The Road Between

Chapter 15: Goodbye Gone

Excitement poured out of the music class. Everybody's anxious about the songs. Guilianna and I went through the song through the song one more time and Olive was nowhere to be seen. Which was strange since we all came in at the same time.

"I can stay out late if it makes me happy," Guilianna sings while I follow. We continue this routine until Mister Gilbert enters. We all stay silent as he scans the room and walks around slowly. His eyes lock with mine for a moment, but he turns to look at the others.

"You!" he calls out. I'm too scared to turn around and come face to face with him staring at me. "Sing the song."

"But sir, I wasn't chosen to sing a song," a guy says.

"And I wasn't chosen to be the father of twin daughters," he says, "Sing the song." When the guy hesitates, Mister Gilbert walks to the front of the class and scans the room again. "You! Sing the song!"

"Sir, I wasn't chosen either," a girl says.

"And I wasn't chosen to be the youngest of my four siblings," he answers, "sing the song." She hesitates as well. "Every performer needs to expect the unexpected." He starts to walk around again.

"For example, if I asked her," he says as he points at Guilianna, "to give me any word she wants, like..." Guilianna stutters for a moment but finally gets a word out.

"Just," she randomly says. Mister Gilbert nods.

"Like just. And then I point to the one next to her," he says and points at me, "to sing any song that comes to her mind when she hears that word. What will that song be?" The only thing that popped into my mind was Just a Kiss by Lady Antebellum. So that was my answer. He shakes his head in disapproval.

"I said sing, not say," he says, "It's like I say to explode the building and you only burn the flower next to it. You must be on your toes at all times," he continues, "you never know when you're in America and your manager calls to say that you have to be in Australia to perform a surprise concert tomorrow. Always be ready and expect the unexpected." The class is silent for a moment, everybody pondering about what our teacher just said.

"Right, I believe that today is the day that we hear some original songs," he says excitedly and walks back to his desk. While his back was turned, I see Olive on the other side of the class, running toward us.

"Sorry, I was gone for so long. Kiara and I had to exchange a few things," she explains.

"What were you guys even talking about?" Guilianna asks. Olive sighs and looks over her shoulder.

"I rather not say right now," she says. Guilianna tries to talk again, but Mister Gilbert beat her to it.

"Miss with the blonde hair!" he calls. Guilianna's head flies up and looks at him. Once he sees that he has her attention, he continues, "What is your name?"

"Guilianna," she says, hesitating a little bit. Due to his facial expressions, I knew that that wasn't a good enough answer.

"Guilianna Nugget? I don't have time to remember a whole camp's names," he says.

"Guilianna Ravis," she says, a little bit louder than anticipated. He looks at the paper in his hands and looks at her.

"It appears that you were given the assignment to write a song," he says.

"Yes, sir," she says.

"And since you thought that Channing Tatum's body is better than what you learn in this class today, you'll go first," he says, "I hope your singer is ready." I instantly glare at Guilianna as she turns to me. She mouths "sorry" and stands up to give Mister Gilbert the lyrics and sheet music of the song. I follow her in pursuit, burning tiny little holes through her skull along the way.