Inside | Shane Harte

14 | Fake it til' you make it

The weekend consisted of me faking a smile to my own mother and pretending that everything was fine. It's not. What do you do when you really want something that you've never wanted before, or never thought you would want, but your mother would never agree?

I know what I'm gonna do at least.

I lay here in my dorm room bed and reaches over to grab my phone. It's 8 AM which means that I don't have time to go out for a run today. I decide to go and shower at least since it was some time since last. I get out of bed, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid waking Crystal up since she's still sleeping peacefully in her bed.

The shower feels amazing but I only have a short amount of time before classes start for today. I make a note in my mind reminding myself to leave in the papers to the principal before the first class, so I don't have to go another day at the classical department.

When I'm back at the room Crystal's awake and in stress. She obviously overslept and now she's tossing her clothes and makeup all over the room.

"Kayla, there you are! Can you just grab that makeup brush over there for me, please?" she points at a small brush laying on the floor beneath my chair.

"Yeah, sure" I grin and grab the brush to hand it over to her.

"Oh, by the way, how did it go with your mom? Did she agree with you transferring?"

"Oh... Yeah, it took a great amount of convincing, pleading and a whole day of shopping, but she finally agreed. I just have to hand in the papers to the principal and I'm an acoustic student" I fake-smile and she squeals while hugging me.

"OMG! Congrats!" she laughs and I thank her. I feel like an awful person lying to both my friends and family, but I'd do anything for this. Going to acoustic is what I really want.

I get ready as well as Crystal, and after 15 minutes we're both ready to go. She follows me out of the building and over to the acoustic department. It's quite early in the morning and only half of the students who go here have arrived. I walk straight towards the principal's office, Crystal close behind me.

She wishes me good luck and stands outside the door while I enter the room.

"Hi, I'm here to hand in the papers for my transfer" I tell the principal when the door closes behind me. I gather them into a nice pile and place them on his desk.

"Thank you, welcome to acoustic!" he smiles and I thank him.

Outside the office is Crystal patiently waiting. She immediately congratulates me, which drags several other students. They all gather around me and welcome me to their 'home'. I thank all of them, completely stunned by how nice and relaxed everyone are. On classic everyone is so... Stiff. Unfriendly, almost. It's a completely different story here.

"What's happening?" Trevor asks, suddenly appearing in front of me. His gaze shifts curiously between me and Crystal.

"Kayla is now officially one of us" Crystal tells him and his mouth cracks up in a big smile.

"Wow, congratulations" he smirks. "Crystal, why don't we give her a tour around the building?"

"Great idea" she smiles. Her arm grabs mine and we start walking, with Trevor leading the way. But it only takes a moment before Shane pops up in the middle of the tour. His face drops slightly when his eyes shift between me and Trevor, but only for a second.

"What are you idiots doing with her?" he grins, almost disparaging, while looking at me. I know I don't really fit in here in the matter of my appearance, but that doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to go here. My jaw clenches, trying to hold back the rude comment that's awfully close to being said. I'm not letting him win by making me just as rude as him.

"What do you mean? She's transferred here now" Crystal says with an almost proud smile as if she wanted to get that sweet revenge on him for me. Shane lifts an eyebrow.

"Oh, really? How did that happen, like... Did she get hired to tune the instruments or something?" he chuckles and I can't hold back any longer.

"You know, the principal is actually interested in me as a student. If you've got a problem, take it with me in private or just get the fuck out of my way" I say, a bit louder than I intended to. All of them, even Shane, gasps at my harsh choice of words. I'm actually surprised at myself, but at the same time disappointed. He really does bring out the worst in me.

"Oh snap, a little mad are we" he grins. I now grip a hold of Crystal's arm and start walking, leaving Trevor to take care of Shane. I'm so sick and tired of that boy, he drives me insane.

But what I really don't get is why he is this way. WHY is he all nice and funny one second, while harassing me the other? I try to concentrate on Crystal's voice while she describes the area when going on with the tour but it's hard.

She keeps on going and we walk around checking the place out for almost half an hour until we reach some studios, where she stops.

"Hey you know there's a huge concert every fall here, where all departments gather to perform lots of different performances. Talent hunters and A&R's from record labels all over Canada and USA are there, looking for new stars to sign. It's in 3 weeks, you should really perform something"

My spontaneous reaction is to decline, but when I think about it, what have I got to lose?

"Just what I was thinking"

I turn around to face a smiling Trevor standing in front of me.

"Trevor, hey" I smile.

"Hey, do you wanna do a duet on the Fall Concert?" he asks and I consider the offer for a minute. When I tilt my head slightly to the side, Crystal is standing right behind him, nodding like an idiot. I start laughing.

"Yeah, why not. Let's do it"

"Great, let's meet up after school and talk about it" he smiles with an obvious sparkle in the eye.

"Sure, see you then"

Well, that was easy. Now all we have to do is find the right song.