Maybe You're Going to Be the One That Saves Me Chapter 4: Right Side Up or Upside Down, a glee fanfic

Darren rose with the sun the next morning, feeling invigorated. He made a cup of coffee and sat on the couch, sipping it as he looked out the window at the blanket of pure white, newly fallen snow. From the looks of it, it had been falling most of the night. It might even be enough for a snow day.

Darren found the television remote buried between two cushions of the couch and flipped channels until he found a local news station. Sure enough, the bottom of the screen was scrolling with a list of school closures. He waited impatiently until they got to PS 21, pumping his fist in victory. Snow days weren't something he'd ever experienced growing up in San Francisco and he was only a little embarrassed to admit he turned into a six year old when school was cancelled. He rationalized it by telling himself that adults needed unexpected holidays from work too.

The timing couldn't have been better though, because what Darren needed to do more than anything was come up with a winning idea to save his choir: something that would help him raise $2,500 in less than two weeks. He stood, padding to the kitchen and throwing a few frozen waffles into the toaster before hunting down a pad of paper and a pen to jot down notes. Once he had his breakfast and notepad, he curled back up on the couch, wrapping a blanket around his shoulders like a cape to ward off the chill in his apartment.

Darren stared at the empty pad of paper for a solid ten minutes before he was ready to concede defeat. He was completely stymied, because most of the typical fundraisers wouldn't cut it in this situation. There was simply no way that a bake sale, car wash, or raffle would earn enough money. Maybe in some communities it would, but Darren knew that most of the kids at his school lived just above the poverty line so their parents wouldn't have the disposable income to donate. More importantly, he wanted a fundraiser that involved music and the kids in his choir in some meaningful way, but he was fairly certain that it would be illegal to take thirty kids to busk outside the subway.

He was thoroughly stumped and the person he usually relied on in these situations was Chuck. Even when Chuck couldn't give Darren the answer, just bouncing out ideas off of him was usually enough to get his creative juices flowing. He glanced at the clock, noting that it was just after 7 am. He knew Chuck was touring, but he'd probably be up by now. Knowing that there was no time to waste, he picked up the phone and quickly dialed Chuck's number.

"Mhhmff, Darren?" Chuck mumbled into the phone after the fourth ring, sounding disoriented.

"Yeah Chuck, it's me," Darren replied. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's 4 am," Chuck said, sounding more awake now. "Of course you woke me up. Is everything okay?"

"Oh shit," Darren winced. "Sorry, I thought you were on the east coast right now. But yeah, everything's fine. Go back to sleep."

"Eh, I'm up now." Darren could hear the rustling of sheets as Chuck sat up. "But no, I'm in LA at the moment. You don't usually call me at 7 am on a weekday though. Don't you have to work?"

"Snow day."

"Ahh, I see. Lucky you..."

"Yeah, it was good timing, because I've got a lot to do and figure out. But seriously Chuck, we can talk about this later. You should sleep."

"It's fine, Darren. We opened for a band yesterday, so I was back on the bus and asleep by 10 pm. And we don't go on until 9 tonight, so I can sleep more later if I need to. So tell me what's up..."

Darren sighed heavily, trying to decide where to begin. "Well long story short, our school is in trouble. They are way over budget, to the tune of about two million dollars."

"Yikes," Chuck winced. "They are that deep in the hole? Are they closing the school or...?"

"No, thankfully not. They had some budget specialist guy come in. He figured out that he could make up the deficit but cutting all after-school activities and cutting the schedule down to only one elective course per grade level."

"So what does that mean for you?"

"Uhh, it would mean no more choir, among other things. It also means that I'd be teaching about half the classes I am now."

Chuck was quiet for a moment, trying to take it all in. "Shit, I'm really sorry, Darren. That sucks."

"It does, but you know me, 'never say die' and all that. I met with the budget guy, Chris. He's really cool actually, once you get to know him. But anyways, I convinced him to let me try to raise the money needed to fund the choir by myself. It's about $2,500 per nine week period, just to keep it going..." Darren trailed off. "That's where you come in."

"You want me to sponsor your choir?" Chuck asked, sounding confused.

"No no, that's not what I meant at all," Darren reassured. "I mean if I scraped together every spare penny I had or maybe took out a loan from Mom and Dad, I could probably come up with the money by myself. But it wouldn't matter, because Chris said it had to come from legitimate fundraising activities."

"Ahh, I gotcha."

"Yeah, I'm just stumped because a simple bake sale or car wash isn't going to cut it in this situation. I need something bigger, preferably something that involves music and the kids themselves."

