I just finished writing this chapter out and decided to put it on, despite the fact that I just updated two or three hours ago.


I had barely gotten into Shirley's room for my lesson the next Monday when, low and behold, Jon met me at the door.

"Hi, Naomi, is your lesson next?"

"Yeah, Jon, it is." I knew I sounded exasperated and annoyed, but I was too exasperated and annoyed to care.

"I'm just waiting for Shirley to get me some papers, and then, since I just barely started lessons here a few weeks ago, she's letting me sit in on a few classes this afternoon."

"I guess mine is one of them, huh?"

"I guess so."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

"What kind of papers is Shirley getting for you?"

"Application forms for an art school."

I felt my pulse quicken sickeningly.

"What...What school?"

" London Academy of Performing Arts."

"No way..." I tried to mask the horror in my voice, "I'm applying there too."

"Is part of your application going to be singing in the concert in February?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Me too. Do you have a song yet?"

"Yeah."

"I don't," Jon smiled superiorly, "I normally don't pick my song until the weekend before."

I found myself wondering why I had to lie and tell Soda that I liked this headstrong pansy. Why couldn't the name of a normal person have popped into my head just then?

"That's real nice, Jon. I'm just going...going to set up."

"Set up?" Jon crinkled his dark eyebrows in confusion, "You're a singer. What do you have to set up?"

"I meant to say warm up," I lied, pushing gently past him, "I have to do my scales." I stood by the piano and started with the lowest note I could manage, and went up to the very highest, and back down to the lowest.

"Wow," Jon breathed, "You have an amazing vocal range."

"That's nice of you, Jon. I sing opera a lot."

"I don't think that London Academy offers opera-"

"Of course it does, Mr. Harris," I was relieved to hear Shirley's voice, "And you would be surprised to hear how very conceited you sound when you say ' London Academy' when it is simply referred to as LAPA. Remember, my students have class-"

"Not sass," Muttered Jon, walking over to a bench and sitting down.

"From the top of your concert piece, Naomi, we have a lot of catching up to do in 45 minutes." She glared at Jon.

"I don't want to fall asleep anymore-"

Shirley abruptly stopped and turned to face me.

"What did we discuss, Mss Sterling?"

"Feeling, "I muttered.

"Try again."

I don't want to fall asleep anymore-"
Because I know when I wake up,
You won't be here,
And I can't take it much more,"

"Very good. We'll continue, then." While she looked away, I wiped my eyes on the back of my hand. I got teary every time I sang this song, and I really didn't know how I was going to perform it. Shirley played the next little bit on the piano, and then asked me to sing it with her. I cleared my throat and tied my hair back, ignoring the painful jabs my memory was making.

"Niiiiiice doggie," Soda started petting the back of my hair, "Niiiice...IT BIT ME!"

I absent mindedly ran my hand over the back of my ponytail.

"You missed coming in, Miss Sterling."

"Sorry, I was waiting another bar to come in. I don't know why."

"That's alright. Try again. One, Two."

"And I depended on you,
And you relied on me,
And now you've gone and left me,
It's blinded me, I just can't see,"

My voice cracked a little when I said the last line. This song was like a constant reminder of how much I suffered.

"Now you've gone and left me,
I wish you could've stayed just one more day,
Now you've gone and left me,
Oh, tell me,
Why did God have to take you away?"

"Stop," instructed Shirley, "I'm not sure I like the transition."

So I spent the last half of my lesson trying to get the notes right on.

I'm Shirley's last student on Mondays, so she has to lock the building and go home to feed her kids, which left me and Jon sitting on the front steps, waiting for our rides home.

"Uh...Naomi?"

"Yeah?" I scooted down one stone step, trying to increase the tiny space between Jon and myself. I felt a little uncomfortable when he sat two feet behind me when he could be sitting anywhere else on the staircase.

"Do you...you know...want to...get together some time?"

I knew it took a lot of guts for him to say that, so I smiled kindly. "Sure, Jon. When?"

"Uh..I was thinking next Friday."

"Okay, I'm free then. Where were you thinking?"

"Um...I thought you'd say no, so I never thought that far ahead."

"How about we just go to the movies."

"Sure."

"Good. I'll meet you at the Nightly Double around six thirty?"

"Okay."

"Bye." I walked over to my Mom's car, which had just pulled into the driveway.

I was in an okay mood until I got home. As if on a timer, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I twisted the thick cord around my middle and index finger.

"Hi, is this Naomi?"

"Yeah, is this Ashley?"

"Yeah, you'll never guess what happened!"

"What happened?"

"I'm going on a date on Friday!" She said in a sing-song voice.

"Me too," I said, "I'm going with Jon. Maybe we'll see you guys there...hopefully we'll see you guys there, because I couldn't stand to be alone with that guy for too long. Uh...who exactly are you going with, anyway?"

Ashley giggled, and I felt the blow coming a second in advance.

"Sodapop!"

I dropped the phone.