Manners

Chapter 8: Punishments Given & Taken Away:

"Louis Tomlinson, will you please report to the Principal's office, Louis Tomlinson, will you please report to the Principal's office." Said a monotone voice from the loudspeaker.

The lunchroom went silent and all eyes turned to me. I felt like I was Harry Potter when his name got picked from the Goblet of Fire when I hear my name being called from the loudspeaker. In many ways, Harry and I are the same. We're both popular and we're both about to face certain punishment for the crimes we didn't commit. Well, I guess I did commit the "crime".

"Looks like Tomlinson gonna get a few more days of suspension!" Some twat yelled from a distant table. Ignoring, the comment, I tightened my grip on my paper bag with my unfinished meal, and successfully made it out of the cafeteria without breaking that prick's neck.

"God dammit," I muttered under my breath as I walked down the long hallways to the Principal's office. I was just here two periods before, when the notorious Mr. Johnson sent me. Mrs. Jensen had decided that Jourdan and I both got two months of detention, everyday after school for arriving late and for insulting a teacher and violating his privacy.

Jourdan looked like she was going to explode with anger. But being the rebellious delinquent I truly am, I pulled down my pants down to show what I thought of this punishment. Consequently, she added a week of suspension to my lovely punishments. Unfortunately, it started tomorrow, on Thursday. Mum was going to kill me.

Now, here I was, once again, awaiting further punishments in the dreaded chair, across from Mrs. Jensen. She studied me, looking at me like she wasn't sure if I was Mother Teresa or Osama bin-Laden. Yes, I do know a bit about the world, despite the fact that I wa categorized in most of the "vacuous" classes.

"You wanted to see me?" I reminded her after an uncomfortable, two minute silence.

"Yes...I have decided to relieve you of all you're punishments."

"You're kidding."

"Do I look like I am one who "kids"?" I shook my head, stunned by my stroke of luck.

"Why?" I asked, curiously.

"Let's just say I was persuaded by one of your classmates. The name is classified information, but you're very lucky that she has taken an interest to you." I frowned, who could this girl be?

"Now, it might be best if you get to class seeing that the bell has dismissed the seniors from lunch. Here is a note, excusing you from tardiness and permitting you to finish your lunch in class." Mrs. Jensen handed me a pink slip with loopy cursive that I couldn't read.

"Now, I don't want to hear about any more trouble from you, considering I let you off the hook from two months detention and a week of suspension. Are we clear?" I nodded.

"Good, you are dismissed." I stood up and left, wordlessly, still wondering who persuaded Mrs. Jensen to relieve me of my detentions and suspension.

"She's obviously in my English class." I murmured thoughtfully as I strolled down the hallways to Calculous. All through Ms. Cassandra's lesson, I scrolled through all the girls in English and couldn't think of one that would stand up for me like that.

I need to find her and thank her, I thought, when I should've started on the math packet that was due today. Throughout the entire day, I pondered who this girl could be and thought of possible ways how she persuaded Mrs. Jensen.

"Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Tomlinson!" shouted Mr. Bob. His surname wasn't actually Bob, it was just so difficult to pronounce, everyone just called him Mr. Bob.

"Mhmm." I mumbled, listlessly.

"What did I just say?"

"The choir concert is coming up and we're going to have a slightly different style." I repeated, not even meeting Mr. Bob's gaze.

"Oh, kill em!" Someone called from the back of the auditorium.

"That's enough of you Mr. Flaskamp!" Everyone snickered at the sound of Justin's last name. If I had that last name, I would've already changed it. And if I couldn't changed it, I would've killed myself.

"Now, if I could kindly have everyone's attention!" He glared, pointedly at me.

"As I was saying, this year, choir concerts are going to be a bit different. Since this is you're last year here, I want you to remember them being the highlight of the year. So for every choir concert, we're going to have a theme! I'm collaberating with the drama department so you have to wear costumes and we're going to build a set - kind of like a music video! And the upcoming theme is going to be..." Mr. Bob paused dramatically.

"Rebellion!" Everyone began murmuring excitedly.

