Her Charming Secret

by Sam Ayers

  Jo stepped out and couldn’t help but feel excited. Paris was beautiful. Strolling along the street, she was awed when she saw the magnificent buildings. Quaint old cafés were around the corner. The city was lively, and even strangers smiled as they walked past her. She waited for a while to see her friends wave towards her as they came in a taxi. She waved back vigorously.

  “Summer, I’m here!” Jo hugged her friend. Summer was also in the boarding school with her and they were in a band together. Brad, AJ and Chris were standing near the taxi. Jo ran towards AJ and jumped on him. AJ was Abigail’s cousin, and she was pretty close to him.

  “Whoa! It’s so good to see you!” AJ smiled. “Ready to go?”

  Jo grinned and nodded. There was a music contest taking place in Paris, with all kinds of music welcome. Whether it was a band like Deep Storm, their band, or just normal instrumental music, anything and everything related to music was welcome. ‘Trapped in Music’ was being held in France for the first time, and the only reason Jo wanted to be here was the competition.

  They finally reached the place where it was being held. Deep Storm had gotten through the audition by submitting a video through YouTube. Jo felt a wave of enthusiasm hit her when she saw hundreds of people – mostly teens – standing there for the first round. There were people from every country, and she felt slightly nervous, but she shrugged it off because she was the lead singer.

  The contest was about to begin, and a man who they later found out to be the sponsor and one of the judges came ahead to welcome them.

  “Bienvenue, Bienvenue à Paris et Bienvenue au concours « Piègé dans la musique ». For allz the anglophonez out zere, I would likez to zpeak in English aussi. My namez iz Pierre Devereux andz I’m ze judge of thiz contezt!”

  People were stunned when they heard his accent. This person owned the finest piano-manufacturing company in France, and he happened to love France so much that he was able to convince the contest managers to host it in Paris that year.

  Pierre grinned and continued, “We are zo proud thatz thiz contezt is going on in ze Paris. Now mi friendz will zpeak with you. Bonne chance et Merci!”

  He moved away and a young man took the mike. “Welcome to ‘Trapped in Music’. My name is Adrian Carter. A very warm welcome to all of you. We are proud to say that we got overwhelming responses for the audition. It took us more than a month to choose the best amongst the ones who auditioned. Look around; you will see the people who share the love for music. And music doesn’t have any language, that’s why we allowed everyone to participate. Whether you perform alone or with a group and band, remember one thing: this stage is open for you to prove that you love music. And I’m pretty sure you will be able to do it. Now, let’s start with the rules. There will be three stages. Third stage, which is the final, will be between five contestants and it doesn’t matter if you are alone or in a group. A group will be considered as one contestant, one participant. You will face intense challenges amongst each other. You can be facing anyone, and remember music has no language and we are proud to say that we have over fifty individual instrumental artists.”

  The participants applauded. Jo noticed that the ones who did were actually the individual contestants. As she looked around, someone caught her eye. There, a boy around her age – or maybe a few years older than her – stood staring at the stage. He was thin and lanky and wore the baggiest clothes she had ever seen. He was tall and wore huge glasses. His auburn hair fell over his forehead, and she noticed one thing about him that made him stand out from the crowd. No matter how bad his outer appearance was, he stood straight and confident, and his body language conveyed a message – a message that he was here to win. And that he would.

  Suddenly, he turned towards her; he had felt someone’s gaze on him for a while and decided to see who it was. Jo’s eyes locked with his. She couldn’t see his face clearly, but she couldn’t help but smile and wave towards him. He nodded once politely and turned away.

  “Whoa! He’s arrogant,” she muttered. Summer turned towards her and asked if she was okay. Jo smiled and nodded. Carter’s speech was over soon and they were split into teams. Each team would take part in the first round together. Jo noticed that the tall arrogant boy was in their team. She decided to ignore him.

  They were taken to the auditorium where they would perform. Around thirty people stood there. There were many bands, too. Pierre Devereux was one of the judges. Jo looked at him and smiled. He was a kind man. He said, ‘Allz ze beztz!’ to everyone who stood there.

