"
"Oh yeah." He said turning a page.
That same night Tatri called Sam to ask about how much work Simon and she got done with the report.
"Well, what did you guys talk about?" she asked very interested to hear what happened.
"Nothing really." Sam answered while she put on a c.d.
"Oh come on, you're holdin back on me."
"Forget it Tatri. Oh, do you wanna come with me to Simon's tomorrow? We're gonna work on the report together." Sam told her.
"Nah, I think I'll work by myself for the rest of the week. Besides, I think you two might work better without me." And maybe work on some other things, she didn't add.
So the next day, after English class, Simon had to go and check on his grade in another class. While Sam went to her locker and met Simon outside of the school.
"Hey, you're here already." Simon said walking through the door and seeing Sam.
"Yeah, but only for a while." They started walking down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk.
"So, do you live close by?" Simon asked her.
"Nah, not too far away. Sometimes my sister and I walk to school in the morning. So, we live pretty close." She told Simon. For the walk to his house, Sam turned around hearing someone following them. But for the most part, they talked about school and other stuff. Just to keep it from being totally silence. As they got up to his doorway, he told Sam,
"Okay, if my family seems a little worried. Or uncomfortable, or even weird. Just don't mind that." He said as he turned the door knob.
"Don't worry, it's just like mines." They both smiled and laughed.
~Camden house~
"Hey. Is anyone home?" Simon called out as both he and Sam walked through the door. Then they both saw people coming from all directions to meet them. They saw his mom and dad come from upstairs, Matt come out of the living room, and Robby and Ruthie walk from the kitchen out.
"Hi, you must be Samantha." Mrs. Camden said politely as she shook her hand. "I'm Simon's mom."
"Hi Mrs. Camden." Sam replied. She looked over to their dad and widened her eyes.
"Reverend Camden?" Sam asked in astonishment.
"Samantha?" he replied.
"You 2 know each other?" Simon asked as everyone including himself looking confused.
"This is Samantha. Her and her family, they're the new family that's going to be part of my church. I met them the other day." He said. "It's nice to see you again Sam."
"You too." She smiled.
"And this is Matt, our oldest son." Mrs. Camden patted him on the back.
"Hi." Sam waved to him.
"Ruthie, and this is Robby." Mr. Camden finished.
"Nice to meet all of you." Sam said. As everyone smiled to each other, she also said to them, "But you all can just call me Sam."
"Would you two like some snacks while you work?" Mrs. Camden asked them.
"Yeah, that'll be great mom." Simon answered. With a few seconds of silence, Simon said to them, "Well, guys, Sam and I better start working on our project." He said to them.
"This way Sam." He gestured in the direction of the living room. While they started to walk over to the rest started to whisper to each other.
"So, she's the one?" Mr. Camden bent down to ask Ruthie.
"Yep, she's the one." She said. "Do you think she'll last with Simon? Or will she throw him off on the curb to rot?" her dad gave her a weird look and answered.
"Well, from what I learned about her and her family, she's a great kid. I think things'll be just fine." He said as they both went upstairs.
"Think they'll last?" Robby asked Matt folding his arms.
"I think they will." Matt answered. "Bet you 10 bucks they will." Matt said.
"You're one." Robby said as they shook hands in agreement. Matt then followed them into the living room. Sam sat on one side of the table, and Simon sat on the other. Matt sat down next to Simon and whispered to him,
"So, is this the girl you've been talking about?" he asked.
"Yeah, isn't she great!?" he said trying to make sure she didn't hear. She noticed Matt walked in, but was busy unpacking all the books they got from the library to listen.
"So, do you think you might try to head on over to that side of the table, huh?" Matt asked in a sly way. When Simon gave him a look that said, 'will you just get out!' he said,
"Okay, I'm leaving." And left the room. Soon after that, Mrs. Camden walked in and placed a tray with 2 glasses of lemonade with a pitcher next to them. Along with a bowl of chips also on the tray.
"So, what are you 2 walking on?" she asked.
"Oh, we're doing a report on Judy Garland." Sam replied with a smile.
"That sounds great. Well, call me if you need anything." She said then left the room to walk up the stairs.
"Sorry bout that Sam." Simon told her. "I told you they'd be a little.strange today."
