Hello!
How are you?
I'm so sorry that I didn't post this yesterday like I usually do, I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday and I had to stay behind at school yesterday because it was an open evening, so I just didn't get the chance to access the computer that I store this story on. I felt so bad about it though, I'm really sorry!
I know that not many people will be reading this as I'm posting it because, if you're American, then you'll be watching Teen Beach2 since it premieres today. Even though I can't watch it, I hope that you all enjoy it!
But anyway, now that my rambling's over, here's chapter 22!
Back at the elementary school, as soon as Coral and Lugnut had stepped out of the door and onto the playground, a group of kids from their class crowded around them.
"Can you come and play soccer with us?"
"Yeah, please?"
"We need another person!"
"Please?"
"Come on!"
And within seconds, about five boys from the class they'd been watching had dragged a rather startled Lugnut over to the soccer pitch that had been marked out with chalk lines on the concrete.
"Have fun," Coral called, shooting a false smile as the biker looked back over his shoulder at her, a scowl instantly springing onto his face.
"Coral?" a voice sounded from behind the surfer girl, making her jump. But when she turned around she saw that it was Zoë, the girl that she'd been talking to earlier about the poem.
"Oh, hi, Zoë, what's up?" Coral asked, smiling at the little girl.
"Um…we wanted to ask you something," Zoë started, seeming to be nervous around the older girl.
"Sure, you can ask me anything," Coral grinned, trying to make the little girl feel a little more comfortable around her.
"Well it's not just me…" Zoë trailed off.
"What do you mean?" Coral asked, getting confused by simple things as usual.
"Over here," Zoë said, leading Coral over to a small grassy area with a tree at the centre, which created a patch of shade. Six children were sitting beneath the tree, each one from the class that Coral and Lugnut had just been teaching.
"What did you want me for?" Coral asked as she approached the little area.
"We wanted to ask you something," Zoë explained, joining the six children, who Coral presumed were the girl's friends.
"Ask away then," Coral chuckled, sitting down on the grass beside the seven kids.
"Could you teach us how to sing?" a girl with dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ragged ponytail blurted, earning a sharp glare from the girl sat next to her.
"Leslie! You can't just say it like that!" the girl hissed, very shocked at how forward her friend had been. She had strawberry blonde hair that had been twisted into two messy plaits and bright blue eyes.
"Why not, Lucy?" Leslie asked.
"Because it's rude!" Lucy squeaked, shaking her head slightly and making her plaits swing to and fro.
"Can you though?" a girl with hair that wasn't quite blonde but wasn't quite brown either asked. Her undecided hair had two small, neat braids at the front that joined at the back of her head, whilst the rest of her hair hung down her back.
"Really?" Coral asked, looking at each child in turn. "You don't know how to sing?"
"We haven't been taught how to," a boy with neat brown hair and a face covered in freckles explained.
"What? You haven't sung before? Not even once?!" Coral cried, extremely surprised at this discovery.
"Not properly," Zoë said, deciding to contribute to the conversation again.
"You can teach us though, right?" the girl with not quite blonde and not quite brown hair asked, a sort of desperate look in her eye.
"Please?" Lucy added, her strawberry blonde plaits swinging again.
"Wait a second, slow down, I barely even know your names yet," Coral said, trying to regain order among the children.
"I'm Leslie," the girl with dirty blonde hair from earlier exclaimed.
"I'm Lucy," the girl with strawberry blonde plaits continued.
"I'm Leah," the girl with not quite blonde and not quite brown hair stated.
"I'm Harvey," the boy with neat brown hair and freckled skin said.
"I'm Nick," a boy, who hadn't spoken yet, piped up. He had startling blonde hair and mischievous blue eyes, the kind that had a constant sparkle.
"I'm Victoria," the other child, who hadn't said anything yet either, said. Her dark hair just scraped her shoulders and her deep brown eyes complimented her appearance.
