Charlie (UNREVISED)

Chapter 8

Once History was over, we moved onto English and throughout that whole period i figured out that the next period was choir, and i was freaking out.

"Charlie, chill. You'll be fine!" Ally tells me before class begins in our seats and i shake my head, my whole body shaking as i try to calm myself down.

It just came to me that i would have to sing in front of the entire class. I've never done something like that before! What if they don't like me? What if Angel was lying about all the compliments i received about my voice, when really, it wasn't good at all?

"You can't keep thinking about it. It'll just make it worse," Ally whispers as she rubs my arm comfortingly, trying to calm me down as i stare straight ahead. "Just imagine the entire class naked."

I turn to her at that, my face filled with disgust and she laughs. "What do you when you're nervous and you need to calm down?" She asks me, pulling away to cross her arms.

I hesitate, forcing myself to relax in my seat as i bring myself into another memory, one with me having a similar problem...

"Charlie just go! It's not that bad once you get up there."

I shook my head rapidly, not moving from my spot in the living room. There was no way i was getting out there, out in the backyard of the old log cabin where my family waits patiently. My dad's side of the family has come for my mother's birthday. I remember this day like it happened yesterday, i was ten and i was just starting to experiment with my voice. My mother was so stoked that she wanted half of my family to compliment and praise me as much as she did.

My mother sighed in front of me, crossing her arms and sitting down on the couch. "Come here."

I relaxed at that, happily encasing myself in her awaiting arms.

"What's got you so nervous? Are you afraid you won't be good?"

I nodded, but not speaking and my mother sighed. "Honey, that's going to be a fact of life. Being nervous to show your talents, and being too afraid to get out there and show everybody what you can do. Sometimes, you will fail. That's going to happen, i won't sit here and tell you it won't... tell you that everything you do will be the right choice, and will go perfectly, just the way you planned."

I looked up at my mother who smiled down at me. "But this is a start. Everybody knows you're new at this, that you need practice. That's your family out there, baby. They'll be honest, i'll give you that. But that's good."

I tilted my head, my eyes squinting and my mother chuckled. "Criticism is something that you will have to deal with. Life will continuously throw obstacles and challenges your way, because it simply can. That's the way it works. But life will never throw something at you that you can't handle. But a big factor of these challenges are what other people think when you do them, and how that effects you..."

She tilted her head to get a better look at me, shifting her hands through my hair. "Charlie, your brain is going to work so differently then any other person you meet. These challenges are what work your brain, keeps it exercising. You have to pull through with these challenges."

I frowned at that, turning my head away. I didn't want to go through with challenges, i never did. All i wanted was to stay like this forever. Away from other people and away from certain challenges that i knew other people faced that i wouldn't.

Things were easy.

And my mother knew this.