Her name is Ashley Montez. She lives in a small town called Kingsburg, California and she, was a loser. She’s been a loser since Kindergarten. She would walk through the halls and not a single person knew her name. To everyone here her name was that weird music girl. Not a day went by where she didn’t get made fun of or get pushed into the locker.
She didn’t mind being the “loner” of the school because it gave her the chance to focus on her music. That’s what kept her from going crazy. She spent most of her days in the auditorium writing her own music. It was her hiding place from everyone. She could just go in there, play piano, sing, and no one would judge her. She knew she was safe in there because the auditorium was considered “not cool” and only the music freaks went in there. Anybody who was even close to becoming popular didn’t dare step foot near the auditorium. She, on the other hand, didn’t care because she was so far away from being popular that it didn’t matter. But, something happened that changed that. Something that Ashley only thought happened in books or the movies. Something happened that changed her life. Let’s start with the first day of school last year.
*****


It was a gorgeous September day. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the voices of excited freshmen were everywhere. The school looked like a zoo. Everyone was scattered all over the school courtyard. Whispers and laughter filled the air. It was a typical first day of school.
Ashley was following her usual routine which includes: getting her schedule from her advisor, going to her choir teacher, Ms. Treble, talking to her for a while, putting all her books into her locker, and organizing herself for the year, but when Ashley was on her way to talk to Ms. Treble, something stopped her, it was a sign on the auditorium door. It read, “ATTENTION: No student is allowed in the auditorium unless Mrs. Jones is present or you have a signed permission slip by her. If you are found breaking this rule, you will be punished.”
“What!” Ashley screamed with a lot of shock in her voice. “How could this happen? Who is doing this?”
Mrs. Jones was the drama director. She hated Ashley because she never wanted to join her stupid musicals. Ashley didn’t join the musical because she doesn’t like to sing, it’s the fact that Mrs. Jones is so harsh and Ashley doesn’t know if she could take all the criticism that Mrs. Jones gives.


As Ashley was screaming, Mrs. Treble came running out of her room, “What is going on Ashley?”


“Have you seen this? This isn’t fair! How can she just do that?” So much emotion was running through her at this point. How could Ashley go a whole year without being able to enter the one place that she loved?


“Ashley, hunny, calm down, I’m working on it,” Ms. Treble told Ashley with a calm voice. “There’s no way she can just take the auditorium away from the students, but for right now you are just going to have to practice down in the basement, in the piano room. I’ll write you a pass so you can be down there.”


“She just makes me so mad! What does she have against us?” exclaimed Ashley


Ms. Treble, with a disappointed look told Ashley, “I’m afraid that’s my fault dear. This summer I wanted to fix a couple of things in the auditorium for you all and she wouldn’t have it. She said to me, ‘If you don’t like it the way it is, maybe you shouldn’t be in charge of it at all.’ Stupid if you ask me!” Mrs. Treble roared with a little bitterness in her voice.


“I’m sorry, but that is wrong. She can’t just do that! Who gave her the authority to overrule you?” questioned Ashley.


