You Belong With Me

First day of school, always the hardest but yet the easiest. Coming back as a junior didn't feel too bad, almost out. But graduating was not what I was looking forward to. The position for a lead soloist in the school chorus group was now up for grabs. Only juniors and seniors were allowed to tryout and only one will be picked. I've been waiting to tryout ever since I entered high school. Singing is my passion. But I'd have to wait for two whole months before I could try out.

"Matt! Are you going to drive me or not?" I yelled up to my brother.

"Hold on!" If I was late, I swear I will kick Matt so hard he won't know what happened.

"Why don't you take the bus?" my mom suggested.

"Mom, no." I hated the bus. I heard Matt stomping down the stairs. He grabbed his keys and went out the front door, saying 'bye' to Mom. I said 'bye' as I followed Matt out.

The drive usually different each day, depending on how late we left or if we were taking one of the guys. I assumed that we weren't picking any of the guys up because Matt was driving straight to school.

Huntington High was in view. Matt parked in the student lot beside Zacky's car where he and Jimmy were standing, with cigarettes in their mouths.

"Where's Brian?" Matt asked. The guys shrugged and stomped out their cigarettes. I saw Sydney walking towards the building. I told the guys that I was going in and ran after her.

"Sydney!" She turned around after hearing her name.

"Bailey!" I ran up to her and gave her a hug. I pulled out my schedule and handed it to her as she gave me hers. I looked over it and compared the two.

"We don't have any classes together. But we have lunch together," she said. We returned our schedules. "You might have either chemistry or gym with Johnny."

"How do you know what Johnny has?" I asked.

"I saw him back there and asked." She pointed behind her. "You better pray you have nothing with Brian."

"Yeah," I whispered.

"You still like him?" she asked, shocked that that could even be possible.

"Yeah."

"Why waste your time on him when you can like someone like Johnny?"

"'cause Johnny's short," I said.

"But Brian's an ass," she said. I sighed knowing that I would never win. Sydney hated Brian more than anything. And she was totally against the fact that I've liked him for two years. And she thinks that he's a total man whore, heartbreaker. But I didn't care. I was undeniably in love with Brian Haner Jr.

First class of the day: history. My least favorite class. It wasn't until next period that I'd have a class worth taking: chorus. I couldn't imagine school without chorus. But I had to wait an hour for it. And at the time an hour seemed like a lifetime.

Finally the bell ran. I jumped out of my seat and ran out to the hallway. People crowded in the hallway trying to get to their classes. There were freshmen asking teachers where to go, upperclassmen picking on the freshmen, and couples. I saw a few of my friends and gave them a quick wave. I finally made it to the other side of the school to where the chorus, band and orchestra rooms were. I entered the chorus room, located my chair and started chatting with my chorus buddies.

The instructor, Mrs. Andrews, hushed out voices and began explaining the course. I, along with the sophomores, other juniors and seniors, knew the rules and regulations quite well. She had us warm up and massage each others backs as we sang. She then had us sing on song just to get the first year students use to it.

Once we were finished, Mrs. Andrews stood in front of us to talk about the tryouts.

"As all of you know, we have tryouts for the soloist spot in Keyless Entry that's only available for juniors and seniors. Tryouts are on October tenth, eleventh and twelfth. I'll have more info for you later. But just letting you know. Class is almost over so you can have the rest of the time to yourselves," she said. I turned to the girl next to me, knowing she was just as excited for tryouts as I was. We talked about the position and how our summers went.

Chemistry was pretty much the same as history; boring. But I happened to like chemistry a lot better than history. Mrs. Weaver passed around the safety rules and a syllabus for the week. I was beginning to think that the school hates me because I was in class with some of the dumbest people in the school. At least I'd get to be with my friends at lunch.

The lunch bell rang and all the students rushed out. There were three different lunch periods: one before third period, one in the middle of third period and one after third period. Luckily, I had lunch with all of my friends. I saw Matt standing in the hallway. His arms were crossed and he looked impatient.

"Hey," I said as I stood in front of him. He greeted me with a hug. "Who are you waiting for?"

"Zack. The other guys are getting a table so I decided to wait for him. I know he has this lunch," he said.

"Well I didn't see him at all today," I told him.

"There he is!" Matt said. Zacky came around the corner and over to us. Mat brother and Zacky started walking towards the cafeteria. I followed behind then to the table where Sydney, Johnny, Jimmy and Brian sat. There were two open spots beside Brian but there was one beside Sydney. I chose the one beside her.

"Do you want to go in line?" I asked her.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Where are you going?" Matt asked.

"To get some food," I answered. I walked to the line of people and waited for it to shorten. I really respected that Matt was so protective, but he always wanted to know where or what I was doing.

"I'm surprised you didn't take that seat beside Brian," Sydney said as we entered the food area.

"Just because I like him, doesn't mean I need to sit beside him," I said.

"Well good. He's not right for you. Brian likes blond sluts, not girls like you."

"What do you mean girls like me?" We continued walking through the line.

"Well you're smart and obviously not blond or slutty," she said. Sydney was the kind of friend that will tell you exactly how it is. She didn't hold anything back. She speaks before she thinks.

I paid for my lunch and walked back to my seat across from Matt.

"Are you not eating?" I asked Matt. Sydney sat down and started eating.

"Nah. Don't feel like getting up."

"Lazy. Here, have my apple," I offered, holding the apple out in front of him.

"Bails, its your apple, you eat it," he said, pushing the apple away.

"Matthew."

"Bailey."

"If you're not going to eat it, I will," Brian said, snatching the apple out of my hand and taking a bite while laughing. The table roared with laughter for reasons I wasn't sure of. It wasn't that funny, but it was cute.

Sydney and I finished out lunch and took up our trays together. The bell rang and everyone went to their forth period. I had health and gym, which alternated every other day. Today I had health, tomorrow I'd have gym. I noticed that Johnny was in my class.

For today, we got to sit where we wanted so I sat beside Johnny. Tomorrow in gym we were going to play volleyball. I liked playing but I was absolutely horrible. I wasn't a sporty person. Matt was more athletic than I was.

"Band practice I at your house right?" Johnny asked.

"Yep."

"I'll be there."

"Alright," I said. Band practice for Avenged Sevenfold was usually at my house. I didn't mind having all of the guys at the house. They usually didn't make a mess. They focused on practicing.

Sydney came home with me and Matt after school. We were hanging out watching TV while the guys waited for Brian. They were used to him being late all the time. No one was sure what he was ever doing.

I heard a knock at the door and figured it was Brian. I jumped up and ran to the door, swinging it open. Brian was wearing the same black shorts that he wore at school, but not he was wearing my favorite Guns N' Roses shirt. There were so many days that I wished he came to the door for me. Why could he never just walk in and kiss me or pull flowers from behind his back or take me out?

"Bails, I know I'm irresistible and you want to fuck me, but I have band practice to attend to," he said. I snapped out of my coma and back to reality. I tried to play it off as if what he said wasn't true and moved out of the way.

"Thanks," he said and walked downstairs. Why can't he just walk in instead of knocking when he knows I'm going to answer? He could just save me the embarrassment.

"Bails, you were daydreaming again," Sydney said.

"Ugh, was I?" I plopped back down on the couch and threw my head back.

"Just get over him, Bails!"

"I can't, Syd!"

"Well try! It's obvious that he's not into you," she said. My jaw dropped. She always says things like that so I should be use to it, but I’m not.

"I'm just trying to protect you!"

"Well that's what Matt's for."