Do It for Baltimore, Do It for Me

When fourth period finally rolled around, Tay couldn't be happier. At this point, she didn't care who was in this class with her; all she cared about was that she had an hour of a class centred around music. She entered the room, happy to have found it on her own and glanced across the room, seeing Alex and Jack sitting next to each other. Figures they'd be friends; they were both very similar to Tay. Instead of going to sit next to the only two people she knew, she decided to sit on the very opposite side of the room as the bell rang.
The teacher swept into the room and started discussing the new assignment they were about to be given; a group assignment to compose and perform a song to the class based on the things they'd been learning for the past month. "Tay, since you haven't been with us for the duration of those lessons, your partner will have to explain it to you. How this is going to work is we're going to draw names out of a hat, same routine it always is." she said and handed the hat to the first person. Tay watched as Alex pulled the name, praying it wouldn't be hers. She judged by the frown that appeared on his face that it wasn't and instantly let out a soft sigh of relief as he stood up and went over to a perky blond in the middle of the room. Tay then turned her glance to Jack, fingers crossing that it wouldn't be her, either. Jack stood up and cheered and she instantly froze, fearing it was her. As he started walking to her, she shook her head until he stopped and turned to face a muscular guy.
"Zack!" he cheered as he gave the man a high five. Tay let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and waited a little longer as the hat was passed around.
"Tay?" a voice said from beside her and she glanced up, startled. Standing next to her was a really tall guy she recognized from one of her classes; the one with the frown.
"That's me." she said with a small smile.
"I'm Jordan. Looks like we're partners," he said with an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck as he held up the small strip of paper that had her name scrawled over it.
"Cool," she said shyly, "I don't really know what we have to incorporate; mind catching me up?"
"Sure." he nodded and motioned her over to an empty corner of the room as he started to explain that they'd been working on reading music as well as the key to lyric writing. A genuine smile crept onto her face; she'd been writing her own music for years. Jordan continued to tell her what they needed to do and then started talking about ideas.
After a while, Tay pulled out her lyric book. "I was kind of writing a song earlier today in class. If you wanted to look at that, I mean." she said with a shy blush.
"Sure. Do you play any instruments or sing?" he asked and Tay bit her lip.
"I, uh, I kind of sing. I know a little guitar and piano as well," she said shyly and Jordan gave her a smile.
"Sweet. I play guitar, but I can harmonize if you want to try singing." he suggested.
Tay looked around the room at all the people, feeling a little nervous. She knew that no matter what she had to perform their song, but she wasn't sure she could sing in front of everyone; especially not Alex and Jack. She looked back at Jordan, who was giving her an expectant look.
"Let's try it." she said finally and he gave her a shy smile.
"Alright. Can I see what you wrote?"
Tay flipped to the page where she'd scrawled a new song earlier this morning and handed it over to him. "It's not finished and I think the chorus needs to be adjusted but other than that…" she trailed off, giving him a nervous look.
Jordan read through the first few lines and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think we can make this work."
"Cool," she smiled and watched Jordan as he stood up to grab an acoustic from the stand at the back of the room before returning to her. He sat down, crossing his legs as he held the guitar in his lap.
"So was this a slower song or what did you have in mind?" he asked as he started to adjust the tuning on the guitar.
"I was thinking slower, but whatever you have in mind works for me."
Jordan nodded and strummed a few times before stopping. "Sing the first line how you have it in your head and I'll see what I can do." he smiled.
Tay blushed and cleared her throat, glancing down at the book before taking a breath and singing the first line slowly. "I remember the nights we spent under city lights, this feeling's got the best of me…" she sang quietly and looked up at him nervously. The expression on his face displayed something like shock and Tay instantly felt self-conscious. "Maybe you should sing instead…" she said quietly.
"Are you kidding?! That was fucking amazing!" he breathed.
"R-really?" she asked, the blush returning.
"Yes! You have to sing for our song, please?" he begged.
"On one condition…" she mumbled shyly.
"What is it?"
"Sing with me." she asked quietly, "It'll make me feel less nervous."
"I think we can make that work, too." he grinned.