Finding Joy

Chapter 11

            I sat at the back of the classroom like I always did. I could barely listen to my music because I was focusing so hard on Elizabeth and that new chick. I hated them sitting together. Elizabeth laughed hard at something she said. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. After a while of this I started to get extremely annoyed. They sat next to each other for the next three classes. When we were in history I decided I had enough. I raised my hand and said "Excuse me Mr. DiNovi." Mr. DiNovi stopped and looked back at me. He smiled and said "Um yes Ms. O'hare." I looked very annoyed as I said "May I please be excused?" I sounded just as annoyed as I looked. Mr. DiNovi nodded as he said "Sure Joy you are excused." I stood up and Elizabeth and her new "girlfriend" stood up as well. I walked out of the room with my things.

              They followed me. I walked into the elevator and crossed my arms. They walked in and laughed as they did. I mimicked them silently. Once the elevator took us down I quickly walked out of the elevator and walked to the music room. They followed behind me as they had a conversation that I ignored. I sat down at the piano and cracked my knuckles. The other girl smiled at me. I gave her a fake smile. "Hi I'm...." I interrupted by playing "Beethoven's fifth harmony." When I paused she tried to talk again. I interrupted by continuing to play. I stared at her with this strong glare as I played. She looked back at me. She almost looked scared. Elizabeth came beside me and grabbed my hands away from the piano.

             My eyes widened because she took me by surprise. "Okay Joy, stop playing for now." She sat down next to me. She let go of one of my hands. The other girl was still standing there and smiling. "Hi Joy I'm Adeline! It's nice to meet you!" I smiled a small smile. I thought to myself "SHE'S HOLDING MY HAND!!!" I cleared my throat and nodded. I then said "It is nice to meet you as well Adeline." I thought to myself "OH MY GOD!!!" I didn't show this in my face. I gave a soft causal smile. "I'm new here." Adeline said sounding a bit nervous. I thought "I figured that man. I KNOW YOU ARE NEW. She's still holding my hand. Wow. AHHHHHHH!!!" I cleared my throat. "That's nice Adeline. Do you play any musical instruments Adeline?" Adeline smiled brightly and shrugged. "Well I play trumpet." She said as she looked up and smiled.

        "Ohhhh that's pretty cool!" Elizabeth said. Adeline smiled and shrugged her shoulders "eh." Elizabeth smiled at her. "Do you sing?" she asked. Adeline sat down on next to me. "Yeah sure. Do you want to sing something?" I smiled. "What kind of music are you into? I can play just about anything." Adeline crossed her arms and smirked. "Huh. Confident are we?" I cracked my knuckles and smirked. "Hun, you have no idea." Adeline tilted her head. "Show me then." I said with a smirk. "What do you want to hear?" I asked as I dusted myself off and adjusted my glasses. Adeline rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Give me the best you got champ." she said with a smirk. I laughed and looked over at Elizabeth. I looked back at Adeline. "The best I got. Okay."

        I smirked. I looked down at the keys. I started to play "The Entertainer." Elizabeth and Adeline laughed. "The ice cream truck music!" They both said at once. I smiled as I finished playing. "That was a joke. I was kidding. I can do a lot more than that. I mean, I can do a lot better when there is lyrics to the song." I smiled. Adeline smiled and crossed her arms. "I want to see you two sing together." Elizabeth smiled. "Alright. What do you want us to sing?" Adeline didn't hesitate. "Just Give Me a Reason By P!NK" I looked at Elizabeth as she looked at me. We both looked back at Adeline and said "But it's a love song." Adeline smiled. "I am completely aware. Play and sing. I wanna see." She smiled. I cleared my throat as I looked down at the keys.

             "Ookie dookie." I started to play. "Right from the start you were a thief you stole my heart, and I your willing victim. I let you see the parts of me that weren't all that pretty, and with every touch you fixed them." I sang with a small smile. Elizabeth closed her eyes as she sang "Now you've been talking in your sleep. Oh oh. Things you never say to me. Oh oh." I joined in and smiled a little brighter as I sang "Tell me that you had enough of our love, our love. Just give me a reason, just a little bits enough. Just a second more we aren't broken just bent, and we can learn to love again. It's in the stars. It's been written in the scars, of our love. We're not broken just bent and we can learn to love again." Adeline was watching with a bright smile on her face. I looked away from the keys as I played.

            I looked at Elizabeth as I sang. "I'm sorry I don't understand where all of this is coming from. I thought that we were fine." Elizabeth played along and looked sat as she looked away and sang. "Oh we had everything." I rolled my eyes and looked back at her with a face filled with concern. "Your head is running wild again. My dear we still have everythin', and it's all in your mind." Elizabeth held and shook her head as she sang. "Oh this is happenin'." I looked at her. I took one of my hands off of the piano as I was still playing. I put my hand on her chin and gently turned her head to look at me as I sang. "You've been having real bad dreams. Oh oh." I continued playing with two hands as I looked at her. "You used to lie so close to me. Oh oh."

          She still had this sad expression on her face. She rested her head on my shoulder as we sang together. "There's nothing more than empty sheets between our love, our love." We both closed our eyes and harmonized. "Oh, our love our love!" We smiled brightly. It seemed like we completely forgot that Adeline was there. "Just give me a reason. Just a little bits enough, just a second more we aren't broken just bent and we can learn to love again!" I smiled brightly at her and she smiled back. "I never stopped. You're still written in the scars on my heart. You're not broken just bent, and we can learn to love again." Our voices, sounded like they were made for each other. Adeline accidentally leaned on the keys, creating a sour note. I stopped playing and laughed. Elizabeth laughed and smiled. I stared at her and she stared back. Adeline cleared her throat. We realized we were staring at each other and looked away.

            "I want to give her a quick kiss on the cheek!!" Elizabeth thought. "No don't do it! Just don't do it! You don't know if she likes you! SO! DON'T! DO IT!" She thought. Elizabeth took a
deep breath. I smiled. "So. Yeah. Great. You see. We can sing." Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Yep. We can sing pretty well."I said and looked away, smiling. Adeline smiled and crossed her arms. She nodded. "Uh huh. Yep. You two can sing very well together. That was. Beautiful." She said with a smile. I cleared my throat and blushed. Elizabeth and I smiled and avoided eye contact.