Take A Bow Part 12

Every time we've practiced, she's stopped playing when the break came for her solo. She's simply said that she's been practicing and knows what she has to do.

I don't doubt for a second that she's ready. Although there's a small part of me that's nervous for her, worried that she might freeze up. I don't know if it's because she got into the Juilliard audition, or she's becoming more comfortable singing her own songs, but Emme's starting to get this quiet confidence about her. I'm more excited for her than anything. I want to see her perform her solo, to finally be the center of attention.

"I don't know, man." Jack folds his arms. "I don't like this. It's like she's suddenly become the unpredictable one. Look at me! I'm a nervous wreck. My hot girlfriend is standing over there in a ridiculously short flapper dress and I can't even enjoy it!" Jack motions toward Chloe, who is getting ready for her twenties dance number.

Jerry Shan, the junior who's playing Emme's part, comes over to me. "Emme looks freakishly calm."

Emme's been standing in a corner, staring at her guitar.

I have no idea why this isn't freaking me out. I, more than anybody, want to see her succeed. Maybe I'm just in denial about how much is at stake once we get on that stage. If it goes poorly, her confidence will be shattered.

Ben joins us. "What's making me nervous is that you are calm. That's unnerving to me."

"Can everybody relax?" I plead. "Emme is going to rock this out. There's no doubt in my mind."

Okay, maybe there's a tiny fraction of doubt, but I don't think it would help Emme if she saw everybody in the band freaking out.

Jack throws his hands up. "Okay, is this some kind of a joke? Seriously, you are being the voice of reason here? I can't handle this. Please start freaking out."

My laughter just makes Jack more agitated. So I laugh even harder.

Emme walks over. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea. It's like an episode of The Twilight Zone over here!" Jack walks away.

"What?" Emme looks confused.

"Nothing." I smile at her. "You're going to be brilliant."

She shrugs. I start to get that familiar nervous feeling I get in the pit of my stomach before we go onstage. But for the first time, it isn't about me. I so desperately want this to go well for Emme.

She gestures at my black long-sleeve s.h.i.+rt. "You can hardly see the sling with that thing on."

I decide to not hold back anymore. I grab her by the waist with my one good arm and kiss her on the forehead.

Before she can respond, we're told to take our places.

Emme is up front with me. Ben is to my right, and Jerry is to Emme's left. Dr. Pafford introduces the eighties by showing famous alumni from that decade. Once the lights come up, I start the opening notes of the song on the keyboard with my one good hand, then Jack comes in with a harder beat than the original.

Emme begins to play the opening riff with such force it feels like the entire audience has been awakened after boring concertos and period dances.

As I start to sing and the crowd begins to move to the beat, I hear cheering from the current students standing in the back. I take the microphone out of the holder. I can't dance and there's no way that I'm going to even attempt it on a song by such an iconic dancer as Michael Jackson, especially with a sling on. I'm doing it because when Emme does her solo, I want her to be alone at the front of the stage.

We come to the break. Jerry plays a few notes as an intro and then it's Emme's turn. I look to her and see her completely calm and composed. And then she starts.

There are no words.

Okay, there are a million.

I see most of the front few rows with their mouths open. Because Emme, the pet.i.te redheaded girl of the group, the one who is happy to be background, completely and utterly rips that solo up and throws it on the ground.

I was doing some complicated moves in mine, but she ...

I'm frozen, transfixed as I watch her fingers move so quickly up the neck of the guitar, hitting notes that I can only imagine in my dreams. I glance back at Jack, whose eyes are practically bulging from his head.

Her guitar screams out for two minutes and it isn't nearly enough. Everybody wants more. I hate it when I come in with the chorus at the end. But n.o.body can hear me anyway.

Because once Emme hits the final note of her guitar solo, the entire audience erupts in a standing ovation. For prestigious alumni, they sure are one rowdy bunch.

I look over at Emme, who has a small smile as she keeps playing. Her cheeks flush.

I have never been more in awe of her than I am right now.

We finish and I stand near Jack so she gets every ounce of admiration she deserves. She looks back and motions for me to come forward, but I'm not going anywhere.

The lights go down and we all run off the stage. Jack picks Emme up and swings her around.

We hear Dr. Pafford clear his throat. "Well, everybody should be awake now." There is some laughter in the audience. "That was Emme Connelly. Needless to say she is one of our top music students. My sincere apologies to the students who have to follow that."

We all start cheering and celebrating. That is by far the greatest compliment anybody has ever heard from Dr. Pafford.

Emme keeps shaking her head.

"Tell me this, Red." Jack wraps his arms around her. "Why on earth are we letting this one play lead when you can play like that?"

I can't take my eyes off of her. "I totally agree."

Emme stays silent as we're surrounded by dozens of students wanting to congratulate her.

Chloe comes up to me, shock on her face. "Did you have any idea that she could play like that?"

"Yep."

Ben's hands have been over his mouth since we got off the stage. He finally removes them. "Good Lord, Emme. That was seriously hot. I'm sincerely debating changing sides because I want to kiss you on the mouth right now."

Emme laughs. She turns to me. "Ethan, I did it." Her voice is so soft. She almost doesn't believe herself.

