In A Song

November 2nd

"All right, everyone, you can leave!" Mr. Folger drops the dry erase marker in the wake of the bell. "Except for Nichole, Artie, Thom, and Aria!"

I stop closing my binder is confusion. The others pause as well.

Once everyone leaves, Mr. Folger closes the door and says, "Will someone get that dear Australian boy named Collin here?"

I whip my phone out and text the dear Irish boy. Minutes later, Collin walks in casually and sits next to me.

"So, I got your Showcase registration forms in, and the administration of the event has added you to the performance agenda!" Mr. Folger says, a smile creeping on his lips.

I grin. "Yay!"

Aria raises her eyebrows. "And?"

The smile on the teacher's face disappears. "You five never seem to connect anymore."

I sneak a glance at Artie. His eyes dart back to Mr. Folger, and I have a small suspicion he was looking at me.

"Do you all practice regularly?" Mr. Folger asks.

We all shake our heads.

"Your assignment for the weekend-"

Artie groans.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Smith?"

He shakes his head. "No, I just thought we wouldn't have homework this weekend."

"This isn't homework," Mr. Folger says, annoyed. "Anyway, I would like you all to have a one hour practice session tomorrow. Have a parent sign a piece of paper, then bring it to class on Monday."

One hour with two people on my shit list? On one hand, we need to practice. Other hand - no. Just no.

"Now leave this classroom, and off to wherever you inhabit outside of school!" Mr. Folger shoos us all out with violent gestures.

"Tonight's the dance," Collin notes.

I nod. He wraps his arm around me and begins to walk me to my dorm.

"Did you get tickets?" I ask.

He pulls out two pieces of paper. "Yep."

I smile. "Bet it's gonna be fun."

He nods with his signature grin.

"You know," I start. "You never did tell me what you changed your song to."

The smile changes to a smirk. "And why should I tell you?"

"Because I have a right to know!" I say indignantly.

"Whatever." He thinks it's cute whenever I'm mad, for some obscene reason. I'm probably as menacing as a baby panda.

I pull some grass off the lawn and throw it at him. "Jerk!"

Collin laughs and picks a dead leaf off the sidewalk and throws it at me. It sticks in my hair.

Soon, it turns into a nature war. I end up throwing a lot of leaves at him and eventually I tackle him to the ground. I'm violent.

My stomach hurts from laughing too hard at nothing. I just lay there for a couple minutes, trying to regain a pattern of breathing and looking up at the cloudy sky. It's supposed to rain later.

I get up and lean on a nearby tree, underneath the bare branches.

Collin joins me, and smiles happily at me. "If you must know, the song I chose is Wanted. By Hunter Hayes."

I crinkle my eyes in confusion. "I've never heard it."

He pulls out his iPod and scrolls to the song. The quiet piano and guitar starts.

"You know I'd fall apart without you,

I don't know how you do what you do,

'Cause everything that don't make sense about me

Makes sense when I'm with you."

Collin begins to quietly sing along. He looks directly at me, and I bow my head and smile lightly, my cheeks flaming.

"Like everything that's green, girl, I need you,

But it's more than one and one makes two,

Put aside the math and logic of it,

You gotta know you're wanted too.

'Cause I wanna wrap you up,

Wanna kiss your lips,

I wanna make you feel wanted,

And I wanna call you mine,

Wanna hold your hand forever,

And never let you forget,

Yeah, I, I wanna make you feel wanted."

It's too much for me. The emotions overwhelm all sense of feeling or inhibition. All I know is that I love this boy right here. It's sappy and sweet and heartwarming and happy and cute all at the same time.

"It's perfect," I breathe. Then I feel a droplet on my nose. And another. It's raining. So much for later.

"It's raining," I say, as the drops multiply and cover me.

He raises his eyebrows at me. "No shit!"

I laugh. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go inside and out if this weather." I begin getting up.

He pulls on my arm. "Don't leave me, Five Cent."

I smile. "Fine, but I'm staying because I want to. Not you."

He makes a sad face. "I thought you loved me."

"Well, you must have thought wrong," I say teasingly, resting my head on his shoulder.

It rains even harder. After about two minutes, I've had enough. "Collin, I'm drenched. I'm going back inside now." I stand up.

"Wait," he says.

He wraps his arms around me, and we kiss.

It's a sweet little kiss in the rain. Now I get why everyone wants one. They're definitely mood enhancing.

After about fifteen seconds of standing there and getting soaked, Collin pulls away and says, "I have to go, or my dad will kill me. I'll pick you up later, Ms. Evans."

I giggle and blow him a kiss, before running to my room.

-----------------

Hello!

Bit of a filler chapter here. But it's cute.

Not much of an author'a note here. For the next two chapters, expect the dance and the rehearsal. Should be some pretty good drama in that last one.

Now you know my current song obsession. I cannot stop listening to Wanted. Hunter Hayes is just so perfect. :)

Next couple updates should be the next two Sundays. I'm actually staying up late just so I can write these. :P

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再见！ (bye in Chinese) -哎玛