Sing Me To Sleep Part 19

Thank G.o.d, you came. If you love me, please don't ever let me go.

I mean every word. Does he? Is that why he chose this song? He comes in and our voices wind together.

All my life I gotta be about you.

Can't sleep, can't dream without you.

It's a fairy-tale vision for two. It's you. It's you.

My eyes open. I get a break while he sings.

I raise a kaleidoscope up to my eye,

Twist it once and watch the bright colors fly,

And the picture is so clear-

He cups my cheek with his free hand. It's gotta be you.

He gets me swaying with him during the orchestral interlude. I probably look like a tree. We sing, It's you, you, back and forth to each other. And then he does a run.

By the second verse, we're moving in sync with the music, touching each other. Honest, pa.s.sionate, Derek sings- The way you kiss, the way you sing,

The way you tell me everything.

Will you take my heart? "

He puts my hand on his chest and holds it there. I'm offering it to you? I feel his heart pumping. The spotlight makes him glow.

I feel your love-it beats so strong,

I' ll walk with you until the dawn.

He smiles. I slide my hand up to his face and trace his lips while I sing, Now I love only as long as I sing you, you.

Derek takes my hand and swings it with the beat. You, you, I echo him. Then we're singing the chorus again together. The Primus Amabile guys back us up. I'm totally into it. Instead of fearing the audience, I'm drinking in their appreciation. Major rush. Powerful. It twists with the feeling that's pouring off Derek, and I'm ready for the dramatic second refrain.

Derek and I don't worry about the words. The guys have it. We improvise runs up and around, chasing each other's voice. Derek singing, Oh, baby, you.

I get, Whoa-ooh, you-oo. At the end it all comes together. Our back up Amabile guys drop out. My voice blends with Derek's in the final throbbing phrase. It's gotta be, it's gotta be about you.

Applause washes over us. Derek kisses me, and the place goes nuts.

chapter 14.

WINNERS.

Derek and the rest of the Amabile guys shred whatever decorum was left after the concert last night before the closing ceremony can even get under way this morning. It starts out with all the choirs waving flags and trying to outsing one another's national anthem. Derek and his friends notch it up to raucous when they get up and run around the arena waving a giant Canadian flag. That bright-red cloth with the red maple leaf in the middle is like a matador's cape. And the bulls can't resist coming after it.

The Aussies get up. Then the Chinese. The Russians, Italians, Irish. Soon a mini UN pours onto the floor. Leah and Meadow pull me with them. Sarah and about fifteen other girls follow. We plunge into the craziness, get swept into the current of choristers and national pride. Leah and I have our big flag. Everyone else has the small flags from the opening ceremony. Major red, white, and blue.

The national anthem singing continues, gets louder. The running wilder. Lots of pus.h.i.+ng. A total rush. Nothing like the rush I got onstage with Derek last night, but running in a crazy mob of happy humanity is cool. The only thing better would be Derek beside me in this sweaty, pulsing ma.s.s. That would make it hot. I sort of amaze myself. Who knew I could think like this?

"The judges have made their decisions," blares on max over the sound system. "TAKE YOUR SEATS." After three tries, our compet.i.tive natures get the better of us, and we flood into the rows.

The announcements start with the mixed-voice youth choirs. SATB-guys and girls. A choir from a music school in Poland wins.

One of our judges comes to the mike. "The bronze medal choirs in the single-voice youth category are . . ."

I hold my breath. Terri has her head down. We're all like that-united in tension. In the Choral Olympics every choir gets a bronze, silver, or gold. It would be so humiliating to get bronze. Phew. He's announcing the silvers now. I see Terri relax. Her head comes up. Silver would be respectable.

Meadow squeals out loud when the judge says, "And now for our gold medal choirs," without announcing Bliss Youth Singers of Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Terri shushes her, but she's smiling all over the place and giving us two thumbs-up.

Gold. We got gold. Terri's counting so she can figure out what place we end up. In addition to the medal category, they announce in order-from worst to best. If we break into the top ten, she thinks we can get funding from an arts commission for a CD.

As the judge continues without calling our name, we're having a hard time containing ourselves. Squirming, crying, suppressed celebrating. Another choir. Still not us. Another choir. Still not us.

Meadow bends over with her arms wrapped around her stomach, chanting, "We won. We won. We won."

The judge pauses and looks around the room. "The top three choirs are Amabile Young Men's Ensemble, London, Ontario, Canada; Expressly Haiku from Kyoto, j.a.pan; and Bliss Youth Singers, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA." Applause and cheering. We're going crazy jumping up and down, hugging each other, screaming.