"You need a benefit concert," Chuck said, as if the answer was obvious.

"A benefit? I don't know Chuck, we've done concerts before but admission was always free. Even when we left donation bucket at the front doors, we usually never earned more than $200," Darren said, unsure.

"You'd have to come up with a way to market this concert and make it special to get people in the doors. Plus, you'd sell tickets for admission this time. Where do you typically give your concerts?"

"The school auditorium. It's got a big stage with risers and decent acoustics," Darren answered.

"And how many people does it seat?" Chuck asked.

"About 250."

"Perfect, so you sell tickets for $15 each and then you'd just need to sell - hang on a sec, it's too early for math, I'm going to use the calculator on my phone." Darren chuckled, waiting patiently while Chuck did a quick calculation. "Okay, you'd need to sell 167 tickets to raise enough money. That's totally doable."

"You think?" Darren questioned, feeling a surge of hope, because Chuck was right, this just might work. "My only concern is that the families in this area don't have a ton of extra money, so that might limit ticket sales..."

"Brooklyn's a big place though," Chuck soothed. "Sure, some parts of your neighborhood are impoverished, but Williamsburg is just down the road and there are plenty of people there with money to burn. Plus, I'm sure the families of all the kids that are performing will come and assuming they each bring two people, that's what – 50 or 60 tickets sold right off the bat?"

"Yeah, about that," Darren agreed, thinking hard. Chuck bringing up Williamsburg had sparked an idea. He hated to stereotype, but the area was frequented by people who liked to be in on emerging talent, especially anything related to the indie music scene. The kids already sang plenty of popular music, not just top 40 stuff you'd hear on the radio, but an eclectic mix that included plenty of indie bands. But still, selling the tickets would be a lot easier if they had some sort of special draw or maybe a special guest?

"Hey Chuck, just out of curiosity, when does your band's tour end?" Darren waited nervously, hoping that the timing would suit what he had in mind,

"We just have two more shows. We're playing tonight in Los Angeles and then tomorrow we fly back to New York for our final show at the Bowery on Sunday."

"And how much time do you have off after that?" Darren continued.

"A couple of weeks. We're going to record some new tracks in a studio in Manhattan and Lucy's going to meet me here so we can make a vacation out of it."

"That's perfect! Okay, so I think I have an idea about how to market this benefit concert, but I'm definitely going to need your help..."

Darren spent most of the three day weekend hard at work, trying to nail down all the details of the benefit concert so he'd be ready to present his plans to Chris on Monday. Chuck had been quick to agree that his band, Freelance Whales, would perform with kids in concert, giving Darren his first real 'name' to advertise. They made a list of other recognizable bands or solo artists that either of them had a personal connection with, and by Sunday they had a list of acts that agreed to be part of the benefit for free. Darren lined up his friends and fellow Michigan alums, Charlene Kaye and Theo Katzman and Chuck reached out to Kevin Ray, a friend of his, who talked his band, Walk the Moon, into appearing.

The hard part was figuring out the scheduling of the event, trying to balance the different availabilities of four different up-and-coming artists with Darren's looming deadline. In the end, he could only find one day when everyone's schedules aligned and naturally it was day thirteen of the two week period Chris had given for raising the money. It was risky, because if they didn't sell enough tickets to the show, there wouldn't be time to try something else to raise the remaining funds. His choir would sink or swim solely on how well the benefit concert did. Darren just hoped the school auditorium would be available that night for their venue.

Once he had the concert date and performers nailed down, it was time to start thinking about a setlist and song arrangements. He wanted the students to perform one song with each of the bands and then a closing number by themselves. That meant no fewer than five new songs to arrange and rehearse in a week, with only very limited rehearsal time with the bands. It was asking a lot of his kids and even more of himself, and Darren was exhausted just thinking about it.

To keep himself sane, Darren tried to make a list of everything that needed to be done in the upcoming days to keep himself on track. He wasn't the greatest at the small details, so he figured Chris would have plenty to add to his list. Chris' assistant Ashley emailed him as promised on Sunday and they set up a meeting for 3 pm the next day. Darren figured that the best demonstration he could give Chris would be to see what he was planning live, so he arranged to have Chuck and the band come to rehearse with the choir at 3:30.

