Rosie asked on a scrap of paper in our Year Seven science lab. It's the closest she ever came to admitting she couldn't push on alone, and it's the closest she ever came to asking for anything aloud. We almost never spoke, save to hum Avril Lavigne melodies under our breath in a kind of cryptic code. One song for despair, one song for longing; one ( Read more... )

My choirgirl days trained me to ignore the aching in my knees. This is an awkward contrast to my earlier Music Performance lessons, which seem to want me jumping all over the place - equally painful and equally restrictive. I stand my ground.

We humm and ahhh, forty backing singers behind two scrawny teenage girls who aren't quite warmed up. Mind ( Read more... )