"And I'm Zoë, but you already knew that," Zoë finished, a lock of her hair, that resembled the colour of expensive champagne, falling in front of her face as she spoke, only for it to be brushed to the side moments later.
"And I'm Coral, but you probably already knew that," Coral added, earning a few small laughs from the group of ten year olds as she copied Zoë's statement. "Great, so now that we all know each other, let's get back down to business. You want me to teach you how to sing?"
"Yes."
"Leslie!"
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. It just slips out."
"Stop blurting things out," Lucy scolded, frowning at her friend.
"It's fine, honestly," Coral reassured the girls, making them feel slightly better.
"Um, Miss Coral?" Leah questioned, raising her hand slightly as she crossed her legs. Her black, patent shoes sticking out from under her summer dress and the frill on her white socks just skimming the grass.
"Just Coral's fine," Coral said, thinking that the title made her sound too important.
"Ok, Coral," Leah said, correcting herself. "How do you start?"
"How do you start what?" Coral asked, her ditzy side showing through like always.
"How do you start singing?" Leah said, expanding on her original point.
"Don't you mean 'where'?" Victoria asked. "Like, where do you start?"
"Well we start here, don't we?" Harvey asked, not understanding what Victoria meant. "Here, sat on the grass."
"I don't think that's what Vicky was trying to say, Harvey," Leslie said.
"How would you know?" Harvey shot back.
"Guys, be quiet. We're never gonna get to sing at this rate," Leah scolded, taking control of the situation.
"Coral, just start teaching us," Lucy pleaded, tugging on Coral's arm as the bickering between the ten year olds continued. "I'll listen even if the others don't."
"I'm still listening," Zoë said, looking across to Coral and Lucy.
"Me too," Nick agreed, shuffling over to the surfer girl.
"Guys, are you listening or not?" Leslie called, making Leah, Harvey and Victoria snap to attention.
"Yeah," the three children chorused, making Coral laugh, because they clearly hadn't been.
"Why, are we starting?" Harvey asked excitedly.
"Yes, now shut up and listen," Leslie ordered, before turning back to Coral.
"Well, I think that the best way to learn how to sing, is through a song," Coral started.
"How does that work?" Nick asked, his eyebrows creasing together.
"Listen," Coral grinned as the seven children all eagerly gathered around.
Coral: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start
When you read you begin with-"
Before Coral could sing another word, Lucy's hand had shot in the air, indicating that she knew what was coming next.
Lucy: "A, B, C"
Coral let out a small chuckle at the girl's enthusiasm before continuing.
Coral: "When you sing you begin with do re mi"
Coral indicated for the children to copy her, which, to her relief, they did.
Zoë, Leslie, Leah, Lucy, Victoria, Harvey & Nick: "Do re mi"
Coral: "Do re mi, the first three notes just happen to be, do re mi"
Again, Coral motioned for the children to copy her, and they obeyed.
Zoë, Leslie, Leah, Lucy, Victoria, Harvey & Nick: "Do re mi"
Coral: "Do re mi fa so la ti"
As Coral looked across at the children, she was just met with a collection of blank faces. Apparently, no one had a clue what she was talking about. "Oh come on, I'll make it a little easier for you, listen," Coral said after a short pause. Hopefully this way would make the children understand her a little bit better.
Coral: "Doe, a deer, a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden sun
Me, a name I call myself
Far, a long long way to run
Sew, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow so
Tea, a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to do, oh, oh, oh"
As Coral sung each line, she accompanied a little action along with the note she was referring to in an effort to help the children understand the different parts. But yet again, before Coral could sing the next line, Lucy piped up, showing that she was paying attention.
Lucy: "Do!"
Coral nodded and smiled at the little girl, before continuing the song, hoping that the others would join in too, which, thankfully, they did.
Coral: "A deer, a female deer"
Leah: "Re!"
Coral: "A drop of golden sun"
Victoria: "Mi!"
Coral: "A name I call myself"
Harvey: "Fa!"
