CHAPTER 5

Season 3, age 16*

The day had finally arrived. It was the first day of school - junior year. I definitely wasn't excited about the academic side of things - I liked school overall and made honor roll just about every semester; but I'd also heard that junior year was the hardest - and I certainly wasn't looking forward to the hours of homework that awaited me. But today after school was the first Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal and even though Ms. Corcoran was no longer the coach - she had overseen one final round of auditions, and true to her word - had given me a spot in Vocal Adrenaline without requiring me to audition.

I'd met the new coach only once - Ms. Corcoran had personally introduced us. He seemed nice enough. Even though I was sad that Ms. Corcoran wouldn't be my coach, I was very relieved that Jesse was no longer in high school and that I wouldn't have to deal with his bullshit.

He had flunked out of UCLA and unfortunately was back in Ohio. Even more unfortunate was that he was living with Rick and me again while he looked for his own apartment. I was able to avoid him for the most part - and it would be even easier to do so when I (hopefully) got my license in three months (I was already 16 but the DMV couldn't squeeze me in until later that year.) That was something else to look forward to - not just no longer being dependent on Jesse and Rick for rides, but for the independence that came with a driver's license. I could join any extracurricular activities I wanted or go out with friends whenever. The future looked bright.

But until then, it was the bus for me. At least I had Serena to keep me company. I arrived at my stop at the usual time and checked my phone. Speaking of Serena - I had a text from her. I clicked the notification.

"BIG NEWS!" It read.

I chuckled a bit. Knowing Serena, "big news" could be anything as major as the president coming to Ohio to something as trivial as Serena getting a new phone case.

"What is it?" I texted back.

"I'll tell you on the bus," she replied almost immediately.

I rolled my eyes. That little…a noise startled me. I looked up to see the bus pulling up. I guess I would learn soon enough what Serena's big news was. I climbed aboard and greeted Tom, the driver.

I found where Serena was sitting and quickly joined her.

"Annie! How was your sum-" Serena started.

"What's the big news, bitch?!" I nearly yelled in her face. Serena laughed. She had me right where she wanted me.

"There's a new Vocal Adrenaline coach!" She exclaimed. Serena had auditioned for Vocal Adrenaline and gotten in.

Well that was anticlimactic. "Uh, yeah - I know that, Rena. Ms. Corcoran left so they got that guy to do it…Devon? Darren? Dusty?"

"No - not him!" Serena grabbed my arm excitedly and it was already starting to hurt under her enthusiastic grasp.

"What do you mean?" I carefully removed her hand from my throbbing arm.

"He's not the coach anymore. I don't know what happened - like whether he quit or got fired or died or -"

"Really Serena? I mean, I think we would've at least heard about something it iif he died."

"That's not the point, Annie," Serena retorted.

What the hell was her point? I couldn't always figure that out - and we'd known each other for ten years.

"Who's the new coach?" I asked.

"Nobody even freaking knows!" Serena cried. "All we know is that it's a former Carmel student."

"Really?" I went through all the former Carmel students I knew of who could potentially be the new coach.

The first day went pretty well. My teachers seemed nice enough and I had quite a few classes with Serena and our other friends. But I couldn't stop thinking about the new Vocal Adrenaline coach. Who was it?

Serena and I walked to the choir room together. A couple students were already seated but I looked around and there were no signs of the coach yet. Two minutes before rehearsal was to begin I was checking my phone one last time when the door opened. I was so engrossed in my Instagram browsing that I didn't even look up. However, I didn't need to because I knew exactly who it was before he introduced himself.

"Good afternoon, students," the coach said.

No. No fricking way.

"My name is Jesse Andrew St. James. But you can call me - Mr. St. James." I took a brief break from my shock to internally roll my eyes. Who the hell cared about his middle name? Well, except for Mom - who literally chose it in honor of her ex-boyfriend.

I finally looked up. All eyes were on me, including Jesse's. Even if my classmates didn't know my last name, it was painfully obvious Jesse and I were related considering the fact we had practically the same face.

I wanted to cry. Why did he have to ruin everything?

"Now I want everyone to go around and say their name, their grade, and what part they sing."

Did he want us to line up like the Sound of Music too? Was he going to use a whistle to direct us instead of barking orders?

One by one, the members of the group introduced themselves. Then, it got to me. I felt everyone's eyes drilling holes into me - especially Jesse's.

"I'm Annie St. James. I'm a junior and I'm a first soprano."

Jesse winced.

"I think we're gonna put you in the mezzo section," he said. "You have a pretty hard time hitting some of those high notes."

The students around me opened their mouths in shock as my face turned bright red.

"Jesse!" Was all I could stammer in protest.

"Mr. St. James," he corrected. The audacity of him to say what he said and then make me address him formally. Who the hell did he think he was? The King of England?

"Mr. St. James," I snapped and sat down quickly. Thankfully, we moved on to Serena's introduction.

How could I have gone from feeling like I was at the top of the world to feeling like I'd hit rock bottom?

Mr. St. James - that's how.