Change

The Voice of an Angel

My first two periods are math and history, in which I get equally embarrassed by the teachers; them forcing me to present myself to the rest of the class and me not knowing what to say besides my name and nationality.

I walk down the hallway trying to avoid any kind of human contact until I get to my next period, music. I walk in along with the other students and go up to the teacher, who surprisingly has an eyebrow piercing and bright green hair.

-Good morning Sir, my name is Nora, I'm new at this highschool.

- I'm Mr Clifford but please, call me Michael. Take a seat wherever you want.

I stare at him confused, rising an eyebrow at this unusual teacher that could be a punk.

-Don't you want me to introduce myself?

-Nah, I'm sure you'll do that plenty of times with other teachers. I'll find another way of embarrassing you later

He winks at me smiling and waves me off to the seats. I turn my back to him and look at all the people talking in small groups. They are all easy to identify: the popular kids, the jocks, the nerds, the misfits... The cute guy from earlier this morning. He's sitting alone in a table for two, so I walk straight up to him.

-Umm excuse me, can I?

I point to the empty seat and leave my books on the table before smiling at the blushing boy.

-You really shouldn't

He looks at me worried as I take a seat and narrow my eyes at him, not really knowing what he means.

-And why is that?

-You are new at the highschool, you have the chance to be in whatever group you want, and you shouldn't waste it sitting with me

In that moment the annoyingly loud bell rings signaling the beginning of the class, the students stopping their chat to take a seat.

-I've been told to seat wherever I want, and that's what I've done. Plus the class has already begun and it would be very rude of me to get up now

I simile at him again, watching as he blushes and looks down at his desk, unsuccessfully trying to cover it up.

The teacher/punk-Michael- stands up and claps his hands to grab all of our attentions. Then he takes a seat on top of his desk, letting us see the holes on the knees of his black skinny jeans.

-Well, as today is the first day and I'm sure you are all dying to show us your improvement since last year, each one of you is going to sing us a part of any song you'd like.

Some people groan at this, others slam their heads on their tables and others simply shrink in their seats. He then points to a girl in the front row and smiles enthusiastically.
-Emma, we'll start with you, then to the right, and all the way up to the back. And if there are no questions; whenever you want, Emma.

He nods to the girl and the girl nods back, then all noise dies and her voice is the only sound that can be heard. She beautifully sings some bits of Wonderwall, then falls silent and the next person begins to sing.

Different parts of various songs are sung; pop, rap, rock, old school, some classics... Way too soon it's the cute boy's turn and my fear of talking in public starts to kick in.

That's when his voice reaches my ears. Slightly cracked and wavy at first, then it's perfectly clear, hitting all the right notes and turning expertly. I turn to look at him while he sings; his eyes closed, his head a bit titled back and his cheeks tinted a light pink.

His voice rises an octave when the song reaches a high note and I get goosebumps all over my arms and back. His voice sounds like it has been brought from heaven, he was singing As long as you love me.

He shuts his mouth and cracks his hazel eyes open slowly, looking almost sacred, as if he had just woken up from a dream. He blushes harder when he sees me staring at him and hides his face again.

I then turn my head back to the front of the class and start singing I'm Only Human. The first seconds my voice waves horribly, making me even more nervous. Then all I can hear is my pulse right behind my ears and the sound of my voice automatically tunes out. When I finish I feel my blush slowly dying, my heart beat going back to normal and my body heat slowly getting lower. Oh do I hate talking in public.

As the rest of the class sing their parts I observe people tapping their fingers to a rhythm of their own, banging their heads to some tune or following the notes that are being sung with their hands.

Luckily not everyone sings exceptionally well; whereas some do, like the boy sat beside me, others simply hit almost all the the right notes.

Once the last boy sat in the very back of the class sings Michael grabs our attentions again to give us an assignment. He jumps down from his desk where he had been writing down some notes and turns to the class.

-Okay, now for next week you guys are going to prepare a song in pairs. You can choose any song you'd like, and I leave the pairs to y'all. No, there can't be any groups of three. It's due to next Monday... And if you need any help, you guys now where to find me

After a couple minutes of people pairing up, the bell rings and Michael dismisses us. I was almost out of the door when I hear my name being called.

-Nora! Shawn! I'd like to talk to you two.

I turn around to see the cute boy with the voice of an angel-was it Shawn?-talking to Mr. Clifford.

-Nora, I noticed you might have some trouble with speaking aloud in class?

-Y-yeah Sir

-Well Shawn here used to feel the same way but as you could see he has come a long way. I thought you guys could help each other in some way?

I turn to look at Shawn shyly and see him look down at me the same way. We both share small smiles and turn away. This is going to be awkward...

-I'm sure you guys will get along soon. Oh and by the way, you can call me Michael instead of Sir, Nora.

-... Right, S-Michael.

He smiles at us and we both leave the classroom to our respective next periods.

-Looks like we'll have to do this together

-Yeah, I hope I'm not causing any trouble?

-Don't worry, if anything you're making me a favor being my partner

I smile and shake my head a bit thinking about what Michael said earlier about him being insecure

-You sing like an angel, you know? You should have nothing to be ashamed of.

I regret my words as soon as I blurt them out and see Shawn blush while looking at me surprised.

Luckily Sammy appears from nowhere and happily wraps an arm around my shoulders. And I might be turning crazy but I would have sworn I saw Shawn's face fall a bit when he saw him.

-Ready for gym class?

-Yeah sure, I'll see you at lunch?

I turn my head smiling to look at Shawn and he smiles, then he nods shortly and turns to a different hall.

-You're friends with him?

-Yeah, he's really nice and our lockers are right next to each other

-Good. How has your first day been so far?

-Not too bad.

And I truly grin at him, the little incident from this morning long forgotten.