Pieces of Love

Chapter 8

I fidgeted backstage, checking the time again and again on my phone. Where the hell was Jacob? The prize presentation was about to start! I paced back and forth, wondering if there was anything wrong with him right now. I had already sent him a text message, but he had not replied yet. Just as I was about to give up hope of him coming and report to a teacher, I heard a sudden rustling noise behind me. I turned around with a relieved grin on my face, but it turned into a scowl when Alan was standing there.

Ever since I crushed his gigantic ego a few months ago, all I received from him was dirty glares and scowls. In Music, I became the teacher's pet, not on purpose of course, and now Alan despised me, especially now since Jacob and I won the competition.

"What do you want? Aren't you supposed to be seated down in the hall?" I practically spat at him, eyeing him suspiciously. "I just want to let you know, just because you won this competition doesn't mean that you are going to be better than me. It's all just luck. You'll see, I'm better than you'll ever be," he spoke in a dangerously low voice that was filled with menace. But before I could respond to his threat, the door leading backstage swung open and an out-of-breath Jacob came rushing in.

"I'm so sorry for being late Em! I lost track of..." he trailed off as he saw Alan standing there. Alan had never met Jacob, but I had told Jacob of all the nasty antics that was between me and him so there was a flicker of familiarity that flashed in his eyes as he took in the sight of Alan. I stared hard at Jacob, trying to convey a message that he was bothering me.

"Hey dude, leave Em alone," Jacob said fiercely, walking over and wrapping his arm around my shoulders, squeezing it slightly. Alan looked like he wanted to say something else, but the firm look on Jacob's face might have changed his mind. He sent a hard glare in my direction one last time, before exiting and purposely slamming the door shut, causing me to wince.

I let out a sigh of relief and turned around to face an amused Jacob. "That's one killer glare he got there," he chuckled and added, "If he annoys you in any way, just tell me and I'll make sure that I'll beat that pretty face senseless," flexing his hard-earned muscles from his sports days. Just then, I can faintly hear the emcee on stage announcing the winners for the Music category.

"Let's go!" I gave Jacob a push and ushered him out onto the stage, where the whole school was watching. There was a loud round of applause as we walked out, where we were presented with the Grand Prize Trophy and an envelope containing our plane tickets to London by Mr Nelson. After each shaking hands with him, we exited the stage for a photograph for the yearbook. I held the envelope tightly in my hands, a wave of euphoria trickling through me.

***

"Good job guys! You have done Clifford and me proud!" Mrs Schmidt congratulated us the following afternoon in the music room. "Now that this competition is over, it's time to focus on the pieces to play for your concert in London," she continued, and I groaned softly, in no mood to have long hours of score-hunting and practice.

Luckily, Mrs Schmidt seemed to read my mind for she said, "This time, you two will only have to decide what pieces you want to play. I will help you find scores. I strongly suggest you choose songs that are well-known to the younger generation as it mostly teenagers who will be watching your performance." Jacob and I thanked her profusely for making our job much easier.

Two weeks later, Jacob and I had come up with a two hour concert programme with an intermission in the middle. Mrs Schmidt had managed to find us the scores quickly, due to the connections she has. Now, all we had to do is to practice, which wasn't a big problem as the pieces were quite easy. Jacob had a few solos, which I insisted upon numerous times until he finally agreed. To be honest, I was freaking out. This was the first time I was performing outside the country! All I could do was practice like crazy and hope that we would put on a spectacular performance for the audience...