I'm Amazed That I Got This Far

John's P.O.V.

After school, Kalen and I stood up from our seats, and walked towards the exit of the classroom. We went down the hallway and we went down to her locker, before she put in her combination, and opened it.

"Do you have a lot of homework today?" Kalen asked as she looked at me. "Since you weren't here yesterday?"

"Eh, not really." I replied with a shrug. "I just have quite a bit in my math class."

"I can help you, if you want." She offered. "I don't know if you're going to do it, though."

I smiled. "You know me too well."

She laughed slightly and nodded. "I got to know quite a bit about you these past few years, John. You'd be surprised at how much I remember."

"Well, what do you remember, besides that I'm not a vegetable fan?" I smirked, as we started down the hallway, towards my locker.

"You want to leave home when you can, start a band, and tour the world." She started. "You told me in the fourth grade that you wanted to be Superman. Your favorite thing to do in preschool was to stir the snacks in the snack bowl."

"When did I tell you that?" I laughed.

"In the fifth grade!" She chuckled. "I told you I remember a lot."

"Well, I remember that you always wanted to be a dental hygienist, before you got your first cavity in the seventh grade." I smirked. "And you're allergic to pine tree needles."

"How do you remember that?" She asked.

"When we went into the woods one time, you got hives and all that shit." I said, before laughing. "I felt so bad for you."

"I so remember that." She giggled. "That was horrible."

"It looked horrible." I sighed, before shutting my locker. "Let's get out of here."

"Okay." She nodded.

The two of us turned on our heels, before walking down the hallway. We made our way through the sea of students to the exit of the school, and went out into the crowded parking lot. Once we reached Kalen's car, she started it up, as we waited for the parking lot to clear out a little bit.

"I know you had a long day yesterday and last night, so I won't force you to do homework at the park today." Kalen said as she looked at me.

"Thanks." I said with a slight smile.

"And you need to work on your talent show song." She said with a smile. "Because I'm excited to hear it."

"Really?" I asked.

"Of course, John." She said. "Everything you write and sing is amazing, so this will be no different."

"Thanks, Kay." I grinned.

"Anytime." She said happily, before pulling out of her parking space.

She filed out of the parking lot, behind all the reckless drivers at our school, before pulling onto the main street. She drove a little bit, until she arrived at my house, and pulled into the driveway. She put her car in park, and I sighed before getting out.

"Thanks." I told her.

"No problem." She replied.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow." I said. "I won't be late."

"Okay, John." She chuckled. "Bye."

"Bye." I smiled, before shutting the car door.

I walked up my porch stairs and opened the door slowly. I stepped inside and flipped off my shoes, as I heard feet pound down the stairs. Once my mom reached the foyer, she looked at me, with an angry look and I knew I was in some deep shit.

"Where were you, John?!" She exclaimed.

"Mom, I'm here." I said as I walked into the kitchen. "It's none of your business where I was."

"You never called and you didn't come home for nearly two days, John!" My dad said from the family room.

"It looks like you really didn't care!" I yelled. "Because you guys didn't do shit to try and get a hold of me!"

"John Cornelius O'Callaghan!" My mom screamed. "Do not talk to us like that!"

"You don't run off and not tell us where you went!" My dad said.

"Then what's the point of running off if I tell you guys where I am!?" I said. "That's pointless!"

"It's pointless to run off if you're going to come home in the end!" He exclaimed.

"Well, how about next time I don't come home." I said as I looked at him. "Would that put you two at ease? And I'll go do whatever I want and won't have to go to school, or clean my room, or follow any stupid rules!"

"You go out on that street, John, and you'll see what the real world is like!" My mom shouted. "It's not as easy as you think! And when you get out of college, you'll find that out for yourself!"

"Who ever said I was going to college?!" I asked. "I'm not going to college!"

"You're going to college!" My dad said firmly.

"I'm not." I shrugged. "I have no desire to go to college!"

"So, you want to end up like those broke musicians who can't make money for shit?!" He asked.

