Nick and Charlie

Chapter 6

"Alright class, settle down, I know it's the last class on a Friday, but this class is the fun one!" Mr. Mack, my music teacher, says, and the class lets out a cheer.

"That's more like it! Now, who wants to go first?" Mr. Mack says, and Lucy, a girl up the front, puts her hand up. She walks over to the bongo drums and starts up a beat.

Every time we have a music class on a Friday, Mr. Mack lets us have a 'fun lesson' where we perform to the class whatever we want as long as it's music-related.

Lucy is amazing on the drums, and has the whole class silent. When she finishes, everyone goes ballistic, and she bows, then sits down again.

"Ok, so who's next?" Mr. Mack calls out, and Nicolas sticks his hand up.

"Ok, Nick you're up," he says, and Nick looks behind him at me then winks. I roll my eyes.

"What's Nick doing?" Grace asks me.

"Singing, probably," I say, and Jane slaps me.

"He sings?"

"Yeah, and plays guitar," I say, and they both stare, gob smacked.

"Mr. Mack? I need someone else to help me perform," Nick says, and Mr. Mack nods.

"Charlotte," he says, and moves his head in a gesture of 'come here'.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to perform with you," I say, and the class watches us like they're watching a tennis rally.

"Come on, I need the harmony," he says, winking at me.

"That's a shame, since I don't sing," I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You see, I heard otherwise," he says, reciprocating my action. I glare at him.

"Come on Charlie!"

"Yeah, come one Charlotte get up there,"

"Char-lie! Char-lie! Char-lie!" someone starts chanting, and I feel myself turning pink.

"Mr. Mack?" I say, looking at him pleadingly.

"The people have spoken, Miss Charlotte," Mr. Mack says. I huff, then stand up.

"I need another guitar, for my part," I say, and Mr. Mack gives me the keys to the storeroom. I get another guitar and come back into the room, walking up the front towards Nicolas.

"Why are you constantly ruining my life, Pardini?" I say, then sit down on a chair. Nick tells me what song we are singing and I start to restring my guitar to match the key I'll be singing in

"You ready?" Nick asks me, a glint in his eye. I glare at him, then nod.

He starts singing, and I nearly forget what I'm doing. His voice perfectly suits the song, not too deep but not higher than usual. It gets up to where I'm meant to come in and I nearly go back to my seat because he does not need me up there.

My mama don't like you, and she likes everyone

And I never like to admit that I was wrong

But I've been so caught up in my job

Didn't see what's going on

But now I know

I'm better sleeping on my own

I play my higher part on the guitar to the same time as him and it sounds pretty good, considering I nearly missed my cue. After we finish the chorus he goes back to singing by himself, and then we join up again at the pre-chorus.