Chapter 3
"She did what!?" Autumn exclaims.
"You heard me! Rachel sent that girl to a crack house because she felt threatened by her singing abilities!" Ben explains.
"That's insane!" I say.
"Forget Stuck up sweater lady. She should be called psycho sweater lady!" Thaddeus says, trying to be witty.
I give him a pity laugh. "Good one Thad."
His chest swells up in pride. "Anytime Ella."
I hope not. Was all I could think.
"If she sent Sunshine to a crack house, how is she not suspended?" I ask, continuing our earlier conversation.
"Because she supposedly has 'seen the error of her ways.'" Ben explains.
"Well that's stupid." I continue.
"Preach it sister." Ben exclaims.
"Well guys," Autumn says, "Thaddeus and I are going to the library, see you later."
Thaddeus's cheeks turn pink. "S-see you later." He says while Autumn drags him off.
Ben and I stare after them. "You don't think?" I ask Ben trailing off.
"No way... Right?" He says confused.
"I don't know I mean Thad's awkwardness, her enthusiasm."
"But Autumn is always happy and Thaddeus is always awkward." He reasons.
"They would be cute though." I explain.
"I suppose." Ben says thoughtfully. "#OTP! Anyways lucky for you I found a video of him singing on my phone."
"Is this about Kurt again? Ben, you're starting to scare me."
"Shhh its only hero worship."
"That's not helping you." I say.
"Shut up and put an ear bud in." He says while shoving an ear bud into my hand.
Once we were done watching the video of Kurt singing some song I didn't know I turn to Ben. "Dude." Was all I could say.
"Dude." He replys
"Oh my goodness Jesus the savior."
"Preach and testify!" He says with a goofy grin.
"That was great!"
"Tis why I bestowed it upon you." He says.
"So did you like stalk him or something?" I ask.
"Oh my gosh Ella! It's just one video." He laughs.
"It was just a question!" I defend.
"No man, I just needed proof in case someone questions me."
"Wow. Just wow. ... Hey Ben," I begin to ask "can you sing that high?"
"No, I'm like a baritone or something."
"Cool." I say, having no idea what that meant.
"What about you?" He asks.
"What about me?"
He looks at me flatly. "What is your range?" He makes it sound simple.
"Umm..." I say, thinking about it. "I have no idea."
He looks at me in now surprise. "How do you not know?"
"The only time I sing is with you guys in Thad's car. Well I guess that's more like screaming but still."
"No!" He says dramatically.
"Yes!" I say, copying his voice. "I'm just too busy playing instruments to concern myself with anything like that."
"Can't concern yourself?" He questions with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," I reply "I'm a musician, not a singer."
"But how do you know if you've never done it?" He reasons.
"I just do." I attempt.
"Sing to me."
"What?"
"Serenade my ear holes."
"That sounds messed up."
"Ugh, just sing woman!"
"No way! We're in the middle of lunch."
"Come on." He wines.
"Let me eat my government funded food in peace." He gives me a puppy dog look and I sigh. "Ben, I don't even know how to sing."
He looks shocked. "How have you never sang in the whole fifteen years of your life?"
"I just haven't. Like I said, I play music I don't sing it."
"I can't decide if you're dedicated to instruments or if you just live a sad life."
I roll my eyes. "Thanks." I say flatly.
And with that the bell rings.
We were off to the side of the choir room, as usual, waiting for the glee club to decide what the lesson should be for this week. By now I've learned to just ignore why they're doing the lesson and to just focus on the artist or song genre that they were using. Right now they were trying to convince Mr. S- something… that they should do Britney Spears and Ben looked like he was about to explode out of happiness.
"Control yourself." I said to him.
"Shut up! Britney is an inspiration, if you don't like it then get out!" He told me off. The fact that he said that with a straight face amazed me.
"You know Ben. Sometimes I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're just pulling my leg."
"I do not tug on legs when it comes to Britney."
"Understood."
"Fabulous."
"Now guys, we are not doing Brittney and that's final." said the glee director.
Ben looked like he was about to cry so I awkwardly patted his shoulder. Then Britney raised her hand and started to rant about how Britney Spears stole her identity of something.
A few days went by and Kurt kept insisting that the glee club do Britney. This made Ben ecstatic. "Finally," he said "someone is defending Britney!"
"Ben I think you need to calm down." I say quietly.
"No way, do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for the glee club to do Britney? So long! It would be awesome to play her songs at the ensembly!"
"Ben chill, quit being a peasant."
Ben pauses. "Peasant?"
"Peasant." I confirm.
"Ella, I worry about you."
"As you should."
"Should we ask Brad after class?" I suggest.
"OMG Ella YAS."
"I'm only doing this so you'll shut up."
"None the less #Praise!"
