The grin that graced my face wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Kinsy had left after five minutes.

I was dancing like crazy. Maybe, just maybe I could participate in the Hunt. The thoughts about the reactions of my two best friends when I would tell them about this decision of mine, kept that face-splitting smile on my face the way it was.

After a minute if calming myself down, I decided to call Candy.

My body trembled with excitement and I began pacing in the room. The giddiness didn't let me sit at all. I kept bouncing as I took short steps wile pacing.

Candy picked the phone after the fifth ring.

"Hey Aaron, my bestie, my super awesome and hot childhood BFF," I chirped with an overly excited voice.

"Oh my God. What did you do? Please don't tell me you ate the whole jar of Nutella again," he nearly pleaded as he answered.

I pouted. "What makes you think I did something? And no, I didn't eat the whole jar because you had taken it with you the last time you came."

"Okay, the fact that you just called me 'hot' and 'awesome' in the same line and called me your best friend twice, actually scares me. So just tell me what it is," he spoke, now a bit anxious.

"Well....," I trailed off, just to rile him up a bit.

"You are doing that on purpose. Do you want me to come there and torture you until you answer?"

My eyes widened. No, not his torture. Aaron's torture considered tickling until you couldn't breathe at all. And he was a ruthless tickler. He did not have mercy on anyone.

"Okay. Okay. Calm your body parts. I'll tell you. I-,"

"You?"

"Will you let me speak?"

"Sorry. Continue."

"I have decided that IwilltakepartintheHunt" I blabbed out in one breath.

"Muffin?"

"Yes?" I asked, while my nerves were in a frenzy.

"You do realise that I am a homo sapien, right? That means I don't understand alien language. Now speak slowly, and in English, please."

I rolled my eyes but repeated, equally excitedly," I am taking part in the Hunt."

I waited for his reply but he didn't speak at all.

I waited for two minutes before checking if I had disconnected the call. But I was still on line.

"Uh, Candy?"

No reply came. However I did hear some sort if shuffling on the other side if the line.

"Aaron?" I asked again.

He didn't answer, so I decided to disconnect the call.

After a minute, the doorbell rung. Confused, I went to open the door and was tackled into a tight hug as soon as I opened it.

"Let. Go. Can't. Breathe,"I managed to say and the heavy weight lifted off me.

When I finally introduced air to my lungs, I was met with a pair of light brown eyes. "Please tell me you're not lying."

The desperate voice of my best friend made me chuckle.

"Nope. I'm not," I answered, grinning.

"YES! Now I can give my brain a rest," he fist pumped in air.

I raised my eyebrow at him in question.

"You have absolutely no idea how many wicked ideas I had produced to make you run in the competition. And not even one of them was flawless."

I smacked his arm and gave him an annoyed look but it soon changed into a grin.

"So, what have you prepared for your first round?"

"Oh come on. I just made up my mind about singing in the competition and you're already asking me about the song?"

"You do realise that it's day after tomorrow, right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Upon hearing the news, my eyes widened to the point till it looked bigger than sauce pans. "WHAT?!"

Aaron tried to stifle his laugh but failed miserably and bent down, laughing hysterically.

"Shut up!" I said, my cheeks burning.

But he just continued to laugh on.

Getting pissed off, I tried to think of a way to shut him up. That's when I realised that we were still standing in the doorway.

I smirked evilly before calling out to Aaron sweetly. "Candy?"

"Y-Yes?!" He responded between laughs.

"I hate you!" And with that I shut the door on his face.

He realised what I did, a second too late. "Muffin, please open the door. I was just kidding."

Ignore.

"Ali? Please?"

Ignore.

"Ali? I swear I won't laugh again."

"How do I know you won't?" I asked, leaning on the door.

"Uh, how about I buy you your favourite candies?"

The offer was tempting but I had to resist it.

"No."

"Then how about I buy you...any toy?"

"Toy? Really? What do you think I'll do with it? Actually, buy a bat for me and I'll smash you're head with it." I replied.

"No thanks. Ali! What do you want? I'll do it, but at least open the door. You don't want me to die of hypothermia, now do you?"

I rolled my eyes. The temperature outside was enough to melt a Popsicle. "I'll open the door on one condition. You will have to go shopping with me."

I didn't have anything to shop for but it was really funny annoying Aaron while doing that.

He hesitated before letting out a big sigh,"You're going to be the death of me! But fine. I'll go. Now open the door, please."

I grinned in victory as I opened it.

"Now, let's get started, shall we?" I turned around and walked towards my room.

******

"No, no. You're messing it up again. You go wrong in the beginning of the chorus. So start again."

I gave out a defeated sigh but obliged. We had been practicing for an hour and a half now.

For the first round, all the participants had to sing a soft song. And I had chosen 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift. And apparently I was going a bit too fast in the beginning of the chorus, according to Aaron.

I had practiced more than twenty times now, but Aaron would stop me every time I began the chorus.

I took a deep breath to calm myself. I still wasn't over the fear of singing aloud. And I knew it wouldn't happen overnight. But still the sound Of my own voice pushed me to sing again and again.

Another fact that I could sing a bit freely was the fact that I was in front of Aaron and I knew he wouldn't judge me as I sang.

So I started again, this time taking it slower than before. Letting the lyrics of the song soothe me as the tune danced around along with my voice, creating a rhythm that had me captivated.

I had my eyes shut as I sang, so when I finally ended, without Aaron interrupting, I actually felt triumphant.

I opened my eyes to see him there, carrying a proud expression, making my heart swell with happiness.

"That, is now what I call perfect."

The smile that etched across my face, made my cheeks hurt. Before I could say another word, I heard clapping.