Darren stayed up way too late that night putting together a short presentation to show Chris the basics of the benefit for his approval. He also rearranged "Hannah," one of Freelance Whale's most popular songs, to make it suitable for his choir. Exhausted, he finally climbed into bed just after 1 am. But sleep didn't come easy that night, unfortunately. Darren tossed and turned, his mind buzzing with all the possible what-ifs. There was so much riding on him and so many different ways it could go wrong: the auditorium could be booked for the date they needed, one or more of the bands could back out, the advertising could fail and the turnout could suck, Chris could say no to his idea. The list was endless and Darren couldn't control the outcome. All he could do was wait and hope.

"Hey sweetie," Ashley greeted Chris, shortly after 8 am. "Did you have a good weekend?"

"Hmm?" said Chris, looking up from his computer. "Oh, yeah it was pretty good. Relaxing. What about you?"

"Not bad – I spent most of it inside thanks to all the snow." Ashley held up a mug. "Want me to grab you some coffee?" she offered.

"Already got some, so I'm all set, thanks. I've been here since 7 to get a jumpstart on all the emails and work I missed out on since they cancelled school Friday."

"Okay, well, I'm very much in need of caffeine at the moment, so let me grab some for myself and then we can go over your schedule for the day. Sound good?"

"Yep, I'll be here," Chris smiled. He continued to work through his inbox methodically while he hummed a tune that had been in his head since Thursday. He was so thoroughly engrossed in what he was doing that he was completely startled when Ashley spoke up suddenly.

"What's up with you?" she asked. "You're acting really weird."

"Jesus, Ash, you scared me," Chris admonished her. "How long have you been standing there watching me anyway?"

"About a minute..." she observed coolly.

"Uhh okay, that's not creepy at all. But anyways, weren't you and I going to go over my schedule for today?"

Ashley rolled her eyes, dropping the topic for the time being. She pulled out a large day-planner, taking a seat on the other side of Chris' desk. "So today's not too bad, for a Monday. You've got a ten o'clock meeting with building maintenance about some heating and cooling upgrades that need to be done ASAP and a lunch meeting with the board of education from twelve to two. Then at three, you're meeting with Darren Criss from the music department again..."

"Wait, what?" Chris perked up immediately, his cheeks flushing against his will. "When did that get scheduled?"

"I saw your email about needing to set up a progress report meeting this week so I emailed him over the weekend and he got back to me about it last night. Is that not okay?" Ashley asked, peering at him strangely.

"No, of course not," he reassured her, "I appreciate you taking the initiative in doing that over the weekend." He cleared his throat and rubbed at the side of his neck. "Were those all the meetings for today?"

"Yep," Ashley replied, continuing to stare at Chris with a wry smirk. "Okay seriously Chris, what the heck is going on with you and that guy?"

"What?" Chris asked, trying to appear confused. "I don't know what you're trying to imply, but I'm just overseeing his fundraising project..."

"You're blushing and c'mon Chris, anyone with eyes can tell he's gorgeous. How'd your meeting on Thursday go?"

"Can you at least close the door first?" Chris sighed wearily. "I don't need everyone in a ten mile radius hearing us."

Ashley quickly did as asked, sliding back into the chair and rubbing her hands together with excitement. "Okay, you're up. Tell me everything."

"There's not a whole lot to tell, Ash. We had a second meeting which went a lot better than the last one, thank god. He prepared a presentation and I could tell he put a lot of effort into it, so I agreed to give him a little bit more time to try to raise the funds for his choir. There, happy now?"

"Nope, because you're not telling me the whole story. I think you have feelings for him. When I came in this morning, you were quite literally whistling while you worked and just a second ago you were humming some song. I haven't seen you in this good of a mood on a Monday in - I don't even know how long it's been, to be honest." Ashley looked expectantly at Chris, who folded his arms across his chest and stared back at him defiantly. "Did you get some this weekend?" she whispered.

"Ash!" Chris sputtered. "Of course not! That would be incredibly unprofessional of me and totally against the rules."

"I'll sit here all day if that's what it takes, Chris," Ashley warned. "Spit it out."

"Fine," Chris huffed out at last, slumping forward to rest his head atop his arms on the desk. "He invited me out to dinner on Thursday as a thank you. It was totally innocent, but he's a nice guy and we talked and got to know each other a little better."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Ashley gloated. "But can I just say how proud I am that you said yes and actually went out on a date with someone?"

"It wasn't a date. At least, that's what he said at the beginning of the night." Chris was silent for a second, mentally deliberating. On the one hand, Ashley was his best friend and he desperately needed someone to confide in. His pseudo-date with Darren had stirred up feelings and he was both elated and terrified by how to proceed. But on the other hand, Ashley was very prone to gossip and he was pretty sure she'd tell him to fuck the rules and go for it. Chris just wasn't sure if that was something he was prepared to do.

