"No! You've got to hold that last note longer. I've already gone over this. Again!" Mrs. Cunningham told the frightened freshman. They were singing in the chorus and kept messing up the ending of Be our guest.

            Honestly, it was only the first week of rehearsals, so she shouldn't have been so frustrated with them, but I could tell that she knew how much more work we'd have to put into the musical later in the year and just wanted to cut down on it. I watched as some of the more undedicated chorus rolled their eyes at her, annoyed. I had no idea why certain people even joined musical if they didn't want to be here.

            "So," Archer said suddenly besides me, "When are you going to start practicing with them?"

            I turned, startled. Archer never really spoke to me, not even when I was over at Lacey's house. So why was he making conversation now?

            "Probably in a couple weeks when they get the song and most of the choreography down. There's no point of me just standing there while they're learning the song, I don't have any lines during that song if I remember correctly anyway." I respond, wincing as Lacey sings a wrong note a little louder than the rest of the chorus.

            "Cool, I don't have anything to practice right now either. I was just sitting by myself when I got this thought, I said to myself, 'hey, why don't I go talk to my pretty co-star over there in the corner?' and I did." He says.

            I blushed and looked down at the floor. "Well, you aren't too bad yourself if I do say so myself." I replied the best I could.

            He chuckled and I blushed even deeper. He was chuckling, at something I said. My crush of three years was smiling at me, not one of the caked faced popular girls that he usually was flirting with, me. It just didn't seem plausible.

            Wait, was this flirting? Was I flirting with the infamous Archer Waters?

            "So, Belle," he emphasized the part where he called me my stage name, obviously trying to create a light atmosphere, "Are you going to be free this Saturday at the Super Day festival? Because I have this strange feeling that I should at least try and ask the prettiest girl in the room, even though I'm pretty sure she already has a date. Am I right?"

            He was asking me to the festival. As in a date?

            "Well, Gaston," I started, using his stage name as well, an attempt at being seen as funny, "I do not, in fact, have anyone specific that I'm going to the festival with. That is, if I'm going at all."

            "Why wouldn't you be going? Especially with a charming young fellow like me inquiring that you should go." He smiled and I couldn't help but to smile back. He was so cute that I couldn't resist the temptation.

            "Well, in that case, I might be going."

            "Then what would you say to my asking you to the festival this Saturday?" He inquired. "I can promise that it will be fun, even if I have to leave halfway through to run an errand for my parents."

            "Archer Waters, are you asking me out?"

            "Maybe," he shrugged, "Possibly."

            "Well, if you were, I think I'd say yes." I say.

            I could see him smile and think thoughtfully in an exaggerated way. I fought the urge to laugh, he was just so funny and charming in every way.

            "Then in that case, Arabella Jones, will you join me at the Super Day festival on Saturday as my date and girlfriend?" he asks.

            I held my breath. It was happening. It was actually happening. Had my ears deceived me? Had he actually done the impossible?

            "Yes, I think I will." I say.

            His lips curve upward in a smile and I could barely contain my happiness. All I wanted to do was jump up and down, screaming like Lacey when she got to meet The Marvel for the first time one year ago. And trust me, you haven't seen a true fangirl's explosion of excitement until you've seen Lacey's. She was the definition of obsessed.

            "In that case, I'll need your number, and you'll need mine." He handed me a piece of ripped notebook paper with his number on it. I, in return, gave him my number, written hastily on his arm.

            "If you wash it off on accident, you can just ask Lacey for it, she has my number." I rushed. God, I was a blubbering mess, wasn't I?

            "Oh, yeah. You guys are friends, right?" He asked.

            "Yeah." It's not like I've been over at your house like a million times since we were little.

            He turned to speak to me again, but was interrupted when Lacey called him over, looking furious. She was pointing to her backpack in confusion and rage, most likely blaming him for stealing something from her things. They often did that, blamed things of random occurrence on each other. The disappearance of Fluffy, Lacey's old hamster, the big thunderstorm last year that got a football game canceled, the ice cream melting when the fridge broke. They always quarreled, there was literally no end to their sibling rivalry.

            I was still blushing mad, even when he walked away. Archer Waters just asked me out. Me. The nerd who spent her nights studying and singing music in her comic book hero pj's. I was obviously not the obvious first choice for a girlfriend, especially from a guy like Archer. Wait until Lacey finds out, she'll be furious at me.

            I kept my gaze on Lacey and Archer as they fought. I wondered what she thought he stole this time. Her purse? Her Phone? A Penny? Knowing her, it could be almost anything.

            I turn my attention back to the chorus members. Only to find that they were being dismissed. I looked at my watch and did a retake.

            It was already 9:00? Man, time flew fast when you were doing something you loved.

            The rest of the non chorus members and I stayed  while the regular chorus members left the theater room. We needed to know which scene she would be practicing today, and which of us would need to stay.

            "Alright, " Mrs. Cunningham started as soon as the last chorus member left, "We will be practicing the song, Gaston, today. If you aren't in that, you may leave."

            Finally! I turned to the back of the room and picked up my school bags and headed to the door. Before I left, I took a look back at Archer, who threw a wink my way. I blushed and waved. As soon as I got out and into the hallway my stomach did butterfly's. Today was a great day. Wasn't it?

            I exited the school and walked towards my car, which looked considerably small next to a big black SUV that decided to park extremely close to my car. I squished my way to the driver's side door and then squeezed through the door. Sometimes people who park their cars with only a couple of inches between the next car annoy me.

            I sighed and turned up my radio. Some song by some popular band was playing on the radio, but I could barely hear. Even with the big black SUV so close to my car, which annoyed the hell out of me, I was still in a chipper mood.

            I couldn't get over the fact that Archer had just asked me out on a date. Of course, Lacey would want to kill me for my ignorance, she thought that her brother was literally a demon in human form, and she'd probably try and see if I was sick in the head or something. Soon she would ask for the details, then she'd start pestering me about what I was going to wear on Saturday, and then-

            Wait, what was I going to wear? I didn't want to look too dressy, or too casual. I didn't want to look too girly, or too tomboyish. I didn't want to wear something too short or too long. And I most definitely didn't want to wear something too revealing, unless he liked that.

            Wait. Why am I worrying about what to wear? If he really just likes me, then it shouldn't matter what I wear. For a second there I was starting to sound like a super fangirl.

            After a short car ride, I finally made it back home. I locked my car and walked up to the front door and unlocked it with the key on my ID badge from school. When I finally got inside, I felt strangely weird.

            It was quiet.

            Too quiet.

            After checking almost every corner of the house for ghosts and monsters that could be hiding in the dark, I finally settled in my kitchen with another piece of leftover pizza. I stared out at my empty house with dread. I had never liked the silence that the night brought with it, especially since I practically live by myself.

            It was times like these that I wish I had a sibling of my own to bicker with. It gets lonely in a quiet house with a workaholic for a father. There's no one to talk to except for the pictures on the wall, and they never talked back.

            I sighed and took another bite of pizza. Maybe one day things will change.