Hello y'all. This is the second story I work on – the first one being Alex and Sebastian. I'll place the link for that one below.

Hope you guys enjoy!

http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/college/alex-and-sebastian/

A fellow reader made a playlist with most of the songs I've either used or will use in the A&S series. I've given him full control as to whether he wants a new channel for this story or just to continue on the original one.  If y'all want to listen to it while reading the chapters the link for it is this:

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJZWEUrY9KRSfQ98rYlMYix46VM0CJ7XS

 

 

Also, please don't forget to donate to nifty here, without which we wouldn't have this collection of great stories!

Every story is free on here, so please let's keep it that way and donate, guys.

http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html

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The First Practice

For whatever reason, I had been nervous all Tuesday.

Ok, I could think of one reason: I was scared that given a shot at this new club, I was going to blow it. I mean, I knew I could make it given the same amount of practice I gave everything else. I guess I was just scared about letting them down. Yes, by `them', I did mean one specific person.

It's funny, too, since I hadn't even had a real conversation with Michael. Hopefully that would change and I'd discover that he was just another big headed senior who thought himself as more than other people. That would definitely shut down my growing ... man crush.

When Wednesday came around, I nervously walked towards M103. Where Tay had accompanied me last time, I was walking alone to the M103 pod today.

"You here to check if you made it, too?"

I turned around and recognized Sam talking to me. "Yeah," I said, looking back to the list posted in front of me. "You too?" I asked and he nodded. We were both too far away to be able to see the exact names but now that Sam was here, I built up the courage to walk closer.

I read through the names of the current members:

Ileana, Alyssa, Chris, Diana, and Michael.

Under their names, the new members were posted:

Sam, Darren, Sara, and Tay.

Wait.

Tay?

Like, my Tay?

Sam gave me a soft punch on the arm. "We made it," he said. I turned and congratulated him despite the odd feeling I had about Tay auditioning without telling me. We made our way into the M pod and walked into our first day of practice – whatever that meant.

Walking in, we were greeted and congratulated by some of the veterans that had shown up already. I saw Sam walk up to a girl I assumed to be Sara and hug her. I guess she was a sophomore, too, and one of Sam's friends.

Speaking of friends, where was Tay?

Almost on cue, Tay walked in followed by Michael and Chris. From the way she walked with them, it seemed she had already made friends with both of the guys where as I hadn't so much as spoken to Michael.

As soon as she noticed me, Tay walked over. "Hey," I said. "What happened? You auditioned, too?"

She gave me a mischievous smile. "Well, yeah." She turned to look at where Mr. Holland was shuffling through some papers. "I wasn't going to miss being part of the club ran by one of the school's hottest teachers."

Before I could ask anymore, Mr. Holland walked to the front of the room and started our first practice. After congratulating the new and returning members, Mr. Holland divided us into pairs: Rookies partnered with Veterans. For the rest of the semester, the veteran we were partnered with would serve as our mentor. They'd help us practice, answer questions, run through songs and provide whatever other help we'd need.

Where I thought this would be my chance to finally talk with Michael, I was instead partnered with Diana. I turned my head and saw that Tay was partnered with Alyssa, Sam was partnered with Michael, and Sara with Ileana and Chris.

"How are you liking the group so far?" Diana asked.

"All of you seem nice enough," I said. Admittedly, Diana was very beautiful. She wasn't pretty – no – she was beautiful. Her long blonde hair partnered with her light skin and flower dress made her look almost like a Barbie doll. Even her voice had a soft, breezy quality about it. Despite all that, the way she carried herself made her easy to talk to.

Her warm smile, if possible, made her look even more down to earth. "By the way," she continued, quieter, now that Mr. Holland had given us instructions to run some scales with our partners. "We have this tradition of throwing a homecoming party at someone's house. I volunteered. I'll text you my address at the end of practice."

"Is everyone going?" I asked after matching pitch with the piano.

"Yeah, most everyone goes including some previous members." Diana sang the next note in her soft but sultry voice. "But, if you're asking about someone specific, yeah, he's helping me set up."

I quickly tore my glance away from Mr. Holland and his piano and looked at my partner. "What do you mean?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"Please," she smiled. "As your mentor, you should know that I'm very observant." She leaned over and rested her head on my left shoulder. I could feel her giggle as she continued, "I'm not just another dumb blonde."

Despite my reddened face, I managed to keep my composure for the rest of practice. True to her word, she asked for my number and sent me her address before walking over to where Michael and Chris were at.

Not wanting to make it any more obvious that it already was, I didn't follow Diana and instead walked over to where Tay and Alyssa were.

"Hey, are you guys going to Diana's party next Friday?" I asked showing them Diana's text.

"Yeah, Alyssa was just telling me about that," Tay showed me her own phone with the directions to Diana's place sent by, I assumed, Alyssa. "I can't wait," Tay smiled.

"Do you think Kyle would mind if we went without him?" I asked Tay.

"Oh, shit," It seemed this was the first she thought of this. "I don't know," she said. "Aly, can our friend come, too? Do you know?"

Alyssa seemed to think about it for a second. "Well, I don't see why not if it's just one person. It'd be best if you ask Diana, though." I turned around to see that, not only was Michael gone, but so was Diana.

"I'll text and ask her later," I said before putting on my backpack and following the girls outside.

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"You guys really like this club, then?" Kyle asked after swallowing a bite of his burger.

"Yeah, everyone is really cool and we're learning all these different things," Tay said after stealing another one of Kyle's fries.

"And," I continued, "They're throwing a party this next Friday to start off the year." I took a bite from my chicken strip sandwich and waited for the words to register inside my best friend's mind.

Kyle looked up from his food. "A party?" He asked.

Both Tay and I smiled. "Yes, a party," I said. "Don't worry. I asked Diana, my mentor and the girl who's house it's going to be at, and she said it's cool if you came, too."

"Hell yeah. I'm always down for a good party."

"It's settled," Tay stole one last fry from Kyle and chewed it as she continued. "I'll pick both of you guys up at six so we can get there together."

Kyle and I looked at each other and, considering this meant we wouldn't have to pay for gas, we nodded.