"Don't worry, they're cool." She said with a smile. With that they started discussing more about the project. Ways they could figure out how to sing the songs perform it, and when they could practice. The work time went really well. And soon it was time for dinner @ the Camden house and dinner @ the Williams house as well.
"I really gotta go." Sam said as she packed her bag up. Mostly everyone was down stairs by now getting ready for dinner.
"Well, you're welcome to stay for dinner Sam." Mrs. Camden offered.
"Thank you so much. But I promised my mom that I'll be home in time for dinner. And I'm already a little late." Sam said.
"Well, I'll get you the phone so you can call her." Mr. Camden said as he went to fetch it for her. But she couldn't tell her that she had a cell phone with her.
"Hey cool, you have a cell phone." Matt said.
"Oh yeah, got it a while back." Sam said as she dialed her house's number. She talked to her mom, and soon hung up the phone.
"Here you go." Mr. Camden said coming back to the front of the house. "Sorry, but someone just had to say goodnight to Peter. When she's probably going to call him back after dinner." He said looking towards Ruthie.
"Hey, I had to say bye to my sweetheart." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I better get going." She said.
"I'll take you home Sam." Mrs. Camden offered to drive.
"Oh, no thanks though." She said as Mrs. Camden put her jacket back. "I don't live that far from here, so I can walk home." She insisted.
"I'll walk you home then." Simon said anxiously.
"Great. It was nice meeting you all. And good to see you again Mr. Camden."
"Goodnight Sam." They all called behind her as Simon and Sam walked out the door.
"I think they'll do well together." Matt told Robby as Ruthie, Mr. and Mrs. Camden walked into the kitchen for dinner.
"I don't know about that Matt." He told him.
"Well, let's just say I got a hunch." Matt smiled and they both walked to the kitchen.
As they got out to the sidewalk of Simon's house, Sam told him,
"I had fun today Simon. You're family is cool. I think they're great." She said to him.
"Well, that's only one a good day." They both laughed. They crossed the street at the house next to Simon's and walked down the other side of the road for a while.
"Today was fun. @ school, and after school." Sam said and looked to Simon and smiled.
"Yeah, but my favorite part was after school." He replied. They walked a little more, as the sky darkened slowly. They finally got about 6 or 7 houses down the street from Simon's when Sam told him.
"Well, thanks for walking me home." She said and stopped in front of a house.
"No way, you live here?" he said shocked.
"Yep, and Tatri lives next door." She said pointing to her house.
"Yeah, I knew about Tatri. But, I didn't know about you. Cool." He said.
"Well, I better go inside." He walked her to the front door. "Thanks again Simon. Oh, and my mom agreed that if you and Tatri wanted to come over to start rehearsing tomorrow you can." She told him.
"Great, I'll ask my parents tonight and tell you tomorrow. Night Sam." He said.
"See ya Simon." She told him with a smile. And she walked in her house. Simon walked on back to his side of the street, and walked home happily. When we walked into the kitchen, he had a smile on his face and actually was whistling.
"Yep, I am so gonna win this bet." Matt whispered to Robby.
"Isn't Sam just great!" he said to them.
"Yeah, she seems very sweet and nice." Mrs. Camden said.
"I like her. She's cool. She's cool enough for you to hang out with. Although, you could hang out with her, but why she's hanging out with you is beyond me." Ruthie told him.
"Well thanks for your approval, but I think I can decide if we want to hang out with each other by ourselves." He told her.
"Suit yourself." She replied.
Both Simon and Sam told their familes about how it went when they were working on the report. Especially Sam, who seemed to talk more about Simon then she did the report.
"She likes him, I can tell." Nikki whispered to her mom.
"Oh, is that so." She replied.
"Yeah, you can tell by the way she keeps goin on and on about him. It's like this major sign." She told her. So they listened to Sam talk about the things she likes about Simon and why he's such a great friend.
"So Simon and Tatri might be coming over after school tomorrow to work on the project." Sam told her mom and dad.
"Okay, this way I get to meet this Simon you can't stop talking about." Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams and Nikki both laughed @ that while Sam just sat there with a strange look on her face.
