Before It Rains

I did actually end up feeling better in the morning, and for the rest of the week there were no signs of the blow to the head I had gotten earlier in the week. Well, maybe there was one, but I didn’t actually realize it until Thursday afternoon. I was walking across campus with Max. All our other friends had sports practices, and decided to take a walk. Suddenly, Max stopped.

“Shoot, hey Sam, can we go over to the main office real quick and grab audition sheets? I completely forgot, and we have to have them for tomorrow.” I stared wide-eyed at him. “What?”

“Oh, my God! I totally forgot about auditions! Max, what am I gonna do? I don’t have anything ready to sing!” I cried. There was no way I could plan something for tomorrow with only 24 hours left. How could I have forgotten? He wrote it on a god-damned sticky note!

Max just shrugged. “I’m sure there’s something you can learn real fast, or something you already know. Let’s go get your iPod.” And he dragged me across the grass towards the dorms.

It didn’t take us long to get back, and when we did he sat on bed and grabbed my iPod off the dresser. He gave me one of the earbuds and stuck the other one in his left ear. Then he scrolled through the list of songs.

“The music audition is just so they can see how good your voice is, really,” he explained. “They basically see how good you get into the music and all that. And to check your range. But it doesn’t have to be anything like the play we’re doing, although I’m sure there will be people who sing a lot of country music for this audition.” He laughed. “Trust me, they’ll like you more if you don’t.”

“What are you singing?”

“Angels on the Moon,” he said. “But that isn’t the issue right now. We’re finding you a song.” He kept scrolling, playing the first couple seconds of a song every once in a while to hear the beginning. Finally he settled on one.

“Really? Isn’t this kind of slow for an audition?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “No, it’s perfect.”

“It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
'Til it was a battle cry

I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never
Been this way before

All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are
As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
'Til they're before your eyes

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye.”

The Call. An odd song choice, but hey, Max had done these things before and I hadn’t yet. So I decided to go for it. He hopped off the bed.

“I’m going to get those audition sheets.” He shoved the other earbud in my ear. “You. Practice.” And he was gone. I restarted the song and started singing along. I loved this song, but I had just put it on my iPod earlier in the summer. So on second thought I grabbed my laptop and Google searched the lyrics so I could look at them. While I was singing the song over and over again, I logged on to my email and laying on my stomach facing the wall, I continued singing. There were three new messages.

Hey sammy!!! Where r those pics you promised me? haha jkjk I can wait. But I havent heard from you in like a year! Email me please I wanna know about everything! Now! like I know your busy with school and stuff but please please write to me sooooon!!! Stuff is so boring here i could almost cry... haha school is school but whatever please write!!! <3 hanna

I had completely forgotten to send them pictures! I was going to have to come up with some excuse to take some this weekend or something. Well, leave it to Hanna to remember. I opened the next one.

Hi darling,
I hope your first week at school has been going well. Ruben said that it was. He said you both have made a lot of new friends. I’m glad, but please email me soon. I love you, and stay out of trouble, honey. I love you. Mom.

Of course Ruben had emailed her this week. And good thing he hadn’t told her about my little incident earlier this week, or she’d be trying to contact the school or something.

I pressed the button to restart the song for the billionth time as I opened the third email, still singing along.

Hi Sam!
I miss you so much. It’s so sad not having you in any of my classes. But I guess you’ve probably made a lot of new friends and you’re having fun for sure. Just don’t forget to write and send me pics of you!!! And ask your principal or whatever you call him what visiting policies are there. My mom said she might let me come see you some time like maybe that long weekend we always have in October. Yay! Write back... or else! Love, Layla

I clicked the reply button just in time to get the wind knocked out of me when something heavy landed on my back. I turned my neck best I could and saw Shane on top of me. I groaned.

“Get the hell off me!” He obeyed.

“Yeah, man, she’s delicate,” Will said shooting him a look, which I myself threw his way. He grinned. “You sounded good. But don’t you have any other songs on that thing?”

“How long have you guys been standing there?” I asked. I was afraid to ask.

“Oh you know, ten, fifteen minutes,” Kai said casually. I gaped at him. I guess I hadn’t been able to hear them with my headphones in. I noticed Max was back too. I shut my computer and put my iPod away.

“Who wants to go eat?” I asked, heading for the door.

Five guys, four of whom had just gotten out of sports practice. I could barely keep up as they dashed to the elevator, and Will yanked me inside just as the doors were closing.