That's My Spotlight | ✔

vi. heart attack

ALEXANDER CHOI'S STOMACH could feel his organs drop. His heart, his stomach — his everything. And there was only one possible cause to it. 

It was the afternoon of the concert, two-thirty to be exact. The Meadowbrook High School Advanced Choir are now at Berkeley Middle School, a few minutes down the road from Meadowbrook High. The entire purpose of this performance was to showcase to the eighth, soon-to-be ninth graders not only their school's massive choir program, but the entire Fine Arts program that Meadowbrook has to offer. The ultimate goal of this showcase is to encourage the students to join at least one of the electives during their freshman year and throughout when the time approaches. 

It wasn't a formal event, however. The choir were dressed in their casual, school-colored royal blue choir T-shirts, as well as black jeans and black shoes. Because it wasn't so formal, it took place in Berkley's gymnasium, which was two times smaller than the main gym that was in Meadowbrook. That meant that the entire eight grade was in the broad, five-row bleachers. From what it seemed; all of the students chatted amongst themselves in the wildest way possible. A majority of them were either on their phones or playfully hitting one another while cacking to themselves as if they were witches.

They couldn't care less about the music and art they were about to experience.

They were just kids who were a bit on the rowdy side, the side that tried to care but didn't at heart. Even as their busy principal and stressed-out teachers were trying their best to calm them down a notch, they continued to be the children they were. Cell phones flung out of pockets and gossip and deep conversation continued to stir around like soup. 

The foolery in front of Alexander wasn't anything surprising to him, however. Just like half of the choir, he grew up in this middle school from sixth grade to eighth grade. He had three years of experience of all the craziness and ruckus those kids brought out. Believe it or not, he was in their place at one point. Everyone was. That was middle school in a nutshell. 

But the thing is, all of that craziness and ruckus brought back memories. They were memories of when Alexander first had to experience her mother's death. It was rough within the first few years — his middle school years. Those are the years where you're supposed to discover yourself. They're odd years, but you always have to make the most out of them. At that age, it's where you experience many firsts, like puberty hormones, first crushes, and the ups and downs of friendship. But instead of focusing on those new events at the time, all Alexander could do was grieve his mother's death. All in all, that was why he joined choir in the first place. It took his mind off of what hurt him most.

But now, he was just reliving dark moments from the past.

His hands began to tremble as Dr. Terry ordered the choir to get into their assigned spaces on the singing platform for Joyful Joyful since they would perform that song first. His choir director insisted that since the song was energetic, it would help lighten their spirits. The idea sounded reasonable to Alexander, considering how he was stuck with his thoughts in his head. Singing such an energetic song would keep his mind off of it. For the time being, anyway.

"Nervous?" Jayden questioned as he nudged his best friend's shoulder.

"Nah, I'm just a little jittery, I guess," Alexander replied as he shook his head. Still, his hands were flinching as if they were about to detach themselves from his body. 

"That's the same thing as being nervous," Jayden quipped as he patted the boy's upper back. "You've got this." 

He sent one last determined look towards his friend before the choir director demanded for everyone to get into their places. He disappeared through a mob of other choir students to take his appropriate place on the singing platform.