~Chorals Class~
"Okay. So, now you know the guidelines and the different possibilities that you can do your project in." Mr. M said to his students. "Now, you can do it either ways. You and your group members can sing a song, compose music, perform a song with instruments, dance if you want to!" he heard his students chatter about the different choices. "Okay okay class. Don't get so excited just yet. There is one catch to this project. You all MUST choose 2 songs to perform any way. You shall type up a 2 page report on this artist of the songs you've chosen. And what you all thought of the songs, and why you chose it. Once you've decided the types of songs, come to me and tell me what the genre is. And I shall place all the groups with that description to go on the same days. So, you need to think of your songs somewhat quickly. All members of the group must contribute to the project. One of the songs you shall perform needs all members to be performing. The other, not everyone has to perform in it. This will be present orally to the class. So be prepared to show your presentation in front of everyone!" He said as a student passed out a rubric form with everything they'd need for the project. Some moaning went around once they found out it needed to be presented orally instead of in a report. "On the list, if you're planning on singing a song, those are some ideas of songs that you could sing. If there songs not on the list that your team would like to do, please come and see me first." He told everyone. "So, now I'm going to assign you your groups. Stand in a circle and I'll go around the room and point to where you all shall be sitting with your groups. Once I'm done with one group, those members please take a seat. The rest wait until your name is called." He started to move around the room and direct students to their new teams. Some were happy with whom they would be working with, and some were not. He went through about half the class when he came around to where Sam was sitting.
"Nat, Logan, Matt." Mr. M said as he showed them their new seats. Then he called out 2 more groups. His next group to call out was, "Tatri, Sam." he paused to check his clipboard. "Simon." As the 3 of them took a seat, Logan leaned over to talk to Simon.
"You must be happy man." Logan told him.
"What do you mean?" Simon asked as he took out his notebook.
"Dude, you get to work with 2 girls! You gotta be excited!?" Logan said.
"Nah, I'm only excited about one girl." Simon smiled as Logan turned away and shook his head.
"So guys, what do you think we should do for the project?" Tatri asked.
"Hmm. Good question." Sam said. "Well, do you guys feel up to singin?" Sam suggested and looked @ the both of them.
"I guess I wouldn't mind, but it's seriously not my strong part!" Simon said with a smile, trying to agree with Sam.
"Well, it's nice you'd do anything for Sam," Tatri told Simon. He shot a friendly, 'I can believe you said that' look towards her. She replied with a 'you know it's true' look. "But, I on the other hand can't sing to save my life!"
"Come on Tatz. Everyone can sing. You just have to put your mind to it." She opened her mouth and sang this, "I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign." In a lovely heaven like voice. "See, it's simple." Sam said while both Simon looked @ her in amazement.
"You're voice is beautiful Sam." Simon said to her gently.
"Thanks." Sam smiled back.
"Yea, like I'm gonna sing like that." Tatri snickered.
"Come on, it's not hard. I swear, we can pick a song that you can sing." Sam said as she put her arm on Tatri's shoulder.
"Yeah, we can think of songs tonight that we all can do something to, and we'll come back tomorrow. Share our ideas, then chose 2 songs, from all of them." Simon told them his idea.
"Yeah, that'll work." Tatri said as she nodded her head.
"Great idea Simon." Sam said as they both smiled.
RING RING RING
As the class got there things and left, Simon, Sam and Tatri agreed to go with Simon's idea. So they all went off to lunch.
~Lunch~
"So, you excited about workin with Simon?" Tatri asked as she lingered when she said Simon.
"What, me excited.no no no. Why would I be excited." She hit her fork and sent mashed potatoes flying into the air and landing on the guy in back of her. "Oh, sorry."
"Yeah you're not excited @ all." Tatri said smiling.
"So, who you workin with on the Chorals project?" Devon asked Simon and Logan @ lunch. Devon told them who he was working with. The same with Logan. But Simon wasn't really paying attention.
"Simon? Are you okay?" Logan asked.
"Oh yea fine." He answered.
"So who you working with for the project?" Devon asked again.
"Tatri and Sam." Simon told them.
"Figures." Devon said. "I understand now why he wasn't listening to us. He's been thinking about 'you know who'." He said in a teasing voice while he and Logan laughed.
"Ha ha, very funny guys." Simon told them.
~Chorals class~
The next day during their Chorals class, Mr. M said that they could just work on their projects. And that by the end of the class, they needed to tell him what their two songs were going to be. Tatri, Simon and Sam talked about their different ideas that they came up with. They shared all of their ideas to each other and then they each picked 2 songs from their lists that they wanted to do. They finally came around to a decision.
