Sing: The One And Only

Child's Play In Comparison

I walked inside the theater, still a little shaky from last night. I had a hard time sleeping last night, not only because of my hyper brother, but because of rehearsal today. I was up most of the night, tossing and turning, for no reason. I quickly shook the feeling as I entered the backstage. Immediately, I was greeted by Gunter and Ash.

Ash: Hey, look who it is!

Gunter: Ja, it is Jason, the coolest singer with the super energy, ja ja ja!

I couldn't help but laugh at that.

Me: You two are pretty funny.

Ash: Yeah, I know. Pretty cool, am I right?

Gunter: Hey, now that you're here, you can, like, practice with us today!

Me: I would love to, but first I gotta go give this form to Mr. Moon asap.

I pulled out the form he gave us yesterday, completely filled out.

Ash: Okay then, just don't take too long, dude. I wanna hear you sing again.

I smiled as I left towards Mr. Moon's office. As I was walking, I started to realize something.....I had no idea where his office was. Luckily, I saw Ms. Crawly walking with a tray of cups filled with coffee. She noticed me almost immediately.

Ms. Crawly: Oh, hello, Jason.

Me: Good morning, Ms. Crawly. What are you holding there?

Ms. Crawly: Oh, this? This is coffee for everyone. Mr. Moon thought it was the least he could do because he had to make you get up so early. So, he bought everyone some coffee and breakfast.

Me 'in mind': Coffee and breakfast?! He didn't have to go through so much.

Me: Well, that was very nice of him. Uh, do you know where his office is? I need to turn in the form from yesterday.

Ms. Crawly: Oh, you can just give it to me. I'll hand him the form. I was just heading over there, anyways.

Me: No, it's alright. But, uh, do you mind if I help you out? That looks kind of heavy.

Ms. Crawly: No, it's fine. I got this. Thank you for the offer though. I can just-

While she was walking away, she tripped over her own tail, making the cups fly in the air. Without thinking, I quickly grabbed the tray and caught all of the cups (although, it was only luck that made those cups stay in one piece and the coffee still in the cups). I looked at Ms. Crawly, who looked like she just saw a ghost.

Ms. Crawly: Okay, maybe I do need some help after all.

I held the tray in one hand as I handed the form to her with my other hand. Together, we made our way to Mr. Moon's office. Ms. Crawly opened the door and let me inside to set the tray down. I looked around the room as I set the tray down. It looked bigger that I imagined it to be. There were posters of previous plays and acts hanging on the wall, and I saw a window with a view from above. It looked like someone could live here and no one would know.

Buster: Good morning, Ms. Crawly! Good morning, Jason!

The sudden voice that came shook me a little, almost making me knock over the cups.

Buster: Woah, woah. My apologies, kid. I didn't mean to startle you like that.

Me: Oh, it's fine, Mr. Moon.

Buster: Well, it was nice of you to help Ms. Crawly with the coffees, kid. Really thoughtful of you.

Me: It was nothing really.

Buster: Well, have you gotten the form filled out?

Ms. Crawly: Here's his form, Mr. Moon.

Mr. Moon took the form and inspected it front to back. He looked very pleased with it.

Buster: Well, thanks kid. You can just go down backstage with the others and I'll get the breakfast and coffee ready.

I did as I was told and went backstage. I met up with the others and we sat down and talked with each other. Some of us decided to sing while we waited, and others wanted to just make each other laugh. The coffee and breakfast soon came, and we all enjoyed our time together as friends drinking coffee and eating breakfast with the one and only Buster Moon.

As soon as our little breakfast time was over, we had to go to our rehearsal rooms to practice. Mine was in between Ash's and Meena's rehearsal rooms. I went to my little space and started practicing one of the suggested songs. Barely into the halfway point, I hear my door open. I stopped the song and looked to see who it was, only to find Mike shaking his head at me.

Mike: You call that garbage talent? You've gotta be kidding me.

Me: What do you want, Mike? I'm in the middle of rehearsing.

Mike: Just wanted to see my competition this year, that's all. And just by looking at you alone I can tell that there's not much competition as I thought. What you can do is child's play in comparison to me.

That made me burn up inside. I knew that he was just taunting me, trying to get me to mess up my chance at winning the prize money. But I managed to keep my cool.

Me: Nice try, Mike. But I'm not stupid. I see what you're trying to do, and it's not gonna work.

Mike: Do you think you actually have a chance at beating me? That's adorable. But I never lose. So watch your back, wolfy.

And then he left, slamming the door behind him.

Me: Wolfy? Really?

I just rolled my eyes and got back to practicing, now knowing that I now have a rival I have to beat. And it's all to prove that I am better than him.