Living for the Music

“Morning,” Seth whispered, sliding in to the seat next to me.

“Hey,” I muttered back as Ms. Dunford walked into the room.

“Hello, everyone,” she called, commanding the attention of everyone in the room. “I have some good news, and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”

The room was silent. “Well, I guess I’ll just tell you, then. The bad news is, the deadline for the contest entries has been moved up to this Friday. Obviously, this isn’t what we’ve been planning on, so I understand that some of you may not be done. The good news is that, because of that, I can spend more time working with people one-on-one.”

“Does that mean this isn’t going to be due as soon?” a kid called out.

“Probably,” Ms. Dunford allowed. “At this point, I’m not saying anything for sure, but there is a definite chance.”

My heart fell. I had been so excited for this contest. I swear, I must’ve been born under an unlucky star. Fate couldn’t just let me be – something always had to be wrong in my life. “Any questions?” the teacher asked, glancing around the room. “Okay then. You guys can start. Sophia, will you please come up here?”

I closed my notebook and made my way up to her desk. “How close are you to finishing?” Ms. Dunford asked quietly.

“I just recorded my base track yesterday. I was hoping to do vocals today and edit tomorrow, then do all the fine tuning.”

“Do you think there’s any way you could be done by Friday?” she asked.

I debated. “Maybe. Why?”

“Because looking at some of your past work, I think you have a good shot at winning that contest. It would be a shame to see it go to waste just because I had my facts wrong. So if you can get it to me by the end of the hour on Friday, I will personally enter it.”

I felt a grin forming on my face. “That would be awesome,” I breathed. “Could I maybe sign up for the studio tomorrow? I know you’re not supposed to do that, but if I could do that I think I can be done by Friday.”

“I think that can be arranged,” Ms. Dunford assured me. “Of course, I can’t say that officially, but I will try my hardest to save it for you.”

“Thanks,” I breathed, heading back to my seat. I shoved my notebook in my bag before turning to look at Seth.

“What’s up?” he asked before I could even open my mouth.

“I can still do that contest,” I replied, “if I get my song finished by Thursday.”

“That’s great,” he agreed, smiling at me.

I felt myself automatically smile back. “Yeah. But in order to that I need to start editing today so I can record vocals tomorrow. So I was thinking--”

“Do you want company?” he asked. “I need to edit, too.”

“That would be great,” I sighed in relief. “I really hate working alone. Especially in the computer lab.”

“Let’s go, then,” he said, standing up. “And let me know how you’re doing afterwards, too. Maybe we could work through lunch. I mean, if you need to.”

A real smile split my face. This was the Seth I knew and loved – the one who was always there for me, willing to do whatever it took to help me. I picked up my bag and notebook and led the way up towards the lab. I grabbed two pairs of headphones off the table and handed one to Seth. Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself to sort out the chaos I knew my song would be.

Seth sat down next to me and we both stuck our discs in the computer. I quickly logged on to my account and pulled up the program everyone in the class had downloaded for exactly this purpose. I imported the different tracks, then opened up a new recording to put them together.

It took longer than I was expecting. Some parts were perfect – I could stick them right in their assigned slots. But others I had to layer over each other in an attempt to edit out the mistakes. By the end of the hour, I was happy with what I had for the first three verses, the chorus, and the bridge. Unfortunately, there were other things to stress over.

“How’re you doing?” Seth asked, sliding his headphones down around his neck. His hair was adorably ruffled, a sure sign he’d been concentrating hard.

“I’m done with this, but I have no idea how the song’s going to end. How can I enter the contest if it isn’t done?” I cried.

“Shh,” he soothed. “Don’t worry about it. Something will come to you.”

“But if I record vocals tomorrow, that means I have to edit on Thursday. Then I only have one day to record and edit the base and vocal tracks!” I protested. “What am I thinking, Seth? There’s no way I can do this.”

“Calm down, Sophie,” Seth coaxed, brushing a stray hair off my forehead. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

“Stop making promises you can’t keep!” I cried. I bit my lip, fighting the tears welling up in my eyes. Would it kill someone if one thing in my life went right?

“Come here, Sophie,” he murmured, pulling me into a hug. I rested my head against his shoulder, letting him be the strong one. “We’ll get this done, okay?”

I nodded, trusting him in that moment. With Seth’s arms around me, anything seemed possible. He pulled back enough to look me in the eye. “Tell you what. I need to record vocals, too. What do you say we go down and see if Ms. Dunford will let us do that during lunch? That’s what I did yesterday.”

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. It really wasn’t all that bad. “That sounds good. Thanks.” I sent him a weak smile and he squeezed my hand reassuringly.

I pulled my phone out of my bag and sent Aaron a quick text. Not coming to lunch – working on project. See you in history xoxo. “Mkay,” I sighed, putting my phone in my pocket. “Let’s go.”