In All Her Glory

•05. In-composure•

|Chapter Five|

Sharon's POV:

"Happy Monday, Dara!" someone shouted in the hallway as I walked into school.

I felt my lips pull back in a grimace. The students at this school were seriously crazy. Who in their right mind ever said Monday was happy?

Mondays represent facing the same failures of the last week. Your endeavours come back to remind you that they still exist. That's what I'd always thought.

I had come to school alone that morning. The school choir was organising an audition for new students that were interested in joining the choir.

I didn't know if I was interested. However, music had already been a part of me. The main reason why I had fled here was to become myself once again and let go of my painful past. Auditioning for the Prescott School Choir was a step in the right direction.

The auditions were to hold by 7am, which meant that I had to come to school earlier than the usual 8 o'clock.

I did not tell Dami I was going to audition for the choir. But I wasn't even sure I would get in as well. It'd been more than a year since I sang perfect music, I mean, something different from rap. My inspiration for singing seemed to have died along with my innocence. Now, I only listened to rap and senseless, unrhythmic hip-hop that didn't place any pressure on me to sing again.

Standing in front of the student choir leaders and the music teachers, my choice to sing Sia's Opportunity shocked and scared me in equal parts.

Kimberly and Kingsley Nana, the twins who were the choir leaders, looked at me with expectant smiles on their faces. My gut told me they used that smile, whether they were expectant or not.

"Opportunity? Nice choice. Let's hear you, Sharon," said Kimberly.

I closed my eyes and blew out a breath before clearing my throat.

If I failed at this, winning at becoming me again would not work.

"We're waiting," a masculine voice rumbled.

With a nervous breath, I let out the first note of the song.

•••

Assembly time came, and students hurried over to the assembly hall. Assembly was compulsory. The hallway became a beautiful blur of black shirts. I searched for Dami with my eyes as I made my way to the assembly hall, but it was impossible to find her in the middle of the swarm of pupils.

"Good morning, Prescottians! Welcome to the first morning assembly for this week today, the sixteenth of September, 2019," the girl I recognized as the head girl spoke, her loud voice ringing throughout the large hall as I walked into the hall alongside other people. She stood behind the podium where everyone could see her.

(A/N: In most Nigerian schools, prefects are chosen amongst the students. A head girl is the female head prefect of a school.)

I found a seat beside an unfamiliar student. Her pinafore told me she was a junior student.

"Now, we will all rise to our feet and sing the national anthem and the school's anthem. Band!"

I groaned. I'm just sitting down for Pete's sake...

Everyone stood up as the school's band beat the drums for the national anthem. I looked towards the back of the hall to see the teachers also standing. I faced the front of the hall and straightened my posture, singing along with the other students in the spirit of patriotism.