Never Say Goodnight

1st - JR/SR Choir
8:00 - 9:30
Room 363

I smiled when I saw this would be my first class every day for the rest of my junior year. I, as well as most of the other students I currently shared a building with, was not the biggest fan of high school. Choir, however, was something I had thoroughly enjoyed since age twelve. This would be the first time I'd had it at the beginning of the day, which gave me hope knowing that my days would at least start off well. I finally forced my eyes off of the paper and looked around the crowded hall for my best friend, knowing he would be in this class with me.

I walked to the water fountain that we'd met at every morning since freshman year, frowning when I didn't see him. In my head, I began to plan an after school adventure consisting of me going to his house and punching him in the throat for leaving me alone on the first day of school.

"Ashton!" I heard behind me.

I spun around at the sound of his voice and shook my head, unable to keep a tiny grin from creeping onto my face. "Collin Nichols, I was seriously planning to seriously injure you if you didn't show up today."

He smirked and leaned against the wall, one brown curl falling in the middle of his forehead as he did so. "Oh yeah? Which method were you considering, wrench or candlestick?"

"Punch to the throat actually, but I'll stop and see if my mother has any spare candlesticks because that's a better idea."

The bell rang, cutting our small hallway reunion short. "Alright Miss Scarlett, off to choir we go."

I rolled my eyes but had to laugh anyway as we heeded to room 363.



I followed Collin into the choir room, the familiar scent of old sheet music and band equipment instantly filling my nose. It wasn't pleasant or anything, but it was one of those things that had grown to comfort me over the last two years. Our director, Mr. Warner, was already at his seat behind the piano, playing a song that we would probably be learning in a couple of weeks.

Collin and I stood toward the back, knowing that sitting down would be pointless because the first thing Mr. Warner does at the beginning of a school year is arrange everyone the way he wanted us to sit for the year. Plus, this would probably be the only time we had to talk considering Collin and I had never once been seated next to each other in choir.

"It's so weird to think we finally made it to junior/senior choir," Collin said. "Seems like we were just in beginning choir yesterday."

I smiled and nodded my head in agreement. Honestly, it seemed crazy to me that I'd made it into this class in the first place. I'd known about this choir, which was for the junior and senior students chosen from mixed choir, since freshman year, but I never actually thought Mr. Warner would let me advance into it. I suppose it was just one of those things that seemed impossible until it happened.

The door to my right swung open, almost hitting me and scaring the shit out of me in the process. I stepped out of the way just in time, cursing quietly and trying to figure out who was coming out of the director's office, considering only one person was allowed in there. You know, the director. The force behind the door was walking up to the front of the room, and everything made sense when I saw a streak of blue hair.
Josh Ramsay. Also know as the assistant director.

I had only seen him a few times in the hallway, because he was only involved with the junior/senior choir and the senior choir, which had even fewer members because you had to make it through intense auditions to get in.

He came to a stop behind the piano and held out a paper to Mr. Warner, his lips moving but his voice so low that I couldn't hear him. As he stood there, I got my first good look at him. He still had that fresh out of college look, which technically, I guess he still was. The previous year had been his first. His hair was everywhere, but still in place at the same time. His outfit was nice, just simple black pants and black vest over a white shirt. Honestly, he wasn't bad to look at, but admitting that made me want to throw up. Last year, I'd heard all the stories about the junior choir girls trying to hit on him, and saw all the boys trying to act like him. I was not about to stoop to that level.

Another thing I knew about him was that no one called him Mister anything. Any time I heard a story, it was always "Josh" or "Ramsay" or some weird pet name the girls would call him when he wasn't around.

When I came out of my thoughts and looked at him again, he was laughing and standing in the middle of a group of the new juniors, each of them clearly trying to make sure he noticed them early on in the year. I crinkled my nose and turned away, feeling very strange at the thought of any of them trying to date the teacher.

He finally left the small crowd and made his way to the back again, stopping right in front of Collin and me. "Hey," he smiled, "you guys must be juniors. What are your names?"

"Collin Nichols," Collin answered, smiling at the guy like they were old pals. Both of their eyes turned to me and it occured to me that it was my turn to reveal my name.

"Uhm, Ashton. Ashton Marshall."

"Ashton," Josh repeated, nodding slowly. "Okay, cool. Well, I'm looking forward to working with you guys this year."

He flashed a bright smile before stepping away from us and returning to the director's office.