Battle of the Band Classes

Chapter 7

As the four of them were walking back to the dorms for Rec Announcements, Cam could see the panic on Leah's face.

"Hey, you okay?"

"No. I'm freaking out."

"You look like you are."

Leah didn't respond, but she tightened her grip on the shoulder strap of her guitar case. Cam stopped Leah and had her turn to him. "Hey, do we need to skip Rec and practice? There's a piano in the basement, does that sound good?"

Leah nodded, and Cam smiled. "Hey, don't get too worked up about this, okay? We have plenty of time to get it right." He put his arm around her shoulders. "C'mon. They're gonna start Rec Announcements soon."

.   .   .

After Rec Announcements, Leah jogged down to the basement and went into Cam's room. "Hey, Leah." He said, jumping off his bed and leaving Kyle clueless due to the fact that he had his earbuds in.

"Why is there even a piano here?"

"I have no idea, but it works out." He took a left turn into a large living room area, which was surprisingly empty. Cam went over to a beautiful cherry mahogany piano which was tucked into a corner by the far wall. Cam sat down and out of his back pocket he pulled the lyrics and piano notes out and placed them on the music stand on the piano. Cam scooched over on the piano seat and motioned for Leah to sit down next to him. She willingly sat down on his right, by the wall and adjusted herself accordingly.

"You ready?" He asked. Leah nodded. "Okay, on three. One, two, three."

The two of them began to sing the beginning, and it sounded a bit odd without TJ. After the intro, Cam sang the first part of the verse at somewhat of a middle volume, easing his voice carefully into each note, occasionally sliding from high note to low note giving the way he sang depth. Leah found that she really liked his singing.

It eventually came to right before Leah's part and she took a deep breath in, and closed her eyes. At first she sang her part with her eyes closed, but she opened them when she felt more comfortable. After her small section, Cam stopped playing and looked at her in amazement.

"What?"

Cam shook his head and snapped out of it. "Why we're you nervous? Your voice is amazing!"

"I don't know."

"Oh c'mon. Give yourself some credit! Tell me the real reason why you were so nervous."

"Alright, I'm extremely self-conscious about my singing. No matter what people tell me I've always questioned my talent as a singer. I know I probably don't have any reason to, but I constantly get in my own head and it just ruins my confidence in my talent."

Cam turned so his whole body was facing Leah completely. Leah followed his example, and Cam grabbed her hands. "Leah, listen to me. Your voice is beautiful, and smooth and downright awe inspiring. If I had just seen you on the streets I would have never thought that you had a voice as impressive as yours is. You have no need to feel self-conscious of it because it's perfect. And I know your probably not gonna feel any better after this, but I know your going to do amazing tomorrow, and your gonna blow Mr. C away with your ability, okay?"

Leah nodded "okay."

"So do you wanna keep practicing?"

"Yeah, I think that'd be best."

"We'll start from "as if nothing really matters" from your part okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

"One, two, one, two, three."

Leah sang the last line of her part and Cam said to go on to the next part too, and then he would do the next belting part. Little did they know, they were starting to have a little bit of an audience.

People from other floors, proctors, and even people from other buildings that were hanging out with friends were listening to them play just out side of the door. People were lining the hall and listening, the only two people brave enough to walk in were Kyle and Grace. They sat right down on the couch near the piano.

The two stopped playing after the part where the piano cuts out and it's just guitar. After they stopped playing Kyle and Grace started clapping, which sparked clapping from everyone in the hall way. After everybody in the hallway left, Kyle and Grace practically ran over to them.

Kyle stuck his head in between Leah and Cam's. "Jesus, you two have some pipes man."

"Yeah," Grace agreed. "I had no idea you could sing that well."

Leah laughed awkwardly, and Cam smiled, and put the cover over the keys of the piano so he could lean on them. As they were talking a kid walked into the room.

"You guys sounded really good." He said causing Kyle to jump a little.

"Jesus, Andy. Someone should put a bell on you." He said. "Guys this is Andy, he's in the Battle of the Bands class with me."

"Oh nice!" Leah said. "I'm Leah and this is Cam. We're in the other band class."

"Cool," Andy said fixing his hair. "We obviously have some pretty big competition on our hands don't we, Kyle?"

"Yes we do." Kyle said jokingly.

"So, Andy," Cam said "what do you play?"

"Guitar, bass and I sing."

Leah nodded turning to Cam. "You know any other good songs?"

"What?"

Leah leaned in close to Cam's ear. "Don't let him know that it's a song we're doing for the show. Play it off like we were just fooling around." Cam nodded.

"I think I got one. You know Box Around The Sun by Misterwives?"

"Yep."

"How bout that one?"

"Sounds good to me. "

Cam began the intro without warning, so Leah had to jump right into the words. The time passed quickly as Leah and Cam played songs and sang rather loud, while Grace and Kyle began to actually talk to each other. At around 5:00, Kyle, Cam, Leah and Grace all went to go get ready for dinner. The four of them made sure that they were going to sit together at dinner, even if it meant having to go get the other two.