"Will a representative come forward from each of these choirs?"

Meadow starts to head out, but Leah and Sarah tackle her. Terri nods at me. "Beth, get up there!"

I follow a tiny j.a.panese girl onto the stage. Derek comes forward for his choir. The judge recognizes us from the previous evening. "You two behave yourselves this morning." My face gets as ruby red as our gowns. The crowd laughs. A couple of wolf whistles.

The judge holds his hand out for quiet. "A gold medal and third place go to . . . Bliss Youth Singers, Ann Arbor, Michigan." The audience claps as I plaster on a smile and move forward to get our medal and special plaque for placing third. I step back.

The j.a.panese girls get second.

The Amabile guys win. Of course they do. No one has a chance against them. They are too good. Way too good.

Derek goes forward, gets the medal and trophy. Major clapping. He turns and waves and the screaming starts. The guy is chick bait. No doubt about it. How can he want to be with me? He could have any girl he wants. As many girls as he wants. Does he really want just me? Or am I one of the many?

The judge calms the audience, introduces the next presenter, and leads us offstage. Derek walks behind me, leans forward, whispers, "It should have been you."

His voice wipes out my jealous doubts. I lean back so he can hear me. "Third in the world? I'll take that." I wish we could escape to a corner for a steamy make-out session, but he goes off to his choir, and I return to mine.

Terri's losing it. I put the gold medal over her neck and hand her the plaque. Ma.s.sive hugging moment. We're both laughing and crying. Shoot. We have to sit and be quiet while the adult and children categories' results are read off.

When the announcements are finished, we all sing the test piece in a ma.s.s performance, and then it's done. Over until next summer. The adults start to file out, but the youth choirs pour onto the floor. All kinds of kids congratulate me. The Amabile guys get mobbed. A knot of sweet, nerdy guys that remind me of Scott asks me to sign their programs. I can't see Derek in the chaos.

The craziness starts to subside. Terri and the moms begin rounding us up. I look around. Sarah is kissing Blake. Derek is still surrounded by about twenty girls. He sees me-excuses himself. Okay, he breaks away from them.

We're drawn together. I'm desperate to hold him, kiss those lips that are smiling so big at me. We come together in a rush. Then I am holding him. I am kissing that delicious mouth. It is real. He is mine.

"We're going to miss lunch, ladies." Terri's got everybody together but Sarah and me.

Derek lets me go. "This afternoon?"

"We have to go shopping."

"Come with us."

Sarah and Blake join us. "Yeah, Beth. Sarah says she'll do it."

"What?"

"It sounds really cool. Come with."

I look at Derek. "What?"

"Time we had some adventure."

Adventure Park. That's what they call this place. It's ropes and nets in trees. And zip lines.

I'm wearing my fleece-it's cool up here-heavy leather gloves, a helmet, and, get this, a harness. A ring clipped to a rope is supposed to keep me from falling. Derek and I are on a tiny wood platform built about thirty feet off the ground in a ma.s.sive tree. I wish we could just walk through this ancient forest with its whispering foliage, holding hands and staring at each other, but no-adventure calls.

I'm standing in front of the first zip line, freaked right out. Derek is behind me. "You're hooked in, right?" He reaches under my arm, brushes my ribs, and tugs on the ring to rea.s.sure me that it will hold.

I don't jump and slide down the line. Partly because I'm totally scared and partly because I like the way this feels, him behind me, reaching his arm around me, looking after me. I lean back into him. "Kiss me for luck."

"Go Beth. There's a bunch of people waiting."

I don't jump. He pecks my cheek and pushes me off the platform. I scream and close my eyes as I zoom down the line. Halfway down, though, the scream of terror turns into a jazzed squeal. Zip? They aren't kidding. I actually catch the net at the other end and pull myself onto it. I unhook the metal gadget, so Derek can follow me. He launches himself off the platform-glides way faster than I did.

I'm giddy and laughing. He's happy that I'm not wimping. We scramble through the rest of the course. It's way fun. By the end, I leap off the last zip line and take it with my eyes wide open.

Derek's ready to go again. We have a couple more hours here and can go down any of the courses through the trees that we want as many times as we can get our b.u.t.ts down them.

We b.u.mp fists, and he says, "Let's take the high course. You rock."

I slow down. "That wasn't the high course?"

He points to a couple of his friends on a platform at the very top of the extremely tall, ma.s.sive like a skysc.r.a.per-no way, nohow I'm getting up there-tree we're standing next to. "That's the high course."

Jelly knees. Total wimp. "How about I watch?"