Turning the Page (Ashton Irwin fanfiction)

Chapter 7

               Janet freakin Jackson! I could not believe my eyes. This legendary iconic musician is sitting there smiling. At me! I could not believe it. My hands covered my mouth in pure shock as I walked over to the piano Pharrell and Janet were both sharing. They both could probably notice my legs that were shaking out of nervousness. Be cool Rachel. Be cool.

               “Hey my name is Cynthia Morrison,” the bitch (pardon my French) calmly said with a smile that practically produced bile along my throat as she shook Janet’s hand.

               “Uh- hi,” I stuttered as I reached for her hand, “M- my names Rachel. Rachel Kelly.”

               She gave me a supportive smile. “Nervous?” she asked.

               “Of course,” I replied with honesty, “Especially in front of such an iconic and talented artist such as yourself.”

               “Oh you are too kind,” she smiled as she let go of my hand to give me a hug. I mentally screamed of pure joy at that moment. As I let go of her embraced I stood next to Cynthia on the other side of the black piano.

               “So the reason I paired you guys together was because you are my two female four chair turners on my team,” stated Pharrell, “As the competition gets closer to the live shows I must take only one, so this is to see who can come on top.” I used my peripheral vision and saw Cynthia with a slight smirk on her face. Keep it together Rachel. “So for you guy’s song I have chosen something that can test your ability only to see who is the better performer, singer, and artist. That song is Heartbreaker by the lovely Pat Benatar.”

               “But I only do soul music,” interjected Cynthia with her head cocked to the side.

               That’s ironic coming from a soulless person. Though I just inside me head no matter how bad I wanted to say that out loud.

               “Well that is what I want to see. I want to see who can better put their own spin on this song,” answered Pharrell, “As your coach I am going to push you guys into going outside of the box. It will be challenging, but that is the whole idea.”

               I nodded in understanding while Cynthia hesitated with a sour look on her face.

               “Don’t worry,” Janet (I still can’t believe she is here) Jackson said in Cynthia’s direction, “I have known this man for a long time and I know that he wouldn’t give you anything that he thought you couldn’t do.”

               “Okay,” I said with a nervous smile, “Let’s get started then.”

               And boy did we did. During our session with Pharrell we divided up the song so both me and Cynthia equally so we can each demonstrate our strength in voice while doing harmony in other parts. Though she gets on my nerves all the time Cynthia has a voice. Her deep alto voice and my soprano voice really harmonizes nicely despite our hate for each other off screen. Before I knew it our session was over and Pharrell was handing out our “homework” assignments for this performance.