Saturday felt like it would NEVER get here. I wanted it to happen like NOW but I also knew that soon afterwards my life was going to get very difficult so I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole thing. The result was that the week dragged on forever. But the day of the championship had finally arrived and my mom was dropping me off at the school where Dan was already waiting. He'd wanted to arrive separately to help with the 'not rooming with Asher' lie.
"Asher, be careful and have fun. Break a leg honey!" Mom said as I climbed out of the car. I waved and closed my door, more than ready to be on the road now that I'd seen the buses. I had expected school buses but we had nice chartered ones. Martin High travelled in style and I approved.
Dan bound towards me, a huge smile on his face. "Asher! Here, put your suitcase in this pile. Bring whatever you want to have on the bus or this afternoon -- the luggage goes straight to the hotel."
I knew this, Mrs. Clark had gone over it in class and Dan had reminded me too. He was taking his job as 'Asher protector' seriously. I wasn't going to complain. I rolled my small suitcase over and kept my book bag. It had a book, my jacket, some snacks and my phone in it and I didn't plan on being separated from it.
"I picked our seats, I hope it's okay. I got the emergency exit seats! More legroom. And we got lucky and they're near Kayla because last year she brought really good snacks. Luckily Ed and Tyler are on the other bus, they are annoying as hell in close quarters."
I don't know what he had for breakfast, but it must have included a lot of sugar or perhaps he'd popped a few uppers. His excitement was contagious though and I couldn't help but grin as I followed him onto the bus. This was the furthest I'd ever been from my parents. It was only one night, but I felt very free. I was a little guilty about the fact that I'd barely given any thought to the actual competition. It would have been different if I had a solo or a main part, but I was just singing background.
"Asher? Where's Asher Greyson? Is he here yet?" Mrs. Clark called. People pointed towards my bus and soon she had climbed on board. "Come with me please, I need to talk to you. Quickly."
I nervously looked at Dan but he just shrugged his shoulders so I grabbed my bag and made my way back down to the parking lot.
"Asher, Paul is in the hospital with appendicitis. Can you do his solo? Do you know it?"
Did I? I had sung it a few times to fill in the space when I was listening to Dan's recording. I'd heard him sing it a million times. But could I get in front of people and do it? Maybe?
"How do we find out Asher? Wait, I've got it. Stay right here" she said and walked back to the first bus. "Everybody off the bus. Everybody, NOW!" She was flailing her arms as she yelled loudly enough for the entire bus to hear her, then she walked to the second and repeated her order. "Assemble, performance order, on me." She thrust a music binder at me and pulled out her pitch pipe. "Okay everyone, song 2 from the top, unaccompanied. Key of C."
I tried not to think too hard; if I did I would psych myself out. I managed to get through the solo and she started again. By the time I'd done it twice she seemed happy. "Okay everybody, back on. Let's go! We have a schedule!"
I turned around and realized that everyone was staring at me. I guess most of them hadn't really heard me sing before; I usually blended in as well as I could. Slowly they started moving back towards the buses but there were still a lot of eyes focused on me and a lot of whispers going on.
"Asher, they're just amazed. It's all good, I promise" Dan said. "Come on, we can talk easier once we're sitting down."
I wasn't sure if he was right but I followed him anyway. I was much less uncomfortable than I had been alone.
"Asher?" one of the girls said as I passed. "Your voice is angelic. I don't know how you do it, but if you sing like that tonight, we just might win."
Dan urged me forward and as soon as we sat down he whispered "See? I told you."