Simple As A Song (School of Rock)

nineteen -- we go down together

THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE IS somewhere I never thought I'd be here at this prep school. My mom warned me about getting into trouble, that my scholarship would be in jeopardy if anything like that happened. And right now, on this awful Monday morning, I think it's happening. Glancing over at Lawrence, I see his legs swinging back and forth like he's a little kid in a candy store. However, there's a scared look on his face. It doesn't seem like he's used to being in the principal's office, either. 

Principal Mullins sits across from us, her reddish hair pulled back into a severe ponytail. For some odd reason, Clark is currently standing outside the door, almost as if he is guarding it. From whom, though? From us escaping, or from people coming to get us? I can't be sure, and I'm also not sure why he isn't in class like everyone else. 

Unfortunately for Lawrence and me, we were rudely taken out of class while Tomika and Summer were trying to figure out how to perform for a singing competition show, and somehow, Daya, Summer's favorite singer, is incorporated into this competition, though I didn't hear the rest of the story because of how Clark came and took me and Lawrence. Things weren't really looking good in the classroom, especially since Summer can't sing for her life, but then it got ten times worse when Lawrence and I were escorted out of the room. I don't think I'm going to be able to see what else happens to Summer and Tomika since Principal Mullins just keeps staring at us, not saying anything at all. 

I shift in the leather seat, wondering what she's waiting on. I grip the top of my backpack, and my heart starts to pound in my chest. I'm actually afraid of leaving this school after becoming friends with most of the people in the band and my class, and I have found my place, my niche, here. I don't want to lose that. Not yet.

The door behind us opens, and I turn my neck. My face floods with color when I see my wonderful, sweet mother standing in the doorway, a furious look scrawled across her face. Today, she wore her hair down around her face, and she looks years younger. The angry look on her face adds a few years, though. I shrink lower in my chair and face Principal Mullins again, praying Mom won't make a scene. 

She doesn't. Instead, she grabs a chair and pulls it next to me, sitting down on the edge. Principal Mullins leans forward, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "Thank you for joining us, Miss Velasco," she says, nodding once. "I tried calling your mom, Lawrence, but her phone was off."

"When she's at work," Lawrence squeaks out, "she doesn't have her phone on."

"Right," Principal Mullins says. She reaches below her desk and pulls up the busted hologram machine, gently setting it on her desk. "The dance wasn't supposed to have music, but Mr. Finn convinced me otherwise. He said that there was this amazing underground band that needed to be heard, and I trusted him." She stares at the three of us for a few moments before saying, "I shouldn't have trusted him. Somehow, the band never showed up, and instead of them playing in person, they had this hologram machine made."

"Why are Harlow and Lawrence here if it was the band that made the hologram machine?" Mom asks Principal Mullins. I don't think she has connected the dots yet, and I pray that Principal Mullins doesn't start making accusations about the band and who's really in the band.

"The band couldn't make it," I blurt out before Principal Mullins can answer her. I can't have her think too hard about this band, and I can't have Mom even think about the band at all since she sort of knows about my band with Riley. "They contacted Mr. Finn a few hours before the dance, and he tasked us with making the hologram machine to match up with the video and sound that the band sent us."

"That's why they're here," Principal Mullins explains to Mom. "Clark told me that he saw Harlow setting up the hologram machine on the stage and that she probably wasn't smart enough to make it on her own, which was why Lawrence is here." I'm a little hurt that Clark actually said those things about me when we haven't even interacted much together, but I don't say anything about that right now based on the way Mom grips my arm. "They are the reason there was an explosion in the gym on Saturday night."