😊

Deep breath.

In. Out.

Another one.

In. Out.

That was practically what I had been doing for the past five minutes.

Yesterday, I had tried every single mode possible to reach out to Aaron but he was ignoring me. My heart still squeezed at the thought of not being able to talk to him at all.

"Whatever you do, you're not backing out," Sam said, from beside me.

"Let me breathe woman. I'm not planning to back out," I told her, while every inch of my nerves was reacting in the opposite way.

"You sure?"

"Sam!"

"Sorry," she replied, sheepishly.

I clutched the pen drive in my hand, along with my guitar. Yeah, you thought right.

I was trying to not back out of the idea of participating in the competition. 'Trying' being the key word.

Yesterday, after verbally throttling myself, I decided that the only way I could put my plan into action was through this competition.

If you thought that for winning back Candy, I was just going to participate, you're wrong 'cause the competition is only a medium through which I could do what I wanted to prove what he means to me.

So here I was, in a secluded area behind the stage, not trying to let the amount of people in the audience scare the poop out of me.

It had taken a lot of sneaky jumping, tip-toeing and hiding to get to the backstage unnoticed.

I didn't want to encounter any of the goons just in case they decided that I was a good laughing stock for everyone.

As far as I knew, for them, I was not going to be participating today. That made the attention wear of me, temporarily.

I knew that even though I was attention free right now, I would have the attention of every single person when I went on stage.

I even knew that I would be laughed at since the incident that happened wasn't very long ago. Hell it was just the day before.

"Don't think too much. You just need to think of Aaron. No one or nothing else. You have the pen drive, right?" Sam confirmed as I nodded.

The thing was, since it was already the level one of the competition, the participant had to not only sing a song, but he/she had to make a presentation related to the two songs that were to be performed as well.

Like what Shelly was doing. She was performing something like 'Single Ladies' by Beyoncé and you could guess what her presentation was about.

It was necessary for the presentation to be related to you, so she, from what I heard, was performing the dance similar to the one in the music video, in the presentation.

"You ready?" Nate came out of nowhere, making me jump in surprise.

"Uh, no?" I answered, my nerves taking the best of me.

He shot me a flat look before grabbing my arm and dragging me to the side stage where the curtains started from.

The skinny jeans I'd worn were suffocating me even more than the crowd.

My hands grew clammy as I wiped them on my jeans. Sam had forced me to wear a black skinny jeans which had two pocket zips going diagonally down on both my sides. I was wearing a semi sleeved cream top that had beautiful black lace made of a rose design that covered half of it while the top itself flared out near my torso.

Sam had tried to force me into wearing heels, but with a lot of persuasion and pleading, she let me wear cute belle flats that matched my outfit.

I kept my face free of intensive make up like the one that Shelly had on right now. I just had mascara on my lashes and a lip balm, keeping my lips moisturised.

My hair were tied into a French braid/ pony.

She also made me carry a sling bag which had my phone, earplugs and a packet of gum.

So, for a change, I looked quite presentable.

I turned to see the chairs in the auditorium getting filled up. Students were quite excited as they entered with their friends and occupied the seats. I could very well spot the Citrus Group sashaying around the first row of seats. However there was one person I couldn't find.

Candy.

Where was he? Wasn't he going to come? If that happened, everything I'd do, would be nothing but waste of effort.

The presentation itself had taken so much time to make. And if he didn't show up, I don't know what I'd do because I have to plan B.

"You okay? You look pale," Nate commented, looking at me.

"Aaron. He's not here, yet," I replied while my eyes searched the whole auditorium.

"Don't worry. He'll come. I'll make sure of that," Nate said giving a reassuring smile.

I smiled in gratitude at him.

I was about to say something when suddenly the stage lights grew bright and a boy came up on stage.

I recognised him as the junior president of drama club.

The crowd settled a bit as he began to speak. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to the first round of Talent Hunt!"

The crowd erupted into cheers at that.

"First up, is our very own, Shelly Montez, coming up with her beautiful self to brighten up your day!"

I rolled my eyes at that. Yeah, okay, no.

The auditorium, though had quite an opposite reaction. Some of the knuckleheads even started standing up and shouting things that could make ears bleed.

"Thank you my lovely chum chums. Love me." She said, giving a flying kiss to the air.

Some cheered but everyone has there eyes trained on her. If you think that they were mesmerised by her inner beauty, you're wrong.

It was what she wore that kept the eyes of most teenage boys on her. She was wearing a bikini top and a little black skirt that barely covered her butt.

Why anyone would wear a bikini top in a competition was out of my comprehending capacity.

She winked at the judges, who sat at the judging panel and started her song.

There were three judges. Two of them, a woman and a man, looked like they were in their late forties while the third guy looked around the age of twenty five.

"All the single ladies,

All the single ladies

All the single ladies

Now put your hands up

Up in the club

Just broke up

I'm doing my own little thing....."

Shelly sang, and what surprised me the most was that her voice wasn't coming out like the pitchy voice it was. Rather, it was sweet.

Did singing change your voice like that?

"She can't be singing that!" Sam exclaimed, wide eyed as she saw her copy some of the steps along with the presentation that played in the background.

"There has to be some kind of a recorder her. That's like not possible at all!" Sam whisper yelled as she ran her eyes across the stage for some sort of device.

Even I was left gaping. The voice didn't match her at all. But maybe it was just me. After all, I had never heard her sing before, so I wasn't in any place to accuse her of anything.

Plus they had to have taken her audition.

"....cause if you liked it then you should've put a ring on it

If you liked it then you should've put a ring on it."

She finished her song with a hip shake and started her second song.

"I threw a wish in the well

Don't ask me, I'll never tell

I looked to you as it fell

And now you're in my way...."

What played in the background during this song was much more decent than what played in the previous one.

Even in this song, she never gained the pitch her normal voice had, which if was a talent, was commendable. Maintaining a certain pitch, was no doubt very difficult.

I watched in wonder as the song played. The nervousness had vanished for some time as the music played.

The melody of a song was my escape. Nothing else in the world gave me more solace than music. It was my life.

As Shelly finished her song, a thunderous applause graced the auditorium. Shelly did a bow and flew some air kisses.

Turn by turn other participants came on stage and performed their own song.

Everyone enjoyed the melodious atmosphere as every participant depicted a part of them through their songs and presentations.

I was growing tired just standing there, when suddenly, my name was announced.

Startled, I looked at Nate, who gave me a small smile.

"Is it my turn already?" Did I doze off or something?

"Ali, there were only like, six participants in all. You're the seventh one. And you're up next."

"What?!"

The nerves in my body decided that it was the perfect time to go into a frenzy as I saw the second last performer on the stage performing her last song.

All I could think of in my head was,'please don't let the song end. Please don't let the song end'

And I knew that my prayers weren't answered when I heard the anchor say-

"And next up, Alyssa Bent."

And at this moment, the only thought that came into my mind was: Oxygen Hydrogen Carbon Radium Phosphorous.

*****

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