"I'd rather do that! And you guys don't even support me! What happened to 'Oh, we support you, John!'.?!" I screamed. "You guys are such liars!"

"You'll have nothing to fall back on!" He bellowed. "You'll have no college degree, no work experience, and nothing good that companies will see!"

"Do you really think I care?!" I said. "I want to be a musician! I'm going to be a musician! Kalen's the only one that believes in me!"

"Kalen's just saying that!" My mom said. "She doesn't mean it."

"How would you know!? You rarely talk to her!" I yelled. "You know nothing about her!"

"If you think you can just step all over us, then you've got the wrong idea, John! I don't know what happened to you!" My dad said.

"Well, I know what's happening." I said as I walked towards the stairs. "I'm chasing my dreams and no one believes in me. It's your fault I'm like this, anyway."

"That's bullshit." He said.

I rolled my eyes and didn't even bother to respond. I didn't have the energy to keep fighting with them. I was going to do what I wanted to do, and no one was going to stop me. I don't care if they kicked me out; I'd find a place to stay.

My dream was to leave home as soon as possible and go find some bandmates. I wanted to put a band together with them, write songs, and play our hearts out on stage. I wanted to tour the world and see new faces each and every day. I wanted people to like my music and I wanted people to spread it around. I wanted to be a musician; it was just hard that no one besides Kalen is helping me along.

I walked into my room and slammed my door shut behind me. I locked it and went over to my keyboard, before sitting on my stool. I pulled out a journal where I wrote a lot of songs down, and turned to the one I was going to play at the talent show. If I had more time, I would be writing a whole new song, but I don't have time to memorize the singing and piano before Friday. I turned on my keyboard and microphone, before perfecting my song.

Everything needed to be perfect for the talent show.

Kalen's P.O.V.

After I dropped John off at his house, I pulled out of his driveway, and took off towards my house. I had plenty of homework to occupy me tonight, and I needed to get started on it. It was kind of hard to want to work on homework when I had a best friend that despised homework and school in general. It made me kind of want to do what he was doing, but I wouldn't let myself. I wanted to go to college and I wanted to do my best, so I could earn everything that I want in life.

School wasn't John's thing, and I accept that. I just wish he tried, while he had the chance. What if he ends up not being a musician and has to have something to fall back on? He won't be able to go to a company and instantly get a job, especially if he has no college degree or college experience. John hasn't even had a real paying job, and that won't help with getting a full-time job either.

I wasn't saying John would fail as a musician; I knew he could accomplish many things. But what if something happened and he just couldn't find band members that wanted to stick with it? What if something ended up ruining his chances, and what if he just lost confidence in himself? Then he'd want to quit this musician business, and just go live a normal life, but that'd be impossible without college experience.

I believed in him 100%, but I just worried about what would happen in the future. John was never one to worry about the future. If we had a project that he didn't want to work on, I would ask him what if he failed the project, and he would just say "I don't want to worry about that. That is in the future, and we're in the present, Kay.". I'm not sure if he was scared of the future, or just really didn't care, and that somewhat worried me.

Once I got home, I pulled into the driveway, and threw my car in park. I sighed and grabbed my books that were in the back seat, before getting out of the car and shutting the door. I locked everything up, before walking towards the house. I went into the house and flipped off my shoes. Neither of my parents were home, so I walked upstairs and heard Kayla's music playing in her room. I continued down to my room, before going in and seeing the shirt that I let her borrow crumpled up on my bed. I picked it up and hung it over my desk chair, before sitting on my bed and starting on my homework.

FF To Day Of Talent Show

"All students who bought tickets for the talent show may go down to the Performing Arts Center." The principal said over the intercom, during seventh period.

I stood up from my seat, along with all the other people that bought tickets for the talent show, before walking out of my classroom. I went down the hallway and headed down to the Performing Arts Center, which is where all talent shows, school plays, and orientations are held.

