Dreaming In Stereo

Part 22 ~ Music Class

Jakob's POV

(Quick Question before you start the book: If I were to write multiple WIP stories featuring one of the boys as the main character in each of them, and they were all very different (like one's very romantic and the other is like an action kind of story and one is a coming-of-age book, would you want to read them? Please comment below 'cus I've had this idea but I don't know if it's a good one and I'd really love your input. )

Somehow, time had managed to slip through my fingers and before I even knew it, it was the last dat of school. Somehow, I'd gotten through all those exams and finals without even realising that the school year was coming to an end. My last day of school, ever, at this school. I realised this only the Sunday before the beginning of the last week of school when Lara texted me at 11 p.m.:

L: LAST WEK OF SCHOOL JAKEYYYY 

Because it was the last day of school and all the exams were finally over, I figured the teachers wouldn't really give a crap what I showed up at school like. So Monday morning I allowed myself to sleep in twenty minutes, and with a wrinkled, unbuttoned polo tee shirt and trousers pulled up to my knees I arrived at school with five minutes to spare before first period. 

"Hey Max? First period?" I asked Max as she walked past.

"Music," Max replied. 

"Great, thanks."

Music was probably the chillest class ever because our final had been on the guitar and singing. It was probably the only exam I knew for certain I would get full marks for without having practised at all. Not like I practised much for any of the other exams.

I found Karl a couple minutes later at his locker, and we talked for a bit, then grabbed our stuff and walked slowly to the music classroom. We were still chatting loudly when we walked into the music classroom three minutes late. Instead of my usual music teacher, an overly-enthusiastic guy named Mr Wallace, there was a different teacher. He wore a shirt tucked into his trousers, which he wore with a belt. He also had a pair of thin, rimless glasses and looked very strict. Compared to Mr Wallace, who always let me off when I was goofing around simply because I was the only one in the class who wanted to be a musician, this guy looked very strict, like a no-nonsense teacher.

"You're late, boys." The guy said. He looked down at a list and asked, "Jakob Delgado and Karl Smith?" We both nodded.

"Sorry," Karl replied, and we sat down. 

"Where's Mr Wallace?" I asked.

"Mr Wallace is sick," The guy replied. "I'm Mr Harold, your substitute teacher for the class. I understand you've been working on the guitar and singing."

Mr Harold proceeded to talk about some pretty lame guitar and singing things that no one really cared about and didn't really matter. Fifteen minutes into his grand speech, Karl and I started flicking bits of paper at each other. A couple moments later Mr Harold stopped dead in his tracks and stared straight at me, who was slumped in the chair and in the middle of a yawn.

"But Jakob seems to think he's got it all mastered. Perhaps he'd like to demonstrate a song? Sing it, and play the chords on the guitar?" Mr Harold asked. I felt a smirk tugging at my face but pressed it down, trying not to give anything away. Instead, I put on my best 'embarrassed' face and stuttered.

"Uh-u-um..."

"Come up here, let's see what you've got," Mr Harold said.

So I stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. Karl smirked at me, a couple other students snorted suppressed bursts of laughter. Max was clutching her stomach laughing. Mr Harold passed me a guitar. My fingers found the right notes and I immediately started to play song, strumming against the strings while tapping my foot against the ground rhythmically.

The classroom was silent. I stood at the front of it awkwardly, holding the guitar in one hand, having just finished singing 'Riptide' by Vance Joy. Karl looked impressed, Max was grinning and flashed me a thumbs-up, and the teacher, Mr Harold, just stared.

"You can uh... go and take a seat," Mr Harold finally said. 

"Jakob!!" 

It was the end of the school day. Amidst the cheers and celebrations of all the students racing down the hallways, I heard my name being called and saw that it was Max, who stood in the middle of the hallway with her backpack slung over her left shoulder, smiling at me.

"Yeah?" I asked as I gathered up my stuff quickly and joined her walking out of the school.

"You. Were. Awesome," Max said, nudging my shoulder slightly.

"Yeah, well, Mr Harold was kind of a dick," I replied, which made Max laugh. I liked her laugh, because it was light and tinted with a smile and very real.

We continued to walk until we'd crossed the threshold of the school and ran down the stairs, taking in the bright, summer sun and our newfound freedom.

"What are we gonna do this summer?" I asked. 

"Definitely swim," Max replied. "I've been aching to swim in one of those beach-like pools they have. And I'm guessing In Stereo has future plans as well?"

"I just wanna have fun," I sang.

"What song was that from?"

"I don't know, just made it up," I replied and grinned. 

"I don't think you know how to have fun," Max said. "Real fun."

"Are you calling me boring?" I asked. I'd always thought of myself as anything but boring. Crazy, yes. Sometimes pretty stupid, yes. But not boring. 

Max shrugged and flashed me a coy smile. "Maybe. I'm saying you don't know how to have fun. Interpret it however you want, Delgado."

"And you're saying you know how to have fun?" I asked. "You?"

Again, Max shrugged. She turned to face me as she walked backwards. "I'm just saying. It's summer. And you're still several metres away from school, walking and talking... boring."

"That's what you're also--" I stopped mid-sentence as the blur of blond hair and light blue sprinted, weaving her way through the crowd of students. From a distance, she screamed, "Catch me if you can!" Her words lingered in the summer air. 

I sprinted after her, as fast as I could, chasing her curling blond hair, but I knew she was too fast for me to catch. So I ran and ran and ran until she slowed to a stop and I slowed to a stop and we collapsed onto the grassy fields of the local park, tumbling on the ground as we tripped over one another and attempted to catch our breaths, and it felt like summer. 

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I'm kinda doubtful about how it turned out to be but I know that I've been leaving out lots of Delgado in this book and focusing mainly on Ethan so I wrote an entire chapter in Jakob POV. Also, I commented this above but I'll said it again: please please please comment below if you want me to start several WIP stories and update all of them every so often so you can read different stories at the same time, or if you don't think it's a good idea. Anyway, enjoy this chapter :)