Significance (4th in the Encore!!! tour)

Chapter Three

Meth Drew's POV

Sadie told everyone.

Amy has been getting weird looks and it hasn't even been a full day.

Even people who never knew Allie were saying "sorry" and Amy hated it. The rumor was that Allie had been at some boarding school, so the news that she had died a few years back came as a shock. Amy wanted to go home, but she couldn't; we had a big project that was going to be assigned today, and Amy didn't want to get a bad project topic.

As we were getting thrown into groups, Amy came to sit with me. This was our Public Speaking class, my worst class. The absolute worst thing, though? We were in groups of three.

"Milo, Brian, and Sarah..." the teacher called. They all moved to sit together as directed. Now only Amy and I were left. Yes! I did a mental fist pump. "Amy, Meth..." she said just as a guy walked in.

"Hello, Miss, my name is Brighton Andrews. I am new?" He said, with an eyebrow raised. He had an English accent that made every word that came out of his mouth sound polished.

"... and Brighton!" The teacher finished with a self-satisfied smile on her face, as if she had just made him materialize at that moment. I frowned at the floor as she pointed him over to our group. Stupid British guy. I was going to be all alone with Amy, but no. He just had to show up!

Oh, well. I took a deep breath. He had no idea that he was going to be put into our group when he walked in. Poor guy. He's new in senior year. That's got to be rough. He sat down on the other side of me, probably realizing I was next to Amy for a reason.

Smart move, man.

He offered a hand. "Brighton," he introduced. I shook it, but didn't answer. It's not like I ever did.

"This is Meth. He doesn't talk," Amy said offering her hand. "I'm his girlfriend, Amy." Now, that's best thing I've heard day! I grinned, kissing her cheek.

He was dressed all in black and red, and he was almost as much of a scene kid as me, except his hair was dark brown and slicked up so you could see his eyes, which were a bright ice blue. He had one ear pierced, his lip, and his left eyebrow. He had some pretty trigged out chains on his belt, though...

"Meth... Cool name, mate," he said. It sounded awkward coming from him, accent and all, but I heard the honesty, and that's all I was listening for. I shot him a small grin, warming up to him. He wasn't so bad after all.

"Meth thinks that you're not so bad," Amy said, speaking my thoughts for me. Brighton looked at her, confused.

"You can read minds?" He questioned, completely baffled.

"Well, it's more like I can read him. I know exactly what he's thinking most of the time," she explained. I raised an eyebrow at her. "All of the time," she finished, a smile on her lips. He looked between us.

"Well, this is going to be an interesting project," he laughed. We quieted down as the box with topics came around.

"Speaking out," Amy said out loud, reading the paper she pulled, a little bit puzzled. The teacher smiled at us.

"That's a topic with a lot of ways to approach expressing it. I'm sure you can do it. Even you, Meth!" I sank down in my seat a little when she drew unwanted attention to me. Amy took my hand under the desk and I pulled myself back up. I looked at Amy as the teacher moved on.

"Can we work on the project at Meth's house after school today? We have two weeks, but... the earlier the better," Amy said to Brighton. He grinned at me.

"'The early bird gets the worm' is the saying, I believe?" His voice was very formal, but it didn't bother me like it bothered every other guy here. It was especially amusing when he showed his true colors later on.

He was a complete player!

The guys were ready to hang him from the flag pole by the end of the day. It was probably a good thing he came home with me and Amy in our car instead of taking the bus. He was already eighteen, so he had his license, but little rich boy here was having his own car shipped over from England. I rolled my eyes, and Amy hid her laugh behind her hand when he said that.

Brighton and I sat in my room for a few minutes while Amy went to get Adele from her mom's care. I never really liked Mrs. Glenn, to be honest.

"So... your girlfriend lives next door?" Brighton asked, sitting in my rolling chair. I nodded. If he stuck to 'yes' and 'no' questions, we could handle a conversation. I nodded in answer.

"How long have you been together?" I raised an eyebrow. "As a couple," he clarified. I held up my pointer finger, the universal symbol for one.

"Year?" I shook my head no.

"Month?" Again.

"Week?" Again.

"A day?" He asked incredulously. "How long have you known each other?" I whipped out my phone, typed my answer, and showed him. "Two years? You waited that long? Mate, she must be really worth it; I wish you both all the luck in the world," he said honestly. I grinned at him. Player or not, he was a chill guy. I think we could actually be good friends. He took my phone and punched in his number while we were waiting.

Amy came into the room to us lounging around, racing one another on my game console. The second she came in, though, I turned it off.

"Oh, come on, mate, I was winning!" Brighton joked, punching my shoulder. He was my first guy friend since grammar school, so this was interesting. I don't act like a girl, don't get me wrong, it's just I haven't been around guys in a while.

Amy rolled her eyes. "It figures you'd be playing video games. Boys will be boys," she sighed in mock disappointment. "No, I am not judging you! - What do you mean by that?!" She asked as I teased her. Brighton was looking back and forth between us like it was a tennis match. Poor guy.

"Woah, you really can read minds!" He exclaimed, awed by our communication. "Maybe someday I'll be able to do that!" I smirked at him.

"Do you really want to?" Amy snickered. Brighton mock glared at us and stuck his tongue out childishly.

"So, what are we doing with this project? How in the bloody hell do we portray 'speaking out' if one of our members doesn't actually speak?" Brighton asked. I shrugged, but looked at his face. I think a light bulb just went off in his English brain... "What if we don't speak it?" He asked us.

"What on earth are you thinking?" Amy asked, a little bit hesitant.

And that is how we found ourselves in my basement, writing a song.

"I have never sang in front of people before... And even I didn't know Meth played the guitar," Amy admitted, holding the microphone in her hands. I sighed and played the four chords we had decided on. Brighton played the bass line. All we were doing was messing around, but Amy got this look... like she had been struck by lightning. I pressed the record button, just in case. "We can! We do! We will / make a difference! / We have! We are! We will be / the Significance!"

Meth and I brought the high energy down so she could continue with a verse.

"Sometimes the words escape us / right when we need them most. / But mere words cannot express / our message of hope..." She sang what we determined was the chorus again. "We must speak up for the voiceless, / and echo their pleading cries. / If not us, who will be their rescue? / We were just like them, once upon a time... "We played the chorus three more times, once quiet then twice loud.

When she stopped singing and we brought the music to a close, the glaze that had covered our eyes lifted.

"Did we just...?" Brighton began, looking at me. I was awe-struck.

"Yeah," Amy breathed, answering for the both of us. "We just wrote an anthem."