Hit That Note ↑
Chapter 4
The next morning, Breanna woke up and looked around the room. She got out of bed and yawned as something caught her eye on the table. It was a note from Tristen. She quickly opened it and read out loud.
“Hey Brea… I’m on my way home right now. U wanted this more than me and I’ve decided to leave this opportunity to u guyz. I’ll be missin’ u. I kno u’ll brighten up the stage as much as u brighten up my life. Luv u!!!”
Strange…This trip was her idea in the first place. She couldn’t just leave a note without saying bye…
A positive, confident voice of a girl blared over the PA system, “The students that are part of the band competition should make their way to their meeting rooms right now to begin your first rehearsal. Your instructors will meet you there. Good luck.”
“Excellent. You’re all here on time,” spoke Risa.
Breanna was sitting in a small room along with Russ, Nick, Reena, and Ryan. So this is my band. The room contained various musical instruments on one side and bean bags on the other. The light green walls were decorated with posters of different bands with a large bulletin board located in the middle. Reena sat on the largest bean bag with nail polish in her hands, filling the whole room with the unbearable smell.
Breanna was staring at a Beatles poster and turned to pay attention to Risa.
“I will only repeat this once so you guys have to listen up carefully. As you already heard, you will not know who the members of the other bands are. In the next two weeks, you have to create a song. Melody, meaning, scores, lyrics. It’s all up to you. This room is yours to use at any time. No one will be allowed to this area except for you. I will hand out your warm up sheets right now. Also, spend some time creating a band name.” She passed out the warm-up sheets to everyone in the room.
Breanna glanced at the paper and gasped, “Are you serious? I can’t even hit that note!”
“Hitting a note should be the least of your concerns right now” Risa smiled and walked out of the room.
Breanna looked at Nick who was smiling widely at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Hit That Note. I think our band’s got a name.”
Chapter 5
Hit that note. Hit that note. Hit that note. The name of their band echoed through Breanna’s mind with each step she took. I love it. It’s been a week and they’ve finished creating their song. She was making her way to the caf through a dark hallway. Nine o’clock already. Too late for dinner but enough time to get a snack. How can anyone find their way around here? This place is huge. Breanna was already regretting leaving her band members at the dormitory and going out all on her own. Suddenly another set of footsteps joined the beat. Hit-Hit, that-that, note-note. Breanna stopped and quickly turned around. A tall guy wearing a bright orange graphic tee stopped walking and showed a sign of surprise on his face as he raised his hands as if in surrender.
“Hey, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. My name’s Brandon,” he smiled revealing a lip ring at the side of his mouth.
“Oh…it’s alright. I think I sort of…got lost…big school…looking for caf…” For some reason Breanna couldn’t get the sentences out right. This wasn’t like her. She turned around and kept walking.
“Wait! I’m a student here so I can show you the way. Follow me.” Breanna hesitated before turning silently and following him down the hall.
Breanna watched Brandon as he confidently made his way along the confusing hallways. They were approaching another dark hallway with velvet wallpapers and soft carpet on the floor. Tristen’s favourite colour. Suddenly Breanna wanted Tristen to be there. She received a text message explaining an accident that occurred with Tristen’s mom. She didn’t go into details but I guess it does explain her sudden disappearance. Why am I always so paranoid? Breanna heard distant music get louder. This doesn’t look like a caf. Brandon stopped in front of a door and knocked on it with a loud beat. Her look of interest turned to confusion.
“What..?” Before she could finish her sentence, the door quickly opened. Loud music filled the hallway and a brunette girl their age wearing a black hoodie waved to them.
“Come in.”
Brandon led Breanna inside the room. A disco ball was hanging on the high ceiling sending colourful rays on the walls. Approximately ten people were seated on the couch or nearby table, the rest dancing in the middle. Some turned to see who the arrivals were but promptly lost interest and resumed their conversations
“Sorry, I’m not in a party mood right now.” Breanna glanced at the door and then at Brandon. Who does he think he is?
“Wait here. I’ll be right back,” he said.
A minute later he returned with a soda can, a sandwich, and an orange. He handed them to Breanna and led her out of the room.
“Uh…that’s the caf?” Why couldn’t he just tell me where we’re going?
“Why ask if you know the answer? The caf is usually closed down at this time. And now you’re wondering why I didn’t tell you. I knew you wouldn’t follow if I wasn’t promising to take you to the caf. Besides, I didn’t want to leave you hungry for the rest of the night.”
Mind reader. Great. Breanna smiled and apologized for being so suspicious realizing he wouldn’t answer any of the questions she had in mind. For some reason she felt he didn’t care less about her being hungry.
“I’m new so I didn’t know what to expect.”
“No prob. You look cool. Are you a vocalist?”
“Yeah, I’m going for the band competition.”
“Awesome. A singer. You shouldn’t have a tough time here. Anyways, good luck.” He smiled and pointed at a “Dormitories Here” sign.
“Thanks,” she began walking towards her room when Brandon called back.
“By the way, Hit That Note, cool name for a band.” Brandon winked again and turned around the corner.
Breanna noticed the sun was shining through the curtains as she rose from bed the next morning. The whole night Breanna couldn’t get the stranger out of her head. It seemed as if he knew what was on my mind. But that’s not possible. So how..? There was no way anyone could sneak into their practice section of the building. And I thought they weren’t allowed to hold parties in dormitories. In fact, that room didn’t even look like a dormitory. Strange…
“Brea,” Nick. “What’s up?”
“What are you doing here?” Breanna laughed. It was rare to see a guy in this section of the building.
“What do you think? Reena said you didn’t return to your room until late at night. Is everything ok?”
