Bring Me To 1D (One Direction fan fiction)

Broken Parts That Might Fit

BROKEN PARTS THAT MIGHT FIT

ANNA

When I was sure everyone had gone into their classes, I fished around in my bag for my i pod, put my earphones in and searched my library until I found the song I needed. Resting my head on the side of the cubicle, I closed my eyes and transported myself away, imagining myself in a studio with the five boys who over the last year had become my inspiration. I plucked chords on an imaginary acoustic guitar and sang my own harmonies which blended perfectly with their voices.

If I’m louder

Would you see me?

Would you lay down in my arms and rescue me?

Cause we are, the same

You saved me, when you leave it scarred again.

I jumped suddenly as the school bell trilled loudly to signal the start of the next class, with it came the familiar scraping of chairs, doors banging and the clatter of feet down the corridor. I put my i pod in my bag and gathered myself together to face the outside world. I had music next, a lesson I wouldn’t miss for the world, not for a million words of abuse or punches to the stomach.

Mr Alvey was my music teacher and my hero. He was the only person who cared about me in school, in life probably. He knew how talented I was, he knew how I used music as my therapy. He did the same thing in a way, he had a bad stutter and he told me once that he was badly bullied all the way through school because of it. His speech impediment provoked plenty of giggling and impressions of him behind his back but being an adult and a teacher, the kids knew that they couldn’t go too far so he didn’t hear a lot of it. The stuff he did hear, he blanked out, just like I did. Also, he was kind of cute and despite the stutter, I reckon most of the girls had a secret crush on him, which probably made them hate me even more as I was his favourite. I found his stutter endearing.

He’d write his own songs on the piano, he was a fantastic musician. The thing that always amazed me is that when he sang, the stutter left him completely. Such was the healing power of music.

I took a quick peek out of the door of the girl’s toilets and into the corridor. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I raced along the hallway with my head down and legged it up the stairs to the music block. When I got inside the classroom, I let out a small sigh of relief. Mr Alvey was in there already, I was safe. No one would do anything while he was about. I took my seat on my own at the front of the class.

After an hour of music theory which I really enjoyed but the rest of the class hated, everyone was getting restless and packing up their stuff in anticipation of the bell going.

“Ok, s..settle down please. B...before you head off, I want to make an announcement. I know that many of you are wanting to make video recordings of your s..songs for the ‘Bring Me To 1D’ c...competition.”

There was a total hush in the room. The whole class was suddenly hanging on his every word.

“Lizzie t..taylor approached me yesterday and asked if she could borrow the school’s musical equipment and use the s..sound booth to record a song as her c...competition entry.”

I glanced behind me and just caught the smug smile on Lizzie’s face before quickly turning back to face the front.

“S..so. I thought, what a great idea for a m…music project! I’m going to give everyone who wants to put a song entry together some time in the b..booths so that they can record their songs or if you want to form a band, I’ll help you do that too. P...put your hands up if you’d be interested in doing this as an end of term music project?”

There was buzz of excitement, everyone was calling over to friends, putting their groups together and discussing what songs they were going to sing.

Mr Alvey went around the class writing down a list of names. When he got back to the front of the class I put my head down as I saw him walk over to me and stand in front of my desk.

“Anna? You’ll be doing one of your original s..songs won’t you?”

The class fell silent again and I heard a couple of whispers and a snigger at the back of the room.

“No Sir, probably not.”

“Nonsense! You m..must. You’re way too talented not too.”

I cringed inside. As much as I adored Mr Alvey, I hated it when he singled me out as being talented in front of the class. It usually made things a million times worse for me for the rest of the day, especially as far as Lizzie was concerned. She’d wanted to be a singer since primary school. Her voice was ok but she wasn’t a natural and she had to work hard, she had a private vocal coach at home once a week. I’d overheard a conversation between a couple of girls while I was hiding in the toilets once in my first year at High School. They were talking about how she had auditioned for a place at Queensland Academy but she didn’t get in. They’d told her she didn’t quite meet the required standard vocally and because she didn’t play any instruments and she couldn’t read music very well, they’d said she wasn’t ready yet. Apparently she was gutted and really bitter about not getting in.

What she lacked in natural singing talent she more than made up for in confidence though and she’d always made it clear to everyone that she was going to get signed up for a recording contract, no matter what and no one was standing in her way, particularly me.

I opened my mouth to continue protesting against entering the competition but Mr Alvey ignored me. “Anna, c…come and see me at 3.15 and we’ll quickly go through your repertoire of songs, s...see which one is most appropriate for you to do a nice acoustic version of. If anyone wants to come at 3.45 let me know, it’ll be first come first served, the rest of you, I’ll m..make arrangements to see on Wednesday.

There was a knock on the door. It was the Deputy Head. “Sorry to disturb you Mr Alvey, can I have a quick word?”

The second he stepped outside the classroom, the taunting started. Lizzie Taylor shouted from the back. “What song are you going to sing freak? Radiohead?” Everyone laughed then a chorus of singing started up.

“I’m a freak…..I’m a weirdo…ooohh…what the hell am I doing here?”

I put my head down and blocked out the noise as I’d done so many times before. After a few minutes the singing stopped and everything went quiet but for a few whispers and muffles giggles and I knew something bad was coming my way.

Suddenly I felt cold liquid dripping down my face and onto my clothes. I ducked to one side and looked up to see Jason Gardiner standing over squeezing a juice carton all over me and my music theory papers.

The bell went and everyone’s attention went from me to their books and bags. Within a few seconds the room emptied and I was alone, wiping the sticky liquid from my forehead and trying to clean it off my books without much success. There was a sticky residue over everything I owned.

It wasn’t the first time. It was just one of those things. Being the empty shell that I was, I sat there devoid of any emotion and waited until the last of the footsteps the corridors had faded into silence, until the last excited voice had shouted “bye!” to their mates and the last door had banged firmly shut before I slowly gathered my sticky mess of books together and set off home via the beach and my little cove of sanity.

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