"Okay Ash, if I tell you something, will you swear to keep it completely to yourself? And more importantly, I need you promise to only bring it up when we're alone, okay?" Chris asked tentatively.

"Of course, sweetheart, I'll take it to my grave if that's what you want," she reassured.

"Well, like I said he invited me to dinner and walked to this cute little cafe a few blocks away. Apparently he's a regular there and he plays open mics and fills in when they have a band back out at the last minute or whatever. So of course, klutz that I am, I slipped on the ice outside and banged up my knee and elbow pretty badly. He scooped me up and helped me inside and basically played nursemaid to me. He insisted on being the one to clean up my elbow and put a bandaid on it and there was this weird moment where he was kind of holding my hand and really close to me and I thought he might kiss me?"

"Whoa..." Ashley said, eyes wide.

"Right? There was definitely tension and I don't know how to describe it except that there were sparks. But then we were interrupted by the waitress coming over to take our order. She ended up being someone who knew Darren pretty well and she talked him into playing a song. He went up there and dedicated the song to me like it was no big deal. He sang the entire song to me and it was just...wow. And this is all before we even got our food."

"Chris, he's so into you. He's got to be," Ashley reassured him. "No one would go to all that trouble unless they were."

"I'm not sure," Chris said, shaking his head. "It's complicated. He was a total jackass the first two times we met, so he might just be trying to suck up to me or use me or-"

"Chris, c'mon you can't honestly believe that," Ashley interrupted. "You're a catch. I'm sure he's crazy about you."

"I don't know that I'm a catch, compared to him," Chris mumbled, still unsure. He looked up at Ashley, shaking his head as if to clear the thought from his mind. "It doesn't matter, because even if we were both interested, it's against the rules to get involved while I'm still overseeing things here."

"Hon, people break that rule every day. Even if you aren't willing to go there, you'll be out of this school and onto the next in a month. I'm not trying to push, I just want what's best for you. You know that, right?" Ashley asked.

"I know, Ash. I know."

"He makes you happy. That's obvious, she said, smiling. "So I just want you to do one thing for me. You're going to see him this afternoon and probably a lot in the next week or two while you work on this project. So just keep one idea in the back of your head. Ask yourself: is he worth it? And if he is, you have to go for it, consequences be damned, okay?"

Chris nodded solemnly, considering what Ashley had said. It was a simple question, but it also felt huge and he knew it was all he'd be able to think about all week long.

"Hey," Darren greeted Chris warmly that afternoon, face lighting up the second he entered the room. "It's good to see you," he continued, pulling Chris in for a hug without a second thought.

Chris allowed himself to be led into Darren's arms for a long, lingering hug, his face heating up as Darren squeezed him tightly. "You too," Chris managed once they parted. "Did you have a good weekend?"

"Busy – I spent most of the weekend coming up with the fundraising idea I'm about to present to you. I really hope you like it, because I'm afraid I don't have a Plan B this time," he chuckled nervously.

"I'm sure it will be great," Chris reassured. "Where do you want me to sit?"

"Oh, anywhere in that front row is good," Darren replied. "Okay, so I spent a lot of time thinking through various approaches. I had to rule out typical fundraising activities like a bake sale or car wash or raffle, because they were unlikely to earn the amount of money we need. I also thought it was important to have the kids directly involved in some way. So what I came up with was a benefit concert..." Darren paused for a moment, giving a Chris a chance to weigh in.

"Have you held choir concerts or recitals before?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, but those were usually just for the kids' parents or the school and not designed to raise money. We've never charged admission before."

"Gotcha," Chris nodded. "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, please continue."

"Well, I had some of the same questions you had: namely how are we going to get people in the door and convince them to buy tickets. I wanted to come up with something that would make it worth the community's while. So that's when I came up with idea of inviting some special guests to perform with the kids."

Chris looked up from where he'd been scribbling notes. "What kind of special guests? Do you have any potential guests in mind?"
"Even better," Darren smiled proudly. "I've already gotten four groups to tentatively agree to perform, assuming you can accommodate me on the date. But I'm getting ahead of myself – let me back up. I started by calling my brother, who's in an indie band called Freelance Whales. Have you ever heard of them?"

"I don't think so," Chris admitted. "Sorry, I'm more of a top 40/whatever's playing on Pandora kind of guy."