Coral: "A long long way to run"
Leslie: "So!"
Coral: "A needle pulling thread"
Nick: "La!"
Coral: "A note to follow so"
Zoë: "Ti!"
Coral: "A drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to"
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Do, a deer, a female deer
Re, a drop of golden sun
Mi, a name I call myself
Fa, a long long way to run
So, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow so
Ti, a drink with jam and bread"
Coral: "That will bring us back to do
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do…so do"
The children had started to get the hang of the song now and gradually joined in with Coral, much to the surfer girl's relief.
"Is that what you call a song?" Victoria asked, speaking up just as Coral had finished singing her line. The little girl with ebony hair wasn't quite so convinced that Coral was teaching them how to sing correctly, she'd heard songs on the radio and they sounded nothing like what Coral was saying. And the crease between her eyebrows was all the proof the 60s girl needed to realise that. "Do, re, mi, fa, so and so on?"
"Well, no. Do, re, mi, fa, so and so on are only the tools we use to make a song," Coral explained, hoping to get the girl's attention back. "So once we have these notes in our heads, we can sing a million different tunes."
"How?" Nick asked, slightly confused once more.
"By mixing them up!" Coral exclaimed. "Listen."
Coral: "So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re"
"Can you try that?" Coral asked the children. Her little tune didn't seem too complicated so it wouldn't be very hard for the children to copy her.
Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re"
"Yeah, you're getting it!" Coral grinned, pleased that her teaching was working. "How about this?"
Coral: "So, do, la, ti, do, re, do"
Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So, do, la, ti, do, re, do"
"Now let's put them together," Coral instructed, a beaming smile spreading across her face as the children sung with her.
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re
So, do, la, ti, do, re, do"
"But it doesn't mean anything" Victoria said, her eyebrows creasing together again.
"That's why we put in words," Coral explained. "One word for every note. Like this."
Coral: "When you know the notes to sing
You can sing most anything"
"Hang on, you said that you used one word for every note," Victoria said, interrupting Coral for the third time.
"Yeah, I did," Coral agreed, trying not to lose her temper with the girl.
"But when you sang 'anything' you were using up three notes for one word," Victoria said.
"Oh, I guess I did. But that's ok, sometimes you do that when you sing," Coral grinned, watching Victoria's face go blank for a second before it broke into a smile. "There's no rules."
"Cool," Harvey breathed.
"Yes, Harvey, very cool," Coral chuckled, watching the other ten year olds giggle away. "Now let's put it all together," Coral continued, grabbing the children's attention once more as they all started to sing again.
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "When you know the notes to sing
You can sing most anything"
Coral, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Do, a deer, a female deer" (Lucy: "Do")
As the others all went back to singing the main part of the song, Lucy jumped to her feet and held the note she'd originally shouted out, making Coral laugh at how eager she was.
Coral, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Re, a drop of golden sun" (Lucy & Leah: "Re")
Leah jumped up beside Lucy as the next line came up and the pair held the note together. This trend seemed to carry on for the rest of the chorus part, with each child jumping up to join in with the original note that they'd shouted out.
Coral, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Mi, a name I call myself" (Lucy, Leah & Victoria: "Mi")
Coral, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Fa, a long long way to run" (Lucy, Leah, Victoria & Harvey: "Fa")
Coral, Nick & Zoë: "So, a needle pulling thread" (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey & Leslie: "So")
Coral & Zoë: "La, a note to follow so" (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie & Nick: "La")
Coral: "Ti, a drink with jam and bread (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Ti")
That will bring us back to do"
Coral jumped to her feet last, and quickly figured out that all of the children were now stood in a line. So she started at Lucy and walked along to Zoë, tapping each child on their head in turn and making them sing 'their' note.
Lucy: "Do"
Leah: "Re"
Victoria: "Mi"
Harvey: "Fa"
Leslie: "So"
Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti"
Coral: "Do, do"
Once she'd reached Zoë, she realised that no one was the 'do' on the other end, resulting in her just tapping her own head twice and singing the note before going back down the line in reverse.