“Well, hun, she got hired before I did and when she did, Mr. Jefferson gave her the power to do whatever she wanted with the auditorium and the theater as long as she promised to turn the drama department around,” Calmly replied Ms. Treble. “It was her choice if she wanted both the auditorium and the theater or if she wanted to give one to the choir and keep one for herself. She did choose to give the auditorium to us, but she does have the power to take it back if she so wishes and well, she did.”
Mr. Jefferson was the principle. It’s not that he is a bad guy; he just makes some bad decisions sometimes. And most of the time his decisions affect the choir program. Last year he cut the costume budget in half and the year before that he wouldn’t let the choir go to nationals because he didn’t see what the point in going was and it was too expensive. He wouldn’t even allow them to fundraise to get the money.
“I think he’s out to get us!” Ashley raged.
“Oh, hunny, no he’s not. He’s just doing his job. Listen, I will talk to him and get this all straightened out. You just go in the piano room. Okay? Here’s a pass.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Treble. I’ll see you in class.” Ashley was so outraged. There is no reason Mrs. Jones should be doing this. There is no reason Mr. Jefferson should be allowing this!
Like Ashley was told, she made her way down to the piano room, which by the way was all the way on the bottom floor in the worst room of the school. As she was opening the door she heard a bunch of men talking and the sound was getting closer and closer. It turns out it was just some guys who were at morning open gym and were just heading to the locker room, which was right next to the piano room. Ashley didn’t care; she just opened the door, walked in, and closed it right away.
“Ahh there’s nothing like a piano and a room to myself!” Ashley stated.
She sat down at the table, opened her brown, over the shoulder bag. She searched for her song book, a pencil, and started writing. For some reason everything was just flowing out of her. Usually she’d sit there for about 10 minutes before she ever started writing things down, but this time it just came out of her like it was meant to be.
After about twenty minutes she finally finished the song. She started to sing, just to see how it sounded.
As she was singing, Zac, who was the last to come out of the locker room, heard the music and stopped for a moment. Zac is “The Theater King” as everyone calls him, but he doesn’t even know Ashley exists. Well at least that’s what Ashley thought. Zac isn’t necessarily “popular” but he knows his way around the school.
After he listened to the music for a while his eyes got big and he made his way closer to the voice. Once he got to the door he tried to see who was singing, but couldn’t tell who Ashley was. All he saw was long blonde curls, a coral shirt, and a brown bag sitting next to the piano bench. Even though Zac didn’t know who it was, he couldn’t help but listen.
“Who are you?” Zac whispered to himself. “Why do I not recognize your voice?” Right as Zac was about to knock on the door, he heard voices coming down the hallway. He then quickly made it look like he was just coming out of the locker room. It turned out to be his two best friends, Jordan and Nick.
“Hey man! Where are you going?” asked Nick.
Zac struggling to find an answer, “Oh I think I am going to talk to Mrs. Jones about this auditorium situation.”
Both Jordan and Nick look confused, but Jordan finally asked, “Why do you care? You know Mrs. Jones is going to give you permission whenever you want it. Besides, you never used it before. What’s the big deal now?”
“Well,” Zac replies, still searching for something to say, “I just don’t think it’s fair, you know since Mrs. Jones probably won’t let any of the choir members use it.”
“Are you serious? Since when do you care about those music freaks?” Jordan laughed.
Jordan and Nick were in the theater with Zac. Most people say that Jordan and Nick are Mrs. Jones’s “Little Angels”. They will do anything that she asks them to do.
“Ha! Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Who cares about those choir freaks? I was just joking with you guys!” Zac murmured.
“Well we gotta run. We’ll see you after school, at practice?” asked Nick.
“Yeah, sure dude,” Zac replied.
As soon as Jordan and Nick left, Zac made his way back to the piano room to try and listen to Ashley sing again. As he got there he saw that she was gone. He was so into his conversation he didn’t notice that she had walked right passed him. If only he could remember her face! All he could do now was wait until after school. Maybe she would be down there then.
It was almost the end of the day and Ashley was on her way to the piano room, but she had to stop at her locker and grab her bag first. As she closed her locker and started walking, two girls stopped her in her tracks. It was Rachel and Brooke. They are the “Queens” of the choir room and the only two “Popular” girls to ever be in choir. They were also the only two people to ever be in choir and drama. The choir department and drama department kind of go their separate ways and never really have anything to do with each other. Usually Mrs. Jones makes you chose between the two, but with Rachel and Brooke, she felt that wasn’t necessary.
