Unexpected

4. Helen

I'm so tired. When Jade tries to wake me up, she only succeeds after at least a thousand tries.

"Helen, get up or it'll be too late," she says and throws herself on my bed. She is already dressed and made up. How does she do it? Oh yeah. She didn't have a sleepless night and she didn't fight with Harry Davis. I won't tell her that I talked to him.

I sit up and lean my back against the headboard, sinking into the pillows. I rub my eyes and finally I can see something.

Jade looks at me in shock. "My God. What happened to you? Have you slept?" she asks me worried.

I yawn and brush my hair away from my face. "Yeah but not that much. I'm fine though," I reassure her, even though I feel awful, literally.

"Okay..." she says unconvinced, but she doesn't press further. "Hurry, you don't have much time and you know how much Professor Turner hates latecomers, especially on the first day of the second semester."

"I know."

I immediately get out of bed and put on the first things I find: jeans, a tight gray sweater with a bateau neckline and white converse. I turn on the curling iron and while I wait for it to warm up, I wash my face, brush my teeth, put on some concealer for dark circles, mascara and a coat of transparent lip gloss. I fix the waves of my hair and in a few minutes I am ready. We'll get to class just in time.

"I'm ready, let's go."

I ask Jade to drive my car, because I could really fall asleep at the wheel.

We get to class just before it starts and Professor Turner glares at us as we take our seats. I don't even look at who's in the classroom when I enter, so as soon as the professor is distracted by another student, I look in the direction where Harry is usually sitting.

He's here. He also looks tired and I could tell he has recently gotten up. While I look closely at him — and have no idea why I'm doing it — he is distracted, he pays attention to the professor. Suddenly his attention shifts to me, his blue eyes fall into mine and for a few seconds I can't look away.

"Helen!" Jade whispers and nudges me.

"Sorry." I take a deep breath. "I hate him, Jade, to die for."

She sighs and shrugs. She should be affected more than me, but apparently it seems that she has already gotten over it.

The music class today wasn't very interesting today's, it didn't captivate me at all. We take our things and go to get up.

"Miss Scott, Miss Miller!" Professor Turner calls us both from the desk. He makes us go downstairs to talk to him.

He sits on his chair and rests his elbows on the table, clasping his hands. I'm afraid he's gonna tell us something negative, but it's just information. "I know you're working on a song with Miss Williams to perform mid-term, it's awesome."

Jade and I nod and thank him.

"And she told me to tell you it would be even better if there was someone with a guitar playing the chords."

Why does Miss Williams need to ask Turner to let us know?

"All right. Who is it? So we can contact him or her and start practicing together,"Jade says smiling at him.

"She told me the boy is called Henry Davis."

What?

Jade pales but tries hard not to point out her emotions. I, on the other hand, feel my anger growing and I can't hold back a complain: "Davis..."

Jade steps on my foot on purpose, without getting noticed.

The professor looks at us perplexed and confused. "Some problems?"

He is the teacher we see the most, the friendliest and he is a good listener, so I think if I say what the various problems are he could try to help us. "Yup. Miss Williams is an exceptional musician and singer, no doubt, but she demands too much. Miss Miller plays divinely and I don't think I can't sing at all." As I speak he listens to me carefully. "If we don't disturb you, we might as well let you listen to the song. Jade?"

She looks at me with wide eyes and imperceptibly shakes her head.

"Yes, I'd love to listen to it in advance," Turner says with a chuckle.

I put my books and backpack on the desk and head to the piano. Jade is motionless until the professor points out the instrument with his hand, giving her a gentle smile.

Once Jade is ready, she starts playing. Without Miss Williams' pressure, I feel freer as I sing this beautiful song. I am almost moved by the moment I notice Turner's surprised look as he listens to us.

As soon as my pianist's foot lifts off the pedal and her hands leave the piano keys, the professor jumps to his feet, clapping his hands. "It was awesome. Jade, you touch the keys with indescribable delicacy, and you, Helen, have a beautiful voice. What's Miss Williams' problem? Sorry, I don't understand!"

We both shrug, then I say, "Although the song is at least decent, she continues to complain." I try to ask him this favor, "Isn't it like you could put in a good word?"

He immediately shakes his head.

Ugh, damn it.

"You know her, you know that no one can make her change her mind. The song is perfect, but I admit that the guitar would give an even more beautiful effect. Try to see how it comes out, if you don't like it then nothing."

I sigh. "We have no choice. It all depends on Miss Williams..."

He shrugs and then takes his leave, suggesting that we could go and eat something in the cafeteria before the other lessons.

"Jade," I tell her as soon as she closes the music room door behind her. "We have to say something to Miss Williams; we would never be able to concentrate with Harry."

She doesn't look at me as we walk and frowns, we're in a hurry. "Helen, honestly, I don't care about him. I was a fool."

I snort. "How can you say that? He used you," I remind her. "And I hate him for this."

"Gotcha. However, Friday we're going to that party and we'll show him who we are, both of us, okay?" she tells me thrilled.

I chuckle. "Oh yeah. That's for sure!"