  After twelve participants, it was their turn. Deep Storm stood on the stage and started what they had come here for. As the music flowed, Jo felt easy. She was having a great time; she sang her favorite song and, by the looks on the judges’ faces, it was clear that they were going through to the next round. Finally, they had finished performing and happily came down and waited for the other contestants to perform. Everyone was giving their best, and Jo couldn’t help but be surprised when she saw that boy again.

  “Next up is Gale Arlington. Solo performance on the piano. River Flows In You,” Carter announced and sat back, looking at Gale with a grin.

  Gale’s fingers flew over the keys, mindless to reason or doubt. The music was magic woven in the air, mesmerizing all present. It rose and fell, raged and swelled, and people felt the emotions behind the music crash into them. He wasn’t even looking at the keys anymore, his back straight, head thrown back as the final notes stunned the audience. People started to clap only after he bowed to the judges and walked off the stage – that was how spellbinding his music had been. It had been a tidal wave that had swept over them, strong and beautiful, a force that had no break.

  Nobody was surprised when he took first place when the winners of the first round were announced. He hadn’t even cracked a smile. Instead had nodded and walked off once he found out he had gotten through the round.

  “Man, did you see him play? He was crazily good!” Brad called once they stepped out. “Did you see his concentration? We need to do something!”

  “What will we do, genius?” Chris asked, sarcastically.

  An evil smirk appeared on his face. He wanted to win, and he wanted to win bad. He would do absolutely anything to ruin a perfect opportunity for another person, but the words that came out of his mouth were shocking to the others. “Distract him! I know who could do it, too. Jo, you need to distract him. Try to be friends with him; keep him from practicing and we could easily win.”

  “But that’s cheating!” Summer protested.

  “Oh, c’mon! Let her try to be his friend at least. I’m not sure if he would want to be friends with anyone,” Brad retaliated. “Jo, think about this tonight and we’ll see what we can do, okay?”

  She nodded once, hesitant, and he walked away. AJ and Summer dropped her off at the hotel. When she entered her room she found Ben pacing around, Jake was nowhere to been seen.

  “Jo, where were you? Jake has gone out; he’s been searching for you past two hours,” Ben said.

  “I . . . I was exploring the town and got lost. Sorry,” she apologized.

  “Really, now? You got lost? That’s all good, but now I would like the truth, please!”

  She looked at Ben and decided to let him on with the secret. She told him all about the competition, and he wasn’t really surprised. He told her that he would drop her and pick her up every day. When Jacob came back, he seemed to have been worried sick, and Jo had to promise not to go out alone.

  * * *

  The next day, Ben dropped Jo near the contest location. Her friends weren’t there, so she decided to wait.

  Seeing Gale standing nearby, she decided to see if she could actually be friends with him.

  Walking up to him, she tapped on his shoulder. “Hi, I’m Jo from Deep Storm. I just wanted to say that your performance yesterday was amazing!”

  He looked at her, bored, and nodded. “I know.” And then he turned back to his book.

  She glared
at his back. The boy was rude! Hell to their strategy, she wanted nothing to do with him.

  Just as she was about to stomp off, she tripped and braced to fall, only to be caught by strong arms. “You should see where you are walking.”

  She looked at him, annoyed. “You should learn how to speak to a lady!”

  He peered around her and looked in all directions before saying, “I don’t see any lady here.”

  She stomped on his foot.

  “Ouch!”

  “Oops, I didn’t see your foot there.”

  “Really? You were the one who came and talked to me! What is wrong with you?”

  “I just wanted to see if we could be friends, you jerk, but I guess that’s not a concept you get. With an attitude like that, I wonder how many friends you have.”

  He stared at her, surprised. “You want to be friends? Why?”

  She looked at him, shocked. “You don’t need a reason to be friends!”

  He nodded. “I am sorry; I guess I was a little rude.”

  She snorted. “A little?”