"Okay…" And with that we dropped the subject and stood awkwardly at the side of the room. During class though Kurt got into an argument with Mr. S-something. It was pretty awkward for everyone else in the room but I couldn't help but agree with him. Mr. S has always been pretty up tight but lately he seemed even more so. Sometimes I honestly think that the glee director picks songs and genres that he likes and not the glee students. It's a bit annoying but he has been getting better at it. I heard he let the glee club do Lady Gaga and Madonna at one point so that's something. I just wish he'd let everyone do Britney. I know Ben really likes her and would love to play at least one of her songs and the thought of him getting disappointed kind of made me sad. Although Ben is a bit older than me, his maturity level made him seem like a little brother. Though if anyone were to ask him I can almost promise that'd he'd say he were the older sibling.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Kurt yelling at Mr. whatshisface, "Quit being so friggin uptight all the time!"
"I'll see you in the office Kurt." Mr. whoseit said in probably the most serious tone I've ever heard him use.
After Kurt left the room not much else was said. I don't think anyone has ever seen Kurt lash out in the way he just did before. It just kind of came out of no where. I guess he's just as in love with Britney as Ben. … I ship it. I mean who wouldn't?
It's been a couple days since Kurt's outburst and he's toned down a bit with the whole 'Britney' thing, but that doesn't mean he's given up. I have to hand it to Kurt for being so persistent. It's pretty impressive in all honesty. But something about Mr. Shew? Shoe? Sue? No, that's not it. … Mr. Showe? Oh I don't know! Something about Mr. S-guy seems different; that's all the info needed. Long story short we get to play Brittney. Something in Mr. SingTeacherDude's personal life must be pretty out of whack to be giving him these mood swings.
At this point in time though I couldn't care less because we get to do Toxic, which is probably my favorite song by her. I'm pretty much fangirling over the violin part.
I can't help but notice that as we are practicing for the assembly that Mr. GleeClub is really getting into it. Which just so happens to be creeping Brad out a bit. He's looking pretty uncomfortable. Though, he's not the only one, most of the band kids, including myself, have their eyes glued to the music. Now that I think about it all of us had our eyes fixed on the music, not most but all. The glee students seem completely oblivious to it oddly enough. I wonder if this is normal for show choir?
"OMG guys! Did you see Mr. Schuester? He was totally getting into it" Autumn says hyperly but then slowly scrunches up her face. "It was totally weird."
"You're telling me?" Thadeous replies, mirroring her expression.
"The thing that gets me is how oblivious the glee kids seemed to be towards the subject." Ben questions.
"Literally what I was thinking." I tell Ben, earning myself a high five.
Randomly though, Thadeous checks his watch and shows it to Autumn. She gasps and turns to us. "We've got to go guys! TTYL!" she rushes.
But before they both fly out the door Ben stops them. "Just wait you two." He warns.
"You guys have been ditching us all this week." I exclaim.
"You two aren't going out… Are you?" Ben finishes in a teasing tone.
Silence.
"No!" We say together. "Why didn't you tell us?" If the situation weren't this, I don't know, … important, I would have scolded Ben for reading my mind or something.
"S-sort of. I m-mean it's n-nothing t-too serious y-yet." Thadeous stutters.
"Yet?" Ben questions with a smirk.
"W-well I-I mean." Thadeous attempts with a sever case of tomato face.
"What Thadeus means to say," Autumn says while wrapping her arm around him, "is that we really like each other and things are going great." She grins.
"Yeah but you could have told us." I say, slightly hurt. "We are your best friends." I never completely understood why people in movies and junk got upset in situations like this until now. It hurts when someone you have always been so open with keeps something from you. As if they don't trust you.
Thadeous frowns. "Oh come on. It's not like we're the only ones who are hiding things."
Ben and I just look at them in confusion.
"Guys." Autumn says quietly. "let's be real here."
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Ben says honestly and I nod in agreement.
Thadeous looks at us flatly, no longer stuttering. "It's obvious that you two are going out!"
I slowly turn my head to look at Ben with disgust. As it turns out, he was doing the same to me. "Ben is like a brother guys." I reason.
"Like a twin brother." Ben adds.
"A twin brother who thinks a lot like me." I continue.
"We're like one mind." We say together, causing us both to jump. I swear, Ben and I have a day every few months where we say the same thing non stop. Unintentionally of course. It looks like it is one of those days.
"Pretending that terrifying event never happened, do you really expect us to believe that there aren't at least any sort of feelings between you two. I mean you guys still have sleepovers for crying out loud!"
"Hey Ella and I's families are practically one. Our parents consider us cousins or something." Ben elaborates.
"I literally call his dad uncle." I add.
Thadeous once again looks at his watch. Who still wears watches? "We got to go guys. We have a reservation at BreadSticks."
Autumn smiles, already forgetting our semi serious conversation. "Yay!" And without further delay they rush out the door.
"I love them both to death but there is no way." Ben says, turning to me.
"Agreed." I pause. "Do you think it's cause we link arms sometimes?"
"Maybe. I mean if two girls do it no one bats an eye. If two guys do it, depending on who they are, people would think that they're just being idiots. But if a girl and a guy link arms.." He trails off as Finn and Rachel walk by, with their arms linked. This causes us both to groan once they walk past us.
"Maybe we should cut back on the arm linking for a bit." Ben suggests.
I sigh but nod.
