No Guidelines

Chapter 12-4

11, Nov. 2015 Wed

Writing club was Practically non-existent, Replaced with a hangout meeting. Audrey wasn't sure if Harris would approve but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. The club was back to its full strength in numbers as well, Emma even returning. Audrey sat, spaced out at nothing in front of her while the others mingled. Her quiet time didn't last long when Natalie brought her back to reality.

"I just had an idea, why don't we practice singing in front of our group here?" she said, her voice sounding a bit raspier than yesterday.

"Are you getting sick?" Audrey asked, ignoring her idea.

"Just slept with the window open by accident, I'm fine." she said, "But seriously, don't ignore my question."

Audrey thought hard about it. It terrified her, but it seemed marginally easier than singing in front of half of the school. Singing in front of Adrian gave her cold feet. "I don't know, i don't want to embarrass myself in front of you guys."

"Oh shut up, almost all of us have heard you sing, you'll be fine." She took hold of her hand. Her hand was covered by jacobs sleeve, shielding their skin from touching each other. The two girls stood in front of the whiteboard, their postures polar opposites—each defining their personality and current mood distinctly.

An energetic cheer from Jacob sounded from the back, followed by some more cheers from the others. Except for Emma and Looz of course. It made Audrey feel a little more nervous. It was fine if Emma, didn't cheer, but Looz seemed against the idea. Audrey gulped, trying to moisten her dry throat. Natalie counted them in and began their musical number.

The disappointed faces in their Audience were enough of a tell that maybe they sucked. They tried their best to cover it up with friendly faces but Audrey knew they sucked. A glance at Natalie's defeated expression told her that she thought the same. Natalie's voice cracked every so often, a major difference from the angelic voice that pulled her from the trance last Friday. Audrey, herself, was quiet and talking the words to Something Good Can Work by Two Door Cinema Club, her voice monotone and dry. It did get a few laughs from some of the girls.

"Okay that wasn't the best, but trust me, Audrey is Amazing," Natalie said, clearing her throat—it sounding raspier than it did before.

"Babe, you should rest your voice," Jacob chimed in, he was also clearing his throat more.

"I will babe," she said. She sat down and rubbed her neck through her scarf. She looked back at Audrey. "Don't worry Audrey, you're doing much better! You semi-sang in front of an audience without the need for alcohol."

Natalie had a point. Even if She wasn't that good, She did have enough courage to sing in front of her friends. In front of Adrian—even Jacob. Although her legs wobbled more at that sudden realization. Natalie continued her Statement after clearing her phlegmy Throat.

"Just a little more of that confidence and you'll successfully show the school your beautiful voice."

"Easy for you to say, you won't be the one being judged in front of the whole school," Looz chimed in. She was once again annoyed at Natalie.

The whole school? She thought. Suddenly she wanted to pass out—throw up—maybe both. Get a grip, Audrey, not here, not in front of Adrian.

"Gee for her best friend, you sure have Zero faith in her," Natalie said.

Looz' Nostrils flared, her one eyebrow that's visible furrowed and you could see she grit her teeth. "You Bitch! How dare you!" She said.

Emma was quick to jump to Natalie's defense, getting into looz' face. The two girls started cursing Each other, flailing insults back and fourth. Practically everyone in the group was holding them back, Natalie throwing herself in the middle of the two.

Audrey felt stuck, the room shrinking in on her. She was frozen and soon gone again.

***

Natalie snapped her fingers in front of Audrey's face. It was just them two. They were at Natalie's house. What?! What happened? She thought. Why was she missing so much? She wanted to ask Natalie what happened but she feared the answer she would get, "what do you mean? You where there." It was just one of those things she had to hope ended well, However small the chance was.

"Audrey, you okay?" She asked. They sat on her upholstered couch in her entertainment room. It was nearly dark out, the time on her phone reading 7:40. All the lights turned ongave the room a golden haze, despite the walls being a rich shade of red. She looked back to her friend who gave her a concerned look.

"Yeah, sorry. I forgot what we're doing."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "No way you're that forgetful, you wanted to pick a song to sing for the talent show."

Audrey didn't think she was forgetful at all really, but with all these lapses in her memory, she couldn't defend herself. A song is what she wanted according to Natalie, and one did come to mind. The one that broke her free of her trance. She pulled out her phone and showed Natalie. "This one."

"Apollo, Last Dinosaurs?" She coughed into her arm, "Alright, let's get versed on those lyrics."

"Both of us?" Audrey seemed relieved at that thought.

"Well, no. You, I mean. It was a figure of speech." Audrey's relief vanished. Natalie nudged her. She seemed to have noticed the despair starting to form on her face. She smiled at her, one so reassuring. She couldn't tell why but it almost made her want to cry.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, I promise." She said with a scratchy tone—clearing her throat.
"You got this." She patted Audrey's back, and Audrey returned the favor.

The two practiced together until it was around midnight. Audrey was surprised her mom wasn't worry-texting her when she would be home. Then again, it's not like Audrey's location was a secret nor far in distance. At the end of the Session Natalie was speaking less and less—Drinking more and more tea with extra-Extra honey.

Natalie walked her to the door, wrapped in a cozy pink blanket and cup of camomile in hand. "I'd walk you home Audie, but it's too cold for me," she said, sounding like she aged 80 years. She called her Audie, a name she usually hated being called but coming from Natalie was very sweet and endearing. It wasn't malicious or because she forgot—just a nickname between friends. It reminded Audrey of her little sister, who's the only person she was okay with calling Audie, Although in her case it's because she can barely speak correctly at all.

"Don't worry about it, then I'd just want to walk You Back home and we'd be stuck walking around our neighborhood in a loop," She said.

Natalie smiled, suppressing a laugh behind a small coughing fit, almost as if marbles were rattling around in her neck. "That doesn't sound so bad if the night is right," she said, "See you tomorrow Audie, goodnight."

"Goodnight Nat."

Authors note
Wow! What a chapter. Who do you side with on the argument? Do you think Looz is lacking faith in Audrey or do you think Natalie is pressuring Audrey a bit too much? How are you enjoying the story so far?

Editors
Elem
naomi14

Next chapter
Natalie is sick and now Audrey starts to feel nervous as she preps for the talent show. What will happen to her? Find out next week!