Swish

.22

"V, you've gotta try to slow down that vocal run at the end, it sounds like you're just falling out of the note, like you don't care.  You never make mistakes like these, is everything alright?"

That was...debatable. 

"I'm fine, just didn't get much sleep last night."

Mainly because of the countless hair raising and chill inducing nightmares that had haunted my dreams all night, leaving me both cranky and sleepy, not a good combination for me. 

I was still upset that I'd hardly had no alone time with Eli since the night he'd stayed over at my dorm, mainly due to the fact that Maddie had decided to tell me las minute that she was taking my ten to midnight shifts, leaving me with only six hours every shift, when I had been raking in eight hour shifts from four to midnight.  While Maddie cited her falling hours as the reason, it hadn't allowed me to sing for Eli like we'd planned, and then suddenly it was Thursday and we'd only texted and called while briefly seeing each other at the gym. 

I wondered if it was because our vastly different schedules, or if there was something else going on.  

There was no doubt that spending alone time was going to be difficult due to our living situations both being in dorm rooms with roommates, but considering my nightmares ratcheting up in intensity, maybe it was a good thing that he didn't stay over but the one time...

"Let's take it from the top.  Hazel, Leo, Bea-- you good?"

They responded to our brand new drama TA by rewinding our sound system back to the integral part of the musical where the characters all came together and sang layers above the others, although for some reason my part was severely lacking. 

On the second high note that I bailed out of, Danny, said new drama TA, decided to cut the music altogether and huffed a breath of air out of his nose, seemingly upset with our performance already. 

"Hazel, Leo and Bea are good, but V, you're seriously bringing the piece down, and I'm not saying that to be mean because I've heard you at your best, and this isn't it.  Maybe we should just quit while we're ahead and pick back up tomorrow after classes?"

His words didn't sting as much as they should have, seeing as my mind was somewhere else entirely. 

"Thanks for your critiques, Danny.  I'll rest my vocals tonight and I'll be better tomorrow."

"You better be.  The Fall showcase is in a few weeks, and this musical is going to be hard enough to put on with bringing in outsiders because we don't have enough theater majors to fill major parts.  I need my four best performers at the top of their game."

The Fall showcase was yet another distraction that I didn't need if I wanted to focus on winning that money, but it would look bad on my transfer transcript to a performance school if I hadn't been involved in the only performance of the school year. 

"Of course."

Danny dismissed us with a flick of his wrist, poring over notes given by our actual drama teacher and then my friends and I filtered out of the room but before I could even turn them down for hanging out, I remembered that I had the entire night at the gym to myself, considering that Maddie was hosting some sort of barbecue that I wasn't invited to, considering that I was the one covering the gym for her. 

"We need to practice for your birthday party, V.  That is, if we're still doing it?" Bea asked, one dark eyebrow raised wryly, almost like she was skeptical about the whole thing anyway. 

"Shit, I totally forgot about that.  I'll ask Maddie if she still wants to throw it for me."

"Maddie is throwing it?"