Elizabeth Eulberg: The Lonely Hearts Club

Diane stood up. "No, I'm just saying that you can't, but I can."

I stared nervously at the clock before homeroom and took a deep breath to calm down. I hoped Diane could pull this off and that she wouldn't be suspended for it.

Since Diane was the president of the student council, she was responsible for the Friday morning announcements.

Usually, she just edited the announcements that all the clubs had submitted for the week and let other members read them over the PA.

Not this time.

Hilary Jacobs and I exchanged glances as the bell rang and everybody started to take their seats.

We had been distributing the new flyers all week in the school parking lot. We had to take different shifts to make sure we didn't get caught. One girl hung outside the school office with cell phone in hand, while two others monitored the exit closest to the parking lot. The rest of us were each assigned a row in the parking lot to hand out flyers. Another group came in later to make sure that nobody had littered so there wasn't any evidence.

To my knowledge, Principal Braddock had no idea that we were even still having the karaoke fund-raiser. I couldn't wait to see the look on his face when Jen presented him with the money on Monday.

The buzz of the intercom sounded. "Good morning, everybody, and happy Friday," Diane announced. "The following are your announcements for the week. The Key Club's annual flower drive begins next week. Carnations are a dollar, and you can get. "

I could hardly concentrate on the announcements as I was too nervous for Diane, I prayed that Principal Braddock wasn't too close by and that she would have enough time to do it.

"And, finally, please note that the girls' basketball karaoke fund-raiser on Saturday night at seven p.m. has been switched from the gymnasium to the Bowlarama on Cook Street." There was a noise in the background, but Diane sounded as calm as ever. "The entrance fee is five dollars, which includes food and drinks. We look forward to seeing you all Saturday night at the Bowl — "

The intercom went dead.

"You're my hero, Diane," Jen said as we headed into the Bowlarama. She was beaming as we bought tickets. "There are so many people here already! I've got to go check on the sign-in sheet for the songs. Remember, you guys aren't off the hook yet."

I didn't want to be reminded.

Diane smiled at her as she handed over her admission fee. "Hey, I took one for the team. Anybody would've done it."

I don't know how many people would've taken getting suspended from playing at Tuesday's basketball game and having her announcement duties revoked in such stride, but Diane was glowing.

We walked into the back room, and it was packed — there had to be easily over one hundred and fifty people already there. The room was dark with white lights hanging down from the ceiling. it was sort of pretty, for a bowling alley.

I saw the stage up front with a big spotlight on it and a monitor to display the words to the songs. As we headed there, Jen ran over. "This is a total disaster!"

"Everything is great and look at the turnout — what could possibly be wrong?" I asked.

"Erin is sick — her voice is shot."

Wow, Jen really needed to chill out. With all of the drama the past few weeks, I really didn't see one person being sick as a disaster.

"Jen, there are plenty of people who will sing, don't worry about it."

"But who will be the first person? Everybody who has signed up has refused to go first. Please, Penny, you need to help me."

I looked around and noticed that Tracy had made a quick getaway.

"Really, Jen, you don't want my help. If I'm the first person to start, the room will be cleared out."

"Please, Penny. Everybody looks up to you. If you do it, I'm sure the whole Club will, too."

Okay, I was wrong. This was a disaster.

"Fine".

"Thank you, thank you. I totally owe you."

No kidding. I wasn't going to forget this anytime soon.

I walked over to the Club's five front tables. "All right, guys, I'm going first. Who wants to go up with me?"

You could hear a pin drop. For the first time since the Lonely Hearts Club started, nobody would look me in the eye.

"Seriously, guys, if we all go up in a group together, it wont be so bad."

Please, oh please, somebody has got to go up with me.

"Anybody?"

Tracy was playing around with her bag of chips, refusing to make eye contact.

Et tu Tracy?

This was ridiculous. It was just singing a song.

Jen was looking around anxiously. If I didn't act soon, she was going to snap.

"Okay, Jen, let's get this over with! What song am I singing?"

A look of relief spread over her face. "Any song you want. Remember — I've got Beatles songs!"

Although I loved the Beatles, I felt a little silly singing one of their songs in front of everybody. As Ryan had learned, there were only four people who could ever do those songs justice, and I was not one of them. I nervously started flipping through the binder — nothing seemed to be calling out to me. I needed something that wouldn't be difficult to sing and maybe something people would want to join in on. Nothing was looking right, so I figured I might as well go to the old standby. I flipped to the B section of the songs and started going through the Beatles, when I spotted it.

Perfect .

Okay, so I was no Paul, John, or George, but maybe, just maybe, I could be Ringo.

I reluctantly got up on the stage, and as the Club began to cheer, I gave them all a glare. Traitors. My hands were shaking as I scanned the crowd — it seemed like the entire school was here.

Toward the back I saw Ryan clapping for me. I began to smile until I noticed who was standing right next to him — Missy.

How could he be around her after everything that had happened?

And, more important, what on earth was I doing up on stage?

Jen grabbed the microphone. "Thank you all so much for coming to this fund-raiser for the team. All the profits from tonight's event will help pay for our new uniforms. So don't be shy, and come up and request your songs. Kicking off tonight's festivities is none other than Miss Penny Lane Bloom!"

I heard cheering, but stared at the monitor, trying to control my breathing. I didn't need the lyrics to this song, but I couldn't stand to look out to the audience. There was hardly an introduction to the song, and before I knew it I was singing, asking everyone what they would do if I sang out of tune — would they stand up and walk out on me?

So far, no.

Although if I kept singing, that most certainly would happen and, really, would that have necessarily been a bad thing?

I closed my eyes and just moved back and forth as I sang the song. I looked out to the front row, Please help me . I was not only begging, I was actually singing for help. The audience started to clap along.

I strutted over to the side where Tracy and Diane were sitting and cheering me on. I pointed to them as I continued to sing about getting by with a little help from my friends. I motioned for them to join me on the stage.

Diane got the hint and got up and dragged Tracy along. Morgan and Amy followed, and even Erin came up on stage — never one to turn down a spotlight.

We all gathered around the microphone, and the rest of the Club members got on their feet and clapped in time with the song. I grabbed the other microphone and headed out into the audience.

I started dancing around with the other girls. They all started taking turns singing.

And yes, I somehow got by with a little help from my friends. The song ended and a roar erupted from the crowd. I joined everybody back on stage and we high-fived each other. Jen was jumping up and down as a line starred to form for people to request songs.