Walking into school, I sighed at another text from Lyra.
"Six hours until the list goes up! I'm excited, can you tell?"
Suppressing a laugh, I put my phone back in my pocket and flicked the side button to turn it on silent. Having heard the same alert tone five times in the last three hours, and it having interrupted the music each time, I was slightly fed up with it. "Joyride" by UNSECRET faded back into existence once the phone had finished buzzing and I realised Lyra wasn't the only one excited. Despite the amount of stress and nerves the buildup to the audition had caused me, I was ready to see who was making the final ten.
In six hours, that is.
Until then, we wait.
Running a hand through my hair, I made my way towards my locker to ditch some of my books. However, it wasn't before making a detour past the original sign up sheet, which in... five hours and fifty (or so) minutes, would be replaced with the people in this year's glee club. I ran a finger down the side of the list, Hadley Walters, Lyra Hudson, Alex Becker, Lewis Samuels, Asha Parks, Elliot Brooks, Dee White, Kelsey Jones, Evan Allen, Charlie Grayson, Milly Burgess, Abigail Leaver... more than enough people. Even though I didn't recognise half the names on there, I could only assume that one of them was the guy I'd seen after school. If they were all the same level of talent as him, I had some serious competition.
Pulling my phone out, I took a quick shot of the list and sent it to Lyra, watching the end of one song tick over into the beginning of "Darkside" by Alan Walker, a personal favourite. Then again, all of the songs in my extensive library have been 'personal favourites' at least at some point.
By the time I reached my locker— it had taken longer than necessary and I had spent way too much time dawdling by the list— the bell was about to ring for class. I shoved the books that weren't needed until lunch into my locker and skidded down the corridor before using the doorframe to swing myself into my second-row seat in Mrs Angeli's math class unnoticed as the clock hands aligned and the bell went. I just had time to pause The Script's "Before The Worst" and shove my phone into the side pocket of my bag before she turned around.
Word of warning: never be late to Mrs Angeli's math class.
I'd barely been here a week and I knew that already.
Yesterday she yelled at a kid for walking in as the bell was going. Ruthless, I swear. I checked my watch, hiding my wrist under the table to not accidentally provoke her. Five and a half hours.
###
10 minutes. That's when the list goes up. Five until the end of World History, and it would take five more to get to the other end of the main building, where the list would be. I nodded at Lyra and she discreetly put up four fingers as the clock ticked down. The sooner we got out of this class, the better.
Mr Dennington pointed to some random images on the board and I sighed. This class needed to be over. Come on, come on, come on... I almost felt something touch my foot and I kicked out instinctively, hitting my shin on the desk and causing it to shunt forwards slightly, the force knocking off a pot of pencils on the table next to me. Crap.
I slid from my chair onto the floor, my hands scrambling to pick them up before the bell went. Crap. Crap. Crap. The bell rang out and the suddenness of it caused me to sit upright and bang my head on the table. Crap. Lyra was out of her seat, her black shiny backpack dangling off one shoulder as she kicked the rest of the pencils under the cabinet and hauled me to my feet.
"Later. Let's go."
Not bothering to even check what I was throwing in my own bag, everything from the table was swept up and left sliding about inside as we left the room and attempted to fight our way through the traffic of students trying to leave the campus. Lyra had one hand on her backpack strap, and the other firmly attached to my sleeve in an attempt to not lose me in the crowd. I used one hand to stick the cable of my headphones inside my pocket and insert it into the hole in the bottom of my phone. There was no time to pick a song, so I just clicked the play button and put the headphones on, turning the volume up to drown out all the other students.
"American Dream" by MKTO started up and Lyra and I burst through the wall of people and came to a halt by the sheet. Or at least, where the sheet should be. The signup sheet from before lay on the ground, trampled and ripped by the stampede of people as it had somehow become torn from the wall.
Finally able to risk getting my phone out, I pulled it from my pocket and watched the digits tick over to 3 pm.
Johnson was nowhere in sight.
A small crowd had gathered, but not as big as the hoard of students trying to escape the halls earlier. This time, it was just those who had signed up for a few selective clubs and the school's basketball team. I put my bag down between my feet and leant against the wall. We began to wait.
It was 3:04 before he arrived, carrying a pile of folders under one arm and the list in his free hand. Mr Johnson put the sheet of paper in his mouth momentarily to grab a pin and put it in the top to stick it to the wall. The beginning bar of Gin Wigmore's "Kill of the Night" kicked in and Lyra squeezed my shoulder in anticipation.
The moment of truth.
Members of the 2019 King's High Glee Club:
Lewis Samuels
Hadley Walters
Lyra Hudson
Alex Becker
Charlie Grayson
Abigail Leaver
Delilah White
Elliot Brooks
The first session is after school tomorrow in the largest music room - A.02
"We made it, A!" Lyra punched the air, grinning.
Hang on... wasn't there supposed to be ten?
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Songs featured in this chapter:
Joyride - UNSECRET (feat. Butterfly Boucher)
Darkside - Alan Walker (feat. Au/Ra & Tomine Harket)
Before The Worst - The Script
American Dream - MKTO
Kill of the Night - Gin Wigmore
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Welcome to the Club - King's #1
Teen Fiction[King's High Chronicles, Alex #1] When Alex arrives at Kings High, all she wants to do is blend in. Her passion for songwriting has always gone unnoticed, and that was how she wanted to live. Until she heard about the Glee Club. Would this be her ch...
