Spinning the bottle

Chapter eightteen

Five minutes had passed and there was still no sign of the DJ. I had tried to reach him a couple of times, but he hadn't answered any of my calls. He was either paying attention to the road, or ignoring me.

For his sake I was hoping for the first one, because I would kill him if he'd ever show up. 

Right now I had to focus on performing in front of the entire school.

My nerves had calmed down a bit, but I still felt like throwing up. Mia had offered a couple more times to take my place. Even though I really appreciated the offer, this was something I had to do. Thereby, it would have been cruel to force my fellow students to listen to Mia making music.

Not that I'm really good or anything, but at least I know how to play a proper chord on the guitar. Mia had demonstrated what she would do to the poor, innocent, guitar, when she would have gone up to the stage. The more I listened to it, the more I knew I made the right decision by playing something myself.

Mia and the principal had asked me what I was going to play, but I wanted to keep it a secret. I really hoped that Mia would get the reference. Even if she didn't, that song was one of my favorites and it was kinda awesome (but also totally terrifying) to perform that.

I was standing beside the stage with Mia by my side. When the principal announced my "act", Mia leaned into me and whispered: "You got this. I'm already so proud of you."

And with those words in my mind, I walked up the stage.

When I stood there I almost started to panic, but then I looked at Mia and knew everything would be alright.

I grabbed my guitar and someone in the crowd yelled: "Whoo go Harper!!"

I didn't even have to look into the right direction to know that Alex was the one cheering me on. I was really lucky to have him as my friend.

My guitar was hanging on my shoulder and I stepped closer to the microphone. I scraped my throat and said:

"Hey guys! Uh, you probably didn't expect me to play a song on the guitar. The DJ is running a bit late because of horrible traffic, so in the meantime I hope I can entertain you with one of my favorite songs. It's called 'Ease my mind' by Ben Platt"

There was almost no sound coming from the dance floor.

Tough crowd, great.

I let my fingers find their place on the guitar and played the first chord.

Please don't fuck this up, please don't.

I took a deep breath and started.

"Most days, I wake up with a pit in my chest,

There are thoughts that I can't put to rest,

There's a worry that I can't place.

Most nights, I am restless and quiet won't come,

So I lay there and wait for the sun,

There's a trouble that won't show its face."

Okay this wasn't going so bad, maybe I could really do this.

When the pre-chorus was over and I started the chorus, all I could do was look at Mia. I hoped that this song could help me articulate my feelings for her.

Obviously I couldn't stare at her the whole time, because that would be suspicious. So I switched between looking at Mia and looking at Alex, who was standing in the back of the room, while singing.

"Darling, only you can ease my mind.

Help me leave these lonely thoughts behind.

When they pull me under,