20
Brooke
I heard something buzzing in the distance and it took me a moment to realize it was my alarm clock that was going off. I quickly turned it off and woke everyone else up except for Scarlet.
"What time is it?" Renee whispered, rubbing her eyes.
"Half past nine," I whispered back. We quickly changed and brushed our teeth. Before I went downstairs, I left a note next to Scarlet, telling her we had to leave unexpectedly. Downstairs, we quickly ate something at the bakery before we got our bikes and headed to school. The principal had left the side door to the gym open for us. We hadn't put on our exercise clothes back at the bakery on purpose in case Scarlet woke up. Auriana grabbed the clipboard and looked over the list of things that still needed to be done.
"Brooke, your parents were going to bake and decorate the cake, right?" I nodded in confirmation.
"And they're doing the catering." Auriana checked it off her list and moved on to the next item.
"Okay, and how far along are you with decorating the basket?" I replied that it was ready and waiting in the computer room.
"Nikki, do you know the music for the performance?" They had decided that Nikki would be best off playing along on the instruments, since she still had a lot of physiotherapy and had to take it easy. This was the best option.
"I think so." We went through the rest of the list of preparations and arrived at the last item.
"Is the basket filled yet?" She looked at Renee and Skylar.
"No," Renee replied. With all the hustle around us, we had completely forgotten to fill the basket with the bracelets, personal items, CD and video.
"Do you have those things ready at home?" We all nodded obediently. Luckily, I had brought mine the day before, so we didn't have to go to my house.
"Nikki, would you mind picking up those things right away?"
"Sure," Nikki replied and walked out of the gym.
"Hey Jake, what's the deal with you and Hannah?" Emma asked. She knew Auriana could hear them. She hinted at Jake to answer loud and clearly. He seemed to get the hint.
"Okay, she's my girlfriend." We stared at him, mouths wide open.
"What?!?" we asked in unison. Jake rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that the idea of him having a girlfriend was so hard for us to believe.
"Hannah's my girlfriend," Jake repeated. Auriana got an unreadable look on her face, as if she wasn't entirely sure of her own thoughts. She shook her head before changing the subject.
"Moving on, the confetti cannons?"
"They're supposed to be here at two," Jeremy said. She already checked it off halfway.
"Renee, you're going to paint the nails. Jake and Jimmy, you're going to put three tables from the cafeteria in the hallway where the CDs can be sold by the teachers later. Jeremy, you're going to sweep the gym. Skylar and Emma, you're going to fill and decorate the photo album together and Brooke and I are going to take care of something." Auriana put the clipboard away and we walked together to the principal. She was there all day to help us where necessary and to catch up on the overdue paperwork. After we greeted her we went straight to business.
"Could you send the janitor to hook up the projectors and lights later today?" She wrote it down immediately, so she wouldn't forget.
"Of course, do you need anything else?" Auriana pointed out to the principal that the musical instruments weren't there yet.
"Not that I know of?" Auriana nodded.
"I'll make it work. Just get back to it quickly."
"Jake, can you help me up the vaulting box?" Jake lifted Auriana onto the vaulting box and handed her the streamer. Auriana attached the end to a wall rack. Skylar and Emma photos into the photo album and decorated each page.
"Brooke, Auriana, and Jeremy, can you come over?" My dad stood in the gym doorway, a dirty apron hanging in front of him.
"Sure, Dad," I said. Auriana somersaulted off the closet.
"Show-off," Jake muttered. Auriana stuck her tongue out at him and followed Jeremy and me.
"Wow," we said as they walked into the kitchen. We saw a large, purple and pink cake with candy diamonds and ten little people on it that looked just like us.
"Is that our old group photo but with modern clothes?" I asked, surprised. My dad nodded. He was clearly very proud of the cake he had made.
"Super cool!" Jeremy said. He looked at the cake in admiration.
"Do I smell chocolate chip cookies?" Auriana asked.
"Yeah, Brooke told me you loved them so…" he grabbed a plate of silver foil and handed it to Auriana, "these are for you." Auriana thanked my dad with a smile and took a bite out of one of the cookies.
"Brooke, do you want to add brownies to the menu?" he asked. He knew brownies were my ultimate party snack. Jeremy looked at me and his mouth started to water. Apparently I wasn't the only one who loved them.
"Yummy!" I said in response. Jeremy threw his arms around my neck. We had to laugh.
"We have to go," Auriana said. We quickly walked back to the gym.
"Stop with overthinking, what others might have to say about you,"
"Moments, like these don't last forever,"
"'Cause this is our time to say,"
"Life's too short to just sit and wait,"
"And let others decide your fate,"
"So get up on your feet,"
"And show them who you are,"
"Because we are,"
"We are the stars, and we're gonna guide you through the night,"
"Yeah, we are,'
"We may be reckless, but there's nothing that's gonna stop us now,"
"Because, we are young and dumb, always chasing our dreams,"
"'Cause we are stronger when we stand together,"
"We are one," zongen we terwijl we hard aan het werk waren. Skylar blies de ballonnen op, Emma en Jeremy maakten de ballonnen vast aan de metalen boog, Jimmy en ik hingen het spandoek op, Auriana en Jake hingen de slingers op en Renee nam een slok water omdat ze de lucht van de verf inademde.