“What are you doing freak?” laughed Rachel.
“Why does it matter? Don’t you guys have drama practice to get to anyways?”
“I believe she asked you a question, you should probably answer it!” Commanded Brooke.
“I’m on my way to the piano room. Why does it matter?” Ashley asked with some worry in her voice.
“Oh, that’s right. You poor baby, you have nowhere to write your sappy love songs anymore because Mrs. Jones finally kicked all you Choir losers out!” Joked Brooke. Then she murmured under her breath, “Like she should have done ages ago!”
“I don’t think it’s fair to call all of us losers,” exclaimed Ashley, “when you two are in choir with us!”
“Please,” Rachel laughed, “we wouldn’t be in the choir if we didn’t have to.”
“Why do you have to be in choir?” Questioned Ashley.
“Oh, never mind freak!” Brooke taunted. “Just go to your sappy dungeon room and go write your loser songs.”
Brooke and Rachel pushed Ashley into the lockers and walked away laughing. Zac was just turning around the corner when he saw that happen. He quickly ran to go help Ashley up. Once he got there she kind of looked at him with a disgusted look.
“What are you doing?” She asked Zac.
“Helping you up?” Zac replied with a confused tone.
“Why would you want to help me? I’m just a choir freak. No one cares about us anyways, right? You said it yourself this morning.”
At this point Zac’s face just turned pale. “You heard that? No, you have it all wrong! I was just trying to get my friends off my back. You see they were questioning me as to why I wanted to talk to Mrs. Jones about changing her whole mind on the auditorium decision!” Zac rambled.
“Wait what?” Ashley asked confused.
“This morning,” Zac explained, “I was coming out of the locker room when I heard you singing. I decided to go and see who it was, but I didn’t recognize you.”
“And do you recognize me now?” Ashley interrupted.
Zac searching for an answer replied, “I’m sorry, but no.”
“Well, finish your story. We will get to names later.”
“Ok. I didn’t recognize you, so I stayed there to listen to you sing for a little while and just when I was about to open the door I heard voices coming down the hallway!” Zac explained.
“Voices? Why would that matter?” asked Ashley
“Well I didn’t recognize your voice from the musicals so I assumed you were in choir and I didn’t want anyone catching me listening to you because I didn’t want you to get in trouble with Mrs. Jones or Ms. Treble!” Zac confessed. “But it turned out to be my two best friends. They thought it was stupid for me to go and talk to Mrs. Jones about changing the rule and I had to say something to get them off of my back. Please believe me!” Pleaded Zac.
“Okay, I believe you. I didn’t take it to heart anyways.” Joked Ashley. “Now, do you know who I am now that you see my face?”
“Sure! You’re um, you’re that girl, that choir girl! The one that everyone talks about!”
“You mean the one that everyone laughs at?” Ashley joked with a smile. “ Hi, my names Ashley and yes, I am the freaky music girl that everyone loves to make fun of,” stated Ashley.
“You have a lovely voice. The best I’ve ever heard! You should really try out for the musical!” Zac freaked.
“Are you kidding? Mrs. Jones wouldn’t let me on that stage. If you couldn’t tell, she doesn’t like me very much. She made that rule about the auditorium because of me. I was the only student who ever really stepped foot in there let alone used it,” Ashley confessed.
“I don’t believe that’s entirely true, Ashley!”
“No? Well it sure seems like it. Ever since I said no to being in her musical two years ago, she’s tried to break me every chance she’s gotten,” explained Ashley.
“Enough talk about Mrs. Jones, were you going somewhere?” asked Zac.
“Um, yeah I was heading down,” Ashley tried to explain.
“To the piano room?” Zac interrupted.
Ashley looked very confused, but replied, “Yeah, the piano room.”
“Can I come? Well, would you mind if I did?” Zac asked politely.
“I don’t think Mrs. Jones will be to happy if you miss practice to go hang out with a choir freak,” explained Ashley.
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her!” Smiled Zac.
Ashley smiled back and motioned for Zac to follow her. As they were walking away together, Brooke walked out of the office and saw them. She was a bit confused, but thought she’d follow them. After they got to the steps she knew exactly where they were going. At first Brooke didn’t know what to think, but then decided to go tell Mrs. Jones what she had seen.
Brooke ran into the auditorium screaming, “Mrs. Jones, you’ll never guess what I just saw! Zac was walking down to the piano room with that Ashley girl from choir!”
“Hmm, well that’s interesting. Did you hear why they were going down there?” Asked Mrs. Jones.
“No, I couldn’t hear anything.” replied Brooke.

