Chapter 6. I Don't Mind Singing
Vert laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling like he had been for the past several hours. After getting that text, he'd retreated to his room and locked the door. Surprisingly, AJ had left him alone. It was probably because of the hot pocket. Somewhere, deep down, Vert hoped it hadn't burned him too badly. But for now, he couldn't bring himself to care. AJ had kind of deserved it for going behind his back like that.
Vert rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. He still hadn't responded to the text. It would be so easy to grab his phone off the nightstand and text back that he wasn't interested. But he was interested and that was the problem. He wasn't good enough to sing with the BF5. He would only drag them down and this whole thing would end in disaster.
Still, they had gotten his number and asked for him by name. Maybe this would be a disaster, but he wouldn't know unless he tried. He reached for his phone and lifted his face from the pillow.
Hey, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I thought about it and I'll do it. If you still need to. Vert pressed send and held his breath. It was a quarter after one, but the reply came instantly.
(xxx)-xxx-xxxx: Yes! You're in! This is perfect! Can you meet us up at the university tomorrow around noon?
Vert thought for a minute. He didn't have to work until three tomorrow. Sure. I can do that.
(xxx)-xxx-xxxx: Perfect! I'll give you an exact location tomorrow morning! See you then!
...
It was fifteen minutes until noon when AJ dropped him off at the music building on campus. Vert thought about apologizing for the hot pocket when he saw the burn on AJ's face, and then decided against it when AJ started driving. Whoever had signed off on his driver's license needed to be shot.
Equipped with nothing but his phone and slight car sickness, Vert made his way towards the room Stanford had texted him earlier. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
It was Stanford, he assumed, that opened the door.
"Come in!" he said in an overly cheerful English accent. "This is so exciting!"
Vert just nodded along as he spoke.
"So, I'm Stanford and this is Zoom." Stanford gestured towards the boy with the black hair and the ridiculous headband. Zoom smiled at him and Vert suddenly remembered him very well from the hours spent watching that cheeky Christmas song about being bad that he sang the lead on. Vert smiled back, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt.
Stanford didn't seem to notice. "And this is Sherman," the taller of the two brothers nodded, "and Spinner." The shorter brother, Spinner, did finger guns at him.
"They're twins." Stanford added, and Vert did a double-take. They had to be fucking with him.
"It's true." Sherman said.
"And I'm the older brother!" Spinner added triumphantly.
Vert stared at them unsure of whether to actually believe them or not. Meanwhile, Stanford threw an arm around Vert's shoulders. "So, do you have any questions?"
Vert thought for a minute. He did have several questions, one in particular that he was curious about, but he wasn't sure if he should ask it. Especially since it was about the guy who quit. He decided against that and chose something only slightly safer.
"I guess, how is this all supposed to work?"
"Hmm..." Stanford hummed, his arm dropping from Vert's shoulders. "Do you now the song Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen? The one that was in Shrek."
"Yeah."
"Start singing it."
Vert eyed him skeptically.
"Trust me." Stanford said, and the others nodded.
Vert, still looking at Stanford like was slightly crazy, started singing anyways.
"I've heard there was a secret chord,
That David played and it pleased the Lord.
But you don't really care for music, do you?"
The others had joined in now, filling in wordlessly the chords that had been missing when it had just been him singing.
"Keep going," Stanford mouthed, looking extremely pleased and Vert launched into the next phrase with more confidence.
"Well, it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing hallelujah.
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah,
Hallelujah…"
Stanford stopped them after that, but he was grinning like the fucking Cheshire cat on steroids.
"Dude!" Zoom said nearly dropping to the ground. "That was awesome!"
"Yeah!" Spinner added. "Simon who?"
"Simon, whom." Sherman corrected him.
"Fuck off, Sherman."
Vert was trying not to laugh. Maybe this wouldn't be a total disaster.
"Here," Stanford said, handing Vert a large stack of papers. "These are for you. All the music we're currently working on."
Vert took the stack of papers, suddenly feeling very intimidated. "So, uh, I don't actually know how to read sheet music," he admitted.
"Oh."
This was it. His time with the BF5 over before it even had the chance to begin. Vert braced himself for the rejection.
"We can make it work!" Stanford said quickly. "We'll play through the parts at the first rehearsal. Then we can record your part, so you can learn and practice that way!"
"Are you sure?" Vert asked. It seemed like a lot of extra work on his behalf.
"We're kind of desperate at this point, so yeah."
Classes were starting back up soon, so Sherman and Spinner had to leave. They said a quick goodbye and promised to see him at rehearsal on Thursday before walking out of the room. Vert checked the time. It was almost one-thirty.
"I'm gonna have to go too," he said. "I have work at three and AJ has to take me back to apartment."
Stanford nodded. "Sure! Where do you work? We'll drop off the recording, so you can get a head start."
"Spectra Motors. It's a small auto shop outside town."
"You're kidding?"
"No?"
"Dude, we all go there for repairs." Stanford said. "How have we not met before?"
Vert shrugged, ignoring his phone vibrating violently in his pocket. "I don't know, but I really have to go now. AJ is blowing up my phone."
"All right! See you later!"
...
Vert was getting ready to close up shop when he heard the telltale signs of a motorcycle pulling up. He stepped outside the garage. The bike was a sleek black with yellow detailing along the front body and back onto the seat. It was a gorgeous bike, a Kawasaki Ninja, and Vert felt privileged just to see it. The driver took off their helmet. It was Zoom. So, not only was he cute and could sing, but he could drive a motorcycle too. Vert swallowed hard. He was so fucked.
Zoom waved at him. Vert walked over. "Hey, Vert! Look what I've got!" He was waving around a CD case.
Well that was fast, Vert thought. He took the CD from Zoom. "Thanks."
"Yeah, no problem!" Zoom said, smiling. "It's gonna sound weird because it's just your part being sung, oh and it's me singing it by the way, so yeah. Officially we're registered to perform Hallelujah at the competition, so you should learn that one first. Then if we make it to the next round, we're planning on Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. We haven't decided on a song for the finals round if we make it that far, but now that there's five of us again it shouldn't be too hard!"
Vert stared at him. "What the fuck is a Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy?"
"It's a classic!" Zoom protested, arms folded across his chest. "By the Andrews Sisters. Though no offense to them, I like our arrangement better."
Vert just nodded. "Okay."
"Oh yeah and you've gotta learn Jolene really well too." Zoom added. "We're doing that one with Viv in her senior recital. You'll meet her at some point."
"Sounds like fun."
"Yeah. She's pretty cool. But I'm gonna let you get back to closing, so see you Thursday!" Zoom put his helmet back on and waved to Vert again before speeding off.
Vert watched him go. He walked back into the garage and locked the door behind him. Since he was the only one closing that day, he pulled out his phone, opened YouTube, typed "boogie woogie bugle boy andrews sisters" into the search bar, and watched the first video that came up. When it was over, he stared at the blank screen unsure of how to feel about what he'd just watched.
"What the fuck have I gotten myself into." He mumbled and started cleaning.