His Lifeline

Chapter 14: Enchiladas and Cookies

I took a deep breath as I walked into school Monday morning. I didn't see Annabeth at the party, not that I thought she would be there but still. I was starting to get antsy about tonight, and I wondered if Annabeth felt nervous at all when I went to her house. I don't think so. She handled it so well.

I shook my head as I walked to my locker, getting my math notebook. Today was when we got handed back our quizzes, and honestly, I was scared to find out my score.

Before I could head in that direction, a girl, Piper, I'm pretty sure, came up to me. I tensed, remembering what she did last time.

"Hey there, how's it going with Annie?" I blinked, confused.

"Um, I'm not sure? I'm getting my math quiz back today if that's what you mean" I rubbed the back of my neck, still confused when Piper rolled her eyes.

"No, dumbass, I meant how is it going in the whole closer than friends category" I didn't know what code she was talking in, but I had no idea. 

I looked at her, still confused, and she threw her hands into the air and said, "That's all I needed to know, thank you" she looked annoyed as she walked off, but I was still confused as to why. I shrugged it off. No sense getting all caught up in some kind of language I was too out of the loop to understand.

I walked to math class and waited for my quiz to be handed back. I took it shakily from Mrs.Velma and looked at the top of the paper. My eyes almost fell out of my head. 73%! Mom was going to be so happy! It's the highest score I've gotten since never!

I smiled goofily as class ended, and I raced to my classes.

The time for Music was upon me as I went quickly into the room. Before we went to an instrument, the teacher lined us up and spoke about the competition.

"Ok, I know you guys have been waiting for this, and I already had to say these instructions of my previous five periods, so please sit tight and let me speak before running your mouths. First, we will be holding an audition to sort the people who know their instrument from beginners. Then the preliminaries will begin with those not disqualified. The preliminary round is a show of skill and mastery. Then finally, after a count of the votes, there will be a total of seven kids that compete in the competition. Over the next week, once you come into class, please head right to your instrument of choice and begin to work. I will make the rounds and put names down if you plan to participate. The sign-up sheet will be open till Thursday at the end of seventh period. Auditions are on Friday during the period and after school. Please find an instrument and begin working."

I took a deep breath and rushed to the walls of guitars, I wanted to reserve my favorite one for the competition, and since I knew it by name, it would be easy to keep it to myself. I examined the wall of around ten guitars until I saw the light brown guitar with blue wave-like patterns along its sides. Riptide, a beautiful guitar that I would pay good money for if I could. I sighed happily as I picked it up and walked over to my regular seat.

I strummed the guitar and began humming the cords to a familiar song, Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond. I kept my humming quietly as I let the guitar take over with its soothing and fluid music. I felt myself sway as I played the song softly, not noticing that class was over until the teacher tapped my shoulder. Carefully placing Riptide back and thanked Mrs.Fin before racing out to PE.

PE class was as brutal as always today. All we did was run suicides, and my limbs were screaming the whole time from both exhaustion and pain. As the teacher called for a break, I struggled not to crumble to the floor. I breathed heavily as I waited for the teacher to stop dragging the class out and let us go.