Tiny Voices (A Calum Hood fanfic)

chapter four

-Brooke's POV-

"What's up with ya today?" Danny asked sincerely. "Did you not sleep enough or somethin'?"

"Yeah, I slept quite late, I guess," I said. "But I'm fine". Danny looked at me sceptically, with one eyebrow raised.

"Okay, well, here," he said, handing me sheet music, "sing along". I wasn't expecting this much attention today. I'd done a little bit of vocal warm-ups and I guess Danny just wanted me to make use of how loose the warm-ups made my voice.

I looked down at the sheets - it was Les Miserables and I knew why he'd picked it. These songs always tested your "vocal range" because they were some of the most famous musical songs ever. Since Danny had been working with me for a week already, he knew I could not sing as high as the main role, so he gave me "On My Own" to sing. I looked at him with a frown.

"What?" he said, with a grin.

"This song is so emotionaaaal," I whined. I always cried at this song. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say "tough luck" and sat down at the piano, playing the opening notes. I sang the song without a lot of difficulty; my voice wasn't as strong as usual, even after the warm ups.

After the song, Danny said, "sleep," and ruffled my hair. It wasn't condescending - he just seemed to like doing it and I didn't really mind.

"I hope it wasn't over a boy," he said while laughing, making his way out of the room. "If it was, he better be a singer," he added, closing the door behind him. I laughed because it was over a boy and he was a singer, and began collecting my stuff.

I checked my phone - no new messages from Calum, but one from Chloe asking me to pick her up at the university. How needy.

I got into my car and drove the 10 minutes to get there. She walked over to the car, dumped all her stuff (about 4 million bags) into the back seat and climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Ughhhh," she groaned, resting her head back onto the headrest. "I can't be bothered doing this race today," she said with her eyes closed.

I looked at her sympathetically, and then my phone rang. It was Calum.

"Hello?"

"Hey," he said. His voice was so heart melting - something about the Sydney accent I think. "What're you doing today?"

"I'm just about to take Chloe to her race," I said, looking over at my passenger who still had her eyes closed and her head against the headrest.

"Oh, shit, yeah, I forgot about that. Well, Luke and I aren't doing anything and we just wondered if you wanted to meet up, but..." he said, his voice trailing off with a hint of sadness.

"D'you guys wanna come watch the race with me?" I said, causing Chloe's eyes to snap open and her head to turn in my direction.

"Is that Calum?" she whispered.

I smiled at her in a sickly sweet way, knowing she wouldn't want Luke to be there. 'No' she was mouthing to me, shaking her head frantically. "I don't want Luke to see me!!" she whispered angrily.

I laughed because I was right in my assumptions. Because I'm a fantastic friend, I continued the conversation over the phone, the offer still standing.

"Really?" Calum said on the other line, "that would be really cool actually, thanks". I told him where to meet me and when, then I hung up.

"I'm not going anymore," Chloe said, folding her arms over her chest defiantly, making me crease with laughter.

"Yes, you are," I said, driving away from the university grounds. "It's just gonna make him fall in love with you....even more," I said, yawning.

"Up late last night?" Chloe asked, nudging me slightly. I screwed up my nose and shrugged my shoulders, as if to say "meh".