the music that brought us together.

Chapter Two

"Julia, you're off pitch slightly, pick up the pace Lucy!"

Rehearsals came right after school that day, which Violet was very excited about. Mr. P and the group are working super hard to place high in the upcoming competition. Violet is waiting for her turn to rehearse, so instead she's watching Lucy, Julia, Rebecca, and Kim work on their performance with the song "All Eyes On Me." The competition allows a maximum of 10 performances, but usually no groups go to that high. This year, they were doing 7 performances, and Violet was leading most of them. Since Rowan is a senior now, being the previous lead of the group, they had to decide who would lead the group after he left, so they decided to give Mr. P the authority and he chose Violet. She honestly couldn't tell what the other members of her group felt about this, but she was happy. This next performance was also her test to see if she could handle being the leader, and obviously, she wanted to be as prepared as possible.

"Kim, I really hope you're not chewing gum in the middle of the dance!"

Mr. Petracki was the teacher that watched over the group, even though they usually picked the songs they wanted to do. He was so hardworking, and Violet tries to help in any way she can because of all of the other things he's currently doing. On top of the upcoming performance, he has a wife and kid, Max, and piano lessons as well. Violet couldn't be more grateful that he was here, though, they needed a supervising adult for this group to actually be allowed to participate in competitions.

"Rebecca, more energy!"

Violet got up from her seat, walked over to the big cooler of waters she brought in and grabbed two from inside. She gave one to Mr. P and took a sip from hers.

"Which one did you want to practice, again, Violet?"

"'Wait a Minute!'. I think I need to work on my dance."

"Alright, they should be almost done soon."

She smiled at him, thanking him in advance and watching with him. The girls looked good, but they made a lot of little mistakes and Violet wasn't sure if their voices were right for this song, but they wanted to do it, so she wouldn't take it for granted. Once they finished, they huddled into a group and talked amongst themselves.

"Mr. P, can we run it again please? The others clearly have no idea what they're doing." Lucy says bitterly. Mr. P takes off his glasses to clean them, looking up at Lucy on stage.

"Lucy, your group has already run the song three times, and Violet and Rowan need to practice too, so you can get your chance after them."

"But they'll just forget it while we're waiting for her to finish!"

"Then you should've reviewed the videos I took at home and practiced."

"Mr. P, I can wait a little longer, it's okay." Violet comments kindly. Lucy smirks proudly.

"No, go ahead Violet, I need to analyze it anyway." He chuckles slightly. Violet nods and walks backstage, only to hear Lucy whining again. After a bit, Violet walked onto the stage with her hair up and sat down on the floor. Lucy looked irritated and Mr. P clearly wasn't trying to let her get to him. Violet smiled warmly at him, which made him smile back.

"Alright, Violet, ready?"

"Wait, I'm here!"

Violet looks towards the main entrance to the auditorium where she saw Rowan running in. She scoffed and stood back up again.

"Rowan, you're late again!"

"Sorry, sorry, I was just talking to a friend."

"Not really an excuse right now, but thankfully it was only Lucy's group that went so far." Violet sighs. Rowan chuckles nervously, and she sits back down on the stage.