Part 4 (1/2)
Winning glory like the tales say
I can-
Is it me ?
After the playback, I avoid Meadow. She's dealing with rejection better than I ever thought she could. Maybe she's telling the truth. If I had her voice, I wouldn't want to sing the solos either. She's got ears like the rest of us. She's allowed to want to go to Switzerland no matter what it takes-like the rest of us.
Her mom is another story. She hovers in the back, rapid-fire whispering to her husband while he winds up the mike cords.
”Okay, girls.” Terri ignores the angry woman at the back of the room. ”If we're going to get our act ready for the world stage, we've got a lot of work to do. See you Tuesday.”
I hang out so I can thank Terri, but Meadow's mom descends on her. ”If you're actually going through with this, we need to talk gowns. They must have something elegant. My daughter will not appear on an international stage in one of those old capes.”
I get myself clean out of her way. Guess our capes are doomed. The hand-painted flowers on the front are kind of hokey, but they're pretty. And we get to wear comfy black pants and a cotton choir T-s.h.i.+rt under them.
Meadow's mom continues in a loud voice, ”They'll need an entire travel wardrobe.”
Terri's eyebrows shoot up. ”We better keep it basic. Most of the girls don't have a budget for a new wardrobe.”
”Don't let that worry you. I have suppliers.” She's getting excited. ”A few cla.s.sic pieces. Mix and match.”
”Comfortable.” Terri's not going to win this one.
”Well-made clothes are always comfortable.” Meadow's mom launches into a list of exactly what we must have.
”Thank you so much,” Terri finally says. ”I'll leave it all up to you.” Good going, Terri. We won the war-let her have this battle.
”I insist on it. At least they'll all look good.” She catches sight of me. ”Well, most of them.”
I can't thank Terri properly with this woman in the way. Terri sees me. She knows. I give it up, heft my music bag onto my shoulder, and turn to go.
There's Meadow. Right in my face.
I mumble a weak, ”Hey.”
She frowns. ”I'm not going to bite you.”
I hold out my arm. ”Take a chunk if it will make you feel better.”
”What? And blow my diet?”
”Thanks for-”
”That solo has been driving me crazy. I can never get it right. Terri's always crabbing at me to stay after and go over it and over it and over it. I've got better things to do with my time.”
”Better than singing?”
”You would say that.” She laughs and flips her fake blonde hair back. ”There's lots out there better than singing.”
I'm guessing Meadow rates love over singing. Maybe she's not a fair judge. It's obviously way easier for her to get guys than sing a solo. Her mega-hot boyfriend picks her up sometimes in his mega-hot red sports car. Maybe he gives her the exact same high I get when the music pours through me, engulfs the choir, and transports us to a different plane.
Sarah laughs from behind us. ”Have you seen who's on the program? The Amabile guys are one of the host choirs.”
The Amabile guys are a tenor and ba.s.s choir just across the border in Ontario, but light years away from us in the youth choir universe. The entire Amabile organization is like that. Their girls' choir kind of invented the whole movement. Hatfield composes for them. I have all their CDs. They set the standard. The girls are legends.
But the guys?
Rock stars.
I have their CDs, too. I can't believe we might get to meet them. Every girls' choir in the world is crazy in love with them. It's not that they are amazingly hot. A few are. Most are just gangly teen boys. Cute and sweet. Kind of like Scott. But when they sing-that's hot. Amazingly.
Meadow turns on Sarah. ”Really? Are you sure?”
Sarah sighs. ”Funny, we have to go all the way to Switzerland to meet them.”
Leah is in the pew behind us, sorting the rhythm instruments. She leans into the conversation. ”Have you seen the latest pictures on their Web site's gallery? The ones of their Christmas concert? I die for a guy in a tux.”
”Who can sing.” We all say it at the same time. Even me, Beth the Beast who never got a guy in her life, gets this.
Sarah kind of writhes. ”Ooh, why does that make them so hot?”
Meadow narrows her contact-blue eyes at me. ”So Miss Soloist, what are we going to do here?”
I look around for help. ”Ummm.” Leah and Sarah stare, too. ”Practice hard, like Terri said.”
”No, silly. Listen, I don't know how you came up with that stunning voice completely out of the blue but,” Meadow shrugs and wrinkles up her whole face, not just her nose, ”the rest of you is a disaster.”
I look down at the hole worn through the knee of my Levi's, rub my hand over it. ”I'm sure your mom will come up with some great looking clothes for us.”
”Don't worry about the wardrobe. We've got that handled. Easy fix. At least you're not obese, too. You've got a bust under there somewhere right? But-”
I drop my head and stare at her s.h.i.+ny black pumps. ”I was thinking I could stand behind something. Flowers. Curtains.”
Sarah and Leah laugh.
I smile up at Meadow. ”I'll sing from backstage, and you can lipsynch.”
Leah says, ”We'd so get kicked out for that.”