Caleb gulped and looked up from his hands. Damian was looking at him with a guilty and concerned expression, expecting an answer. He wiped away the stray tears that somehow managed to escape out of him.

"I'm fine." Caleb said, trying to regain his composure. He acted like he was just fine and still mad at Damian for spying on him. "I don't want to talk about it." He finished, then stood up and finished packing his things. Damian sat up and said, "No offense, but I think you're lying to yourself just as much as you trying to lie to me. You look like you want to have an hourlong conversation. Not with me specifically, but it just looks like you're keeping things and it's becoming a burden to you."

Caleb was taken aback by Damian's perceptiveness. His words were close to what Caleb was exactly feeling. He sighed again then looked to the floor. Damian patted Caleb's seat, beckoning him to sit down again. Caleb followed and set his bag down beside him, "Yeah... I guess you're right..."

Damian asked patiently, "So, I'll start light. Why don't you want others to know you can sing? And amazingly, might I add." You'll start lightly huh? Caleb thought sourly. He took in a few deep breaths and looked into Damian's eyes. He looked trustworthy enough for Caleb to confide in him his fears and anxieties.

Caleb answered, "Well... I guess I just prefer to sing alone...?" Damian just gave him a skeptical look. Caleb yielded and said, "Fine, I just don't want others to judge me, or give me any kind of attention, good or bad. It's embarrassing, like SO embarrassing I might die if anyone found out." Damian commented bluntly, "Well, I found out, and you're not dead."

Caleb laughed softly at this, "Yeah, I guess so." Damian said after a moment of awkward silence, "So you have stage fright? Is that also why you don't want others to hear you?" Caleb shook his head wildly, "No no no no. I'll do a report in front of class any day. But with performing, especially singing.... I just avoid it at all costs."

"Mhhhm" Damian said in an interested tone. They sat there in silence for a while. Caleb was thinking a jumbled bunch of thoughts, while Damian seemed to look like he was trying to solve a complicated math problem in his head. After an agonizingly long two minutes, in Caleb's eyes of course, Damian snapped his fingers. His face lit up and he said confidently to Caleb, "Sing for me."

Caleb looked at Damian like he asked him to bring him the whole sun on a giant silver platter.

"WHAT?" Caleb exclaimed, his face getting red again. Damian explained, "Well, if you have trouble singing in front of a crowd, try singing in front of just one person." Caleb became flustered, "How does that help? In fact, the real question is: Why are you helping me? Even if I somehow managed to sing in front of a crowd, I still won't join your talent show."

Damian waved his hand dismissively at him, "This isn't about the talent show anymore. It's about helping you." "I don't need help." Caleb replied crossly. Damian just gave him a sympathetic smile. Caleb didn't need help. He didn't want help. Not with school work or chores and most certainly not with his shy singing.

"I know you love to sing, but you being afraid of people's judgement keeps you from doing what you love. It's eating away at you, I can see that now. So come on, at least try singing in front of me. We'll start from there."

Caleb looked at Damian with scared eyes. Maybe he's right. I guess I can sing in front of just one person. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Then he said, "If I'm gonna sing in front of you, I need you to promise me something." Damian nodded, "Of course, anything."

Caleb continued, "Promise me that whatever you hear will be between us. You won't tell anyone about it. Not even about my so-called singing talent." Damian snorted, "Oh it's a talent alright, a really great one. Sure, I promise not to speak a word of this to anyone."

Hearing his promise, Caleb gained some confidence, "Okay, fine. Here goes."

Caleb moved a little ways forward near the front of the class like he was going to give a report. He turned to face his singular audience then breathed in and out several times. After a few more breaths, Caleb started to sing.

First softly, then he slowly gained some momentum and a sense of rhythm. He decided to go with an upbeat and catchy song, instead of love songs or power ballads so it wouldn't be awkward for either of them.

Caleb started singing, feeling very unsure of himself. He was still feeling his fears at the fact that there was a person, this guy, watching him like a talent show judge while he sung out the first verse. Since this was his first time being observed like this, he didn't dare move a muscle. He was used to singing and moving along with the beat and rhythm of the song like he was dancing (that was a story for another day), but he was too embarrassed as he was already.

Eventually, while Caleb continued to sing, his body relaxed, giving him more control over the power of his voice. His muscles didn't contract so much anymore, which helped him sing the notes of the song beautifully and on key. When he reached the chorus for the first time, he tried giving it less power. He thought he'd sing the next chorus part with more power to give more impact and feeling.

The whole time he was singing, Damian looked on at him in awe. Clearly he was captured by the emotion of the song and the good vibes it produced. Around more than halfway into the song, Caleb started to lose the reality that someone was watching him, and he just went with the flow of the song and its melody.

Louder and louder Caleb's voice grew. It bounced along the classroom walls and maybe even a bit through the hallways outside. As Caleb reached the final chorus part, which was also the end of the song, he moved his arms from his sides to form hug-like pose with his hands opened wide. Kind of like making a 'ta-daa' gesture.