“Well, that’s not going to work. Oh, but I think I know exactly what I have to do. Brooke this might work out perfect for us in the end. You’ll become the lead in the musical and Zac will realize that you really are the perfect girl for him.”

“How are we going to do that, Mrs. Jones?” asked Brooke.

“Oh, Brooke my dear. You will just have to wait and see,” ordered Mrs. Jones slyly.

Meanwhile down in the piano room Zac and Ashley were having an amazing time. They were talking, laughing, singing, and having fun with each other.

“I just can’t get that song out of my head. I can’t believe you wrote that! It’s honestly amazing Ashley!” confessed Zac.

“Thanks, but I still have a few parts that need some work. Would you like to help me?” asked Ashley shyly.

Zac looked at her in amazement and replied, “Yeah, I’d like that a lot!”
“It’s the chorus, I can’t really find any harmonies that work. I tried these options, but they just didn’t sound right.” Ashley explained.
“Hmm, let’s see. Why don’t you just sing it once for me and then the second time I will join in. Sound cool?” asked Zac.
“Yeah,” agreed Ashley.
While Ashley was singing Zac just couldn’t help but watch mesmerized. He felt so connected to her when she was singing. He didn’t understand why they had never met before. After Ashley was done singing, she looked at Zac and they started to sing together.
“If you fall I’ll catch you
If we’re apart I’m right there with you
You are my one in a million
My once in a lifetime
Take a chance on me
I’ll take a chance on you
You are the melody to my song
Now come and sing along
And let’s be the perfect harmony.”
After they were done singing, they sat in silence. They were looking into each other’s eyes. Both looking so passionately like they have known each other forever. Then finally, Ashley broke the silence, “Wow, Zac you have an amazing voice. I mean I’ve heard you sing a thousand times, but not like that. Why don’t you ever sing like that?”
“Mrs. Jones doesn’t like it when I sing like that. She would rather have me sound like I was born from an opera family.” Zac joked.
“Well, don’t take it the wrong way! I love that voice to, but the way you sang just now, was crazy!” explained Ashley.
“Why don’t we do it again?” Laughed Zac.
Before they knew it, it was 6 o’clock and Ashley had to go home. “I’m sorry, but I better go. I was supposed to be home half an hour ago!” Ashley giggled.
“Can I see you tomorrow?” Zac asked shyly.
“Maybe,” smiled Ashley as she walked out the door.
When Zac got home his mother was waiting for him in the Kitchen. “Where have you been Zac? You weren’t at practice.”
“Um, I was,” Zac was searching for an answer, “I was, um.”
“You were with that choir girl weren’t you?” guessed his mother.
“She has a name you know!” Zac exclaimed.
“Oh! So I was right? You missed my practice to go sing with some girl?” asked his mother.
Zac was getting frustrated, “Her name is Ashley!”
“I don’t care what her name is. What I do care about is that she made you miss my drama practice! You know everyone already thinks I’m giving you special treatment because you’re my son; you can’t just go and skip practice for no reason!” Demanded Mrs. Jones, Zac’s mother.
“I’m sorry, mom. It won’t happen again. But you should listen to her sing. She is so amazing! Better than any girl I’ve ever heard! You must let her audition for the musical!” Pleaded Zac.
“Hunny, you know I can’t. Brooke’s been busting her butt all summer for this part. I just don’t see how anyone could be better than her.”
“But mom you don’t understand she,”
“Fine, she can audition, but no guarantees she will even get a part,” warned Mrs. Jones. “Now go upstairs, practice your audition piece, and go to bed.” Then Zac kissed his mother on the cheek and went upstairs. Zac couldn’t believe his mother actually said yes. He was so excited to tell Ashley the news. He only hoped she would be as excited as she was.
The next morning, Zac got to school and immediately ran for the piano room in the basement hoping Ashley would be there. But on his way down there he got stopped by Brooke. “Hi Zac! So I was thinking that we should probably go over our audition piece sometime today. We haven’t sung it for a while and it kind of needs a little work.”
“Oh, Brooke I was going to tell you. I don’t think I can sing with you today. You see someone else, someone who hasn’t had as much experience as you, asked me to sing with them,” explained Zac. “And I figured you are already amazing without me that you could audition with that solo piece that you’d been working on!”
Brooke was extremely shocked at his point. She was freaking out inside, but she replied with a somewhat calm voice, “What? Are you singing with that choir freak? You’re ditching me for her?”
“I’m not ditching you! I just think that it’s your time to audition alone! To show them what you’ve got! To be the star!”
Finally, Brooke was smiling. “Okay, maybe that’s the best option. I am kind of amazing!” Brooke giggled. “That sounds like a plan!” Brooke winked at she walked away.
Zac just shook his head and whispered, “I can’t believe that worked.” He then immediately ran to the piano room. When he got there he was pleased to see Ashley hadn’t left yet. He swung the door open and shrieked, “Ashley! You’ll never guess! I got Mrs. Jones to allow you to audition for the musical! Isn’t that great! If you make it, that means she will let you use the auditorium whenever you want!”