“I…yeah. Everything’s fine.” Nick gave her a disbelieving look but decided to drop the subject. Breanna trusted him and considered him one of her closest friends at the academy but what could she say? I’m just paranoid. It was just a bunch of coincidences. They made their way to the music room where the other members were already positioned at their instruments. Ryan was tuning his guitar.
“You may like consider yourself the top of our band,” snapped Reena in a tone full of accusation, “But it gives you no reason at all to be late.”
“Yeah, sorry guys,” Nick answered calmly, “Let’s warm up” He took his place at the drums and Ryan handed Breanna a microphone.
“One, two, three, four!”
They broke into the warm up rhythm but some notes were off.
“STOP!” Reena’s voice screeched and the instruments stopped playing simultaneously. “What’s this? We totally s-u-c-k. Again! And no mistakes. You had enough time to at least do this perfectly once. “
“Why is it always “you”?” spoke Russ “It’s actually ‘we’. We’re a band. Relax, ok? Let’s start over.”
“Listen to the beat. One, two, three, four!” Déjà vu. That could be a song name. The music kept playing. Urgh, I missed my cue. The music broke off again.
“Breanna, what’s wrong with you?” Reena stood up.
Before Breanna could reply, Nick spoke, “Uh, let’s continue later. I think we need a break. We already have the music for the original song. All we need is lyrics. Postponing our meeting won’t be a damage. I’ll clean up with Breanna.”
Reena, Ryan, and Russ piled out of the room.
“So you want to tell me what’s going on? I know this matters to you as much as it does to us. Whatever the problem is…It can’t be more important than this opportunity.”
“It’s not that.” This is so stupid. Nothing’s wrong. So why am I acting like there is a problem? “Nothing’s wrong at all. Won’t happen again.”
“What won’t happen again?” Breanna froze at the sound of the familiar voice. Brandon.
Chapter 6
“What won’t happen again?” Brandon repeated and walked into the room, “Breanna, I hope it’s not about the party.” He winked again, a gesture which appeared to be his repetitive habit.
“Part..?” Nick’s expression changed, “I get it. So this is how badly you want to win.” He got up to leave.
“What?” Breanna stood up, “No, you don’t get it.”
“I don’t think I want to. See you later.” He walked out of the room leaving her speechless. He thinks I’d give this up for parties? Can’t be. Breanna prepared to go after him when Brandon’s voice broke the silence.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…you know,” she looked at him.
“It’s ok.” Why is he here? No one’s allowed in this room except for us.
“Don’t worry. He cares about you too much to get mad that easily. How’s the song going?” Breanna hesitated before answering.
“It’s fine. Practicing same thing over and over again.”
“I heard you singing in the morning. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop but your voice… Couldn’t help but listen.”
“Oh,” Breanna shrugged. She felt awkward and glanced up at the clock.
“So…practicing over and over? Awesome. Sounds like a Déjà Vu?” he winked. Again. Breanna looked at his strange smile. Déjà vu. “Anyways, hope you’re not missing your friend too much. What was her name again? Tisten? Or Risten?”
“Tristen,” Breanna replied as calmly as possible, meanwhile feeling simultaneously irritated and stunned. “She left the day we got here.”
“I know. We spoke before she left. Hope her mom’s alright now.” Breanna looked closely at him, trying to distinguish a sign of deceit. Brandon’s innocent smile distracted her and she felt unexpected guilt.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong. I talk to everyone around. Especially newcomers. Helps them feel welcome. Anyways, the reason I came here was to ask you to come to a pa…meeting. I really want you to be there,” he gave her a card, “I don’t think we started off that great. Let’s consider this a way to start over. Think about it.”
“Alright...uh...thanks.”
Breanna walked out of the room and, when out of sight, glanced at the small piece of paper. “The Hits. Monday at 10. Same place.” Today. Before Breanna put the card in her jeans, she’d made up her mind. I’ll be there.
Meanwhile, Brandon glanced at the door through which Breanna hurriedly left the room not a while ago. He thought back to the previous night. After escorting Breanna to her room he made his way back to where they came from. Everyone has gone except for the girl in the black hoodie. The room was dark but he could make out her silhouette on a large couch, legs crossed.
“Hey Ness,” Brandon took a chair across from her.
“Hey, how did it go? Did you ask her?”
“Yeah, I did. But I don’t know if she’ll come. Do you really think she’ll do this? Look at her. Goody two shoes. That girl can’t hurt a fly and we’re talking about something illegal here. ”
“Brandon, we talked about this already. You have to gain her trust.”
“It’s not as easy as you think. You girls are complicated. Would you trust a total stranger?”
“Do whatever you want. Go write a song for her, eat lunch with her, I don’t really care. As long as she won’t be able to say no to you in the end,” Ness sounded irritated, “Don’t tell me we got rid of her friend for nothing. Are you in or not?”
“I am, obviously. I just…don’t know if it’s right. What if we get caught?”
“It only happened five times. What makes you think we will?”
“It’s not about us. It’s about her. If she doesn’t agree, we’ll have to get rid of her and she’s been working for this. Didn’t you see how talented she is?”
“And that is exactly why we need her,” suddenly Ness’ voice broke off and she began to laugh, “Don’t tell me…The tough Brandon is actually falling for the new girl.”
“What’s wrong with you, Ness? This isn’t a time for joking.”
“Who knows. I didn’t think it would take you this long. Whatever. Here, take this.” Ness gave Brandon a card. Her cerise nail-polish stood out in the darkness. “We’re getting everyone together tomorrow. Give it to her.” She stood up and slowly walked over to the door.
“Oh and Brandon. Make sure she’s there.”
