Thank you Ebony for being my beta reader, I love you bunches and bunches!
Chapter one: Finding Melody
Amanda walked into her first day of choir in a new school and walked directly into the choir office to the right of the door. She smiled at the short woman she found there, "Hi my name is Amanda Dinah and I am new here." She held out her hand, which the smiling teacher took.
"Hello dear I am Mrs. Amy Hall, the choir teacher. What may I ask is your voice part?" The teacher looked at the tall girl inquisitively wondering if the girl even knew, she seemed to be at a loss.
"I guess I am an alto, my voice is really low. I have never been in choir before but my mom wanted me in." Amanda smiled shyly at the teacher who was sizing her up.
"Well my dear we will put you in the alto section and go from there how does that sound?"
"Fine ma'am, thank you."
"Your welcome dear." The small Korean woman lead Amanda out and put her on the right side of the riser. Amanda turned around and took her seat laughing silently to herself. I guess I'm on the left side; I was never good at directions.
Amanda listened with half an ear as Mrs. Hall told the rules to her students. She looked around the choir wondering about each person as she laid eyes on him or her. She knew some of them on sight were the "elite" of the school because they sneered at her clothing. She had worn hand me downs her whole life, her family was very poor and had recently moved into a small apartment in this small town.
Her eyes stopped on a short blonde girl who was looking back at her, she was the most beautiful girl Amanda had ever seen in her whole life. She had long blonde hair, beautiful green eyes that absolutely sparkled and beautiful full breasts. She has what?! Where did that come from? She looked back at the girl and found the girl was no longer looking at her but back at Mrs. Hall. She had a fine blush and Amanda knew she must have seen her looking at her chest; Amanda blushed deeply hoping no one noticed.
She looked at my chest! I have never had a girl do that before, sure guys do, but not girls, and I liked it! I am so going nuts! To top it all off all I can think of is kissing her, damn these teen hormones! Melody looked over at the girl whom had caught her attention the moment she walked in the door. Long black hair, piercing blue eyes covered by glasses and legs that went on forever, she is a dream. I have to stop thinking like a hormonal guy or I am going to die. I just know it!
The two girls spent the rest of the period pretending they weren't sneaking quick looks at each other. Their eyes finally met across the room and everything seemed to stop it was as if time had stopped, but just as quickly as it had stopped it started again when the bell rang and the spell broke.
"Amanda dear, I need to talk to you for a moment, I will give you a pass to class." Amanda turned to see Mrs. Hall looking expectantly at her. Amanda nodded her head and followed the short woman into her office; she noticed Mrs. Hall was not at all what you would expect a choir teacher to be. She was young, maybe 10 years older than Amanda, she had a great sense of a style and a not so bad body, Amanda certainly wasn't complaining. She had deep brown eyes and short black hair highlighted with red. "I would like to check your voice range before I put you in a seat, I need to know where you would be strongest. Lets warm up."
For the next ten minutes Amanda and Mrs. Hall worked Amanda's voice up and down and every direction. "Well Amanda you are a strong in every voice from Soprano to tenor and since we really need strong sopranos because we only have one I will put you there, any objections? No? Good. Anyone in particular you would like to sit with and share a folder? I know you are knew and I want to make you as comfortable as possible." "Well there was a nice little blond girl who seemed really nice." Amanda rambled nervously.
"Your talking about Melody Cartwright, good choice, she is my other strong soprano, you two would work well together. Keep working your lower register though you wouldn't want to loose it, you could be the next Mariah Carey with that range," the teacher joked.
"May I ask you a personal question?" Amanda inquired nervously
Mrs. Hall sat on her desk and smiled at the young nervous girl. "Shoot, I may not answer but you can ask me anything anytime."
"You don't seem like the teacher type, why did you become a teacher?"
"Do you always go off stereotypes?" At Amanda headshake she smiled and continued seeing that Amanda was quite serious. "Well, I loved music when I was little, I got into the all-state choir for all four years of high school and while this is not my first choice I want to give students a chance at a good music program like I had."
"What was your first choice? If you don't mind me asking." Amanda looked away shyly. "No I don't mind, I wanted to be a famous Broadway Musical Actress, I do some acting during the summer but not much. Its too big of a risk to actually go to New York and try."
"With out risk where is life?"
