A Year Away

Chapter 9

One the second Friday in October, we had our first away game. It was close game, but we managed to win by the skin of our teeth. Erik, Lisiel, and Peter all showed up for the game and brought more school pride than most students. It's been nice, having them at the games. I actually find myself looking for them in the stands before the game starts. They aren't hard to find, an explosion of blue and gold in the crowd.

To celebrate the teams three in a row winning, Müller suggested the team go out for a celebration. Felix had sent an address and a time, and we all met. It would be my first time outside of practice hanging out with the team without Erik.

"America!" Müller says in way of greeting as I enter the building. "Glad you could make it." He slings an arm over my shoulder. "Tonight is going to be fun."

"What is this place?" I ask as he leads me towards the table the rest of the team is at.

"Hell," Sophie says dryly.

"It's a Karaoke bar." Felix says, passing me some water.

I do a double take. "Karaoke?"

"Do they not have those in the Carolinas?" Felix asks.

I sit down next to him. "Oh, they do. I just didn't think they had them here."

"Where's Erik?" Ida asks.

"He didn't think he was invited." I say.

Sophie bristles. "That would be a first."

"We need our padre." Léon whines.

"Never tell Erik that," Sophie says. "It will just feed his ego."

"I'm going to text him," Felix whips out his phone. "I want to see if he's a good singer."

"What about you, Nicholas?" Anna asked. "Can you sing?"

I shake my head. "No, no I cannot."

Schmidt raises her water cup at me. "Join the club, Hemmick."

"I'm the club leader." Lucy says warily.

"Hey, America," Müller calls from the bar. "You drinking tonight?"

Had I heard him right? "What?"

"Drinking age is 16 here," Ida informs me. "For lighter drinks."

I thought about it. A beer didn't sound bad, but I also don't know how the Kloses would react to me coming home a little tipsy . Erik had had a beer once during dinner, but he wasn't a huge fan of the taste. Plus, my dad frowned on drinking.

"I think I'll be okay for right now." I told Müller.

"Well, let me know if you change your mind, first round is on me."

"Okay," Felix says, rubbing his hands together. "Who's first?"

"You seem the most excited about this." Sophie says. "Take it away."

Felix breaks into a grin and runs up to the stage.

"What do you guys sing at karaoke bars?" I ask Ida. "I don't know that many German songs."

"We usually sing English songs. They're great for karaoke."

As if to prove her point, Felix picks 'moves like jagger' to start off the night.

"This isn't fair." Luca whines. "We shouldn't have started with someone who could actually sing."

I nod my head in agreement. Felix could sing. And, unbelievable, he sounded almost American when he sang. It was almost weird, hearing them sing in English. I'd helped Luca and Nicole with their English homework a couple times and talked with my parents a whopping four times, but that was all English speaking i had done since I got here. I spoke, was spoken to, and sometimes even thought in German. The two languages crossing streams like this, it was strange.