“What? Zac! Are you crazy?” Wailed Ashley. “I can’t audition for the musical! I’ve never been in one before! I would only make a fool of myself.”
“No you wouldn’t,” smile Zac, “because you’d be auditioning with me!”
“What are you serious?” Ashley couldn’t believe what Zac was saying.
“Yes! And we are going to sing your song!” Zac confessed.
Ashley didn’t know what to say. She didn’t have much time to prepare. But she couldn’t help but say, “Ok, yes! I’ll audition with you Zac!”
“Yes!” Cheered Zac. “Meet in the auditorium after school to practice! I’ll see you then!”
Ashley couldn’t think about anything else but the audition all day. She was extremely nervous. She’d never had this kind of pressure on her before. All that was running through her mind was, “Don’t mess up, Ashley. You must be perfect. You can’t screw up and make Zac look bad!”
As the final school bell rang Ashley made her way to the auditorium. Her heart was racing for many reasons. One, she didn’t know if she was allowed to be in there. Two, she didn’t know how the audition was going to go. Three, she was nervous that she wasn’t going to do as well as Zac wanted her to do and four, she didn’t know how she could sing in front of Mrs. Jones without screwing up. She’s never sang in front of her before and she didn’t want to now.
Just as Ashley was walking to the auditorium door, it flies open and Zac was standing there with a smile, “Hi, are you ready to practice?”
Ashley looked very nervous, but replied, “Um, sure! But are you sure I’m allowed to be in here. I didn’t get permission.”
“I did! Mrs. Jones gave me a pass for both of us! So come on in and let’s do this!”
Ashley walked in the door and went straight to the piano, “Ok, Zac you want to take the first part and I’ll come in?”
“That sounds perfect to me!” Zac replied with a smile.
A couple weeks had passed and Zac and Ashley only had a couple days left to practice before the big audition. Ashley was nervous, but Zac was making her feel completely comfortable. There was never a quiet moment when they were together. They had spent every day after school together in the auditorium practicing. Ashley felt right at home again. One day while Zac and Ashley were practicing, Zac stopped in the middle of the song and looked at Ashley and asked, “Ashley, can I ask you a question?”
“Um, yeah sure! I don’t see why not!” Ashley replied.
“If I told you something, something that not many people know, you wouldn’t judge me would you?”
“I don’t think I’m in anyplace to judge you, Zac,” Ashley replied with a giggle.
“Well, you see, Mrs. Jones isn’t just my teacher. She’s,”
But in the middle of his sentence he got interrupted by Mrs. Jones herself, “Zac, aren’t you suppose to be practicing your piece? Not chatting with, Ashley is it?”
“Yes ma’am,” politely added Ashley.
“Ashley, yes. Well you guys only have a couple of days before auditions, I think it would be wise if you guys would use your time to practice. Don’t you?”
“Yes Mrs. Jones,” replied Zac.
After Mrs. Jones walked away they started to practice. It was going pretty well and they were both enjoying themselves. When they sang together, something just clicked. Like they have been singing together since they were kids. When they got done singing, Zac looked at her and asked, “Ashley, how have we never met before?”
“Well, Zac I’m in choir and you’re in drama. We aren’t really allowed to know each other,” sighed Ashley. “I’m surprised you even talked to me after you found out I was the freaky music girl that everyone jokes about.”
“What?” Zac asked. “Are you serious? How could I not talk to you? From the moment I met you I was mesmerized.”
When Zac said this, he didn’t know it, but Brooke was standing behind the curtain. She wasn’t too happy when he said that. She has it in her head that her and Zac are meant to be and no one can change that. Mrs. Jones even thinks Brooke is the perfect girl for Zac, and she would do anything to get them together.
“What?” questioned Ashley. “Are you serious?”
Zac responded with passion in his voice, “Ashley, I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I feel as if I’ve known you forever. I’ve never connect with someone like the way I do with you. I fell for you the second I heard you sing.”
Ashley couldn’t help but smile. She then looked at him shyly and replied, “Maybe we should get back to singing. We only have an hour left in the auditorium.” Zac nods politely and they start singing again.
Time passes quickly and they don’t even notice when their time slot was up. Brooke walks up to them and rudely interrupts them, “Zac, Mrs. Jones would like to have a word with you.”
Zac smiled at Ashley, but got up and asked Ashley, “Should we meet in the morning, Ashley? Down in the piano room? That way we can have some extra practice time besides in here.”
“Yes, that sounds like a perfect idea to me.” Ashley replied. She then smiled at Zac and left the auditorium.
Zac then made his way back stage to where Mrs. Jones was standing. Once he gained sight of Mrs. Jones he quickly walked over to her. She looked rather happy, but Zac had no clue why. “Oh good you’re here!” exclaimed Mrs. Jones. “I need to talk to you. I think you should sing with Brooke. I don’t think Ashley’s cut out for this musical.”
“I can’t sing with Brooke. Ashley has worked so hard and she deserves a fair chance!” Zac pleaded.