"You are smarter than your years my dear. I don't know to answer your question. I guess someday I will grow the backbone I am lacking to go to New York and become what I have always dreamed of but that day is not this one. Off to class with you Miss Dinah. I have a busy day ahead of me, as I am sure you do. Good-bye and I will see you in choir tomorrow, in the soprano section. If there is anything you need do not hesitate to come to me. I am here for you and I am not just talking about musically."
Amanda smiled at the sweet person before leaving. She walked out into the now quiet school and looked around for room 212 then realized she was on the first floor and room 212 was on the second, she found the stairs and climbed them finding 212 quickly and hurrying in. She saw Melody right away and smiled shyly. The teacher, Mr. McGregor huffed at her and told her to find a seat; she took the empty one next to Melody hoping to make friends with the small girl.
"This is study hall for those of us who weren't here when the bell rang," he said eyeing Amanda. "You may talk quietly with one other person no group talking, it gets too loud, I don't care what you do beyond that as long as you stay in your seats." He sat down and ignored the class for the rest of the hour.
Amanda felt someone watching her and turned to see Melody looking at her. She extended her hand and said, "Hi I am Melody Cartwright, welcome to Dirksville, IL." Amanda took her hand and felt a shock run up her arm but ignored it. "I am Amanda Dinah, thank you." She released Melody's hand nervously not quite understanding why she had the urge to hold on to it forever.
"Amanda Dinah," Melody said testing it out on her tongue, she smiled brightly, "I like it! What is your middle name? Mine is Harmony." She stated giggling at the name. "My mom liked music a bit to much."
Amanda smiled at the sweet girl, "My middle name is Nichole. Melody Harmony Cartwright, that's a very pretty name."
"Amanda Nichole Dinah. I like it even better, and thank you. I never liked my name until now." Melody blushed realizing what she had just said. Amanda smiled not wanting to make the girl any more uncomfortable than she already was. The two girls talked for the rest of the period about where Amanda had come from, Melody asking a million questions and Amanda answering them to the best of her ability. Amanda told Melody of how she was born and raised in Chicago's ghetto, Melody laughed at that not realizing Chicago had one. She told about how her father had died and her mother had gotten too poor to even live in Chicago. She talked about how her mother found a job here and tried to raise Amanda alone. Melody could tell how much Amanda loved her mother and how much she admired her mother from her tone of voice.
The end of class and the end of the day came too quickly for Melody, she stopped Amanda before she got out the door and asked, "May I give you a ride home so you don't have to ride the nerd trolley? I hated riding the bus as a kid and saved up all my money from working to buy a car."
"I would love a ride thank you but you really don't have to."
"I know that, come on. I could give you a ride home everyday if you want, I don't mind, I live really close to you. I could even bring you to school, I know the horrors of riding the bus." Melody giggled softly as she looked up at Amanda waiting for an answer.
"If you really don't mind then thanks I would love a ride."
"Awesome! Lets go."
Melody led the way out to her beat up '89 Chevrolet two door and smiled. "It's not much but I paid for it. Unlike a lot of these kids whose mommies and daddies paid for their cars. Now don't get me wrong my parents offered but I had to decline. I wanted to earn it." Melody and Amanda made the ten-minute ride talking about how Melody had come to get the job at Wendy's ice cream shop, Melody told Amanda of an opening on her shift if she was looking for work. The two girls made a quick stop at Wendy's, which was walking distance from the apartment so Amanda could fill out an application and she was hired right away with a promise that Melody would train her the next day. Melody dropped Amanda off promising to be there bright and early the next morning.
Amanda walked into her room and flopped down on the bed thinking of the short blonde who had captured her interest and in more than one place. She looked down at her body in disgust. You just couldn't control yourself could you? You had to go and get aroused didn't you? Well you are just damn lucky she didn't notice! You better be good tomorrow or I am going to work out so much you are going to ache for days! Oh crap I have to work with her for four hours tomorrow! I don't know if I can do it! Amanda walked into the kitchen and decided to make a surprise dinner for her mom to tell her the good news of her getting a job. She made hot dogs and macaroni and cheese since that was all she knew how to make.
Melody walked into her bedroom and flopped down on the bed thinking of the tall brunette who had captured her interest in more than one place. I can't believe I was attracted to her, I have never liked guys but I just figured it was because the guys in this school suck major. She probably doesn't even swing that way, I bet she met a nice boy today and he was drooling all over her! Oh now I am jealous? Oh god what am I going to do?