Reach for the stars [Martin Garrix]

5

Chapter 5 

Amstelveen 

13:58

The long awaited holiday finally came, which Noelle was very thankful for. School was harder, than it seemed to be and a lot of work has been done everyday. Teachers didn't really spare the students, giving them huge pieces of homework and essays. School was not easy for everyone. 

With the winter term getting closer and closer, first exams have been announced and there was no time to spare, if they would be as hard, as Noelle thought. Many things have changed since she left Eindhoven with her parents, especially her working hours and sleeping schedule. 

Having loads of work to do nearly every day, she would stay up most of the evening and night, just to finish it all perfectly, so that she would be able to hand in a piece, that she did her best on. There wasn't much time for hobbies and the song, that Martijn and her decided to do was forgotten for a short period of time. 

To be precise, it wasn't forgotten - both of them thought about it whenever they had a spare minute, however none of them had time to continue working on it and there was not much point, since they won't be able to release until the exams finished. 

After she came back from meeting Martijn, she got caught by her parents, who weren't asleep, to her surprise. She got grounded for two weeks for slipping out of the house in the middle of night and luckily for her, she was able to reduce that to one week, because she lied to them, that her friend's car broke down and she ran to help her. 

It was a cold, windy afternoon - quite average for the middle of October. Noelle was wrapped in a warm, fuzzy blanket, sitting on her bed and trying to organise her hand-written notes. Although most of the time, everything was typed up on a computer, Noelle still loved to now and then write something out with hand. She actually regretted it now. 

Separating everything in different piles for each subject, she thought about the song, probably the only thing that worried her, except for the upcoming exams. She expected them to be very hard, but she wouldn't give in and fail them, like she did in her previous school. 

She once failed most of her subjects, but that was the one and only time she failed ever. After that, she decided to start studying well, because studying well  for her would mean a successful future, right where she wanted it to be - in the music business. She wanted to study well for herself as well, because she wanted to be smart. 

For her, studying something she loved, like vocal or music was easier than ever, but subjects like math, science or even geography, which was one of her favourites. Although being a very good and hardworking student, she hated going to her previous school and it was understandable. 

They didn't give her many opportunities in music and most of the teachers hated her, because she wanted a career in music, which was "such a useless career in life." She hated them as well, because they didn't understand how much music meant to her. For her, it was the tiny light in the darkness. It was something, that could change people, let them experience pain and joy...

And she wanted to be able to do so as well. She wanted her music to inspire others to be something they wanted to be. She wanted people to listen to her and feel alive and happy. She always wanted somebody to listen to her songs and feel joy, to finally feel alive, after a long period of not wanting to do anything.