Ericka's POV, November 4th
After missing school twice, I finally came back. In all honesty, I would have stayed out longer but I've already missed too many days. Most of those days that I missed I used to help myself overcome my horrible past. I spent a lot of that time crying, trying to convince myself that none of it was my fault. And after almost nine years of sitting in the dark, I've finally begun to see the light. And it felt amazing.
Nothing my Uncle Jack ever did to me was my fault. The mental and physical abuse was on him, and never on me. I decided to pull Jordan aside to tell him everything, and finally speak up for myself, and reveal to him who Kenzie Hamilton really is. I spent hours prepping myself on what to tell him, and when I would tell him. I knew that I would be telling him today during lunch. I'd have half an hour to tell him everything and half an hour felt like such a short amount of time to tell someone my whole life story. However, I had a feeling my plan would work out somehow.
"Alright, class!" Mr. Chambers spoke, gaining the attention of the whole classroom. Even Mike and Bryan turned to listen to Mr. Chambers, which I never could have imagined in a million years. "You'll be performing your pieces tomorrow."
"Tell us something we don't know." Mike mumbled sarcastically. Mr. Chambers heard him, despite his hushed tone, and threw the eraser at him once again. The whole class laughed, as we all felt that Mr. Chambers throwing the eraser at Mike would never grow old.
"I'll do exactly that, Mike." he said, after Mike tossed the eraser back to Mr. Chambers. "I'm working with the choir department, which is running the upcoming variety show. I've decided to choose one of the pairs to perform at the show."
"Oh please, we all know that you're going to choose Ericka and Jordan!" Maya said from the back of the classroom, obviously jealous of Jordan and I.
"You're right, Maya! I'm choosing them." Mr. Chambers said back to her. "I think we can all agree that whenever those two perform, the moment just feels magical. Especially that one time when Ericka sang."
"She should sing again at the variety show." Mike suggested. Everyone in the classroom mumbled in agreement, but Jordan was quick to nod his head no.
"Guys, Ericka only did that to prove something to me." he informed them. My heart almost melted, the way he was defending me even though we were no longer talking. "She'd be performing in front of a giant crowd already, don't force her to go out of her comfort zone!" the room fell silent for once, as Jordan stared them all down. Mr. Chambers coughed to break the silence.
"Jordan, we appreciate your concern for Ericka." he began. "However, I do believe that whether she sings or not, is up to Ericka herself."
"Ericka come on!" Maya said. "Do it!"
"Yeah, you'll be ten times better if you sing!" Shaun chimed in.
"Okay, okay!" I said loudly, getting up to my feet. They all went silent, as this was one of the first times in class that I've actually spoken up on my own terms. "I'll sing. I can do it."
After I spoke, the entire room broke out into applause, except for Jordan and Mr. Chambers, who probably knew that I didn't want to be applauded. After that, Mr. Chambers began to speak again.
"Okay, so it's settled. I'm signing Jordan and Ericka up to be a duet." he concluded. "The variety show is next Friday, start preparing soon." and with that, Mr. Chambers allowed us to get back to working on our pieces.
"What do you want to play?" Jordan asked me, with hesitation in his voice.
"Forget about that for right now." I said sharply. "I need to get something off my chest. And I know this isn't the place to say it. So just meet me in the storage room after the period ends."