"Take every chance you got to show them what you are made of,"
"And tell them this is your time to shine,"
"Yeah someday, you're gonna show them that you're not afraid when you shine as bright as the sun,"
"Life's too short to just sit and wait,"
"And let others decide your fate,"
"So get up on your feet,"
"And show them who you are,"
"Because we are,"
"We are the stars, and we're gonna guide you through the night,"
"Yeah, we are,"
"We may be reckless, but there's nothing that's gonna stop us now,"
"Because, we are young and dumb, always chasing our dreams,"
"'Cause we are stronger when we stand together,"
"We are one,"
"Oh, oh, woah, woah oh, oh, oh woah,"
"We are one,"
"Oh, oh, woah, woah oh, oh, oh woah,"
"We are one,"
"Oh, oh, woah, woah oh, oh, oh woah,"
"We are one,"
"Oh, oh, woah, woah oh, oh, oh woah,"
"We are one,"
"Oh, oh, woah, woah oh, oh, oh woah,"
"We are one,"
"We are the stars, and we're gonna guide you through the night,"
"Yeah, we are,"
"Because, we are young and dumb, always chasing our dreams,"
"'Cause we are stronger when we stand together,"
"We are one,"
Auriana
"Auriana Williams! Jake Matthews! Come here!" came a sudden voice. We looked around in shock and saw our music teacher standing in the middle of the gym.
"What's the name of your song?" Jake and I walked over to her cautiously.
"Superman, why?" Jake was starting to lose his patience.
"Sing. Now!" she ordered. We had a deadline to meet and we thought that was a little more important than singing a duet for a grumpy teacher.
"What?! No!" said Jake. We couldn't use a half-decorated gym before the party started. Mrs. Scheeps wasn't used to her students contradicting her and was seething with anger.
"Sing!"
"Mrs. Scheeps, with all due respect, but we still have a lot to do," I said surprisingly calmly. The others looked tensely at the three of us in the middle of the room.
"And I've been waiting for your duet for almost two months, so go sing it. Now!" Mrs. Scheeps clearly had no patience.
"No! We still have a lot to do and you have no right to force us to do something we don't agree with. I know this isn't what you want to hear but you should go to the principal! And now get out of the gym, we have other things to do!" I shouted as I clenched my hands into fists in anger. The words grew in volume with every word I spoke. Normally I had enough patience, but the stress of being in charge had pushed me to the limit. Mrs. Scheeps swung and slapped me across the face. The force of the blow knocked me to the ground. I didn't need to see it to know that seven pairs of eyes were glaring at her.
"What gives you the right to hit her?" Renee shouted angrily. Jake ran over to me and crouched down next to me.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly. Tears welled up in my eyes as I held my hand over the handprint that was clearly visible on my cheek. Renee, Jimmy, Emma, and Jake stood in front of Mrs. Scheeps, ready to stand up for me and throw her out the door.
"Stop!" Skylar shouted. She knew that violence was not the answer and that if they did, things would get even worse.
"You're crazy!" Mrs. Scheeps said. She looked at us one by one with a look of horror. We stopped and stood there, frozen to the spot.
"No Angela, they're not. They're loyal to each other," Principal Nickolas said, coming toward the commotion. We had already seen her standing behind our teacher.
"Tina!" Mrs. Scheeps said, startled by the sudden voice behind her. The principal glared at her with her arms crossed.
"Jake, take Auriana to the nurse, the others are going outside for a moment." Jake picked me up without me protesting and took me to the nurse. Brooke, Jimmy, Emma, Renee, Jeremy, Skylar gave Mrs. Scheeps one last look and then walked outside.
"I can walk just fine," I said but made no move to free myself from his arms. Jake carefully laid me down on the bed. The nurse got an ice pack from the freezer and held it against my cheek. We had already told her what had happened when we entered the infirmary. I carefully took Jake's hand.
"Thank you," I said sincerely.
"Hey, I won't let anyone hurt my friends." I pushed the ice pack away and threw my arms around his neck. He hugged me back briefly before carefully holding the ice pack against my cheek again. His eyes held mine.
"Auriana, you can go," the nurse said, "take the ice pack with you, I'll see it again sometime." Jake walked back to the gym with me.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded with a smile.
"I think it was mainly the shock." We saw Mrs. Scheeps coming towards us.
"Thanks bitch! You got me fired!" Jake had shoved me protectively behind him. I stood there with my mouth open and couldn't utter a single word, luckily Jake spoke up.
"If you had kept your hands to yourself you wouldn't have been fired," Jake said. Mrs. Scheeps wanted to lash out but Jake kicked her in the knee. She fell backwards and he quickly pulled me into the gym and locked the door.