CraZ LuV

Chapter 1

I woke up the next morning relieved. Well, relieved that it was Monday and I wouldn’t see Quadritz. After all, I don’t go to the mall on weekdays, usually. I got up and changed clothes. Right as I was about to get in my car and drive to school, my cell phone rang.

        “Hello?”

        “Hi Lauren. It’s Scott.”

        “Hey Scott. Wassup?”

        “Me and the guys are going to the mall this afternoon and we were wondering if you’d like to come.”

        “Sure. When are we meeting up?”

        “4, at the stage.”

        “Cool, see you there.”

        We both hung up. I couldn’t believe what I just did. I’d been so glad that I wasn’t gonna have to deal with my inner conflict. Then I turned around and made it so that I would encounter the very cause of my conflict face to face. Sigh, sometimes I just don’t think. I got into my car and drove to school. I’d have to deal with it sometime and might as well make up my mind before it’s too late.

        The rest of the day at school was boring, as usual. I was dreading meeting up after school. I knew it was supposed to be fun, but I knew the subject of me joining would come up.

        After the bell rang, I dragged myself out of the classroom and into my car. I texted Mom where I would be and headed to the mall. When I got there, I shuffled over to the mall stage. To my surprise, Quadritz wasn’t there yet. I decided to start my homework while I was waiting for them, so I cracked open my math book and started scribbling. Then, out of nowhere, there came the sound of a heavy, thunderbolt voice. I put up my textbook and started scanning the crowd for either John or Austin. I finally found all four of them sitting by the fountain, with Kyle singing Katy Perry’s “Firework” like it was easy. The weird thing was, the song was directed toward me. My eyes got big and my cheeks got red the second I realized the entire crowd in the mall was looking at me. I almost panicked, but quickly stopped myself, mostly because I was frozen stiff. When the song finally ended, the crowd returned to their shopping. I tore my notebook out of my bag and started writing until I swore my pencil was smoking. Quadritz, in the meantime, made their way over to where I was sitting. I was still cherry red and kept my pencil moving a million miles a minute.

        “So, what did you think?” Kyle asked.

        I peeped up from my notebook and realized the question was directed towards me.

        “Umm. Ya’ll did great.”

        “We mean as like a famous acapella group, not mall entertainers.”

        I took a deep breath.

        “Well, honestly, you need a higher voice to bring it all together. Kyle, your voice is an alto, but not an almost-soprano alto voice that only girls get. The bass was really good and, Scott, you did really well with the sound effects, if you will. But it kind of falls apart in the middle of your songs because all of your voices are low. Although, I have to commend Kyle on hitting all the high, Perry notes.”

        Quadritz’ jaws dropped, all four of them. I looked down, back into my notebook and fiddled with my hair. Finally, Austin spoke up.

        “Wow, we, umm, didn’t look at it that way.”

        I gave them a timid smile. The other guys finally recovered.

        “So, Lauren, have you thought anymore about joining the group?”