DEMI'S POV
"You are free to go." I sign the papers and Charley and I leave the dreadful hospital. She's in a wheel chair and is surrounded by stuffed animals, flowers, balloons, books, bubbles, and accessories from the lovatics. Her face is priceless. She's eating her first rice Krispy treat and has chocolate around her mouth, cotton candy in her hair, and sun glasses covering her eyes.
We pass a nurse and she stifles a giggle. I don't blame her. I roll Charley down the ramp of the hospital and we stroll down the sidewalk. I continue to roll her, but I hear a voice. It's a beautiful voice. I decide to investigate. I walk down the street and we approach a woman playing the saxophone. It wasn't a voice! The girl has black hair, brown eyes, and seems to be about twenty one. Then she puts down the saxophone and begins to sing.
She's singing "I Believe I Can Fly". I've never seen such talent! I walk closer with Charley and throw some money into the saxophone case nearby. I then approach the girl. She continues playing. It's so beautiful!
She stops the song and I say,"Hi! That's beautiful!"
The girl steps back and notices who I am.
"D-Demi Lovato?" She stares in disbelief.
"Yeah! I love the sound in that instrument and your voice is remarkable."
"Thanks! I'm Derrien Nicole Butler."
"I love that name!"
"Thanks." She begins to sing again.
Charley gazes at her in wonder. She looks up at me and back at Derrien.
"Demi, what's that lady doing?"
"She's playing a saxophone."
"What's a saxophone?"
"A saxophone is a beautiful jazz instrument."
"What's an instrument? What's jazz?" Charley asks. I sigh.
"An instrument is a thing you play to make music. Jazz is a kind of smooth, fun type of music."
Charley nods. She then admires the golden instrument and the sounds coming out of it.
"It's pretty. Can I try?"
I laugh and am joined by Derrien.
"Well, you can certainly try. There's a shop over there that sells mouth pieces and reeds. If you go get one, I'll let you try."
Charley looks up at me anxiously.
I laugh again and push her towards the store called Momo's Music.
As we enter, a bell goes off and a man rushes up to us.
"Hi! I'm Momo! Welcome to our store!" He says in a jolly voice.
Charley looks around and open her mouth in amazement. The store has rows and rows of music, shiny instrument hanging anywhere possible, and reeds, mouthpieces, stands, and oil on shelves and the floor.
"Hello sir! Can we get a saxophone mouth piece and reed?"
"Yes ma'am! Would you like a saxophone with that? They're 25% off!"
Charley nods furiously and points at a golden saxophone.
"It's also 20% off to get one engraved!"
"Yes! Please?!" Charley exclaims, bouncing in her seat.
"Fine. Let's go pick one out!"
I roll Charley towards some saxophones and she points at a rusty gold one.
I touch her hand,"You don't want that one, baby, it's rusty."
She frowns," But I do want it. We can fix her. Can't we?"
I admire Charley's big heart. She always feels bad for everything.
"Of course we can."
Charley flashes a genuine smile with pearly whites from ear to ear. I giggle and hand her a wipe to clean herself with. Charley works away and I go to talk with Momo.
Charley and I walk back to Derrien after three hours of cleaning the saxophone, discussing reeds, and testing oils and neck straps.
Derrien smiles at us and waves. Charley waves back frantically and holds up her new saxophone with Kit engraved into it.
"Derrien! This is mine! It's Kit!"
Derrien gives me a confused look but nods at Charley.
"We also got you some new reeds, Derrien."
I hand over a small case of the wooden reeds and Derrien thanks me. I also give her a box of doughnuts I have been carrying.
"Would you like her to have lessons with me?" Derrien asks, wiping the frosting from her lips.
Charley nods eagerly and shifts her glance between the two of us.
"Free of charge." Derrien adds.
"Oh I can't do that. She can have lessons on maybe Tuesday afternoons? But I'm going to pay you $50 an hour. It's only fair."
Derrien turns on a bright smile and just looks at the ground.
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CHARLEY'S POV
Demi and I walk into a restaurant called Dairy Queen. Demi says that they're famous for their 'blizzards'. I'm still trying to figure out how you make a blizzard.
"Don't you think it's already cold enough?"
I ask, grabbing Demi's hand.
"Oh Charley! It's never too cold for ice cream!"
What? Since when were we talking about ice cream? I'm confused now. I shrug and stare at the big electronic menu on the wall. There are the blizzards. Oh! Blizzards are like ice cream that's mixed with a topping!
"What kind do you want?" Demi asks.
I look up at the menu, then I look down in shame. I turn around in my wheel chair to face Demi.
"I-I can't read." A tear runs down my face.
"Oh Charley, it's okay. Not many people your age know how to read. Speaking of reading, the second week of school has just ended."
Today is Saturday, I remember that, but what day does school start on? How did a week end?
"How? How does a week end and what day does school begin on?"
"Okay, one week is seven days. Sunday is the first and you go to church on that day. Next is Monday and from Monday to Friday, which is five days, you have school. After Friday is Saturday which is the day before Sunday. The. It starts all over again." Demi takes a deep breath as this sinks in.
Someone taps my shoulder.
"Are you guys going to order?" A lady with a little girl.... A little girl with red hair.... And blue eyes. Ariel.