"No worries," Darren reassured, "they're what I'd probably call an up-and-coming band, but they're really good. And more importantly, I think they'll sell, especially in areas like Williamsburg where people are..."

"...hipsters?" Chris finished for Darren.

"I was going to say 'into the indie music scene' but yes, that works too," Darren laughed.

"You said you had 4 special guests?"

"Yep, the other three are Walk the Moon and two solo artists I know from college: Charlene Kaye and Theo Katzman."

"Oh, Walk the Moon? I'm pretty sure I've heard of them!" Chris exclaimed. "They sing that song – oh crap, I can't think of the name, but..." Chris hummed the chorus, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, that's them." When you are close to me, I shiver, Darren sang in a falsetto, and it took every bit of willpower Chris possessed to keep from doing exactly that.

Darren held his gaze for a long moment, reigniting the flutters in his stomach that had stubbornly persisted since Ashley told him he'd be meeting with Darren today. Chris looked away at last, trailing his fingers across his neck and collarbone as he often did when he was nervous, missing Darren's hungry look as he tracked his hand's movement.

"So you have a date in mind?" Chris asked, changing the subject to get them back on solid ground. Together they quickly confirmed that the school auditorium would be available for the date Darren needed, meaning the benefit concert could go forward. From there they moved on to the marketing strategies and Chris was impressed to see that Darren had already mocked up flyers for his approval. He'd thought of everything, it appeared, and Chris couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for Darren. Against all odds, Chris was starting to believe that he might pull it off and raise the money just in the nick of time.

"So I have one final surprise for you," Darren announced, just as their planning was drawing to a close.

"Oh yeah?" Chris grinned. "And just what might that be?"

"Well, I wasn't banking on you being so sold on my fundraising approach from the start - thanks for that again, by the way – so I thought a little audio/visual presentation might help convince you. That's why my brother's band will be here in 5 minutes to rehearse with the kids who are spying on us as we speak," Darren said, gesturing to the door, where several kids were peeking through the glass and watching them intently.

"Wow," Chris said, momentarily rendered speechless. "How long have they been watching us?"

"About five minutes..."

"Of course they have," Chris giggled nervously, somehow feeling caught out, even though he'd only been having an entirely innocent chat with Darren.

"So what do you say – do you have a few minutes to stay and watch us rehearse?" Darren asked, looking hopeful.

"It's a sweet offer, Darren, but you've already convinced me of your plan. I'm all in. And I wouldn't want to intrude..."

"You wouldn't be intruding at all, Chris. I want you here, truly," Darren soothed. "Besides, I'd love for you to meet my brother."

Chris took a moment to register Darren's request. He wanted Chris to meet his brother? It was a lot to process, especially when Darren was peering at him with that pleading, puppy-eyed expression he wore so well. Chris thought back to his earlier conversation with Ashley and the words he'd promised to keep in the back of his mind. Was Darren worth it?

"Okay sure, I guess I can stay and watch for a few minutes," Chris said at last, his heart galloping in his chest as Darren beamed back at him.

"Awesome! Okay, how about you pull up a chair, up here by me," Darren directed, pointing to a spot near his piano, "while I go let the kids in and find Chuck and the rest of the band."

Chris nodded, doing as told and dragging a stool over to the corner near the piano. He sat down, his leg bouncing up and down nervously as a flood of kids entered the room, chattering excitedly with one another. Darren disappeared for a short while and Chris took the opportunity to straighten his tie and smooth down his hair, cursing Ashley for not letting him know ahead of time that he'd be meeting with Darren today so he could have picked a more suitable outfit.

While Chris was waiting, two small girls made their way up to him nervously, each clutching a piece of colored construction paper. "Mr. Chris?" the blonde girl said.

"That's me," he said, smiling encouragingly at them.

"Um, Mr. C said we should be really nice to you because you helped our choir?" she squeaked. "So Emma and I made these for you in art class," she managed, extending a homemade card.

"Oh my goodness!" Chris exclaimed. "That's so sweet of you. What's your name, honey?"

"Alexis," she answered, smiling shyly.

"Well Alexis, I just love your card," Chris said, opening it up to admire the flower drawings inside.

"I made one too!" Emma announced, thrusting her card into Chris' hand.

"It's beautiful," Chris cooed. "Thank you so much." Before he knew what was happening, Emma had thrown her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a hug. After a second's pause, he hugged back, eyes prickling with tears as he looked up to see that a queue had formed behind Emma, with most of the choir clutching cards or other small tokens of appreciation. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, turning his head to see Darren standing with a slightly shorter boy who looked an awful lot like him. They were both smiling at him approvingly. As Chris refocused his attention on the next student in line, eager to share his card, he could just make out Darren's conversation.