When I got down to the PAC, with a bunch of other students, we walked through the doors, and started to look around for seats in front of the stage. Everyone grabbed a friend and went towards the back, so they could fool around and talk the whole talent show. I quickly walked over to the front row and sat down in the middle, right where John would be sitting with his piano and microphone.

I was excited to hear what John was going to play. Everything he did was amazing, and I'm surprised he didn't want to just do a solo project, and make his way as a musician like that. I always told him he should consider it, but he wanted a band with other guys. He said it would be more interesting to work on songs with friends than by himself, and I couldn't blame him.

A few minutes later, the lights dimmed, and the talent show started.

John's P.O.V.

After Taylor did her little dance routine that no one really seemed to enjoy, she stepped off stage and walked past me. Austin walked over to the microphone, as the students settled down, before introducing the next performer, which was me.

"How did everyone like that dancing, huh?" Austin said, as he read from his script, that was located on the podium. "I wish I could bend like that."

Some of the kids in the audience started laughing, and some just shouted stupid comments back at him.

"Up next we have John O'Callaghan, who will be playing his keyboard and singing a song of his own." Austin said.

I inhaled deeply, before letting the air in my lungs out. I was definitely nervous, but I really wanted to do this. The only thing I was worried about was choking in front of everyone and making a fool out of myself. I didn't want to play the wrong note and sound like an idiot, but I'm pretty sure if I did, no one would know because it's my song, not a hit from the Top 10 chart.

The stage crew took my keyboard and stool out on stage, and I walked behind them. Once they left the stage, I sat down on the stool and looked out at my fellow students. They were all looking back at me, and I already started to sweat from the lights that were shining down on me. I looked in the front row and Kalen was directly in front of me. She smiled at me, before giving me a thumbs up, and I smiled back at her.

I don't think anyone knew how much Kalen meant to me, and all the support she gave me just meant so much. She was the only person I could talk to without feeling stupid or embarrassed. She was always there for me and she always believed in me. I always thought what it'd be like to maybe date Kalen, but it's not like I had deep feelings for her. I had little feelings, like getting baby butterflies in my gut when we would hug, but nothing farther than that.

I shook every little thought out of my head that could throw my performance, before turning on my keyboard. I took a deep breath and adjusted my microphone.

"This is a song I wrote myself." I said. "It's called Into Your Arms."

Kalen's P.O.V.

"This is a song I wrote myself." John said into his microphone. "It's called Into Your Arms."

The whole auditorium fell silent, as John started to hit the keys on his keyboard, before he started to sing.

"There was a new girl in town.
She had it all figured out.
And I'll state something rash.
She had the most amazing....smile.
I bet you didn't expect that.
But she made me change my ways.
With eyes like sunsets baby.
And legs that went on for days.

I'm fallin' in love
But it's fallin' apart.
I need to find my way back to the start.
When we were in love.
Oh things were better than they are.
Let me back into.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.

She made her way to the bar.
I tried to talk to her.
But she seemed so far.
Outta my league.
I had to find a way to get her next to me.

I'm fallin' in love
But it's fallin' apart.
I need to find my way back to the start.
When we were in love.
Oh things were better than they are.
Let me back into.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.

Oh she's slippin' away.
I always freeze when I'm thinking of words to say.
All the things she does.
Make it seem like love.
If it's just a game.
Then I like the way that we play.

I'm fallin' in love
But it's fallin' apart.
I need to find my way back to the start.
I'm fallin' in love
But it's fallin' apart.
I need to find my way back to the start.
When we were in love.
Oh things were better than they are.
Let me back into.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.
Into your arms.
Into your arms."

After John finished his song, the whole PAC erupted in applause and cheering. I smiled and clapped as John looked out at everyone and smiled. He turned off his keyboard and stood up slowly, and I could tell he was shocked at the school's response to his song. He looked down at me from the stage and smiled wide, before giving me a thumbs up. I smiled back at him and gave him a thumbs up back, before he walked off stage, and the next act went on.