Change Your Life (continued)

Chapter 19: Make The Most

Sharife

"Vani...Vani!" I whisper-yelled and she snapped out of her trancelike zone.

She's been out of it since her dinner with her mom a couple days ago and she hasn't been able to shake it. She has been barely eating, sleeping all the time if she wasn't at practice, constantly zoned out, just sad and out of it.

"Huh?"

"You started zoning out again, you good?"

"Mmhm, I'm just tired." She said leaning away from me to yawn.

How the fuck are you tired and you slept all day yesterday?

The lunch bell rung and she got up, quickly pecking my forehead and leaving. I walked in the cafeteria hoping to see her sitting with our friends but her ass was m.i.a.. I didn't bother grabbing food and just went to sit down next to Max; Everybody at the table looked up at me, including Devion. Vani had set boundaries with him but something in my spirit telling me he ain't right. I don't give a fuck about how big he is or him playing football, I'll beat the brakes off this nigga if I got to.

"Wassup Rife, whatcha need?" Koi asked typing on her phone.

"Do y'all know where Vani went? She just kissed me and disappeared after the lunch bell rung." I said snatching a fry from Soma.

"Our recital is in two days, she's in the choir room going over her parts on the piano with Mrs. Harmon. Come with me lil ugly." She said getting up and throwing away her trash.

I followed her to the performing arts building and the building was quiet other than the sound of Vani playing the piano. When we got to the room, a group of underclassmen were sitting in a circle around her and humming along to the song; She was smiling and swaying to the music. This is the closest to happy I've seen her in 2 days so it's bringing joy to my spirit. Mrs. Harmon saw us standing at the door and rushed over to open it and ushered us in.

"Mr. Cooper, to what do I owe the honor to have you in my rehearsal?"

All the girls turned to look at me and I let out a short laugh and waved at them. Avani looked over at me, holding her bottom lip between her teeth; A sheepish smile made its way across my face and I cleared my throat.

"I wanted to sit in to listen and support, I've heard a lot of good things about y'all."

"That's great, I would hope that Miss Day had nothing but good things to say about us." She said elbowing Vani's shoulder and she giggled.

"Of course, she's brags about y'all all the time. I'm excited to hear what y'all have been working on." I said rubbing my hands together.

She pointed to a chair that was a couple of feet away from Vani and I kissed her cheek on my way to it. She started cheesing and the girls around her started giggling. I sat back as they calmed down and Vani started to play the scale for their warmup. Once they finished warming up, Vani positioned her hands on piano and it was a moment of silence before she started reading the music and playing along to it.

Vani

I don't know why but I surge of nervousness ran through my body as Sharife watched me play. The girls followed along and they sounded great; Sharife leaned forward and smiled, paying close attention to every move I made. We finished the song and he stood up, clapping and whistling.

"That was amazing, great job y'all!"

Everybody thanked him and Mrs. Harmon called us to sit back down and I saw Sharife pull his phone out and start typing.

"Alright ladies, the big day is almost here and like Mr. Cooper said, we sound amazing and I want y'all to keep that up okay? Please make sure that y'all go home and spend at least 15 minutes practicing, please don't forget! I will see you guys tomorrow, please make sure to be on time, yes I'm looking at you Umi."