"Okay, so we all agree on doing "Grease" by Frankie Valli?!" Tatri asked them. Simon and Sam both nodded their heads in agreement.
"So, then what is our second song gonna be?" Sam asked looking through all the papers. "This one, not everyone has to perform. See, the Grease song, we can all sing a section of the song. And do the chorus' together. Then this song, not everyone has to do it. Seeing that Tatri doesn't want to." Sam said teasingly.
"Hey, can I help it that I don't have a great voice like yours." She said.
"Hmm, well, maybe you can choose one Sam." Simon asked. Sam looked through her papers and looked like a light bulb just popped up over her head.
"I know. I can sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Judy Garland!" she said. "See, I've always loved this song. But never sang it in front of anyone. And since not everyone has to perform it, I can do the singing to it." She suggested.
"Hey, I know what I can do." Tatri started to say. "I took lessons on sign language. And I can do that off to the side as you sing it." She said happily.
"Oh, and my older brother used to know how to work this projector for school. I can get some pictures for your background and run the projector as you sing." Simon said to them.
"Great, then that's what we'll do!" Sam said as they all smiled @ each other.
"Cool, I'll go tell Mr. M." Simon said getting out of his chair and walked over to the teacher.
"This is cool. I think we're gonna have fun with this project." Sam said.
"Oh yeah, I know you are." Tatri said with a big obvious teasing wink to Sam. Simon got back to the table and they began discussing the 2 page reports.
"I can do the Frankie Villa one. See, my mom used to like him before. So I can get lots of info from her. So it'll be easy for me to do that." Tatri said to them.
"Cool. Then I guess Simon and I will work together on Judy Garland." Sam said in Tatri's direction and turned to Simon to see if it was okay. She assumed it was because he was smiling when she turned. "So Simon," Sam continued to say. "Do you wanna meet after school in the library to start on the report?" she asked him.
"Sure, why not." He agreed. For the rest of the period they talked about ways that they could do their project. It seemed to be a fun project that all the kids liked doing. It was easy to see that they were going to enjoy dong this project. Working together, and having fun @ the same time.
The next day was like any other. Nikki and Sam was driven to school by there mom this time. Went to school like all the other days. Did their work in class. And finally it came down to when Simon and Sam were supposed to meet after school to do their report. Although they were in the same class together during the last period before school ended, Sam went to her locker before heading off for the library. So when she got to the library, Simon was already there waiting on one of the tables with some books stacked up.
~Library~
"Hey Simon." Sam said sitting down across from Simon.
"Hey Sam. So, I grabbed some books for us to look @ today. I skimmed through this book so far." He said placing his hand on the book. "So, I thought that we could just quickly look through the books today. And find some interesting facts about her." He said as she took out her notebook to jot down notes on.
"Okay." She said politely. They started reading through the books and talking @ the same time. It was about an hour and ½ later when they started to get their things together.
"I'll ask my mom and dad if you can come over to my house tomorrow. So we can work on the report more. And, plan more of the details of presenting it." He suggested with a hopeful face on.
"Sure, I'll ask my mom tonight." Sam said.
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow then." He said starting to walk off.
"Yeah, see ya." She said bye to him.
Later that night, @ dinner she asked her mom and dad if she could go over to her friends' house to work on the project. They said that it would be okay. As long as she was home by dinner time.
~~Meanwhile~~
At dinner, Simon also asked his parents that night after dinner about tomorrow.
"Hey mom, dad." He said opening their bedroom door.
"Yes." Mrs. Camden said.
"I was wondering." He started off. "I have this Chorals project for school. And if it'd be okay, it I bring my friend over after school to work on it. It's Sam. The new girl I've been talking about." He said fussing with his fingers.
"Oh yes, who could forget Sam that you talk about all the time." Mr. Camden said.
"Eric." Mrs. Camden nudged him.
"Come one mom. We'll be doing work. And you can even supervise is to make sure." Simon said.
"Why, why should we supervise you guys?" Mrs. Camden asked.
"Well, when one of us wants to bring a friend over from school and dad doesn't want us to, it usually means that he's thinking we won't be doing our work." Simon admitted. "It's been like that from Matt." He said again.