  He chuckled, the smile making him look almost handsome. “Alright, I was rude, I apologize. I’m Gale.”

  Jo smiled and shook his hand. “And I’m Jo. Not sure whether it was all that nice meeting you, though.”

  Gale laughed. “We didn’t start off right, huh? I heard your band yesterday. Your drummer is average and the bassist needs a little work, but you are a good lead singer. You might have actually won if you had taken part by yourself.”

  Just then, Jo saw Adrian Carter walking towards them. “Gale, viens ici!” he called.

  “Une minute, s’il vous plaît,” Gale replied. He turned towards Jo and said, “I have to go now. Mr. Carter is calling me. Bye!”

  She watched him walk away, and both Gale and Adrian walked into the office. Just as she was about to go in and find her friends, she saw a bunch of cats walking around. She turned to see the sponsor/judge of the competition, the weird accent guy. Pierre Devereux was standing there with two cats in his arms and three surrounding him.

  “Milkzhake, comez toi papa! Non non, viens ici,” he said to his cat. Jo stared at this weird man with his strange fondness for cats.

  “Excusez-moi, can you helpz mi?” he asked, looking at Jo.

  “Umm . . . sure,” she said and walked ahead.

  “Can you carriez mi catz?” He grinned. Before she could reply, he said, “Takez Pepzi and Mizz Moo-Moo, willz you?”

  She looked down to see two cats standing near her; slowly, she bent down and picked them up.

  “Znowflake, comez witz papa,” he called to the other cat and walked ahead towards the office. Jo followed him quietly. When he opened the office door with his foot, Snowflake went in and he followed her with his two other cats.

  Jo heard Adrian speaking to Gale, and she used the opportunity to overhear the conversation.

  “That’s absurd! I can’t let you do that. Recognition is important!” Adrian said.

  “I don’t care!” Gale replied, but then turned around sharply to see Jo. He excused himself and walked out. Jo set the cats down and followed him.

  “Hey, Gale! Wait!” she called after him.

  “What?” he asked, tensed.

  “Umm . . . you practicing? Wanna skip today? Can you show me around?” She put on her innocent face that no one could ever resist.

  Even Gale couldn’t.

  “Err . . . right now?”

  “Yeah! Let’s go!” she said, holding her hand out for him.

  “Gale!” Someone shouted and waved towards him.

  “I’m sorry, Jo. I can’t miss practice. Some other time.” He sighed.

  She nodded, her face filled with disappointment. Jo sat down on a bench nearby after he left. Her friends weren’t there yet and she was already bored. When she finally decided to call Ben and ask him to pick her up, she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around in surprise to see Gale.

  “Hey! You’re back already?” She mocked him by tapping on her wristwatch.

  He frowned. “Where are your friends?”

  “They aren’t here yet.” She sighed.

  He sat next to her and smiled to himself.

  “Do you like coffee? And Toblerone?” He asked out of the blue. She looked at him in confusion before nodding. He smiled. “Then come with me.”

  Gale dragged her for a moment before she began to walk with him for some coffee in a small café. He greeted the people cheerfully in French. Jo was completely lost, and she let him order the coffee. When it was served, she hesitated before trying it, but loved it as soon as she sipped. It was Toblerone, just the coffee version of it. And then Gale asked her to try a cheesecake. It melted in her mouth and had the same taste as the coffee.

  “You can’t be serious! This place sells Toblerone coffee and cheesecake?” she exclaimed. Gale laughed at her enthusiasm and nodded. She asked him questions about himself and his life, but he sidestepped all of them. The only facts she did get about him were those he loved to be alone and wasn’t interested in talking about himself. He always had a faraway look in his eyes that made Jo wonder what exactly was going on in his head.

  Gale took her back after she finished her cheesecake and coffee, not wanting to miss practice. Waving goodbye, he walked away, leaving a surprised Jo all alone.