"Is that him?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, that's him. That's Chris," Darren answered, beaming.

"Okay guys, let's settle down!" Darren shouted. About half of the students refocused their attention on Darren, the rest still engrossed in checking out the instruments of the band members interspersed throughout the choir. Darren rolled his eyes fondly, exchanging a look with his brother.

"Hey Chuck, help me out please?" he requested, smiling gratefully as Chuck played three notes on the glockenspiel, causing the remaining students to snap to attention.

"Thank you!" he said. "Alright boys and girls, please help me give a warm P.S. 21 welcome to our special guests Freelance Whales and Mr. Colfer!" The children immediately broke into cheers and applause.

"Okay, we've only got an hour today to rehearse with the band, so let's make the most of it," he said. "Also just a heads up that we just learned the song in class today, so bear with us while we work out the rough spots."

"Everyone ready?" Darren asked one final time. "Okay Chuck, start us off then." He angled his piano bench just enough so that he could watch the wonder on his students' faces as Chuck began to play the opening notes to 'Hannah,' one of Darren's favorite songs off their first album. One by one, the other four bandmates began to join in, until it was Darren's turn to play a simple set of chords on the piano.

He stood up, showing the choir where to come in, sighing a little under his breath as they began to sing perfectly in tune. They'd come such a long way over the course of the semester and it blew his mind that they were able to pick up new music so quickly now.

Do me this solid
If you would pretty lady
Please grab your martini
And meet me on the balcony
I've prepared a light show
You could fake a melody
We could argue over where and when
The cymbal hits should be

Darren sang along with the choir happily, grinning when he glanced in Chris' direction and noticed that even he was grooving, bopping his head in time with the music.

Hannah takes the stairs
And I usually take the elevator
Every now and then she offers me
A lemon Now-and-Later
Please don't play the matchmaker
Please don't be a player hater
If you dig her recent work
Then you should go congratulate her

The kids really hit its stride as they began to sing the chorus. Darren looked out at the audience, watching as they began to mime the lyrics as they sang. Chuck was dancing in his seat as he played along, swaying back and forth with the two boys seated on either side of him. He glanced up at Darren and they exchanged a smile. Darren knew exactly what Chuck was thinking though, that the kids' energy and joy were infectious (which was totally true). It was by far his favorite job perk.

And if you're partial to the night sky
If you're vaguely attracted to rooftops
Hannah takes the stairs
Cause she can't tell
That it's a winding spiral case
Is she right side up
Or upside-down?

Darren turned his focus back to the piano, jamming out with the band for a little musical interlude, leading into the second verse. The kids knew exactly where to come in this time, making Darren grateful their frantic rehearsal earlier today had paid off.

So Hannah let your roots grow
Let your blue veins show
If I need to take a breath
Then you can take a trumpet solo
I'll work on the limbs if
You work on the torso and
If it gets to be too much
Then you can lend a helping hand

They repeated the chorus one last time, slowing down the tempo just slightly at the end. Darren did his best to direct with his body as he continued to pound the piano keys. He said a mental prayer, hoping that he didn't look as ridiculous as he felt, more than a little self-conscious knowing that Chris was sitting a few feet away (although hopefully not watching him).

"That was killer!" Darren shouted as the final notes died down, grinning widely as the choir room erupted in cheers.

"Not bad for a first run through," Judah complimented the students sitting in his row, exchanging high fives.

Darren looked out into the audience, mouthing a thank you to Chuck, who had his arms slung around the boys sitting nearest him, letting them take turns at hitting the glockenspiel keys.

He was startled by a warm hand on his shoulder. "Hey," Chris whispered. "I need to take off now, but I just wanted to tell you that the song was amazing. You've got something magical happening here..."

"I know, right?" Darren echoed, voice full of wonder. "I didn't expect things to turn out that well on our first run-through."

"Keep up the good work, okay?" Chris encouraged, squeezing Darren's shoulder, hand lingering. "And might I make one suggestion?"

"Yeah, of course – be my guest."

"You should film one of the run-throughs on your phone and post it on YouTube. It'll be the best free marketing you could possibly get. Just make sure you get permission from all the kids' parents before you post it online."

"That's a great idea," Darren gushed. "Thanks."

"My pleasure," Chris smiled, seeming reluctant to leave. "Okay, I guess I better go," he sighed.

"See you soon?" Darren asked hopefully.

"Can't wait."