"Okay, okay. But as long as everyone in the house gets to meet her, then okay. You can bring her over." Mr. Camden agreed.
"Great, thanks dad. Thanks mom." He said hugging his mom and dad.
"Hmm." Mrs. Camden said going back to her magazine while her husband went back to his book as well. "Think he's serious about her?"
"Oh yeah." He said turning a page.
That same night Tatri called Sam to ask about how much work Simon and she got done with the report.
"Well, what did you guys talk about?" she asked very interested to hear what happened.
"Nothing really." Sam answered while she put on a c.d.
"Oh come on, you're holdin back on me."
"Forget it Tatri. Oh, do you wanna come with me to Simon's tomorrow? We're gonna work on the report together." Sam told her.
"Nah, I think I'll work by myself for the rest of the week. Besides, I think you two might work better without me." And maybe work on some other things, she didn't add.
So the next day, after English class, Simon had to go and check on his grade in another class. While Sam went to her locker and met Simon outside of the school.
"Hey, you're here already." Simon said walking through the door and seeing Sam.
"Yeah, but only for a while." They started walking down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk.
"So, do you live close by?" Simon asked her.
"Nah, not too far away. Sometimes my sister and I walk to school in the morning. So, we live pretty close." She told Simon. For the walk to his house, Sam turned around hearing someone following them. But for the most part, they talked about school and other stuff. Just to keep it from being totally silence. As they got up to his doorway, he told Sam,
"Okay, if my family seems a little worried. Or uncomfortable, or even weird. Just don't mind that." He said as he turned the door knob.
"Don't worry, it's just like mines." They both smiled and laughed.
~Camden house~
"Hey. Is anyone home?" Simon called out as both he and Sam walked through the door. Then they both saw people coming from all directions to meet them. They saw his mom and dad come from upstairs, Matt come out of the living room, and Robby and Ruthie walk from the kitchen out.
"Hi, you must be Samantha." Mrs. Camden said politely as she shook her hand. "I'm Simon's mom."
"Hi Mrs. Camden." Sam replied. She looked over to their dad and widened her eyes.
"Reverend Camden?" Sam asked in astonishment.
"Samantha?" he replied.
"You 2 know each other?" Simon asked as everyone including himself looking confused.
"This is Samantha. Her and her family, they're the new family that's going to be part of my church. I met them the other day." He said. "It's nice to see you again Sam."
"You too." She smiled.
"And this is Matt, our oldest son." Mrs. Camden patted him on the back.
"Hi." Sam waved to him.
"Ruthie, and this is Robby." Mr. Camden finished.
"Nice to meet all of you." Sam said. As everyone smiled to each other, she also said to them, "But you all can just call me Sam."
"Would you two like some snacks while you work?" Mrs. Camden asked them.
"Yeah, that'll be great mom." Simon answered. With a few seconds of silence, Simon said to them, "Well, guys, Sam and I better start working on our project." He said to them.
"This way Sam." He gestured in the direction of the living room. While they started to walk over to the rest started to whisper to each other.
"So, she's the one?" Mr. Camden bent down to ask Ruthie.
"Yep, she's the one." She said. "Do you think she'll last with Simon? Or will she throw him off on the curb to rot?" her dad gave her a weird look and answered.
"Well, from what I learned about her and her family, she's a great kid. I think things'll be just fine." He said as they both went upstairs.
"Think they'll last?" Robby asked Matt folding his arms.
"I think they will." Matt answered. "Bet you 10 bucks they will." Matt said.
"You're one." Robby said as they shook hands in agreement. Matt then followed them into the living room. Sam sat on one side of the table, and Simon sat on the other. Matt sat down next to Simon and whispered to him,
"So, is this the girl you've been talking about?" he asked.
"Yeah, isn't she great!?" he said trying to make sure she didn't hear. She noticed Matt walked in, but was busy unpacking all the books they got from the library to listen.
"So, do you think you might try to head on over to that side of the table, huh?" Matt asked in a sly way. When Simon gave him a look that said, 'will you just get out!' he said,
"Okay, I'm leaving." And left the room. Soon after that, Mrs. Camden walked in and placed a tray with 2 glasses of lemonade with a pitcher next to them. Along with a bowl of chips also on the tray.
"So, what are you 2 walking on?" she asked.
"Oh, we're doing a report on Judy Garland." Sam replied with a smile.