Startled, I turned to see my parents standing there with unspoken emotions on their faces. My dad had a mixture of awe and pride while mom stood there with unshed tears of joy.

Her eyes glistened against the bright lights of the room and I sat there frozen.

"Since when were you both standing there?" I asked, coming to my senses.

"Long enough to hear our beautiful Angel sing even more wonderfully," Dad answered as he came towards me.

"I'm so proud of you," he said and hugged me tightly.

I clutched his shirt equally tight and the happiness I felt, came down in form of the saline water spilling out from my eyes.

Those five words made my singing worth it. When dad let go of me, I saw mom standing there, biting her lip as she struggled to stop herself from letting me see the tears that were almost begging to escape.

I slowly went up to her and wrapped my arms around her petite frame. "I love you, mom," I said as she held me in her arms.

"I love you more, sweetie," she answered.

I let her go after a minute and returned to my original position on the bed.

"So, ready to kick some ass, day after tomorrow?" Aaron spoke up, making me grin.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

******

"Next up is Alyssa Bent, with her song "You Lose" by Unknown," the person in front of me announced, pointing towards me.

"What? But that's not my song!" I shout as an unheard tune starts playing in the background and everyone sits, watching me, waiting for me to sing.

"This is not the song I'm here to sing," I shout but everyone ignores my pleads and starts snickering as I look around helpless.

The music changes to a fast one as I stand there with my mike, not knowing what to do.

So I start singing random lyrics and the audience starts 'booing'.

Tears well up in my eyes as I see everyone looking at me with disgust and laugh at me.

"Boo, you're such a loser!"

"What is this? Stutter competition."

"Who let her in here?"

"Can she even sing?"

All these words, came worse than any possible weapon as I stood there, trying hard not to panic.

No.

Please no.

I can sing.

I can.

I wanted to yell all these words but they wouldn't come out. It was as if someone had sealed my lips and clogged my throat.

No. No. No. N....

I woke up, with sweat covering my skin.

'Tuk!'

I heard a sound, making me jump in surprise. I glanced at my watch to see that it was midnight. Aaron had left around 8:30, leaving me to practice.

'Thuk'

Again that sound came. She sound came from my window side. I pushed aside my duvet and wiped my sweat, trying to erase the memory of the horrible dream that had graced me with its presence.

I slowly walked towards the window. Before I could open it, something hit it, creating the same noise again.

That's when I realised that someone was pelting rocks at the window. Before the glass of the window could break, I quickly opened it and looked below.

What I saw amused me equally as it confused me. Sam stood there, in a banana costume, with one hand in the air, holding a stone that was ready to be thrown while the other hand held a few more.

I blinked once.

Then twice.

Then I burst out laughing. The only thing that was keeping me balanced was the railing on the window that I clutched for my life.

"W-What the h-hell?" Was the only thing that came out of my mouth as I drank in the scene in front of me.

Sam pouted and folded her arms, grumpily before muttering some in audible things under her breath.

She stomped her foot, making a part of the banana skin come off, making it look like you were peeling it to eat.

That made me double over in laughter.

After I sobered up a bit, I managed to form words.

"What are you doing here in a banana costume? And that too in the middle if the night, pelting rocks at my window? You know you could've called me."

She gave me an annoyed expression before replying,"Oh really? How come I never thought of that? Wait- if little miss nerd wouldn't be such a heavy sleeper, she would realise the number of missed calls she has on her phone!"

Sarcasm dripped from each word she spoke.

My eyes went wide and I quickly scrambled near my bed to look for the phone. I unlocked it, only to find 17 missed calls from Sam.

I returned to the window and gave Grumpy Sam a sheepish smile before apologising.

"But what are you doing here at midnight....and in a banana?!" I asked her while she fiddled with her banana skin.

With that, she perked up. "You'll see. Come down. I want you to meet someone," she grinned. I could see a mischievous glint in her eye as she looked up.

"Someone?"

"Yeah. The one who made me dress like a banana, inspired by minions," she sighed dramatically and I chuckled.

Seemed like an interesting person.

She called me down. I hesitated but nodded. I didn't have to care about my parents, since they wouldn't mind as long as it was a known person. And Sam had already met them.

Briefly but still met them.

I went down, careful enough not to make much noise. It wouldn't matter since my parents were anything but light sleepers, so I didn't have to particularly worry about that.

But just for extra precaution, I still went down quietly. As I neared the door, I heard shuffling outside the door. I opened them to come face to face with a very familiar person.

"Brit boy?" I questioned, surprised to see the same brown haired boy whom I had bumped into in the hallway while going to the dreadful Physics class.

"Pan Girl?" He raised his eyebrows, amused and surprised.

"Wait, what? You've met?" Sam asked, trying to hold her banana peel in her hands.

We ignored her.

"Pan girl, seriously?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Brit Boy, seriously?" He mimicked me.

At least mine was a bit logical.

"So you are the famous Alyssa Bent, 'who has the voice of an angel'," Brit Boy spoke up. Now that I looked at him closely, he was quite handsome. He had a square jaw and cute brown eyes. His hair were disheveled but overall, he looked good.

I blushed a bit. "And you are the boy who I know absolutely nothing about."

He chuckled and held out his hand.

"Hi. I'm Matthews. Nate Matthews," he said, trying to imitate the famous Bond dialogue in a deep voice.

I chuckled and shook his hand. "So you're the famous Nate, the banana girl won't shut up about!"

"Hey! I'm here too, you know!" Sam stood there with folded arms and a pout.

"Shut up, banana girl," we both spoke in unison before exchanging a glance and laughing.

"I think we'll be great friends," Nate said and I agreed.

Nate was nice and funny. Maybe my senior year wasn't going to be friendless after all.

And I had a feeling that I had just made friends for life.

*****