Sgt. Chrissa

I picked the eraser off of my pencil during art class. Mikayla has been on my mind so much lately, I haven’t thought of anything for my art. Rita, who was next to me, poked me in the arm.

“Yeah?” I asked, turning to her.
“Didn’t you tell me you liked Brett?” She asked.
“Well, I did, but not anymore. Why?” I asked again.
“No reason.” She blinked.
“Rita.” I said, seriously. She blinks when she lies.
“Fine, maybe I like him a lot.” She began to twirl a strand of strawberry blonde hair while her cheeks became pink.
“Aw, Rita! Well, I hope things go better with you and him then they went with Matt and I.” I sighed.
“Speak of the devil…” Rita’s eyes traveled from me to the area above my head.

I turned around in my seat and looked up and saw the one and only Matthew Riden.
“Chrissa.” He said.
“Matthew.” I said, looking anywhere but him.
“We need to talk.” He said while I stared at the white board that Ms. Freemont uses to demonstrate on. It had a picture of a broken heart.

Oh, the irony.

“No we don’t. We talked, and you’re dating….” I trailed off, trying to remember the name of the girl.
“Beth Landers.” Matt finished.
”Beth Landers, which is….great, so we don’t have to talk about anything.” I gulped.

Beth, Beth, Beth Landers. She can fall in a well for all I care. I always knew she hated me, and would take anything – or one – I wanted.

“But, you know all of that about me, when I don’t know what’s been going on with you.” Matt said, trying to get into my area of view.

I averted my eyes from him and stared at a notebook.
“Maybe that’s how it should be.” I stated, flipping to a blank page and began writing the word ‘hate’ repeatedly.

“Fine.” He muttered, then walked away.


Later, at Chorus, I looked around. We had Me, Matt, Callie, Molly, Elizabeth, Jake, Ryan, Keith, Julie, Brett, Rita (who had joined after we all begged her) and Prudence.

Nathan and Charity both quit. Nathan because his new girlfriend said Chorus was lame and Charity’s school life just got too hectic.
Mrs. Hodge came in with that normal smile on her face.
“We have two new members joining today!” She smiled.

Excited chatter spread across our small little group.

“As you all know, to go to Regionals, we need 16 kids. We have 12 now. These two new kids will surely help us. Let’s give ‘em a hand!” Mrs. Hodge smiled and began clapping. We all clapped, just not as excited as her.

Did she know something we didn’t?

Just then, the door opened and, low and behold, Julia and her friend George came busting through the door.

“Hel-lo Chorus Kiddies.” Julia waved.
Julie jumped up and ran to her twin sister and hugged her.
“JULIA! Why did you come here?” She asked.
“Well, I heard you all needed some more kids and thought that Harrison and I could be of assistance.” She then bowed with George.
“And Julia loves to sing.” George winked at Julia.

Callie giggled and said;
“Yeah, we know that, Ms. ‘Forget You.’” She teased, referencing to Julia’s performance of Cee Lo Green’s ‘Forget You’ in Denver for New Year’s.

“We are happy to have you both, Julia and George, but before you audition, we would like to show you how things work around here. Anyone want to sing something?” Mrs. Hodge’s attention went from George and Julia to everyone else.

Julie and Molly looked at each other and shrugged, Jake yawned, Keith and Ryan were having a staring contest, Prudence and Elizabeth were drawing each other, Callie was lecturing Brett and Rita about something, and Matt was texting Beth.

My hand flew up, and everyone’s focus went to me.

“Well, Chrissa. The stage is yours” Mrs. Hodge smiled and walked down and sat down by Julie.

I grabbed Rita’s hand and pulled her onstage.
“You play the flute right?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I’m not very go-“ She started.
“Just play.” I interrupted.

I whispered my song selection in both Ben and Cindie’s ears and they nodded.

I walked up to center stage and sighed.
“This song goes out to two people; one is in this room right now, and the other, well. I don’t know where she is.” I sighed. Matt put his phone in his back pocket and looked at me. Our eyes met and one of those ‘oh-my-goodness’ moments happened again.

I blinked fast, and looked to Ben and nodded, cuing the band.

Cindie started playing the soft introduction to The Beatles’ “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.” I sighed before singing.

“Here I stand, head in hands. Turn my face to the wall. If he’s gone, I can’t go on feelin’ two foot small.” I looked at Matt.

“Everywhere people stare, each and every day. I can see them laugh at me and I hear them say… Hey! You’ve got to hide your love away.” Our eyes met and I looked at Julia for support. She smiled and I smiled.

“HEY, You’ve got to hide your love away.” I sang with more energy and a small smile on my face.

“How can I even try? I can never win. Hearing them, seeing them in the state I’m in.” I sighed, looking again at Matt. Then I remembered the other person I dedicated the song to.

“How could she say to me ’Love will find a way?’ Gather round all you clowns, let me hear you say” I remembered the conversation on the phone with Mikayla and the utter awkward-ness of it all. I sighed and opened my mouth to sing again.

“HEY, You’ve got to hide your love away!” I sang loudly.
”EVERYONE!” I yelled.
“HEY” We all yelled.
”You’ve got to hide your love away.” We all sang.

I turned to Rita and nodded for her to play her part. She walked over to me while playing her flute perfectly.

She can’t play, my left foot.

When she finished, we both bowed.

Mrs. Hodge stood up, clapping and walked to the center of the stage. “Now that is how we do things here!” Mrs. Hodge smiled. Callie whistled, Jake and Keith whooped and hollered, and Julia yelled ‘GO CHRISSA AND RITA!’

I looked at where Matt was sitting.

He was gone.

Serves him right.
<3Chrissa