Young Love, Dumb Love, True love?

The Big Break

The night of the choir program arrived on a Friday and I was busy all week with the ball tournament. Although my team was eliminated in the second round, the boys played well and made it to the quarterfinals losing the night before.

Misti and I were dressed and ready to go before Mom even got home from work. She was planning on taking us and staying for the show. That is our mother, no matter how tired she is, if she can be there for us, she will. Misti wore her best designer jeans with hiking boots. Her sweater was pale pink and looked great against her jet black hair. A lot of people thought we looked alike. On this night, we dressed as differently as we could within the limitations given to us.

I wore a black pair of jeans with my hi-tops. I also wore a sweater, but mine was forest green. I thought I looked nice, but Misti immediately commented.

"You're going to blend into the scenery and those shoes?" she complained.

"Misti, I stand in the back row. No one will see my shoes and you know I hate those frilly colors," I said.

"I just can't believe we are sisters. I guess I inherited all the style," she sassed.

We walked backstage well ahead of schedule and found Mrs. Tyndall in a state of dizzying preparation. She began to assemble us on the bleachers behind the closed curtain on stage about ten minutes before show time. I was standing next to Jerri when I saw Josh enter from backstage. He was wearing a comfortably snug pair of Levi's and his shoes were dark and casual. However, it was his sweater that prevented me from looking away. It was the exact color of his hair. Lance was leading the way and when they stepped onto the first bleacher, Josh looked up and caught me staring. Instead of the dirty look I expected, he smiled. I felt my knees start to buckle and barely managed to return my own slight grin.

"Bryonna, what is that goofy smile about?" Jerri asked.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I really worry about you sometimes," she said with a smile.

"I worry about me too, Jerri," I joked.

"Are you nervous? It's your first show," she asked.

"A little. How about you? You're the one with the solo," I questioned. Jerri had a beautiful voice. I could not imagine having a solo, but it did not seem to faze her.

We fell silent when Mrs. Tyndall disappeared behind the curtain.

"Here we go," Jerri said to me as the curtain began to rise.

The lights hit my face and thankfully, they were so bright all I could make out were silhouettes. Singing was my private escape and this was the first time I really felt like I was sharing that part of myself with the world. I managed to survive the rest of the show without any mistakes and only stole peek at Josh a couple of times during breaks between songs. After the concert, Misti and I met up with Mom and started the walk to the car.

"You guys did really well. I'm proud of both of you," she bragged.

"Thanks." We both replied.

We almost reached the parking lot when Misti saw Lance.

"Bye, Lance," she called. "I'm sorry, he is just so cute."

"We know, Misti. You've said it a million times," I complained.

"Shut up, Bryonna. Nobody asked you," she spat.

I flew to my Dad's in California for Christmas and was looking forward to the time away. I had two little sisters there I didn't get to see that often and was excited. He remarried soon after the divorce to a great lady named Lisa. Misti was staying behind to spend the holidays with Mom. After exiting the plane, I saw my dad waiting at the gate.