In that second, everybody else disappears. I see only her. She is looking at me like she used to when she was happy. Before I screwed everything up.

I know I do stupid things. I do them all the time. I even know when I'm about to do something completely and utterly idiotic. Most of the time I care. But not now. There is only one thing in the world that I care about.

Emme.

I go up to Emme, put my one good hand on her face and kiss her.

On the mouth.

It's amazing how quickly people forget an inspired performance. I got attention from A Little Night Music for less than a week. And now all anybody can talk about is Emme.

She plays the guitar for a song and it's like nothing else happened that night. Of course, I was relegated to the choir for a Motown medley, so I didn't even get the opportunity to do anything.

But not Emme. It's like no girl has ever played the guitar before. And of course Ethan shoving his tongue down her throat afterward, and Tyler running out of the auditorium, gave people even more to talk about.

And do I get any recognition? Of course not.

I just went up to her when we were little and encouraged her to write. And then attend CPA. So why would anybody give me any credit for what's happening to her?

I stare out the window of our practice suite as Emme plays around on the piano. I've been sure to spend more time with her lately. At least maybe she'll remember I exist.

"Hey, Sophie," she says quietly. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, Emme. Anything!" I run over and sit next to her on the piano bench.

"It's about Ethan.... I don't really know what to think about what happened." She looks down and studies her hands.

"I'm sure it was the adrenaline after the performance," I a.s.sure her. "I wouldn't make too big a deal about it."

"Really? I guess. Although he's never done anything like that to me before ... but I don't know...."

"How's it been since after the concert with you two?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "Normal, I guess. I was so shocked about what happened. He quickly apologized and neither one of us has mentioned it since. Jack, of course, gives Ethan grief about it, and then teases me for playing favorites and encourages me to spread the love among the other members."

"And what about Tyler?"

"Oh, well ... he's pretty mad, but it wasn't like I kissed Ethan. I mean, I don't feel he really has a right to be upset with me."

"Well, you did humiliate him in front of the school."

She looks up at me. "Really? We only went on a few dates, so I didn't think people knew...."

I shake my head. "Emme, people talk. They knew. Poor Tyler. You should really apologize to him. He's a pretty good guy." Even though he helps Sarah Moffitt. But if Emme is going to be with either Ethan or Tyler, I vote for Tyler. He's truly the lesser of two evils.

"He's really mad. I don't know...."

Gee, Emme is unsure of something? What a shock.

This conversation isn't going anywhere. I pick up the piece of sheet music she's been working on. "What's this?"

"Oh." She takes the paper out of my hand. "Just something new I've been working on."

"For the showcase?"

She bites her lip. "Ah, so n.o.body knows this ..."

"You know you can tell me anything, Emme. You're my oldest friend."

She hesitates for a second. "I know. Dr. Pafford called me into his office today."

"What did you do?" This is huge. Dr. Pafford rarely calls students into his office. If he does, it's usually to tell them they didn't pa.s.s the audition to attend the next semester.

"He told me that he'd like to see me do a solo audition for the showcase."

"HE WHAT?" I'm so shocked, the words came out too fast. I can tell Emme is taken aback by my reaction. "That's AWESOME, EMME!" I hope I salvage it.

"You think so?" She looks at me hopefully.

They aren't giving out invitations yet and here she's been handed an audition by the princ.i.p.al. And I thought I was the one who knew how to play the game.

Well done, Emme, well done.

"I think you'd do a great job. Is that the song you're thinking of doing?"

She looks down at the paper. "I think so. It's still too early to tell."

Maybe Emme isn't as naive as I thought. Here I thought she was an ally, but now that she's attempting to be a singer, she's becoming part of my compet.i.tion.

This changes everything.

I exit the studio in a rush, pretending I have somewhere to go, but honestly, I can't think clearly, being in a room with her. As I round the corner toward my locker, I see Ethan struggling with all the stuff he's trying to shove in his backpack with only one functioning arm.

He stops as he sees me, and surprisingly approaches me.

"Have you seen Emme?"

I know I have to do something, anything to put a crack in Emme's perfect world. To put me on top again. I've been fighting tooth and nail to get recognized by Dr. Pafford, but Emme gets everything handed to her. Well, I'm not going down without a fight. There are only so many spots available in the showcase. I can't let her get one that belongs to me.

"Yeah, she's with Tyler. They went that way." I point to the opposite way of the studios.

The mere mention of Tyler's name makes him frown. I can tell that I've hit a nerve.

"They're celebrating. Isn't it great about Emme?"

Ethan says nothing. My day suddenly gets a whole lot better.

"You know, that Pafford invited her to do a solo performance at the showcase. Emme's going solo!" Ethan blinks. "Anyway, I told her I'd join them. Don't they make the cutest couple? I think your little stunt at the concert just made them closer."

I turn on my heel and see Carter standing there with his arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" His face is red.

"Oh, um ... hey, Carter. I was just leaving!" I grab him by the elbow to walk away, but he pulls my arm off of him.

"Ethan, Emme is not with Tyler. And I don't know why she's talking about Emme going solo."

I cut him off. "You don't know anything. Emme confided in me, okay? She's my best friend, not yours."

Carter shakes his head. "Yeah, some best friend ..."