  * * *

  The next few days were better and worse. Jo’s practice was helping her sing better and the nervousness for performing before people vanished. The worst part, though, was Jake getting suspicious. He was busy with work, but that didn’t stop him from questioning her all the time. Ben came to her rescue when he could and distracted him, but he was busy with his own life; he was going through a bad breakup – his girlfriend left him saying he spent too much time working. And seeing as that was his job, he let her go.

  The second round started the next day and Deep Storm cleared it easily once again. Jo loved each and every minute here, and knowing that they had a good chance of winning helped her perform better.

  After their turn, the band sat looking at other contestants. The individual contestants were asked to team up with others so two people participated in this round together. Jo saw Gale walk over to the piano and a guy with a violin in his hand followed him. Slowly, Gale placed his fingers on the piano keys and the magic began. They played Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. The violinist was pretty good, too but Jo’s eyes didn’t move from Gale’s face. He was unconsciously smiling to himself as he played the masterpiece. After the second round was over, the results were out. Only ten participants managed to get through. Deep Storm had secured third place, while first went to Gale and second to the violinist, Elliot.

  Everyone left after the results were announced. Jo said goodbye to her friends and waited for Ben to pick her up. She sat alone on a bench, looking at the now-starry sky. She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Gale looking at her, looking a bit nervous.

  “Hey! You were amazing today. How do you manage to play so good?” Jo grinned.

  “I just play. Don’t know how it really sounds to others, but I enjoy my music,” he explained. “Listen, I was wondering if you would like to go out sightseeing tomorrow? I don’t have practice, so I was wondering if you wanted to come along and explore the town?”

  “I would love to!” She smiled and he agreed to meet her here again the next day.

  * * *

  The next day, Jo was ten minutes early, waiting for Gale. She was starting to like him, but Jake’s words about staying away from French boys kept repeating in her mind. Just then, she saw Gale walk towards her. He wasn’t wearing baggy clothes as usual, but was wearing dark blue jeans and a white shirt. She couldn’t help but give him a once over, agreeing with her inner self that, yes, he looked amazing despite his glasses and messy hair. Actually, the glasses just made him look cool.

  He took her all around town, even to places that weren’t mentioned in the guidebook. She saw small pa
tisseries and quaint parks that weren’t part of any of the tours in the city. That didn’t make them any less beautiful, though. She sighed, looking at Paris; it was an absolutely gorgeous city.

  “Are you French?” she asked Gale while they were eating lunch. He looked up in surprise and replied, “Half. My mother is French.”

  “You have a beautiful accent.” She smiled shyly. He had a small smile on his face, too. Jo was an easygoing person and it made him happy to spend some time with her. As they kept exploring, they ended up talking a lot. They spoke about different things, but nothing about their own lives. Gale found it extremely easy to talk to Jo. She was friendly without being nosy. They talked as they ate ice cream and explored the city. They spoke about a lot of topics, everything ranging from her favorite color to his love for music.

  That evening, Gale took her to see the Eiffel Tower. She stared in wonder as it lit up. “Wow! Marvelous!” she exclaimed. They stared at one of the most recognizable structures in the world as it lit up and seemed to cast a beautiful glow over the surrounding area. After almost spending a whole day together, they had grown close. Gale wasn’t nervous anymore as he spoke to her.

  “Do you believe in love at first sight?” he asked her out of the blue.

  “I don’t know, maybe. Falling in love is an exciting feeling,” she replied.

  “My parents met here and fell in love,” he whispered.

  “Would you like that to happen to you too?” Jo asked as she moved closer.

  He stared at her for a while before saying, “Yes! I would like that too.”

  With that, he leaned forward till his lips touched hers. It was Jo’s first kiss, but she didn’t know that it was Gale’s too. He expertly cupped her face in his hands and deepened the kiss. She threw her arms around his shoulder and pulled him closer. There they stood, right under the Eiffel Tower, lost in each other’s embrace. He pulled away for air, but a minute later she placed a soft kiss on his lips. She surrendered herself to the pleasurable feeling of being in his arms.

  Gale pulled away and cupped her face again. “It’s the finals this week. Give your best, okay? I’m going to be here for a while, so we can go out again.”