His Last Anthem

Chapter 1

    "I better speak up if I got something to say

    "Cause it ain't over, until she sings"

    When the chorus came, everyone was screaming. I pulled on my guitar strap, positioning my fingers naturally to form a G-chord underneath the capo.

    "I just need to get it off my chest yeah,

   More than you know yeah, more than you know

    You should know that baby you're the best

    Yeah more than you know yeah more than you know"

    I focused a little more on the next verse I sang. An amazing euphoric feeling tingling throughout my entire body. I grabbed onto the mic with both my hands, pausing on the guitar again, my knee bouncing in time with the music.

    "You're good intentions, are sweet and pure

But they can never tame a fire like yours"

    I could hear crowd screaming; at least I did until everything became muffled. At first, I thought there was a problem with the sound system or my in-ears. I glanced around to see Michael, his hands still on the keys and with his ridiculous sash and crown on, staring at me strangely. "why aren't you singing?" he mouthed.

    I vaguely heard the drums and the base, the whole floor seemed to vibrate. I turned back to the front, blinking when my eyes became blurry and the crowd smudged together. I felt like I was 20 feet submerged in nonexistent water. Then, just as soon as the feeling came, it left. I entered just in time for the second chorus.

    We played a few songs after that before leaving the stage.

    "Hey man, awesome job." Kenny, the football linebacker, came up to me as I was passing the group of students dancing, giving me a shoulder hug. He was in a couple of my core classes during the day. "wish I could get that many girls scream my name in one night." he smirked.

    "It's not as great as it seems." I lied, heck I lived for those people screaming my name. I felt invincible up on that stage. I walked past Kenny, my breath hefting when I saw Laina leaning against the gym wall, talking to a couple of her friends. She wore a simple short beige dress. Her dark eyes suddenly locked with mine. There weren't many lights but she was almost glowing.  And when she spoke to you, she made you feel like the most important person in the world. I know her spell worked on me.

    I started heading out of the gym toward the bathroom. I had only gone a few paces when a hand touched my arm. "hey Jayce," Laina stood on her tiptoes to speak in my ear against the loud music blasting. I could clearly see her sparkling eyeshadow that matched her dress. "You were amazing up there." Her compliment caused my shoulders to straighten up in pride.

    "Yeah, um," I cleared my throat. "Thank you." Hopefully, my face wasn't as red as I thought it was. I had talked to her many times before but she never seemed interested. I could sing in front of my entire school, but with her, I could barely manage a sentence. Her head was tilted up toward me since she reached to about my shoulder. She bit her lip, a nervous unintentional habit.

    "I was wondering if you wanted to do something after this, maybe get some food, or a drink?" she offered.

    Was she hitting on me? Today, was definitely the best day of my life! Side note: I should definitely learn that song on the guitar. With my train of thought, I almost forgot to answer her. "great! I'm starving, hows the diner around the corner sound?"

    Laina nodded eagerly with a smile. "perfect."

    Food and a date. Wow, I really scored today. "If you want we can head out now. Is it okay if I drive you?" I didn't actually have a car, but I'm sure Michael would let me borrow his for an hour or two. By the time we finished the Homecoming dance should be over. She nodded in agreement. 

    "I'm just gonna go grab my guitar and we can go."

    "Alright, I'll wait here."

    I rushed quickly to find Michael. Managing to spot him while searching in the middle of the dancing/jumping group of students. There wasn't a band on stage anymore, just loud pre-recorded music coming from the speakers. "Michael!" He either couldn't hear me or was ignoring me. "Michael!" I shouted grabbing his shoulder to keep him still. 

His feet landed and stayed connected to the ground this time, focusing his attention as much as he could on me. "heyyy, that setlist we did was the bomb righttt?"

    I laughed at his sluggish form. "Are you drunk?"

    He waved his hand at me. "pshh, nah. I just had some of that juice over at..." he spun in a circle then pointed at a table on the other side of the gym. "that table."

    I nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that would be the spiked drinks."

    Michael's eyes widened. "I'm an alcoholic?" Had my friend really never had a drink before? Or perhaps he was just an extreme lightweight.

    "no, you're just tipsy." I might have under exaggerated. "Listen, is it okay if I borrow your car. I'll be back in a few hours to pick you up. You can't drive like this." 

    "Sure! You go have fun, but if you crash it." he got serious, for a second I thought he might be sober. "you pay for it." He pulled his lanyard out of his pocket with the keys to his house and car attached to it. If I hadn't known this kid since we were in kindergarten, he certainly wouldn't have entrusted me with all of this. 

    I held the keys up. "Thank you, I really owe you one. I'll be back in 2 hours." I then grabbed my guitar from backstage and set it in the case before heading back to find Laina.