When he finished singing the song with a great flourish of vocal tones, there was a sudden silence as neither of them spoke. Then suddenly Damian stood up from the seat and began clapping loudly. He cheered and called and whistled like he was at a live concert of a famous singer. "Oh my goodne- That was amazing!! Bro, that was so COOOOL. You sounded like the actual singer, but EVEN BETTER!"

Caleb blushed at all the cheers he got and scratched the back of his head lightly. He called be bro. Does that mean we're friends?? Caleb's mind went. He didn't have any friends in his entire batch, and somehow he made friends with someone from a whole different grade level.

When Damian finished his standing ovation, he said, "See? You're a natural! There's nothing to be afraid of if you sing with other people around. Maybe they'll even cheer for you." Caleb walked back to his bag. "But I made so many mistakes. I was too loud at one part, then too quiet at the other. And not to mention how many times I cracked my voice the whole way of the song."

Damian looked at Caleb curiously, "What? None of that even happened... I didn't hear anything wrong with how you sang that song, Caleb. It was really good, trust me."

Caleb didn't look too hopeful. Even if Damian said all those things, Caleb still thought that he made all of those 'imaginary' mistakes. He grabbed his backpack and started heading to the door.

Damian ran after him and said, "Hey we're not done yet." "What?" Caleb asked quizzically. "You proved yourself wrong that you couldn't sing in front of even a single person." Caleb retorted, "That was because I made you promise not to tell anyone."

Damian replied, "True. But I still think you can face your fear of singing to an audience. It doesn't have to be at the talent show though. Let me think..." As Damian thought up more of his crazy schemes, Caleb sighed and asked in a soft voice, "...Why are you helping me?"

Damian gave him a look of surprise with a bit of concern. He said, "Well, it's because I learned about your secret, and the problem you have of keeping that secret. I want to help you. Not only 'cus your younger than me and I want to be a good role model, but because I think that you can really shine and light up your world and others' worlds too. I can see that you can be great some day if only you let go of all your fears and irrational thinking."

Caleb regarded his answer for a minute. Did he really see all that in me? Am I really that talented? He gripped his backpack strap a little, thinking deep thoughts. Again, Damian snapped his fingers after a short moment of silence, which caused Caleb to jump in surprise.

"I GOT IT" the boisterous ninth grader said, "Why don't you perform in front of a small audience?" Caleb asked skeptically, "What are you talking about?" Damian raised both his hands in an innocent way and explained, "Tomorrow there's gonna be Christmas Parties in all the classrooms in the whole school before the break, right? You can be part of the intermission portion of the program in your own class so you can sing to them!"

Now Caleb made a face that looked like the older boy asked for the Moon on a silver platter. Not as impossible as before he gained some confidence from performing in front of Damian, buuut still quite difficult for Caleb to process and actually do.

"....Goodbye" Caleb said in a monotonous tone as he walked around Damian. But just as Caleb opened the door, Damian grabbed his backpack and said, "I know what you're doing. Stop trying to hide. If you could sing in front of me, a complete stranger to you, then you could do it in front of people that you've known for a while year."

Caleb tried prying his bag free from the other boy's grasp, but Damian had a strong grip. After some more attempts at struggling free, he stopped trying. Defeated, Caleb said, "FINE. Fine fine fine fine fine FINE. Just let go of my bag." Damian happily unhinged his fist from Caleb's bag.

"Great! I'll get in touch with your class president to squeeze you in. You tell them yourself what song you'll be singing okay?" Caleb just shook his head slowly in disbelief. He was still hoping that this was all just a nightmare, and Damian was just a figment of his imagination.

Caleb unwillingly agreed, then Damian clasped his hands together, "Alright then! I will stay in touch and shoot you a message when everything's in order." He put his hands on Caleb's shoulders to stop the younger boy from shaking, "Hey... You've got this. I believe in you, you can really do this."

Caleb pulled himself away from Damian and said, "Okay, thanks. I'll try my best." "That's the spirit!"

And with that, Damian headed out the door and down the stairs without looking back at Caleb. Caleb stood there, caught in a trance. He couldn't believe that he was actually gonna do it. He was gonna SING in front of his classmates. Classmates that only know him for his above average smarts and provider of school materials when they ran out.

Now tomorrow they're gonna see me as someone entirely different... Caleb thought as he climbed down the stairs slowly, wishing he was someone else, anyone else in the entire world.

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A/N:

Hello readers and/or writers, thanks for reading this story so far! And sorry if it was too long (I usually keep it around 1k words). I had to squeeze it in to make it fit as a five part short story.

Anyways comment, vote, or perhaps even follow if you liked my work. Any one of those would be much appreciated and would mean so much to me. Thanks again and keep writing/reading or both! Let your thoughts and imagination run free!