"Settle down class! Settle down! Instead of the normal church rubbish we always preform, we're going to explore all sorts of rebellious music! Rock! Soul! Ballads! Musicals! Pop! And, every single one of you is getting a solo." The room went silent.

"Seeing that there are sixty of you, in total that are in choir, most of you will be getting smaller solos - a verse or a few words. But a few special someone's are going to get an entire song! Here is the set list I have chosen. The songs stared means you can try out for the entire song. All the rest of the songs have smaller solos but we'll work out the details later." With a few pants, Mr. Bob started handing out the papers.

Ignoring all the cheap songs Mr. Bob labeled "rebellious", my eyes glued to the most glorious four words on the paper: We Will Rock You.

But I won't audition. The only time I sing is if no one's around. If I sing at the choir, it'll totally ruin my reputation. I only joined choir because I don't play an instrument, I mean I play a little piano but Hello! I have a reputation to uphold! And I wasn't planning to sing a solo.

Although it is a good song. I sighed. I don't want people thinking I'm some sort of theater geek all because I wanted to sing a Queen song. Nope, definitely not trying out.

"Alright, now here's the most important announcement, you have to audition." Everyone stared at Mr. Bob like he was some kind of crazy, alien person. Well he was. It was so quiet you could hear everyone's heartbeat's racing nervously.

"Now I know that some of you, really don't like solos but you're all in varsity," Mr. Bob did quotation marks in the air, "choir because you're the best at singing. So all you're voices are good enough. The reason why I'm forcing you to audition (by the way I'm picking you're song too) is because I know the best singers won't." Everyone in the class face palmed themselves, myself included. No one liked solos, the ones who did, all think they're the next Katy Perry or something.

"We'll do auditions in class, starting with the boys since there's so many. I will chose everyone at random." Mr. Bob quickly scanned the room until his eyes landed on me.

Shit.

"Mr. Tomlinson! How about you go first. You can sing...Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. Know the song?" I nodded slowly. I mean, who doesn't? Hearing snickers behind me, I quickly added:

"Only because my sisters played the song like a million times at home."

"Get up on the stage." I rolled my eyes and walked out of the aisle and climbed onto the stage.

"Do any of you know how to play the song on the guitar?" Mr. Bob squinted and looked out into the audience.

"ME!" Shouted Niall. Everyone laughed. Oh Niall. Only you could do that.

"Here." Mr. Bob handed Niall a guitar while he climbed onto the stage, beside me. After checking if the guitar was tuned properly, Niall nodded at me, signaling he was ready. I sighed, best get this over with. Niall started strumming the simple melody and I shakily took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

"Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away
But, girl tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Times Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true."

I took another deep breath and managed to relax for the rest of the song, letting the song overcome my nerves and flow through me. It was only until the last few lines that I realized that this was the first time I've ever sang in front of an audience.

"Oh, it's what you do to me,
Oh, it's what you do to me.
Oh, it's what you do to me,
Oh, it's what you do to me.
What you do to me."

I nervously swallowed, my mouth as dry as the Sahara Desert, and turned to Mr. Bob. His jaw was dropped and his eyes, wide.

"I - is there a particular song you are interested in?" Mr. Bob asked, his voice showing how shocked he was. Was I really do that bad?

"We will rock you." I muttered. Great, I just embarrassed myself in front of everyone in Choir.

I turned to Niall who had the same expression. Did I do something wrong? I turned to everyone in the audience, after a moments silence, they erupted in applause.

"Damn, Tommo, didn't know you were that good!" Shouted Niall who put down the guitar and clapped along with the class. At first, I was confused but then a warm feeling spread through my body and my chest swelled with pride. I smiled, and bowed, I didn't realize I was that good at singing either. Maybe I would get solo.

Notes

Hello lovelies!
I want to apologize for not updating for awhile, for all of you not in High School yet, well, you're so damn lucky. Anyways, I hope your holidays was well and I hope your all enjoying Winter Break! Thank you for continuing to read my story and I promise I'll update sooner than seven months(:
-Louistomlinson