Mrs. Jones laughed then responded, “Did you really think I was going to let Ashley audition? She’s a choir girl. I would never let her in my Theater. You know that.”

Hearing that Zac was hurt and replied, “Mom you cannot do this! It isn’t fair. She deserves a fair audition. Mom I can’t believe you were never going to let her sing. You’ve done some awful things, but this by far is the worst.”
At this time Ashley walked into the auditorium to grab her bag that she had forgotten next to the piano. She was about to leave, but then she heard Mrs. Jones say, “Zac Brooke is obviously the better choice. She is more experienced, you two obviously have chemistry, and you both sound so good together and you look good together if I might add. Ashley will only bring you down. You need someone to bring out the great voice inside of you and Brooke is that someone.”
Zac didn’t know what to say, but eventually he found something sarcastic to say, “I guess you’re right mom. I can’t sing with Ashley. What was I thinking? I knew all along that Brooke and I should sing together. I just thought maybe, just maybe I could get Ashley a part, but no. Ashley’s nowhere near good enough for your musical. That is why she’s in choir right? Well you got your wish, I won’t sing with her mom.” Zac then stormed away from his mother, turned the corner, and saw Ashley standing there with tears in her eyes. Zac stepped forward and tried to say something, but Ashley interrupted him.

“She’s your mother?”

Zac tried to respond but all that came out was, “Ashley I can explain!”

Then Ashley exclaimed, “You were just putting on a show for her weren’t you? You knew all along she was going to do this. How could I be so stupid to think that you would fall for someone like me. You know, for a second, just a second, I thought you could be different, but I was wrong.” Ashley ran out of the auditorium with tears in her eyes.