Zoë: "Ti"
Nick: "La"
Leslie: "So"
Harvey: "Fa"
Victoria: "Mi"
Leah: "Re"
Coral liked this little game that she'd created, and the children did too judging by the way that they were giggling. So Coral decided to change it up a bit and tap the children's heads at random and see what tune she could create.
Lucy: "Do"
Victoria: "Mi, mi, mi"
Leslie: "So, so"
Leah: "Re"
Harvey: "Fa, fa"
Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti, ti"
Lucy: "Do"
Victoria: "Mi, mi, mi"
Leslie: "So, so"
Leah: "Re"
Harvey: "Fa, fa"
Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti, ti"
Coral motioned for the children to continue the singing pattern as she sung a different part of the song, a method of showing them that it didn't always have to be the same tune sung at one time.
Coral: "When" (Lucy: "Do"
Victoria: "Mi, mi")
Coral: "You" (Victoria: "Mi"
Leslie: "So, so")
Coral: "Know" (Leah: "Re"
Harvey: "Fa, fa")
Coral: "The" (Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti, ti")
Coral: "Notes" (Lucy: "Do"
Victoria: "Mi, mi")
Coral: "To" (Victoria: "Mi"
Leslie: "So, so")
Coral: "Sing" (Leah: "Re"
Harvey: "Fa, fa"
Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti, ti")
Coral: "You" (Lucy: "Do"
Victoria: "Mi, mi")
Coral: "Can" (Victoria: "Mi"
Leslie: "So, so")
Coral: "Sing" (Leah: "Re"
Harvey: "Fa, fa")
Coral: "Most" (Nick: "La"
Zoë: "Ti, ti")
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Anything!"
Coral and the seven children all started to march around the playground area, continuing to sing at the tops of their voices with huge smiles on their faces. This was the most fun that most of those children had had in a long time and they were thoroughly enjoying every second of their 'singing lesson'.
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Do, a deer, a female deer
Re, a drop of golden sun
Mi, a name I call myself
Fa, a long long way to run"
When they sang the line about running, most of the children broke into a sprint across the concrete, giggling away as Coral brought up the rear.
Coral: "So, a needle pulling thread" (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "A needle pulling thread")
Coral was stood at the back of the group so when she sang, the seven children all turned around and copied the end of her phrase before whipping back around again.
Coral: "La, a note to follow so (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "A note to follow so")
Ti, a drink with jam and bread" (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Jam and bread")
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "That will bring us back to…"
The children all clustered around Coral again as they changed their pattern.
Coral: "Do (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So, do")
Re (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "La, fa")
Mi (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Mi, do")
Fa (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Re")
So (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So, do")
La (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "La, fa")
Ti (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "La, so, so, fa, mi, re")
Ti do-oh-oh (Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do")
Coral, Lucy, Leah, Victoria, Harvey, Leslie, Nick & Zoë: "So do!"
The song ended with a triumphant smile from Coral and a cheer from the seven children. All seven of them started to babble away to each other with excited grins on their faces as Coral locked eyes with Lugnut from across the playground. The biker just narrowed his eyes at Coral, but the surfer girl returned it with a smile and a shrug. However, the distraction for Lugnut caused a soccer ball to go flying into his side, making him wince and causing a little boy to shout something at him. Coral smirked at the sight and let out a tiny laugh, but something caused her to be brought back to reality; someone was calling her name. As she turned around she noticed that that person was Brady, who was stood at the gate that was set into the fence, which surrounded the playground. "Hi, Brady!" she grinned, skipping over to the gate to greet the blonde.
"Hi, Coral," Brady sighed, shooting the 60s girl a smile.
"What's that?" Coral asked, pointing at the blue plastic box with a handle on top in Brady's hands.
"It's Zack's lunch, he left it at home, could you give it to him, please?" Brady asked, handing the box over to Coral.
