As I wake up, my foggy thoughts go to ones of excitement and nervousness. It’s finally Halloween, and I can’t believe everything that is going to happen today. Will I be able to pull it off? I’m not so sure, but I really hope that I can. I get out of bed and go over to my closet. Considering that I never actually get a chance to celebrate Halloween, I don’t have anything for the holiday. Of course I wouldn’t have worn anything like that anyway. It’s not my taste. I end up just grabbing a T-shirt and skinny jeans, what I normally wear. I figure that I’ll change before I sneak out tonight. Little Raven even said that she’d help me make sure that I look nice for my... boyfriend? Alex never really specified what we are. I’m just assuming boyfriends. Of course it’s not like anyone is going to ask anyway, and if they do, I can just saying dating. That much is true since I asked him if this was a date, and he said that it was.
When I’m finally walking out of the door, I hear Little Raven wishing me luck. I don’t say anything back, but she probably knows what I would have said. That being that although I need the luck for class, I’m going to need it more later tonight. Knowing her, she’ll probably wish me luck again, which I don’t mind one bit. I start heading to class and eventually run into Raven. On her back is her bookbag, which she cares even though she’s probably one of the only people in our high school that actually even bother, and in her right hand is the case in which her bass is most likely in. The only other thing that it could be would be a guitar, and I know that she doesn’t play that. She finds it annoying when everyone thinks she plays guitar just because she plays bass or gets them mixed up. She says that they don’t even have the same clef. I wouldn’t really know considering that I play by ear and by tab. Apparently Raven does too, but she knows the difference because she played flute in middle school and was first chair. I still don’t entirely get why she brought that up last time we talked about it since they aren’t the same instrument. I guess that it could mean that she knows what a clef is and what the difference between a treble and bass is. Anyway, I’m thinking too much on the subject.
“Hey Raven.” I start walking right next to her.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just walking to class.”
“Same.”
“I can see.”
“So can I. So, are you nervous?”
“Yeah, I am actually.”
“Don’t worry. We’re going to kick ass. I doubt that anyone’s project is going to be as awesome as ours.”
“I don’t know about that, but we’ll probably be up there.”
“Don’t be a pessimist.”
“But you’re a pessimist...”
“Yeah, but I’m trying to make you feel better.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Anyway, we should do fine.”
“You’re not the one with stage fright.”
“Well the class is smaller than a stage, so to me it’s harder than a stage.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the more people the better. I don’t know why.”
“I’m nervous around everyone when it comes to guitar playing besides you and Alex.”
“That reminds me. How are you two doing? Are you finally going to be going on a date?”
“Yeah, tonight.”
“Tonight? But you can’t use me as an excuse.”
“I know. I actually going to sneak out.”
“You bad boy.” Raven sarcastically hits my arm with her free hand.
“Well it’s not as bad as the fact that I’m sneaking out to see my teacher.”
“True.”
“You know, you never told me why you suddenly started liking him.”
“Oh... um... I don’t know. I guess that I saw how happy you were?” It sounded a lot more like a question, but I decide to not ask anything else on the topic.
The two of us get to school a bit early. I didn’t think that the shortcut that Raven found would get us here ten minutes before the doors even opened. With nothing to do, we both sit down against the door. It’s silent, and I find that calming. Actually everything that has happened so far has calmed me down which is a great thing. Only a minute has passed when I feel the door being pushed. Well, someone is trying to push it, but my weight is making it rather hard. I get up and let the person get through and come face-to-face with none other than Mr. Gaskarth.
“Oh. Hey, Jack.” He notices Raven, who is still sitting. “Raven. What are you two doing here so early?”
“We took a shortcut that Raven found and didn’t realize that it would take off ten minutes of our time. What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be inside getting ready?”
“Actually I realized that I left the tests for third period in my car. If you want, I can let you two in the building and let you practice your song all the way through once or twice before everyone starts coming in.”
“But wouldn’t you get in trouble?”
“I don’t know. I’ll just say that you two were helping me take all of my stuff in since I was running late and you two were here. I honestly don’t think that anyone will mind, and if they do, I can talk them out of getting me in trouble.”
“Oh really?”
“You would be quite surprised with the way that I have with words. I’m not an English teacher for nothing.”
“Alright. Are you OK with that, Raven?”
“I’m fine with it.”
“Great. Just follow me. Oh, and you can take the guitar while you’re at it. I was going to leave it in the car until lunch came, but you can take it now, and I’ll just lock it up.”
“OK.”
Raven and I follow Mr. Gaskarth to his car which is actually a lot older than I thought it would be. Although I’ve been over to his place many times, I’ve actually never seen his car. I don’t know what make or model it is since I’m not a car person, but it looks like it was made in the ‘50s or 60’s. Questioning the vehicle comes to mind, but I figure that I can just ask him later. It’s not like it’s that important. Mr. Gaskarth opens the trunk and pulls out a bag and then hands me the guitar case. I take it and then follow him back into the building. A couple of teachers give us funny looks, but Mr. Gaskarth smiles at them and their faces change into ones of acceptance. It doesn’t really make any sense. Well, I guess that it could. I don’t know what Mr. Gaskarth does while he on break or anything. Just because he doesn’t really have a lot of friends doesn’t mean that he isn’t friendly with his co-workers. Because of this, we make it to the classroom without any complains. Mr. Gaskarth goes over to his desk and puts the bag down on the table before opening it and taking out a stack of papers. He sets them down and then turns to us with a smile.
“I don’t really know where you two want to sit. Um... I guess you can just pull two of the chairs up from the desks and sit in them. Oh, and I already tuned the guitar since you said that it was going to be in standard.”
“Thanks.” We pull the chairs up. Knowing the song makes it easier on the two of us since we don’t have to bother with a desk or a stand. When we sit down, I notice that Mr. Gaskarth is putting earphones in. “Um... Mr. Gaskarth?”
“Yes?”
“Are you going to listen?”
“I’m waiting for when you present to the class. I don’t know. I just want to hear it when everyone else does. I figured that I’d grade some tests.”
“Alright.”
My eyes watch him as he starts grading and listening to his music. I don’t know why, but I think it’s cute. It might have something to do with how the corner of his mouth goes up when he reads something that he likes or how his eyebrows scrunch up when someone writes something incorrectly. I almost don’t notice it when he looks up at me and smiles. My cheeks get red, but I smile back and turn to Raven to start practicing. This causes her to chuckle, but she gives a cue for us to start.
We’re able to get through the song once along with the only part we were having problems with a couple extra times before the bell rings and students start heading it. I hand the guitar back to Mr. Gaskarth, who also goes ahead and takes Ravens as well, so she doesn’t have to carry it all day. We walk out of the room after saying our goodbyes, and as we do, I feel all of the nervousness that I felt this morning drain out of me.

Notes

Well, this wasn't what I was expecting. I was going to make this the chapter that they presented, but I kept writing and writing, and it turned into this. Now what was going to be thirteen will be fifteen. Oh well.
I'm going to try to actually write out the song that they wrote. Normally I only write songs when they come into my head, but I'm going to try to get over that just this once and write about Erik.
Anyway, I hope you like how it's going!