“Ashley!” Zac screamed as he tried to run after her, but before he could get out of the door his mother screamed his name.

“Zac, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Mom you don’t understand. I actually like this girl. She has showed me a new side of myself that I never knew.” Zac confessed. Mrs. Jones looked puzzled, like she didn’t understand why Zac was so hurt that he couldn’t sing with Ashley. Zac then continued, “We’ve only known each other for a little while, but she has opened a whole new voice in me. I never knew I could sing the way I do when I sing with her. You just don’t understand. I just can’t believe you would stoop this low, mom.” Zac then walked out of the auditorium not saying another word.

Days went by and Ashley never once stepped foot in the piano room. She couldn’t. It just reminded her of a time she loved that wasn’t even real. Zac would try to talk to her in school, but she would just ignore him and walk away. Ashley was hurt. She thought Zac really didn’t want to sing with her, but in all reality that’s all he wanted to do. He loved singing with Ashley. He only said those things because his mother was making him angry. He never meant what he said. Zac knew he should have told Ashley that Mrs. Jones was his mother when he had the chance. How could he ever get her to sing with him now? Ashley can’t stand to look at him let alone sing with him.
It the day of auditions and Zac decided just to sing with Brooke and get it all over with. Brooke, of course was just pleased about this, but Zac on the other hand hated the idea of singing with her. Mrs. Jones could tell her son was not happy. She saw him sing with Brooke and there was no joy in his voice. He could barely sing anymore. She could tell he was struggling. She then realized what she had done and knew she had to do something about it. Mrs. Jones walked up to Zac and apologized, “Hunny, I get it. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way about her. I thought she was just some girl to you. I’ll go talk to her. It’s my fault. I’ve never heard her sing and clearly you two click. I should have given her a chance and for that I’m really sorry. I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?” asked Zac.
His mother smiled, but politely replied, “I’m going to make things right.” Mrs. Jones then walked out of the auditorium and searched for Ashley.
Mrs. Jones was lucky because she assumed Ashley would be in the piano room and it just so happens that for the first time in days Ashley actually was in the piano room. She wanted to get away for a while and tried to see if she could stand being in the piano room. To her, it definitely wasn’t the same, but it felt good to be in there.
Mrs. Jones knocked on the door and slowly entered the room. Ashley didn’t looked too pleased when she saw it was Mrs. Jones who walked into the room, but she listened to what Mrs. Jones had to say.
With a big breath Mrs. Jones confessed, “Ashley, Zac had nothing to do with this. He came home one day from school and begged me to let you audition with him. I had never seen him act like that before so I was confused.” Ashley looked surprised, but Mrs. Jones continued, “You see, I’ve always been jealous that you chose choir over my musicals, that’s why I’ve been so harsh with you. I know I shouldn’t do that, but jealousy got the best of me. I sent Brooke into choir to spy on you. I didn’t want you to do better in choir than you would’ve in the musicals. When Zac came home and asked if you could audition I was mad because I always wanted Brooke and Zac to sing together. It wasn’t until these past couple of days that I realized that he would be better off singing with you. I think it would be better for him and for you.”
Ashley didn’t really know what to say, but with a little tear in her eye she responded, “Mrs. Jones, I wanted to join the musical, but I never felt good enough. When Zac asked me I felt as if I was about to finally fit in somewhere, that I would actually have a friend. When I heard you say that you didn’t want us to sing together I was back to feeling like I was nothing.”
“You are not nothing Ashley. You are an extraordinary young woman. You have a gift that so many girls wish they could have, even Brooke.” explained Mrs. Jones with a giggle. “Now why don’t we go up to the auditorium so you can sing the song with Zac, like you were originally suppose to before I got in the way.”
Ashley laughed a little bit, but then replied, “I would love too, but do you think Zac is still willing to sing with me after all the awful things that I had said to him?”
“Ashley,” giggled Mrs. Jones, “he’s crazy about you. Of course he’d still be willing to sing with you.” Mrs. Jones and Ashley smiled at each other and both began to walk upstairs to the auditorium.
As they were walking together they were telling stories, laughing, joking around, they were finally getting along. Ashley couldn’t be happier. She finally had finally gotten to the place where she has always wanted to be. She was ready to sing her heart out with Zac, but something wasn’t right when she walked into the auditorium.
Zac was on stage with Brooke about to audition. Ashley didn’t understand why, but the piano started to play and Ashley’s heart dropped. She turned to Mrs. Jones and asked, “Why is he singing with her? I thought it was all your idea? I didn’t think he’d go through with it.” She left Mrs. Jones’s side and started walking down the aisle very slowly in total shock.

