“Alright guys, get in your positions on stage,” my dad calls out to the class as we drop our things on the auditorium seats. I look around and see the other vocal majors in my class slowly walk up to the stage. I haven’t seen Mollie since last week, and something tells me it’s because she’s grounded from not checking in with anybody. I’m still annoyed that she never even checked in with me or told me where she was going. Some best friend I have.
I walk toward the stage to get to my spot when I see Aaron enter the auditorium. He holds the door for someone else coming into the auditorium. I notice that it’s Mollie he’s holding the door for. She smiles as she walks past him to rush toward the stage. I don’t understand why she would be nice to a two-faced punk like Aaron. Aaron only cares about Aaron, so I don’t know why he even tries to be nice to Mollie, and why Mollie doesn’t see past the bullshit.
“Ms. Castro,” my dad called out for Mollie. Mollie runs to her spot on stage. She looks at my dad. “Try to make it to class on time, please.”
“Technically I am on time,” Mollie explained. The late bell rings, in which my dad looks at Mollie. “Now I would’ve been late.” My dad doesn’t argue with Mollie; he walks to the front of the stage as everyone else gets to their spots.
“The winter showcase is 4 days away,” my dad begins to say. “We have to clean up any spots in the songs that do not sound clear, confident, and coherent.” My dad looks at one of the students in the back of the formation who just dropped a bunch of papers from his binder. Before the guy can pick them up, my dad speaks directly to him.
“We are also not using our sheet music this week,” he continued to say. “Music must be memorized by now so if you don’t know it; learn it.” Sometimes I really think my dad turns into a completely different person when he’s teaching. How can I go home and my father dances around with music playing from Jennifer’s portable speaker in the kitchen? How can he be a chill dad but an uptight teacher within the same day? I know passing his class isn’t easy, but if I know my dad well enough, he makes everyone work hard in their craft; even the weakest link. My dad flips through his binder of music and looks up at us.
“All for Love,” he says to us, which is the song we’re performing as a whole choir as our finale. “Mr. Serrano and Ms. Castro, take your spots up front for the solo.” I watch Aaron walk past me and I can’t help but roll my eyes. I don’t know why out of all the people in this class, my dad decided to give Aaron the solo. I can understand Mollie; she’s easily the best vocalist in our class, but Aaron is mediocre at best in my opinion.
Both Aaron and Mollie stand in front of the choir, facing out toward the empty auditorium. There’s nothing but silence before my dad lifts his arm for us to get ready to practice the song. The bass section starts off the song, followed by the altos. Then, Aaron starts the song with his solo part. He and Mollie start off singing the solo parts back to back before the choir comes in and follows.
“And so I say hey,” Aaron belts out, which starts the chorus of the song, and now everyone is singing their part. My dad continues to direct the different sections, rocking and bumping to the beat and getting into the music. This is more so the guy I know as my dad.
No one expects Mollie to hit the high note so early in the song, but it definitely catches some of our choir mates off. My dad stops us when he realizes that the choir loses energy at this point. He walks to the individual sections of the choir to assist them. Mollie turns her head to look at me.
“Was I off?” Mollie asked me. I shook my head before answering her.
“That was dope,” I said. Mollie smiles before she turns back around. She looks at Aaron who smiles at her and gives her a thumbs-up. It bothers me that Aaron and Mollie seem to tolerate each other, and I don’t know if that’s because they have to rehearse the solo parts, but I expect Mollie to see that Aaron only ever does things for himself. Maybe Mollie is doing the same?
I don’t know, but Aaron always looks at Mollie the way I look at Sophie. Wait.
“Alright, let’s start from the chorus,” my dad calls out. The choir focuses on my dad, who then counts us off to start. Aaron starts off the chorus, and the choir follows right after. I look at Aaron and Mollie as they go back and forth sharing the solo parts. They look at each other as they sing the lines.
As we get to the most complicated part of the song, the choir does a good job of keeping the tempo even when all the parts are different. The chaotic noise comes to a halt when both Aaron and Mollie belt out the highest notes in the song. They look at each other as they do it. Aaron smiles as he stares at Mollie at this moment. They sound… Clear. Confident. Coherent.
Does Aaron like like Mollie?
“Mr. Kamalani,” my dad calls out for me. The choir stops singing and my eyes jolt back to my dad. “Please try to pay attention so that you do not miss where you come in.” I didn’t bother fighting back with him; it was bad enough that the last time I did, it gave me a strike on my dual major status. My dad starts up the song again from where we last left off. I can’t help but look at Aaron and Mollie throughout the whole rehearsal; it bothered me that they were so friendly with each other, let alone think that Aaron actually might like her. Does Mollie like him back? I know when Mollie likes a guy, and she doesn’t really seem to be acting all boy-crazy over Aaron. Maybe Mollie can see the bullshit for what it is because Aaron wears it proudly without even knowing.
We finally finish the first song of rehearsal; my dad starts off the unit rehearsals and this particular one I sit out. It’s a small group of baritones and altos that are now rehearsing for their section. I sit next to Mollie in the auditorium seats; I feel like it’s been forever since we actually got to sit down and hang out.
“Hey, Mol,” I said as I sit in the seat next to her. I held my fist out for her for a pound; Mollie smiles and returns the fist back.
“Hey, Milo,” Mollie greeted back. “I’m glad we’re done with that first song, it kills my voice.”
“I can only imagine,” I said back. “It messes up the whole choir after the first couple of tries.” We both look at the stage where the baritones and altos are rehearsing their songs. Aaron is one of the baritones rehearsing up on stage, and I see Mollie watching the rehearsal happen. God, I got to ask.
“So,” I started off the conversation. “Did Aaron allow you to get more lines in the solo part when you guys were dividing them up?” Mollie looked at me, clearly confused at what I was asking.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“It’s just that you definitely outshine him in the solo,” I explained. “It must’ve been hard for him to give up some of the parts.”
“Your dad split up the parts,” Mollie corrected me. “But thanks for the compliment!” I shake my head and laugh. I watch Mollie go back to watching the rehearsal happening on stage. I fidget around in my seat until I see my dad look at the back of the auditorium and stops his rehearsal.
“May I help you?” my dad talks to the person at the back of the auditorium. I turned around and see it’s Sophie; she looks nervous to be down here.
“Uhm, Mr. Harrison is asking for Milo Kamalani,” Sophie answered. Me? I turn around to look at my dad; I’m not surprised that he’s looking at me as well.
“Go,” my dad said. I get up from my seat and look at Mollie, then back at Sophie. I walk down the aisle up toward the exit of the auditorium. “Please be back before your unit comes up for rehearsal.”
“Okay,” I answered. As I got closer to Sophie, I felt my mood instantly change for the better. Thanks for saving my day, Scout.
Letters From Liz. 