Who Are You?

~Chapter Seven~

We waited for about thirty minutes and JJ called us back to the stage.

"Let's go to the band to see what they've decided," JJ said. "Who is going to speak for the band?"

"I am," Jolly said to cheers.

"Alright, Jolly, what have y'all decided?"
"First of all, the three of you made this a very tough decision. You are very strong vocalists with attributes that the others don't have. It's like comparing apples to oranges. The first person moving on to the finals is.... Ingrid."

The crowd burst out in applause and cheers.

"You look shocked, Ingrid," JJ said as he motioned for me to come up to him.

"Yeah... I am shocked," I said and put my hands over my face trying not to cry.

"Ingrid," Noah said. "Why are you so emotional right now?"

I took a deep breath and lowered my hands. JJ held out his microphone in front of me.

"All my life... my apologies.... All my life, I was bullied about my size, my height, for being a pale Japanese girl, for my.... For my imagination," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks. "Being here, this is just," I said and wiped my eyes. "This is just clarification for me that I am good enough and I am worthy of being here," I said to cheers. "That no matter what part of my ethnicity is more prevalent than the others, that I am a beautiful person. I've raised my son to love himself and to be proud of who he is, even if his dad is not in his life. Even when Spencer makes mistakes, I still tell him I am proud of him because that's what a good parent will do. That's what a kind person would do. A lot of people mistake my kindness for weakness. I used to be weak. I am not anymore," I said to cheers. "You sending me to the finals is just solidification that I am on the right path. Thank you."

The crowd cheered.

"Congratulations Ingrid on making it to the finals," Jolly said.

"Now, on two Apollo and Matt," Noah said. "Apollo, you have impressed us from the start. My only issue with you is your unclean vocals are so heavy."

Apollo nodded his head as if he was agreeing with him.

"While the unclean vocals are super impressive, your natural singing voice, we actually had issues with. And Matt, you are the complete opposite. Matt, your natural singing voice is amazing," Noah said to cheers. "But your unclean vocals are not as impressive as Apollo's. There are only four of us and we came to an impasse as to who to put through to the finale. Two of us voted for Apollo and two of us voted for Matt. So, what we did as we went back to the original judges," he said to cheers. "To break this tie."

"So," JJ said. "What did the original five decide, Noah?"

"Why don't I let Chris tell you," Noah replied.

Chris walked out onto the stage with a microphone to cheers.

"The original panel of judges voted, and it was three to two for this person to join Ingrid in the finals.... And that person is.... Matt!"

The crowd cheered. I was happy about this because I honestly thought Apollo was going to go through. I stepped over to the side with Chris to get out of the way.

"Apollo, come on up here with me," JJ said.

He went up and stood with JJ. He was very kind and gracious while speaking with JJ. Tyler then escorted him down into the competitor's pit.

"Matt and Ingrid, come up here with me."

I stepped up on JJ's right and Matt on his left.

"Tomorrow, the two of you will go head-to-head in our finale. I'm going to let the band tell you about the finale."