Brooke was singing and Zac was about to join in with her, but then he caught a glimpse of Ashley. Once he saw her he immediately dropped his mic and ran down to her. “Ashley I’m so sorry about everything. I didn’t mean anything I said to my mom, but I really do love singing with you. When I sing with you, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Brooke means nothing to me. I figured you were never going to come back, so I thought I’d just audition with her. I want to sing with you. Don’t listen to a word my mom said. I wanted to sing with you all along. I was never going to ditch you. I really wanted to sing with you. I still really want to sing with you. Well, that is if you still want to sing with me?”

Ashley couldn’t help but laugh, “Zac, Mrs. Jones explained everything to me. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m not mad at you. I really have no reason too.” She looked down at the ground with a smile on her face, she started to blush, but looked up at Zac and confessed, “But yes I still would really love to sing with you.”

Zac smiled, grabbed her hand, and pulled her up onto the stage. Brooke didn’t understand and was very angry so she asked, “What’s going on? Zac we are supposed to be auditioning, you can’t just stop in the middle of our song. Ashley I don’t know what you think you are doing, but you can leave the stage now, okay?”

“Brooke, I can’t sing with you. Ashley is the one I should sing with. She is meant to be on this stage. I never should have agreed to sing with you Brooke, I’m sorry. You can still try out, you’ll just have to find another partner.” explained Zac.

“Mrs. Jones you’re not going to let him do this, are you? She’s not meant for the Theatre. She doesn’t belong on this stage. You won’t let her do this will you?” complained Brooke.

“Actually Brooke, Ashley does belong on that stage. In fact she’s brought out a whole different voice in Zac that I never even knew he had and I am looking forward to hearing it. She is quite the young lady.” replied Mrs. Jones.

Once Brooke heard Mrs. Jones say that, she stormed off of the stage. Ashley couldn’t help but snicker to herself a little bit. After everything settled down a bit, Mrs. Jones asked Zac and Ashley to audition. Ashley hesitated at first, but then smiled and made her way to the stage. Zac followed Ashley onto the stage and Mrs. Jones sat down at the judges table.

Before they could start singing Zac whispered to Ashley, “You are such an amazing girl. You have brought out a whole new side of me. A better side. I know I haven’t known you for long, but I think I’m falling in love with you Ashley.” Zac then kissed her on the cheek and walked across to the other side of the stage. The piano started to play, Ashley and Zac looked at each other, and they started to sing.

Once Zac and Ashley got done singing they were looking each other in the eyes. They didn’t even realize what was going on around them, all they knew was that they were meant to sing together. They finally pulled apart and looked at Mrs. Jones. She was silent. All Zac and Ashley could see was Mrs. Jones wiping her tears.

Mrs. Jones didn’t know what to say, but she finally choked words out of her mouth, “Zac, I’ve never heard you sing like that before. I’m beyond proud of you son. And Ashley, I should have pulled you on to this stage years ago. You are such a gifted young lady. You two are just meant to sing together. Thank you for opening my eyes to a whole to side of singing.”

Mrs. Jones ended up changing her mind about the auditorium and gave full control back to Mrs. Treble and allowed her to make the changes she wanted to make. Ashley and Zac, of course, got the leads in the musical. They are still happy and are continuing to sing together everywhere. They realized that without each other they were just a song, but together they managed to make the perfect harmony.