At the end of choir class, Mrs. Marshall thanked everyone who auditioned on Friday. She announced that she would post the male and female soloists for the Winter Concert at lunch on the quad’s bulletin board. I couldn’t help but hope, even though I knew I shouldn’t.
I got to English class and tried to push what would happen at lunch out of my mind. Patrick could tell that I was preoccupied the minute I walked in. I guess I had that far-off disconnected look on my face. I sat down in my seat and mindlessly pulled school stuff out of my backpack.
Patrick came right up to me and squatted down beside me. His voice was full of concern and his eyes searched my face looking for clues. “What’s going on?”
“Not much. Mrs. Marshall will post who gets the solo at lunch in the quad. So, I’m sure that Grace or Jackie will be ecstatic and we’ll hear their screams of joy echo through the halls.” I tried not to care, but I did. It was only a matter of time for that glimmer of hope that I had would be crushed.
“Hey, I think that you have just as good as chance as they do of getting it. Better even!” He tried to encourage me because he was my friend.
“Thanks, but in less than an hour, you’ll see…it was dumb of me to even try, that I really wasn’t very good and I can finally let go of any hope I was stupidly hanging on to.”
“Or…in less than an hour, you’ll find out that you are good and when you try, sometimes good things happen.” He smiled.
I wanted to believe him, but it would be foolish of me. “We’ll see who’s right.”
The bell rang to start class. He got up, tapped my desk and grinned. “We’ll see…”