"That sounds great. Well, call me if you need anything." She said then left the room to walk up the stairs.
"Sorry bout that Sam." Simon told her. "I told you they'd be a little.strange today."
"Don't worry, they're cool." She said with a smile. With that they started discussing more about the project. Ways they could figure out how to sing the songs perform it, and when they could practice. The work time went really well. And soon it was time for dinner @ the Camden house and dinner @ the Williams house as well.
"I really gotta go." Sam said as she packed her bag up. Mostly everyone was down stairs by now getting ready for dinner.
"Well, you're welcome to stay for dinner Sam." Mrs. Camden offered.
"Thank you so much. But I promised my mom that I'll be home in time for dinner. And I'm already a little late." Sam said.
"Well, I'll get you the phone so you can call her." Mr. Camden said as he went to fetch it for her. But she couldn't tell her that she had a cell phone with her.
"Hey cool, you have a cell phone." Matt said.
"Oh yeah, got it a while back." Sam said as she dialed her house's number. She talked to her mom, and soon hung up the phone.
"Here you go." Mr. Camden said coming back to the front of the house. "Sorry, but someone just had to say goodnight to Peter. When she's probably going to call him back after dinner." He said looking towards Ruthie.
"Hey, I had to say bye to my sweetheart." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I better get going." She said.
"I'll take you home Sam." Mrs. Camden offered to drive.
"Oh, no thanks though." She said as Mrs. Camden put her jacket back. "I don't live that far from here, so I can walk home." She insisted.
"I'll walk you home then." Simon said anxiously.
"Great. It was nice meeting you all. And good to see you again Mr. Camden."
"Goodnight Sam." They all called behind her as Simon and Sam walked out the door.
"I think they'll do well together." Matt told Robby as Ruthie, Mr. and Mrs. Camden walked into the kitchen for dinner.
"I don't know about that Matt." He told him.
"Well, let's just say I got a hunch." Matt smiled and they both walked to the kitchen.
As they got out to the sidewalk of Simon's house, Sam told him,
"I had fun today Simon. You're family is cool. I think they're great." She said to him.
"Well, that's only one a good day." They both laughed. They crossed the street at the house next to Simon's and walked down the other side of the road for a while.
"Today was fun. @ school, and after school." Sam said and looked to Simon and smiled.
"Yeah, but my favorite part was after school." He replied. They walked a little more, as the sky darkened slowly. They finally got about 6 or 7 houses down the street from Simon's when Sam told him.
"Well, thanks for walking me home." She said and stopped in front of a house.
"No way, you live here?" he said shocked.
"Yep, and Tatri lives next door." She said pointing to her house.
"Yeah, I knew about Tatri. But, I didn't know about you. Cool." He said.
"Well, I better go inside." He walked her to the front door. "Thanks again Simon. Oh, and my mom agreed that if you and Tatri wanted to come over to start rehearsing tomorrow you can." She told him.
"Great, I'll ask my parents tonight and tell you tomorrow. Night Sam." He said.
"See ya Simon." She told him with a smile. And she walked in her house. Simon walked on back to his side of the street, and walked home happily. When we walked into the kitchen, he had a smile on his face and actually was whistling.
"Yep, I am so gonna win this bet." Matt whispered to Robby.
"Isn't Sam just great!" he said to them.
"Yeah, she seems very sweet and nice." Mrs. Camden said.
"I like her. She's cool. She's cool enough for you to hang out with. Although, you could hang out with her, but why she's hanging out with you is beyond me." Ruthie told him.
"Well thanks for your approval, but I think I can decide if we want to hang out with each other by ourselves." He told her.
"Suit yourself." She replied.
Both Simon and Sam told their familes about how it went when they were working on the report. Especially Sam, who seemed to talk more about Simon then she did the report.
"She likes him, I can tell." Nikki whispered to her mom.
"Oh, is that so." She replied.
"Yeah, you can tell by the way she keeps goin on and on about him. It's like this major sign." She told her. So they listened to Sam talk about the things she likes about Simon and why he's such a great friend.
"So Simon and Tatri might be coming over after school tomorrow to work on the project." Sam told her mom and dad.
"Okay, this way I get to meet this Simon you can't stop talking about." Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams and Nikki both laughed @ that while Sam just sat there with a strange look on her face.
