Victorious

Beck's Breaks

I'm scrolling on my phone with Jade and Beck sitting right beside me.

"Are we not gonna talk about the elephant in the room?" Jade asks.

"Yeah," I reply, without looking up. "Why does Beck have script pages?"

"I'm auditioning for a small role in a movie," Beck says. "Now can we talk about the actual elephant?"

"We're in California, there are no elephants," I respond like a smart-ass.

"Hailee, why can't you just tell him?" Jade asks.

"Yeah, what's your deal?" Beck asks. "You and I haven't been able to, you know, talk since you got back."

"I've been busy," I state.

"No. What's been happening is that you've been making excuses," Jade says.

"Actually, I should go find my sister," I tell her. I stand up and leave them at the table.

_ _ _

"Alright everybody," Mr. Anthony says. "Today I want to teach you about the importance of originality. Before we start, does anyone here have original music?" Almost everyone shoots up their hands, except for 4 students, including myself. Mr. Anthony sighs.

"Okay. Originality is when you have an attribute or an art form that is solely yours and unique," Mr. Anthony explains. "I know all of you have the talent to write your own song. So, this week's assignment is to write a song- even just a chorus- that is uniquely yours. An original song. Any questions?"

Andre raises his hand.

"Yes, Andre?" 

"Is there a theme? Or does it just have to be original?" he asks.

"I want you to write something that's outside of your comfort zone, but no, there is no theme," Mr. Anthony answers. "Is that all?" There's a minute of silence. "You can use the rest of class time to work on your songs. And have fun with it!"

With that, I took out my writing journal and started to brainstorm.

*********

(The next day)

Andre, Cat, and I watch a guy breakdance in the hallway.

"Hey, hey. Look at what I got," Tori says, appearing out of nowhere.

"A piccolo?" Cat asks. 

"It's my new instrument."

"I thought you were learning how to play the french..."

"It didn't work out," Tori snaps. 

"So now you're a specialist in pickling?" I ask. Tori nods. 

"Oh, you guys wanna hear 'Mary had a little lamb'?" she asks excitedly.

"No thanks."

"Uh-uh," Cat answers, and Andre groans.

"I'm playing it," she states.

"Fine."

"Toot your pickle," Andre says. She starts to play her piccolo awfully off-key. Andre just slowly takes it away from her.

"No, no, no, no," he tells her.

"What? Was it that bad?" she asks.

"I like your skirt!" Cat says.

"Did you do something different with your hair?" I ask. She shakes her head and we hear Robbie approaching us.

 "Hey, any of you guys got gum? I didn't have time to brush my teeth this morning," Robbie explains. I quickly check my purse and only see an empty packet.