"Sure," Coral smiled.
"How's it going then?" Brady asked.
"How's what going?" Coral asked, totally oblivious to what Brady was trying to ask her.
"Looking after the class," Brady explained. "Is it going alright?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," Coral smiled, glancing over her shoulder at the group of school children from the class that she'd been controlling with Lugnut.
"Really? Great," Brady said, slightly in shock since he'd been expecting Coral to say that it had gone terribly. He hadn't had the biggest faith in the pair of bickering Wet Side Story cast members. "Is there anything you need before I go?" Brady continued.
"Actually yes," Coral said, an idea suddenly popping into her head. "Do you have any instruments that I could borrow?"
"Why? Do you want to teach the kids how to play songs as well as sing?" Brady chuckled.
"How'd you know?" Coral asked, topping her head to the side in confusion.
"I did just see the majority of your song with them," Brady said, motioning to the clump of seven excitable school children stood a few feet behind Coral.
"Oh, did you like it?" Coral grinned, quickly glancing back at the children before looking back at Brady.
"Yeah, I guess so," Brady chuckled, before checking the time on his phone. "I'd better be going, I'll see if Mack has any instruments but I think that all she'd got is a violin from when she played it the 4th grade," he continued.
"A violin? Seriously?" Coral asked, more pleased than Brady had expected her to be.
"Yeah, but I'll have a look for other stuff, I'll drop it off here at lunch time," Brady explained, just finishing his sentence before the school bell started to ring.
"Ok, thanks! See you later!" Coral called as she turned to leave.
"Have fun," Brady chuckled, watching Coral skip over to Lugnut, who just rolled his eyes at the surfer girl. Were those two really going to bicker the whole time that they were working together? Or would some sort of miracle take place?
I hope you enjoyed it! I know that the chapters recently have been very sectioned, like it's only a few select characters per chapter, but I promise that that's going to be evened out soon, just wait it out, please. I'm trying to improve!
The song that I used in this chapter is called Do-Re-Mi and it's from the Sound Of Music. There are lots of different arrangements for this song and I just chose the one that my school used when we put on the production, I just wanted to let you know in case you tried to find the exact version and got confused. But they're all pretty similar. :)
Thank you so much for the seven reviews I got since I last updated! That's insane! I can't thank you enough! I love reading all of your reviews because they always make me smile and I love hearing that you're enjoying the story!
Thank you AquaDestinysEmbrace, DynamicGiraffe, DisneyChannelLover, Maddie, RossLynch4ever and MyraJames (who left two reviews)! Don't hesitate to leave a suggestion if you think of one, I still want to hear them and I want to know what you enjoy reading. Thank you MyraJames for your suggestion, I'll make sure to listen to the song when I get the chance and see if I can fit it in anywhere. :)
Also, I just wanted to say that even though I already had this chapter's idea planned out, zina1412 suggested that Coral and Lugnut should teach the children to sing and that I should use this song. So thank you zina1412! Your idea was great! And even if you've left a suggestion that hasn't appeared in the story yet, I've got it planned out for a later chapter, I promise! And this story is going to be pretty long so don't worry, it'll be in there at some point!
And another thing! Two of my friends on here, DynamicGiraffe and RossLynch4ever have recently updated their stories so it would mean the world to me, and them I'm sure, if you read them and left a review. They're both such lovely people and their stories are both incredible so please go and check them out! :)
I know I say this all the time (if you're reading this then let me know what you think of Teen Beach 2 if you've seen it, but please don't leave any spoilers! And if you haven't seen it yet then just let me know how excited you are to see it) but I want to say thank you to everyone who sends me PMs, leaves reviews and is just generally supportive of my stories because you all mean the world to me and I want you to know that I'm always here for you, feel free to send me a PM, I'll always reply! But I think that you're all absolutely wonderful and you all put a huge smile on my face!
Thank you for reading!
-cherrygorilla